Nikon Nikkor AF-S 500mm F5.6E PF ED VR

I use this lens mainly for photographing aircraft with a D780 body. While the lens and camera is a large 'unit' with the VR it handles well and the zoom range is excellent around an airfield.

I mostly use this lens for aviation photography. It's acceptably sharp from corner to corner wide open - and very sharp from f8. Autofocus is accurate, but not super-fast. VR is very effective. Don't worry about the plastic construction - the build quality is great. Shame the tripod collar/foot isn't Arca-Swiss compatible and boasts just one meagre 1/4 inch thread. Not enough for a lens of this size and weight. I'll invest in a third party replacement.

This is a very sharp lens. It's perfectly sharp across the frame wide open and firms up at f8. Although it weighs in at over 2kg, it handles well. Focus is accurate and adequately fast. Stabilisation is very effective. Zoom action is smooth, but you can't get from 200 to 500mm in one twist - guessing money has been saved on the zoom cams. Build quality is good - the modern plastics are quite impressive. My only gripe if the tripod foot. There's no Arca Swiss rails - and only one piddly 1/4 inch thread - not enough for a lens this size. Guess I'll have to invest in an aftermarket replacement collar and foot.

I wanted to like this lens so badly. Its heavy yes, but I could live with that. The issue I found was with the AF at max focal length. It would not find the subject so I had to manually push it out to infinity and then let it AF back in from there. Okay for static items in the distance, but try taking pictures of birds flying. I still want a long telephoto, search is back on.

This lens is heavier than I expected it to be (had no real idea!) but I'm generally going to use it with a Monopod or Tripod. It is possible, at least for me, to balance it on my forearm while taking a shot. I haven't used it much yet but pleased with the few images I have captured (mostly garden birds). I did like the feature to lock the zoom action of the lens for when it is being transported, and not a feature I was aware existed. Sometimes it does seem a bit slow to focus or work out what I want to focus on, but I guess that just needs me to have a look, or think, about my camera settings, perhaps specifically focus point settings. It is expensive but I suppose some things always are.