Nikon Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S : Specifications and Opinions

Reviews

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Potkanbog

sent on 05 Ottobre 2024

Pros: size and weight

Cons: a little bit faster autofocus

Opinion: I've been taking photos with it for over 1 1/2 years. and still get a grin on my face. it is light for being relatively small at 800mm. I almost always have it on the camera, often with the teleconverter. However, it will be slower. Not recommended for lightning-fast birds. Without TC you can easily hit swifts and swallows with it. but it takes a lot of practice.

The following opinions have been automatically translated with Google Translate.

Ergassia

sent on 16 Giugno 2026

Pros: Sharpness, color rendition, easy handling, autofocus, construction

Cons: Lens hood, lack of front cap, maf ring nut too far back

Opinion: I have now spent a month in the company of the older brother of the Z 600 f/6.3 and as for the latter the color rendering and sharpness are excellent. Even the Z 800, PF, should be used with caution in situations where the light is hard and the background is not homogeneous but nothing that affects the overall judgment in my opinion. The autofocus combined with the Z8 (I don't doubt about it even on the Z9) is very fast even set from the minimum focusing distance to infinity. Maybe even a little faster than the Z 600 with the same settings. The subject, birdlife in my case, is locked on with surgical precision and accuracy is maintained throughout the sequence if the subject is moving. On this aspect you can read various opinions, mine is that the subject is "missed" in two conditions that do not depend on the quality of the lens: when the subject is very distant and therefore occupies a small portion of the frame and in low light with a non-homogeneous background (trees or reeds to be clear). In all other cases it is almost infallible. Any further "out of focus", at least in my case, are not such but they are blurred! That is, as much as stabilization does a great job, it does not work miracles. So even if you shoot at 1/4000 of a second but the arm wobbles excessively, the shot will be blurred and nothing hits the maf. And here we come to portability. Out of habit and pleasure I almost never use a tripod or monopod. I like freehand, also because I often do subjects in flight. I can say that I have already done several outings, itinerant, of a few hours and the lens is excellent both in transport and in freehand use in terms of weight and size. The additional kilogram compared to the Z 600 is absorbed after a couple of training outings. The capture of subjects according to the lower angle of view of the 800 did not create any problem for me but I came from a frequent use of the 600 with ZTC 1.4x (therefore an 800). From this point of view I consider the 800 excellent!! Defects: I find it absurd not to equip the lens with a front cap and provide a bulky and impractical leather condom that closes the lens with a lens hood attached. Which is really annoying if, like me, you walk around with glass in your hand and want to put the lens in your backpack! The lens hood itself, made of plastic compared to the solid construction of the glass, is sized for situations of direct incident light (I assume outdoor sports) and therefore particularly voluminous. Nothing dramatic, of course, which I solved by taking a two-piece lens hood with a suitable front cap from Zemlin Photo. Now I can store my Z 800 in the walking backpack with the hood turned up and the cap without scratching the glass and in two seconds. Finally, the use of the manual maf ring is a little complicated by the fact that it has been positioned quite far back on the barrel and therefore its rotation is hindered by the lens bracket. Well made and padded bracket, although not arca swiss which, again for my use, is a godsend because it avoids me from finding the palm of my hand "sawn". I close this mine with a very personal opinion between Z 600 and Z 800: the two glasses are an excellent leap forward for nature photography and choosing between the two depends only on the way (costs aside) you are used to photographing. If, as in my case, you shoot very often at subjects a little further away and therefore the file of a 600 should often be cropped, then the 800 is the glass for you. If, on the other hand, you often shoot in conditions where the subjects are closer, the 600 is the right choice. In my case, weight, which initially worried me a lot, was not a huge problem. Of course, with the 600 you travel really light. But you lose a stop if multiplied... PS: I also tried the 800 multiplied (1.4x no more). The performance is excellent although less bright (+ISO). To be used only if necessary.

Fabio Vivalda

sent on 08 Maggio 2024

Pros: Rocky construction, except for the lens hood, very effective stabilization, excellent sharpness and bokeh. The field in which it excels, however, is the size/weight/performance ratio!

Cons: Lens hood a bit weak, minimum focus, position of the MAF ring.

Opinion: I've owned it for almost 2 months and I have to admit that it's a wonderful object: Nikon with some small compromises offers us a real masterpiece! I think that the way I approach nature photography, it's the best compromise that exists: light and compact considering the focal length and aperture. The construction is rocky, except for the lens hood which although it engages well, does not have the build quality of the lens and is quite plasticky! The focusing speed is excellent, as far as the precision of the latter is concerned, I promise to deepen further in the future, because I want to know better the potential and adjustments of the camera with which I use it, the excellent Z8. I would have appreciated a lower minimum focus, but given the focal length it is not an insurmountable defect. Excellent quality of the blur and brilliant color rendering: even when used against the light, I did not perceive the much-touted limitations of the Fresnel lens that I did not perceive as so limiting. Closing the aperture to f7.1 increases sharpness even further, but you can easily use it wide open. The stabilization is mind-blowing, although I would have liked a button to set it for panning or to mute it on the barrel. Limiting the position of the maf ring nut which is a little too far back and hindered by the bracket for the kickstand. I refer to the near future, the yield with the multiplier 1.4 x, which I intend to buy as soon as possible. You can't have everything and like all things it can be improved (small defects of youth), but I believe that it is indispensable in a naturalistic outfit, especially if it is aimed at photographic hunting and photography of animals in the mountains!

DavideDiana

sent on 27 Gennaio 2024

Pros: Stratospheric

Cons: Nobody

Opinion: An extraordinary lens has changed the lives of many action photonaturalists like myself. Its lightness combined with extreme quality and fast autofocus makes it a perfect adventure companion. My itinerant photography often requires me to hike in the high mountains for several hours and the lens must always be at hand to immortalize what is in front of you. Having a portable 800mm is priceless.

Torzy87

sent on 25 Maggio 2023

Pros: Extraordinary

Cons: Difficult to use

Opinion: Accomplice the 500 f4 to the boxes for cleaning and controls I thought not to stay for an indefinite period without supertele. I therefore had the opportunity to take an extreme perspective and try a gamble by getting out of my 500mm comfort zone and going a lot further. When I pulled it out of the box I thought, "This is a joke"? Lightweight, almost half the size of the 500f4, and extremely balanced. Beautiful, with that golden circle to bring out even more the fact that it is a super lens that more "Prime" you cannot. Attached to the Z9 you feel more the weight of the camera body than that of the lens. The compactness of the Z9 and the fact of having the integrated bg, however, makes the whole absolutely perfect. Optically superlative. Colors, micro contrasts, sharpness always at the top at all openings. Blurred so well cared for, nothing to do with previous PF productions. Even the yield in the backlight is good and far from the problems of its predecessors. Monstrous Af, even higher than that of the 500f4. Pro optics, very difficult to use because of the very narrow angle of view, 1mm of movement of the lens corresponds to one meter if not more inside the viewfinder, so wrist and steady hand are essential for use in free love. Even on the tripod, however, it becomes more complex to follow the scenes because you have to calibrate the movements of the head. Once these obstacles are overcome, it becomes an extraordinary lens. Thanks to an amazing VR, the most performing ever tried to date, it becomes a perfect lens for itinerant shots in cars or boats or other vehicles but also an extraordinary aid for trekking not too long in the mountains with final stalking. Of course it must be used with criterion and knowledge of the facts, that is, it must be used at distances of normal nature photography, you can not expect to photograph subjects at 1km away and expect them to be as good as those placed at 50 meters. In any case, even the yield at long distances is excellent, even here nothing to do with the old pf. In short, promoted with flying colors. Nikon with the supertele Z has really made masterpieces and this Z 800mm f6.3 Vr is among them. Well done Nikon!