Quality

Longitudinal Chromatic Aberration and focus shift

Longitudinal color aberrations (loCA, a.k.a. “axial color” or “bokeh CA”) cannot be easily corrected in post-processing. They show up as magenta coloration in the foreground and greenish hues in the background. But in my tests the new Z-Nikkor showed no discernible loCA. When stopped down to f8.0 the foreground becomes less sharp so there is some focus-shift towards the background.

Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR longitudinal Chromatic Aberration (loCA)

Above from top to bottom: f5.6, f8.0; left = foreground, right = background, click image for 100% crops

In all of my test-shots with the Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR I could not detect any purple fringing around high-contrast edges in the focus plane and no green outlining around background subjects. Very good!

Sharpness and contrast

Let’s have a look at the theoretical performance of Nikon’s AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF ED VR and compare it to their Z 400mm f2.8 TC VR S, Z 400mm f4.5 VR S, and Z 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 RV S zoom lens at the long end:

Above: Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR at f5.6 (left), Nikon Z 400mm f2.8 TC VR S at 560mm f4.0 (right)

Above: Nikon Z 400mm f4.5 VR S at f4.5 (left), Nikon Z 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 VR S at 400mm f5.6 (right)

These MTF charts show the computed lens-performance of lenses wide open at infinity without influence of diffraction at 10 line-pairs/mm (red) and 30 lp/mm (blue). Higher values are better (more contrast) and the closer the dotted and solid lines are together the less contrast dependents on the orientation of the test-pattern (less astigmatism). The x-axis displays the distance from the optical axis (=center of the sensor) in mm. I’ll show you real-life performance at 4 mm (“center”), 13 mm (APS-C/DX-corner), and 20 mm (FF/FX-corner) on a on a 45MP Nikon Z7 camera.

From the charts all four lenses show extremely high overall contrast (red lines). Looking at the resolution of finer details (30 lp/mm) the new Z 400mm f4.5 VR S is clearly superior at f4.5 to the Z 100-400mm at f5.6 – which bodes well for using the Z TC-2.0x. The Nikon Z 400mm f2.8 TC VR S looks just a little less sharp on paper but shows less astigmatism and also is at f2.8. Stop it down to f4.5 for an apples-to-apples comparison and I’m pretty sure it’s right up there with or even superior to the Z 400mm f4.5 VR S. The best looking chart in this comparison belongs to the F-Nikkor AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF ED VR. But keep in mind that the lens is at f5.6 which makes it much easier to produce good mtf values – especially when diffraction is not taken into account.

Let’s see how this theoretical performance translates into real life results in the sharpness test based on Siemens-stars shot on a 45MP Nikon Z7. Processing was done in Lightroom 11.4.1/CRAW 14.4.1 from RAW to Adobe Color profile with the built-in lens profile for CA, vignette control and distortion compensation applied. Noise-reduction is set to 0, sharpening to 50/0.5/36/10, with no extra tone, color, or saturation adjustment. White-balance was adjusted to a neutral white and I did some exposure compensation to make the brightness of all crops match. So you will not see light fall-off in the corners.

The following 100% crops show the Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF ED VR from wide open down to f11 compared to Nikon’s Z 400mm f4.5 VR S + Z TC-1.4x, Z 400mm f2.8 TC VR S + internal TC, Z 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 VR S at 560mm focal length.

Performance at 500/560mm:

Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR at 500mm compared; 100% crop from center, DX-corner, FX-corner

Above: Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR at 500mm, f5.6

Above: Nikon Z 400mm f4.5 VR S + Z TC-1.4x at 560mm, f6.3

Above: Nikon Z 400mm f2.8 TC VR S + internal 1.4x TC at 560mm, f5.6

Above: Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR at 500mm, f8.0; also available at f11

Above: Nikon Z 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 VR S + Z TC-1.4x at 560mm, f8.0

Both the Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR and Z 400mm f4.5 VR S + Z TC-1.4x are very close in sharpness with the F-Nikkor slightly better in the center and the Z-Nikkor better in the FX-corner. This is quite impressive from the Z-Nikkor considering it is on a teleconverter. The Z 400mm f2.8 TC VR + internal TC is still a bit better than both of the above lenses. Only when you stop the F-Nikkor down to f8.0 does it match the Z 400mm f2.8 TC VR (at f5.6). Finally there’s the Z 100-400mm f4.5-4.5 VR S + Z TC-1.4x but it clearly falls behind the other three lenses in this comparison.

To reach 800/850mm focal length I put the AF-S TC-17E II on the F-Nikkor resp. the Z TC-2.0x on the other lenses and also brought the Nikon Z 800mm f6.3 VR S to the comparison.

Performance at 850/800mm:

Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR + TC-1.7x at 850mm compared; 100% crop from center, DX-corner, FX-corner

Above: Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR + AF-S TC-17E II at 850mm, f9.5

Above: Nikon Z 400mm f4.5 VR S + Z TC-2.0x at 800mm, f9.0

Above: Nikon Z 800mm f6.3 VR S at 800mm, f8.0

Above: Nikon Z 400mm f2.8 TC VR S + Z TC-2.0x at 800mm, f8.0

Above: Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR + AF-S TC-17E II at 850mm, f11

Above: Nikon Z 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 VR S + Z TC-2.0x at 800mm, f11

At 800mm the clear winner is the Z 800mm f6.3 VR S – although the Z 400mm f2.8 TC VR S + Z TC-2.0x still has a small advantage in center sharpness. The AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR and Z 400mm f4.5 VR S are clearly behind the other two. And the Z 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 VR S comes last – although not far behind (at f11).

Performance at long distances

The Siemens-star test-targets are shot at a distance of 45x focal length (i.e. at around 23m for 500mm focal length). But performance of lenses also depends on the shooting distance. Therefore I present another series of images shot on a 45MP Nikon Z 7 of a city around 1 km away. Processing was done in Lightroom 11.4.1/CRAW 14.4.1 from RAW to Adobe Color profile with the built-in lens profile compensating CA, vignetting, and distortions. Noise-reduction is set to 0, sharpening to 50/0.5/36/10, with no extra color or saturation adjustment. All shots were made from a heavy tripod with image stabilization switched off and I used ISO 200 for 500mm focal length and ISO 400 for 850mm focal length to keep shutter speeds fast enough even at f11 to minimize any risk of micro-blur from gusts of wind. As usual I selected the diagonal which provided the better corner results. This may not necessarily indicate decentering of the lens as thermal turbulences in the air might also influence sharpness of different shots. Overall my test-copy of the lens made a well-centered impression.

The following images show the complete scene wide open plus 100% crops roughly from the center, DX-corner, and FX-corner at 500mm and 850mm. You can access the large originals but these files are for personal evaluation only and cannot be used in another publication or website without permission..

Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR

Above: Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR at f5.6; click image for 4k version, here for large original; crops also available at f8.0, f11

Above: Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR + AF-S TC-17E II at 850mm, f9.5; click image for 4k version, here for large original; crops also available at f11

Without teleconverter the Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR produces very sharp shots wide open – even right into the FX-corner. With the AF-S TC-17E II at 850mm results become visibly softer but are still very usable in the DX image-circle.

Both short and long distance tests prove that the Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR is indeed a very good performer. But matching it with the AF-S TC-17E II is taxing the abilities of the lens a bit.

Vignetting and distortions

To make it easier to see light fall-off in the corners of a full-frame sensor I’ve arranged a series of three shots each with the Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR. All images were developed to the same brightness in the center and are shown with vignette control Off (1st row) resp. Normal (2nd row):

Above: Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR

Vignetting is pretty mild even without lens profile at f5.6 and practically invisible at smaller apertures. With vignette control set to normal the extreme corners are lifted only 0.4 EV when the aperture is wide open – one of the lowest values I have seen so far. With RAW-files from a Z7 Adobe’s RAW converter and Lightroom automatically apply vignette control as it was set in camera – but you cannot alter the setting in postprocessing.

This is different with distortions: The setting for distortion compensation in camera is ignored by Adobe’s RAW converter, treated as On, and cannot be deactivated. The following composite images show a roof rail at the upper border of the full-frame image first without distortion compensation (JPG) and then with compensation from the built-in lens profile applied to RAW. The lens shows a slight pincushion distortion which is well corrected by the lens profile:

Distortions: Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR, auto distortion control Off (top), On (bottom)

Rendering of point-light sources at night-shots

Night-shots pose a different challenge for lenses as the contrast is even higher than under bright sun and point-light sources can reveal some weaknesses such as coma, haloing and colour-aberrations that do not show up as prominently in other test-shots. The 100% crops below the main image show the effect of coma in the FF-corner of the Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR at different apertures:

Above: Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR at f5.6; click image for 4k version, here for large original

Above: Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR; 100% crops from the FX-corner at f5.6 (left), f8.0 (right)

There’s practically no coma at the edge of the AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR image-circle but the lens produces a bit of halo and color artifacts around bright streetlights (see below).

Bokeh quality

This test is for the rendering of point-light sources in an out-of-focus background. The circle of confusion that is produced by the test is pretty indicative of Bokeh performance (in the background) and light fall-off. Ideally the out-of-focus image of the point-light is evenly lit and perfectly circular, with no “onion-rings”, and without coloration. Large aperture lenses normally produce an effect known as “cat’s eye” the further away from the optical axis the point-light is projected. This is due to optical vignetting in the lens barrel when light enters the lens from an angle.

Above: Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR at f5.6; 4k versions available at f5.6, f8.0, f11

The diameter of the Bokeh balls in the center is determined by the entrance pupil of the lens which is 89mm. So the Bokeh balls of the Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR should be of the same size as from the Nikon Z 400mm f4.5 VR S and around 38% smaller in diameter than from the Nikon Z 400mm f2.8 TC VR S – if the lenses are at the same reproduction ratio.

Compression of the Bokeh balls towards the corners is OK wide open. The circle of confusion is well rounded up to f8.0 – so good diffraction spikes are only expected at f11 or smaller apertures (see below). There is little outlining and no coloration from loCA. The inside of the Bokeh balls is smoothly textured with no onion rings. These are all good preconditions for a soft Bokeh in the background.

Head over to my page with sample images which were all shot wide open to get a better impression of how Bokeh of the lens looks in different situations. I personally find it smooth in the transition zone and background. But the foreground often looks nervous with a slight tendency towards double contours.

Above: Nikon Z 400mm f4.5 VR S at f4.5; click image for 4k version, here for large original

Above: Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR at f5.6; click image for 4k version, here for large original

Close-up performance

The following shots were taken with the Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR close to its maximum magnification of 1:5.0. The crops shown below are from 0mm, 14mm, and 20mm off the center of the sensor respectively, the area of sharp focus is 122 x 183mm.

Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR, 1:5.1 magnification; 100% crops

Above: Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR at f5.6

Above: Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR at f8.0

Above: Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR at f16

At 500mm focal length close-up performance is quite decent already wide open but a bit behind the Z 400mm f4.5 VR S (look here for comparison). Stop down to f8.0 to lift acuity in the DX image-circle. Field curvature is very low, in this test all crops are from the same shot.

I repeated the test with the AF-S TC-17E II at 850mm focal length and a magnification of 1:3.0. The crops are from 0mm, 14mm, 19mm image height, the area of sharp focus is 72 x 108mm. Results are quite a bit softer than at 400mm but still very usable in the DX image-circle once stopped down to f11 or even f16 for better sharpness in the FX-corner.

Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF V + AF-S TC-17E II at 850mm, 1:3.0 magnification; 100% crops

Above: Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR + AF-S TC-17E II at 850mm, f9.5

Above: Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR + AF-S TC-17E II at 850mm, f11

Above: Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR + AF-S TC-17E II at 850mm, f16

Sunstars

The lens produces no sunstars wide open and only weak one at f8.0 but there is a bit of a halo around the light-source. The halo intensifies when the lens is stopped down and sunstars develop.

Above: Sunstars from the Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VRS at f5.6, f8.0, f11 (from left to right), 100% crops

Next check out my sample images!