Samples

The following images were taken with the Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR lens mounted on a 45MP Nikon Z9 camera. All images were shot wide open as RAW files and developed in Lightroom 11.4.1/CRAW 14.4.1 from RAW to Adobe Color profile. RAW files were only corrected for CAs. Noise-reduction was set to 0 (even with images shot at high ISO), sharpening to 50/0.5/36/10. I applied exposure compensation plus some extra tone, color, or saturation adjustment to produce more pleasing images which are closer to what one would normally do when processing RAW files.

The individual exposure details are stated for each image. Some images are cropped to DX format in post-processing – which I’ve noted in the caption. The last image of the moon was shot with the AF-S TC-17E II and cropped to DX format which gives an angle of view equivalent to a 1275mm lens! All of my high resolution Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR sample images are available to download in their original formats for analysis at Flickr. These files are for personal evaluation only and cannot be used in another publication or website without permission.

1/500, 500mm, f5.6, 500 ISO, Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR; click image for 4k version, here for large original

1/500, 500mm, f5.6, 1000 ISO, Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR; click image for 4k version, here for large original

1/500, 500mm, f5.6, 720 ISO, Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR; click image for 4k version, here for large original

1/500, 500mm, f5.6, 90 ISO, Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR; click image for 4k version, here for large original

1/500, 500mm, f5.6, 800 ISO, Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR; click image for 4k version, here for large original

1/500, 500mm, f5.6, 100 ISO, Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR; click image for 4k version, here for large original

1/500, 500mm, f5.6, 250 ISO, Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR; click image for 4k version, here for large original

1/3200, 500mm, f5.6, 800 ISO, Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR; click image for 4k version, here for large original

1/2000, 850mm, f9.5, 800 ISO, Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR + AF-S TC-17E II; click image for 4k version, here for large original

1/500, 500mm, f5.6, 90 ISO, Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR; click image for 4k version, here for large original

1/800, 500mm, f5.6, 64 ISO, Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR; click image for 4k version, here for large original

1/2000, 500mm, f5.6, 800 ISO, Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR, DX-crop; click image for 4k version, here for large original

1/500, 500mm, f5.6, 100 ISO, Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR, DX-crop; click image for 4k version, here for large original

1/5000, 500mm, f5.6, 800 ISO, Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR, DX-crop; click image for 4k version, here for large original

1/4000, 850mm, f9.5, 800 ISO, Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR + AF-S TC-17E II; click image for 4k version, here for large original

1/500, 500mm, f5.6, 110 ISO, Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR; click image for 4k version, here for large original

1/200, 500mm, f5.6, 64 ISO, Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR, DX-crop; click image for 4k version, here for large original

1/500, 850mm, f9.5, 400 ISO, Nikon AF-S 500mm f5.6E PF VR + AF-S TC-17E II, DX-crop; click image for 4k version, here for large original