difference between Nikon 500 f4 with and without Silent Wave Motor

[Michael Hogan]

Just shows how little I know. I am in the market for a Nikon 500 f4, second hand. There are a few on ebay at the moment, 2 older manual focus models and one AFS 500mm f4 ED-IF II lens. The seller says it is the older model of the AF lens without the SWM. Is it a good as the new one and what is it worth secondhand

Thanks

Michael

[Don Hoey]

I can only mention a bit of the history of the Nikon 500mm f4. All a bit exotic so I have no user experience.

Nikkor 500 f4 IF-ED P : Introduced in 1988. Manual focus only. The P stands for integrated CPU for communication between lens and camera. Weight 3Kg

Nikkor 500 f4 IF-ED AF-I D : November 94 - July 97. AF-I stands for autofocus with internal coreless motor. Weight 4.2Kg

Nikkor 500 f4 IF-ED AFS : June 97 - April 01. AFS motor said to be significantly quieter than the AF-I version. Optical construction was also changed also the number of diaphragm blades increased. Lens better protected from adverse weather conditions. Weight 3.8Kg

Nikkor 500 f4 IF-ED AFS II : June 01 > Current model, but to be replaced by VR version later in the year. Weight 3.43Kg

I guess questions about how good it is and what its worth secondhand are probably better posted on the BirdForum as there are probably more potential users there.

Don

[Canis Vulpes]

It seems when the Silent Wave Motor (SWM) was added the optical design was also changed.

An AF-D lens will be a screw type where the body has to turn the focus via a mating shaft. AF-D lenses tend to be slower particular on the consumer bodies whereas SWM tends to focus quickly on all bodies only marginally faster on the pro end bodies. AF-D are also quite noisy (sound), I guess may alert wildlife of your presence. SWM as the name suggests is virtually silent.

[Don Hoey]

After a bit of a search I have not been able to find any reviews of the Nikkor 500 f4 IF-ED AF-I D.

Slightly contrary to Foxy's post, this lens is billed as having a coreless motor built in. I guess that accounts for its weight relative to the AFS version. The D in this case stands for transmission of distance information for matrix metering rather than being an AF-D design which as Foxy correctly says are focussed by screw driven by a motor in the camera body.

Old Nikon Lens Brochure provided the info. I have that stuff going back years.

Don

[Andy]

I did a fair amount of research on this when buying a Nikon 600/4 (I bought an AF-S 1 in the end)
Yep, the AF-I doesn't use a screw-drive mechanism... but it is very slow to AF compared to AF-S. Noise when using AF is louder but not too bad, I've heard worse. The 400/2.8 AF-I is the real 'dog' to avoid by all accounts. Besides, birds are more likely to be scared off by the sudden clatter of the camera rather than the AF noise... and at times, a bit of noise to catch the subjects attention can be a good thing as far as photogenic poses go, just as long as they are not spooked into flight.

Although some optical redesign was done for the newer AF-S lenses, there's not much difference in the actual quality of image.

I'd watch out for oily/rough aperture blades on something this old. Given that it's about to be an extra generation old, I wouldn't want to pay more than £2000 for a 500/4 AF-I.

You may have seen this already but there's a review of this lens on BF
http://www.birdforum.net/reviews/sho...duct/69/cat/14

Cheers,
Andy

[nirofo]

It depends what you want to use the lens for, if max speed isn't such an issue then there's nothing wrong with the Nikkor 500 f4 IFED AF-I D, it's a great lens, a friend of mine uses one on his Nikon D200 for bird photography all the time, works very well but is slightly slower than my Nikkor 500 f4 AF-S 1. The glass and build quality of both are superb! I used to use a Nikkor 500 f4 AI-S P on my Nikon FM2, (manual focus) for bird photography, yes it was far slower than the latest AF-S lenses, but once again image and build quality was second to none. They all work well with Nikon digital cameras within their limitations, except for the Nikon D40 (D40X), only the AF-S lenses will work on this body. Can't say the same for other camera manufacturers lenses and bodies!!!

nirofo.