Nikon AFS300 f4 shakes

[prostie1200]

I put up a picture on this and the Nikon web site for critique, on this site the pix width was 1000 and on the Nikon site 750.
On both sites the comments were more or less the same

Noise and Softness.

Now Noise I can understand as the shot was slightly underexposed and the PS adjustments I did aggravated it – so Noise is down to me.

The shooting conditions were, High blustery wind with the rain clouds scudding at speed, changing the light available by the second. The D70 was set up with an AFS300 f4 plus a TCE 1.7.

Tonight I set up a target exactly 30 yards from the camera, Even light, No Wind and the same set up locked on to a heavy Steel Manfrotto tripod and used the Remote for all the exposures.

Starting at 1/50 f6.7 I increased the speed through 1/60 – 1/125., the results show that there is almost a double image caused by shake until the 1/125 is reached

I do have a wedge between the tripod foot and the lens barrel but still I have this phenomenon.

RRS sell a replacement tripod foot which people say cures this problem – does anyone here use one and if so is it a cure.

Cheers

Brian

[Leif]

Many years ago I used to use an F80 with a Nikon 200mm F4 lens, and soon after buying the lens I considered returning it as I could not get sharp images even at 1/100 second exposures. But careful testing showed that the cause was mirror slap and/or shutter vibration. I eventually worked out that placing a large beanbag on top of the camera damped vibrations sufficiently that I could get sharp images. This severely limited my ability to take pictures, as it was a clumsy arrangement. Now I use a D200 and the mirror lock up allows me to take pin sharp images at any shutter speed. So in the case of the D200, the main cause of vibration is mirror slap, and not shutter vibration.

However, your Nikon 300m AFS F4 lens is not the same lens as my 200mm lenses which means that its vibrational characteristics will differ. In the case of my 200mm lens the tripod foot was very solid, so vibration from that source was not an issue.

You probably know that your lens has received several reviews critical of the tripod mount, indicating that it is flimsy, and that it can be improved by use of a simple wedge. Both Kirk and RRS sell replacements.

Hopefully someone will comment on whether or not MLU helps with your lens. I don't own one, so I cannot perform any tests.

As an aside, a famous nature photographer, Fritz Polking, changed from Nikon to Canon because most pro-Nikon bodies lacked MLU, which he considered essential. It meant that he could not take the photos he wanted to take if he used Nikon equipment. It is still the case that Nikon only has MLU in its expensive bodies, and I suspect the D80 will not have it either. In contrast I believe that Canon have MLU in all bodies (which can't be hard in the electronic age).

Leif