writes:
> Even 3X the area is still greater than 1.7 in linear dimension. Nearer,
> though. How do lenses of around 400mm focal length compare?
Looks like bhphoto has the Mamiya 300/5.6 for $760 in manual focus
(rounding to nearest dollar), priced maybe comparably to a 300/4.5 for
35mm. Weight is 710 g. Then they have a 500/4.5 for $9,990, at 5410
g. The corresponding Nikkor 500/4 AF-S EDIF II is $7200, 3450 g.
They also have a 300/2.8 at $6800, 2910 g. Nikon's is 2850g, not that
much lighter.
Hmm, ok, there's a Pentax 300/4 AF for $2500 (1490 g) and 400/5.6 for
$1100, 4800 g (hmm that can't be right). No 400/4 or 400/2.8. No
fast telephoto zooms but there's an AF 80-160/4.5, at $1000 comparable
to an 80-200/2.8 AF-D Nikkor. Oh wait, there's a 150-300/5.6 at
$1250, 920 g, compare to Nikkor AF 70-300/4-5.6 ED at $300-ish, 517 g,
or 80-400/4.5-5.6 at $1430, 1315 g. Nikon made a 400/5.6 back in the
day but now I guess you'd use a 300/4 with a 1.4x. The 300/4 is 1406 g.
Anyway it looks like there's a noticable weight difference with some
but not all of these lenses. Nikon jacked up prices considerably for
the AF-S versions of the 300/4 and 300/2.8 compared with the non-AFS
versions, especially the AF-S VR 300/2.8 which is over $4K.