I recently flew to Kenya for a brief trip, where I got the opportunity to visit a few of national parks and witness some great animals. When I previously lived in this lovely nation, I never had a super-telephoto lens on hand to get up close and personal with lions, rhinos, and other wildlife. I needed to make amends on this trip.
This would be my chance to bring a lens that I couldn’t buy or use sufficiently on a daily basis to justify owning one. I wanted to carry only one extra pro lens for the week to go with my Nikon Z6 II mirrorless camera, and for it to be relatively lightweight but capable of creating pin-sharp images High-quality pictures.
After careful study of Nikon’s top Z lenses, which include a good selection of prime and zoom telephoto lenses, I chose the Nikkor Z 400mm F4/.5 VR S. Is this the lens that will allow me to get the wildlife images I’ve always wanted?
There are choices
My lenses for the trip were the Z 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR S, the Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR, and the Z 600mm F/6.3 VR S. So, how did I decide on the Z 400mm f/4.5 VR S? Through elimination.
The 600mm focal length is popular among wildlife photographers and perfect for birding, but I was also mindful of the range of creatures I might encounter. For example, would the Nikon Z 600mm F/6.3 VR S be too small for a giraffe? Very likely.
The versatility of the 180-600mm was appealing, but it is larger and heavier than the others, and it lacks the ‘S’ designation that Nikon’s pro lenses have. TechRadar lauded the zoom lens, but observed that the fixed focal length lens outperformed it optically, particularly at 400mm and above. That lens was also not suitable.
I was going to go with the 100-400mm, an outstanding lens that I reviewed for TechRadar. However, I was confident that I’d be utilizing whichever lens I brought at its maximum focal length, so why not go with the 400mm? It was more riskier, but the slightly wider maximum aperture and optical quality compared to the zoom lens set to 400mm, as well as the fact that it was around 15% lighter, won me over zoom versatility.
Would I regret my decision? Don’t judge me, but as a backup, I packed the Nikkor Z 70-180mm F/2.8 lens without planning to use it – just in case.
A steep learning curve
Hiring a lens for a specific shoot or a short trip is a wonderful option to have high-quality glass in your hands without having to pay full price for it. An East African safari is an excellent illustration of when to do it. Adorama in the United States and Hireacamera in the United Kingdom are both reputable camera equipment rental companies.
The most telephoto Nikon Z lens I own has a maximum reach of 180mm. That’s fantastic for environmental wildlife or getting physically near to wildlife, but it didn’t produce the shots I wanted during my time in Kenya. I couldn’t wait for the 400mm f/4.5 lens to bring me closer to the action than I’d ever been.
That comes with a warning: take as much time as possible to acquaint yourself with the new equipment. I’d never used the 400mm lens before, and I didn’t have much time to experiment with it before finding myself gazing out the window of my friend’s 4×4 in Nairobi National Park, so I learned the hard way, quickly.
There were a few early instances where it did not focus on my subject at all. Unknowingly, the focus limiter switch was set to 6m to infinity rather than its full range, preventing anything closer than 6m from coming into focus. It’s a basic task, but when the equipment is new, problem solving takes longer.
Tweaks were also required to obtain the maximum performance out of my lens and camera combo, particularly while focusing. The Z6 II’s subject identification focusing for animals is simpler and less successful than its people tracking (the Z8 is superior). Finally, over the next few days, I polished my approach, particularly by using manual focus corrections when autofocus wasn’t quite right.
For the most of your safari photography, you’ll use the lens’s full reach
I was limited to a 400mm focal length, but it didn’t matter. At times, the animals was virtually touching distance away, but in those moments, I turned to my phone for fast films and photos, or I simply savored the moment without the camera.
Only once did I switch from the 400mm to the 70-180mm lens, for a photo of a giraffe that I was otherwise too close to with the 400mm. It’s not my favorite photo from the trip, however (see below).
When I tested the 100-400mm lens, I frequently found myself shooting wildlife and sports at the telephoto end (probably around 90% at 400mm), thus I was getting the best possible quality at that focal length by choosing the fixed focal length option instead. When adjusted to 400mm, the maximum f/4.5 aperture is marginally better than the 100-400mm’s f/5.6, but that 2/3EV difference didn’t bother me at all, especially in strong sunshine. It wasn’t for shorter depth of field, however; a full frame 400mm lens at f/4.5 is extremely shallow, and I frequently stopped down to f/5.6 to obtain a bit more depth of field anyway.
And then came the moment I had longed for: we saw a serval wild cat along the track. The evasive creature jumped into the edge, disappearing from sight. We followed its likely path and, by chance, came paths with it again a mile farther into the park.
The 400mm lens length was ideal for this encounter; a 600mm would have been too close, while a 70-180mm would not have been tight enough. I captured a single frame as it peered right down the lens, then the serval vanished into the tall grass.
Based on my experience with the lens and the photographs I’ve taken, I’m glad I remained with a single focal length and chose the 400mm option. Yes, there were instances when I wished we were closer, such as when we saw lions from a distance (see above). But, generally, this focal length provided the best of both worlds: the composition and depth of field I prefer for wildlife in a variety of shapes and sizes, with some room for cropping later. I suppose I’d choose it again next time, but maybe bring a teleconverter with me for those few occasions when I want to get even closer. Another reason to choose a fixed focal length lens—they perform better with teleconverters compared to zoom lenses.
