While shopping for an adapter to fit the lens on my Wimberly head I found this:

These custom low-profile replacement feet replace the factory foot on the rotation collar of your lens and also serve as the Arca-Swiss style quick-release plate for your lens. No additional quick-release plate is needed. It makes your lens handle better on a conventional tripod head, such as a ball head, and also makes it easier to pack.

Using our replacement foot on your large lens decreases the overall height of the lens, lowering the center of gravity so that it achieves proper balance when used on a gimbal head such as the Wimberley Head…

Basically it’s a replacement foot made by Wimberly (part number AP-452) that is designed to completely replace the stock foot on the lens, rather than an adapter plate that would bolt on when needed. With my first 600mm lens I purchased an adapter and basically just left it on the lens all the time. This is a far better solution as it basically gives a more stable platform (one less connection) and still allows me to use my lens on a monopod if desired.

Wimberly makes a version for both of my big lenses, but I just purchased one for now (for my 600mm F4). Based on the success I plan to order one for my 200-400 zoom as well. For some reason shipping for the replacement foot for the 600 was free, but it’s not for the other. I decided to just get one to try it out first, and will wait a while and see if anyone runs a special for free shipping on the other.

A few years later I decided that they must have lost my notification subscription so I logged in and tried to subscribe again. They said I was already subscribed so obviously their system was working. That was over a year ago. I tweeted to Nikon asking for details, and they simply said to be patient, that they were working on them. Apparently the front lens takes several months to make because the glass has to cool very, or shall I say extremely, slowly in order to maintain the optical quality.

Finally a few months ago I got an email notification saying that the lens was in stock again. I immediately went to a couple of different sites (including Amazon) and found that at least two of my typical sources for photography equipment both had the lens in stock. The price was basically the same and both offered free shipping so I ordered from Amazon. (Interesting aside: if you spend that much on an order, Amazon assigns an “order concierge” to make sure everything goes well with your order.) Amazon only had 7 of the lenses in stock then, and when I checked today they were down to 5. My lens came in a few days later, and I was able to take it out for some soccer pictures. While this is not intended to be a full review, I can say a couple of things right away.

The lens is heavy. I knew that going in, but seeing it on paper and experiencing it live are two different things.

The lens is fast! Focus is fast, and quiet due to the silent wave motor technology Nikon uses in their advanced lenses.

The lens is sharp. I was able to take pictures half-way across the youth soccer field and still read the lettering on their uniforms when viewed at full size. Here’s a sample image:

The label on the shorts reads ADIDAS and in the full-size image it’s very clear. As I was looking at the picture I also noticed that the fingers on the soccer gloves were already worn down to some degree, and the gloves had not even been used for an entire season yet…

Finally, the lens attracts a lot of attention from other photographers but non-photographers as well.

I am not highly technical when it comes to evaluating lenses, so my reviews are somewhat subjective. I know what I’m looking for, and from there decide if a lens is meeting my requirements. So far this lens is exactly as advertised. I can hardly wait to take it out for some serious wildlife photography.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20025567-264.html

I brought out my Nikon D-700 with my 70-300 lens mounted. This lens offers VR capabilities, but that still didn’t change the fact that I needed a light source. I was going to use flash for the photograph, but I could not see the moth to focus! I thought my camera had a focus-assist light, but at the time it was not coming on and I did not have time to figure out what was wrong, or even if my memory was incorrect. As a quick solution, I simply asked my wife to hold a flashlight on the moth so I could focus, and then the flash would illuminate the moth for the photograph.

I was quite pleased with the results. I ended up using manual focus. The combination of camera flash and flashlight illumination came out better than I expected. Here’s a picture cropped to show the moth hanging from the tree branch.

Here is a version that I have cropped all the way into the moth detail. The amount of texture and color is amazing. The focus point was on the head of the moth, so the eye shows up quite clearly. The antenna are great too, but what really amused me was how clearly the moth’s “toes” show up.

One of the tips to share here is I had two different angles to consider shooting from. One angle put the moth in front of a bunch of lights from the skyline. The other angle had me shooting towards my neighbor’s back yard, which had no lights. That was obviously the better choice because I don’t have any light pollution showing up behind the image. So in this case, I guess I was shooting a “moment of darkness” instead of light.

That is all.

I’m planning a trip to Alaska at the moment. It’s not a true photography trip (more of a family vacation) so I’m not sure if I will be able to justify taking it or not. I may end up with the 70-200VR 2.8 and a converter or something instead.

I will post back when I get the replacement case in, and let everyone know how long it takes.

So I spent the week in Utah taking only digital pictures with the D700.

It felt weird.