Nikon Nikkor AF-S 200–500 mm f/5.6E ED VR
10. Autofocus
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The Nikkor 200–500 mm is equipped with the ultrasonic SWM motor; small wonder the performance of the lens is noiseless. Still, when it comes to fastness we can’t praise it at all. Attached to the D500 camera, with one of the best AF modules in the system, running through the whole distance range and setting the focus takes about one second, no matter from what end you start. What’s interesting, the speed depends on the focal length – the lens is slightly faster at the longer end of the focal spectrum and a bit slower at 200 mm. These differences, though, aren’t big, never exceeding 0.1-0.2 of a second.
The tested lens is equipped with an autofocus limiter so when you choose the option from 6 meters to infinity the mechanism speeds up becoming twice as fast – as a result the focusing time decreases to a quite decent value of 0.4-0.5 of a second.
We didn’t have any accuracy problems, either in the studio or taking photos outside. The lens was also calibrated properly so we didn’t have to microcalibrate it from the menu level of our office bodies.
| Nikon D500, 350 mm, f/5.6 |
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| Nikon D500, 500 mm, f/5.6 |
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| Nikon D3x, 350 mm, f/5.6 |
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| Nikon D3x, 500 mm, f/5.6 |
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