Nikon announces AF-S 200-500mm f5.6E ED VR lens

In an interesting development, Nikon has announced a AF-S Nikkor 200-500mm f5.6E ED VR lens.
This lens has a constant f5.6 aperture. It has longer range than the 200-400mm f4 lens. It is also cheaper as it is priced at $1396.95 usd.

This lens has got extra low dispersion glass so that chromatic aberrations and distortions are controlled, sharpness is increased along with increase in clarity and colour accuracy.

This lens has a Silent Wave Motor autofocus system for quick and silent autofocusing in stills as well as in video modes. One can override to autofocus manually. By turning the focus ring. According to Nikon, the VR mechanism in this lens can handle upto 4.5 stops and hence help a lot in handholding.

Spanning a long, versatile zoom range, the AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR Lens from Nikon is a telephoto zoom characterized by a constant f/5.6 maximum aperture for consistent performance throughout the zoom range. The optical design incorporates extra-low dispersion glass to reduce chromatic aberrations and distortions for increased sharpness, clarity, and color accuracy.

A Silent Wave Motor AF system produces fast, near-silent focusing performance that suits both stills shooting and movie recording which can instantly be manually overridden by simply turning the manual focus ring. Further contributing to photographing in fast-paced situations and difficult lighting, VR (Vibration Reduction) image stabilization compensates for the effects of camera shake by up to 4.5 shutter speed stops. Additionally, an electromagnetic aperture mechanism is integrated into the lens design to provide greater exposure control stability that is especially beneficial when working with faster continuous shooting rates.

The Nikon 200-500mm f5.6 lens is designed for FX sensors and also can be used in cameras with DX sensors. The minimum focusing distance is 7.2 feet.

This lens takes 95mm filters in the front.

The Nikon AF-S Nikkor 200-500mm f5.6E ED VR lens will be available in September at an estimated cost of $1396.95 us dollars. At this price, I feel this lens is going to be a very popular lens and should help shooters move away from the third party lenses like the Sigmas and Tokinas. You can preorder this lens at B&H using the following link:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...990/KBID/13252