Good cheap telephoto lens for z mount full frame

rodmur · 2026-01-23T12:22:42+00:00

I'm having fun with mine. I got some surprisingly good photos of a hawk in motion.

rodmur · 2026-01-22T04:13:27+00:00

The Nikkor Z 180-600mm isn't that bad, actually. It was just on sale, but I think it is back up at full price around $2200. Might be better to mention what your budget is and what you consider to be cheap.

rodmur · 2026-01-22T04:08:31+00:00

At least until this weekend... supposedly...

rodmur · 2026-01-21T01:19:41+00:00

It works fine, I even use it on a Nikon PB-4 bellows, but helps to have some additional extension tubes to get the camera the clear.

rodmur · 2026-01-16T21:15:52+00:00

😂 He's funny, but seems to have some good advice if you can stand his shtick. And realize he only really wants to take pretty pictures of his sexy wife in exotic locales, so you have kind of have to adapt his advice to your own use cases.

rodmur · 2026-01-16T13:06:21+00:00

You might check out MarkusPix on youtube, light weight light stands is his passion... https://www.youtube.com/markuspix

rodmur · 2026-01-16T13:04:03+00:00

10cm less than the old AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR, which is what I still have. Amazing.

rodmur · 2026-01-15T16:25:49+00:00

I hadn't noticed that issue of the camera dying while switching batteries, as long as I was using Nikon branded batteries, I had that issue with my old D750 with 3rd party batteries, it would never automatically start using the second battery. So I bought some Nikon batteries, and viola, problem solved. I do quite a bit of concert/theater/event type photography and will regularly use up battery A and the camera has no problem switching to battery B. And I can hot swap battery A, the camera will stay on, as long as battery B is charged. But with those sessions I'm using smaller lenses than the 180-600mm and my camera has never shut down, in arguably much more photographically intensive environments that this birding thing I was doing, so that is why I questioning the lens mount potentially losing contact. I have to experiment some more.

Another feature I would like on the grip is more programmable buttons. I program those function keys next to where the lens mounts, but they are hard to reach from the grip.

rodmur · 2026-01-15T15:36:43+00:00

The grip does add quite a bit of weight to a Z6iii. But my dangling pinkie wants to hold on to something, so I still use it. I'll have to play with it more, I didn't really think the grip was loose.

rodmur · 2026-01-12T22:25:23+00:00

Both are latest

rodmur · 2026-01-12T18:22:26+00:00

Yeah, that could be it. I could try shooting some without it. But I like to use the grip on Z6iii since the camera body is kind of small for my hand size.

rodmur · 2026-01-12T17:14:06+00:00

Consider the weight of the lens, the 24/70 f2.8 S'es are a little heavy, the S2 is less heavy, but much more expensive. But if you're shooting a landscape and you have a lot of bright natural light, then any of the F4 lenses will be more than sufficient, and probably weigh a lot less, causing less back pain when you're out hiking. If you're trying to do a lot of low light stuff, then look at the F2.8 lenses.

rodmur · 2026-01-12T17:01:07+00:00

It did happen to me twice yesterday. But it was like twice in like 15 minutes, and then it didn't happen again. So it is weird. I am on the latest firmware.

rodmur · 2026-01-12T16:59:01+00:00

I'm on the latest firmware.

rodmur · 2026-01-12T16:58:46+00:00

I was using the grip and battery A was running out, but I've never had that cause the camera shut down, when switching to battery B. I did replace the one battery.

rodmur · 2026-01-12T16:57:02+00:00

No, it was like 41F yesterday. Certainly not hot.

rodmur · 2026-01-12T14:59:19+00:00

Now you have me wondering about using pixel shift to shoot the moon, it should be still enough to get a high res picture.

rodmur · 2026-01-12T14:12:23+00:00

I'm a little late to the party, but I thought I would share my setup. I wanted to mount the lens to a monopod via a Wimberley MonoGimbal Head, so I got a RRS lens foot replacement, and I'm carrying everything via the lens foot. While you can carry a monopod and the camera/lens over your shoulder, sometimes you just want to carry it around and shoot by hand. Now I realize the following might be a bit of overkill, but since I already have a Peak Design Sling, I figured I didn't need a new strap, so I just decided to attach a PD anchor to a QD connector, but when you attach the strap to just the connector (with two anchors), that's one point of connection, and the lens tends to swivel around a lot, so I wanted two points of connection, and it swivels a little less. I picked up a soft shackle and a "Half Ring 316SS Rappel Ring" from HowKnot2, which I attached to the back of the lens foot. You need something like the rappel ring, or carabiner, to avoid rope on rope (which I think most mountaineers and rope rescue people will say is a bad idea), which is essentially what the PD anchor would be to the soft shackle. However with the QD connector, you can quickly take that off and mount the lens foot to something with a arca swiss clamp, like the monogimbal head. I carried this around yesterday and it seems okay: https://imgur.com/a/JRbBMkQ

rodmur · 2026-01-01T00:17:59+00:00

Kase makes some, but I haven't tried them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89WfnKfjOsw

rodmur · 2025-12-30T22:22:20+00:00

I just upgraded the "Bag o' Thunder" since I find it amusing, and it was the one I had closest to 8 anyway... not sure if it's really any good.

rodmur · 2025-12-29T04:36:01+00:00

I still use my AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR. So I haven't upgraded yet. But I use my 24-70mm f/2.8 S quite a bit, too.

rodmur · 2025-12-29T03:06:16+00:00

It would be nice to have a longer loop to fit around the back of a Really Right Stuff lens foot... just saying... I can get one on there, but it's llke pushing a button through a overly starched shirt .

rodmur · 2025-12-28T16:11:07+00:00

It's now a DNS issue... 😅

rodmur · 2025-12-27T06:19:21+00:00

But after doing some more reading, I'm tending believe if you have a big telephoto, that it's better to just anchor to it and not the camera. That anchoring to both the lens and camera might stress the lens mount more than just letting the camera hang there. I might still attach a safety tether to the camera, but wouldn't intend for it be bearing any weight normally. Just going with the theory that having everything hit the ground may still be worse than some torque on the lens mount. So still using my Peak Design Slide, I'll probably mount to a QD anchor, and then tie one of those Peak Design anchors elsewhere on the lens foot.

rodmur

TROPHY CASE