“Will this lens enable me to shot birds and other wildlife from a distance? Will it fit my Nikon D700 camera?”
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To answer your question directly: Yes. It will work VERY nicely. I own the D700 (FX) as well as the D800 (FX), D300s (DX), and D7100 (DX) and it worked with all of them. 80-400mm on (FX) = 80-400mm Field Of View 80-400mm on (DX) = 120-600mm Field Of View It's the "from a distance" part of your question that concerns me though. I will answer this to the best of my ability without knowing some key factors like: 1) BIRD TYPES - Raptors? Hummingbirds? Large water fowl? Tiny songbirds? Birds in flight, or Perched? 2) TRAVEL - Getting an AF-S 80-400mm Nikon or Sigma 150-500mm OS on a plane is easier than a 600mm f/4 or 800mm f/5.6. (I NEVER check my lenses/camera gear, so it all has to fit in an plane's overhead compartment.) BUT if the birds are only going to be little specks in your view-finder, you've got a problem as those lenses don't take teleconverters very well. So you're better off with a used 500mm or 600mm prime lens that will. (A whole NEW world in terms of cost, and maybe more than you were interested in investing, but I'm just giving you the big picture rather than assume limitations for you...) 3) WEIGHT - I have a combo of a 300mm f/2.8 or 300mm f/4 (Super-light!) & TC-20eIII for 600mm that I can take hiking. I will NOT go hiking with the 600mm f/4 VR! ( Too heavy, and too TRAGIC if it takes a fall...) 4) SUPPORT - Do you have a GOOD tripod & Wimberley head? (400mm-800mm fast lenses) Or do you intend to use a monopod? (300mm- 400mm fast lenses) Or no support desired? (300mm f/4 + Teleconverter, 150-500mm OS Sigma, or AF-S 80-400mm Nikon) 5) QUALITY REQUIREMENT - Do you NEED a fast prime's sharpness & speed, or will a zoom be acceptable? (Nikon 80-400mm AF-S VR, (NOT the old AF version!) Sigma 150-500mm OS, or Sigma 50-500mm OS, or Nikon 200-400mm AF-S VRII) 6) DISTANCE - Example: If you are birding in an area where the birds are accustomed to people and you can get relatively close, then a Nikon 80-400mm might be great, but if you are going to be shooting birds at extreme range constantly, then the 80-400mm will not perform as well as a 500mm f/4. ...And SO many more questions that will allow a suggestion to actually be meaningful to YOU. I will tell you what I shoot for birding though in hopes that it helps get you started: Nikon D7100 (24MP) DX - Pretty-fast focus, accepts lens combos down to f/8, 7FPS built-in lens motor so it still autofocuses my old non-AF-I or AF-S lenses. Decent Hi ISO performance. When SERIOUS about going out to get shots - Nikon AF-S 600mm VR ~11 pounds + Tripod & Gimbal Head, Camera, & SB-910 flash | Over 20 pounds! ("Publishable" results consistently!) When on locations for fun - Nikon AF-S 300mm f/2.8 + TC-20eIII for equivalent 600mm, but only weighing ~6 pounds + monopod, Camera, & SB-910 flash | Just ~10 pounds! (I am usually quite happy with the results of at least a few at the end of a day.) Just running out for the heck of it - Sigma 150-500mm weighing ~4 pounds + Camera, & SB-700 flash | Just ~6 pounds! No monopod usually needed because of the OS being so good! (Your AF-S 80-400mm VR choice would get me about this level of results, and probably even a bit better.) Theses are the shots I put up on flickr.com or share with friends/family on Facebook. I say all this because I wish someone had told me this simple truth when I started out with photography. You can A: Research and get the proper tool for your need, or you can B: "Make-do" with spending less on equipment that may be "good enough", but you will: 1) Work harder to get results (If possible) 2) Spend more time in post processing (Lightroom/Photoshop) 3) Miss shots and opportunities because you are "fighting your equipment" to make it do what you need. 4) Improve more slowly. 5) Get frustrated more quickly. and lastly... 6) You'll eventually spend the money anyway after all that time of being frustrated, so you end up being out even more money than if you had just bought the right tool in the first place... Best lessons in Photography that I have ever earned. And we haven't even touched on: Speedlights, Flash extenders/Beamers, brackets/flash cords to get the Speedlight off your camera to avoid red-eye/steel-eye in the birds and animals, etc...
Sorry, there was a problem. Please try again later.Yes, it will work on your D700 and yes, you will certainly be able to shoot birds and wildlife from a distance. I can pretty much fill the frame with a bluebird from 15 feet. I had the older version of this lens on an African safari and got great pictures of birds and animals. With my D300 (which has the smaller DX sensor) I get an effective focal length of 120-600mm, but your D700 has a full frame (FX) sensor and you'll get the native 80-400mm focal length. But with12 megapixels you can afford to crop some of the image out to enlarge the center portion. I got great shots of small birds at15-40 feet, and larger birds at longer distances. I've got one shot of a leopard at about 500 feet, but I cropped the image quite a bit to get him to fill the frame.
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