You may be unpleasantly surprised with the dynamic range of the successor to the D4S! As for me, I’m definitely holding on to my D4S until a D5S comes out, hopefully with a dynamic range that fits the huge price tag (i.e. However, for those hard fans who are contemplating the new Nikon D5, please check out. This seems to apply for DSLRs like the Nikon D4S and D750, as well as the new D500.
If you combine this with a DSLR that not only has great IQ at higher ISO values, but perhaps even more importantly, can bring back those underexposed highlights, you’ve got a winning combo. However, the (required) larger focal length will result in less cropping and therefore better ISO (more remaining pixels will effectively reduce visible noise).
The (current) 500mm and 600mm lenses are all f/4 aperture, meaning you’ll loose a stop compared to the 400mm f/2.8. bears, deer etc.) at relatively close (20-30 meters) distance and not so much for smaller animals especially at larger distances. This means you need a lens with a large focal length: at least 400mm or more 300mm can do as well (even 200mm or less) but you basically have to be at the Galapagos islands or something similar where you can approach the birds up to just a meter or so (see image above)! I owned the Nikon 400mm f/2.8G lens and found this better for large mammals (e.g. In general, it hard to get close to birds. Actually, my recommended choice is a combination of 2 DSLRs and 2 lenses, but I’ll get to that in a second (depending on your reading speed…). Unfortunately, scientific progress in optics has left us all a little behind, and a lens like this – if ever manufactured – would weigh a couple of hundred tons, or more (and cost tenfold, or also more…). So, we have to choose the best of what is currently out there. Now, this is not exactly the ideal situation for a wildlife photographer! Basically, to get the very best images with the best bokeh and the best image sharpness with the highest shutter speeds (to ‘ freeze’ those flapping wings) and to shoot these while chasing the birdies all over the place (cause that’s what these creatures tend to do…) you simply need an f2.8 (or better, f1.2) lens about 800mm-1200mm weighing just a couple of ounces (hundreds of grams). So, let’s ‘parameterize’ the statement a little: “birds” and “low light”. And also, it was a nice opportunity to dig into my images from my trip to the Galapagos a couple of years ago (I hope to post more!).
I thought I’d spend an (small) article on this, rather than trying to answer in just a couple of lines. One of my readers was asking me the following question: “given I’m mostly shooting birds in low light, which (super) telephoto lens should I choose? (600mm f/4 or 400mm f/2.8)”