*Item pictured for illustrative purposes only, actual item not pictured.
Optically this monster tele is brilliant, it uses 8 elements in 6 groups (not counting the protective front glass or rear drop-in filter) including three ED (Extra Low Dispersion) glass elements to minimize abberations while producing most excellent sharpness, contrast & color. The f/4 maximum aperture allows a relatively bright viewfinder and produces tremendous background blur that re-enforces the sharpness with background separation. The f/4 aperture also makes practical use of high quality Nikon teleconverters such as the TC-14B and TC-301 possible.
Even though it's a manual focus lens the 500mm P ED IF actually has electronics that communicate with Nikon autofocus cameras to convey aperture and focal length information for metering and exposure control. It's one of the proud few Nikon Ai-P lenses meaning it has a built-in chip and electronic contacts for the CPU in the mount. This AI-P design allows Nikon camera Shutter Priority and Program Autoexposure modes to work without issue.
The Nikkor 500mm f/4 P ED IF was originally released in 1988. As of 2017 the Nikkor 500mm f/4 P ED is still the lightest 500mm f/4 lens available. Newer 500mm designs exist but this is an outstanding lens and value if you don't need autofocus.
Key Features