AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR Angle of View Examples

I went to Marshall Lake near Flagstaff, Arizona this last weekend, and shot a few photographs. By the time I got to Marshall Lake it was after the sun was up so I didn't get any shots with great lighting. But, I'd never been there before and really liked the location even if the photography wasn't great when I was there.

It's a pine tree forest with a large meadow with a lake in it. The lake was pretty empty in late August, but it didn't take away from the beauty of the place.

The meadow runs basically southeast to northwest, with the northwest end providing a vie of the San Francisco Peaks on the other side of Flagstaff. This included Humphreys Peak, the highest mountain in Arizona.

Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR

When I saw the view of Humphreys Peak I decided to use my newish AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR Zoom to get a shot. If nothing else, it might prove that when there is snow on the mountains that this location would be a great place to capture it from.

Due to health reasons, I haven't shot much with this new lens and I really wanted to see what it would do. I was somewhat surprised...

According to Google Earth, it is close to 20 miles from Marshall Lake to Humphreys Peak. The 200-500mm lens has a 5°00' to 12°20' angle of view on an FX body. I am not very good at estimating angles, but I thought this would be a good fit.

Note: Google earth gave me an error saying I couldn't use the web version on Chrome - I had to use Internet Explorer! That's funny. Then the IE version wouldn't download the plugin. I ended up downloading and installing the desktop version.

I attached this bad boy lens, sat up my tripod at a small parking lot near the lake, where the boat ramp is, and pointed up the meadow towards the mountain. As soon as I looked through the view finder I was a but surprised.

I couldn't really fit all of the image in the photograph with this lens. Here's the view at 200mm which should be the 12°20' angle of view:

Humphreys Peak (the highest peak on the left)
Nikon D610 + 200-500mm f/5.6, 200mm, f/8.0, 1/400s, ISO 100

I didn't want to cut off the mountains on the sides. I wanted to show the entire meadow - it was really peaceful and a nice change from the desert around Phoenix.

I had to try it, so here's the shot from the same location zoomed in to 500mm, which should be the 5°00' angle of view:

Some of the San Francisco Peaks
Nikon D610 + 200-500mm f/5.6, 200mm, f/8.0, 1/400s, ISO 100

You can see the radio towers! While I appreciate the magnification, it was too much for this shot. Maybe if I was trying to photograph wildlife I'd have appreciated it. 

Here's the shot I ended up preferring, shot with my AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/4G ED VR, which according to Nikon's Angle of View calculator, should be 30°60':

San Francisco Peaks from Marshall Lake
Nikon D610 + 70-200mm f/4, 78mm, f/8.0, 1/400s, ISO 100

The bottom line is that I was amazed by the magnification and narrow angle of view of the 200-550mm lens. The image quality is good. But I was really happy that I had the next size smaller zoom to capture this image. I am really enjoying my lens collection! 

Free Bonus!

I thought I'd throw this in too - I was getting bored in the bright daylight so I decided to take a selfie with my pup Elmer:

Elmer and I at Marshall Lake, Arizona