VR lens on gunstock: I bought the first Nikon lens with VR, the 80-400mm f4.5-5.6. The lens is very sharp but hunts for focus, frequently for almost 2 seconds. I know that when this...

jdedmonds

I bought the first Nikon lens with VR, the 80-400mm f4.5-5.6. The lens is very sharp but hunts for focus, frequently for almost 2 seconds. I know that when this lens is mounted on a tripod the VR should be turned off, and I assume the same is true for use on a monopod. I inherited from my dad a gunstock mount; am I correct that the VR on this lens should be turned off when it and the camera are mounted on the gunstock?

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Tripod - off (MOST lenses, unless there are 2 VR settings)
Monopod - on
Gun stock - on

You can still have motion on the later two, albeit less, but still motion.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

jdedmonds wrote:

I bought the first Nikon lens with VR, the 80-400mm f4.5-5.6. The lens is very sharp but hunts for focus, frequently for almost 2 seconds. I know that when this lens is mounted on a tripod the VR should be turned off, and I assume the same is true for use on a monopod. I inherited from my dad a gunstock mount; am I correct that the VR on this lens should be turned off when it and the camera are mounted on the gunstock?

Neither a monopod nor that gunstock will be perfectly still, I would leave VR on, at least to try some shots and see if it changes anything.

But I am a Canon user and don't know about Nikon's VR on an older lens. I know on the newer ones both Canon and Nikon you leave it on as the lens detects if it is moving or not.

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

You can speed up your focusing with certain techniques with good lenses or bad. Your area focus point/s matter, more is not better. Group focus works better in some situations but not others. Combining a little of the manual ring with autofocus on helps cut down searching, of course limiting focus on the lens, and all those things on the menu that help you hold focus for certain lengths of time, and there are more things too.

joehel2 Loc: Cherry Hill, NJ

Please don’t use a gunstock mounted long lens mounted camera in a public place unless you are prepared to drop it on the ground when the police respond to the man with a gun call.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

joehel2 wrote:

Please don’t use a gunstock mounted long lens mounted camera in a public place unless you are prepared to drop it on the ground when the police respond to the man with a gun call.

I thought of that. Changing times.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

jdedmonds wrote:

I bought the first Nikon lens with VR, the 80-400mm f4.5-5.6. The lens is very sharp but hunts for focus, frequently for almost 2 seconds. I know that when this lens is mounted on a tripod the VR should be turned off, and I assume the same is true for use on a monopod. I inherited from my dad a gunstock mount; am I correct that the VR on this lens should be turned off when it and the camera are mounted on the gunstock?

VR is changing rapidly, you should read the manual the lens came with.
But, I would assume (and you know what that means) that a gun stock would NOT hold the camera as steady as a monopod or tripod so, I would also assume that there would be enough movement inherent in your arms to cause enough movement that would make VR a valuable asset.
All of that said, the 80-400 does have a hunt problem, always has had that issue. I use GROUP AUTO FOCUS that may help alleviate that issue, or if your subject is stationary, single spot focus. Also, if your shooting at a distance, on your lens settings also go from full to infinity-8m (or something similar) this should limit the range and speed up your auto focusing system.
Good luck and keep on shooting until the end.
Newer lenses however are much better, like the 200-500.

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

Fotoartist wrote:

You can speed up your focusing with certain techniques with good lenses or bad. Your area focus point/s matter, more is not better. Group focus works better in some situations but not others. Combining a little of the manual ring with autofocus on helps cut down searching, of course limiting focus on the lens, and all those things on the menu that help you hold focus for certain lengths of time, and there are more things too.

Ain't it the truth!!

I find that single point/spot focus works best with the long lenses, and centered metering.

pdsdville Loc: Midlothian, Tx

Using the gunstock is just like hand holding. You move, and the VR takes over. The amount you move is also a factor in how long the lens takes to focus.

jdedmonds

joehel2 wrote:

Please don’t use a gunstock mounted long lens mounted camera in a public place unless you are prepared to drop it on the ground when the police respond to the man with a gun call.

Smart post. That's something I never thought about. My dad used this gunstock in the woods in Montana for decades, and the only use I'd ever make of it would be in the woods. I'm an old guy (75), and these days if people saw a child riding a bicycle without helmet, padding, supervision (the way I rode bicycles) the lines into Family Sevices or whatever would be overloaded.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

jdedmonds wrote:

Smart post. That's something I never thought about. My dad used this gunstock in the woods in Montana for decades, and the only use I'd ever make of it would be in the woods. I'm an old guy (75), and these days if people saw a child riding a bicycle without helmet, padding, supervision (the way I rode bicycles) the lines into Family Sevices or whatever would be overloaded.

My home town in Western Kentucky school let out at 3 PM, by 3:15 in the Fall you saw kids with rifles and shotguns tied across the handlebars heading for the woods along the Ohio River to go hunting. (This was in the 50s and 60s)
My Great Uncle owned a restaurant on US 60 where it ran down our main street in the middle of town and he often had to explain to out of state tourists or "city people" that everything was OK. "That is the Smith boy, his Daddy and Grand Dad trained him about guns."

On the other hand the high school I taught at before I retired in 2007 someone called the East Los Angeles Sheriff's station when they saw the JrROTC color guard and drill team waiting in front of the school for a bus to take them to a parade. And their parade rifles were: a. WW I vintage, b. deactivated, c. painted white with chromed metal parts and the Cadets were all in their dress uniforms.

racerrich3 Loc: Los Angeles, Ca.

jdedmonds wrote:

I bought the first Nikon lens with VR, the 80-400mm f4.5-5.6. The lens is very sharp but hunts for focus, frequently for almost 2 seconds. I know that when this lens is mounted on a tripod the VR should be turned off, and I assume the same is true for use on a monopod. I inherited from my dad a gunstock mount; am I correct that the VR on this lens should be turned off when it and the camera are mounted on the gunstock?

forgive me for being lost on this one but curious what it looks like....lens on camera, mounted on gun ???
can anyone provide a pic ? thanx

bobGossen

Do a internet search for “Bush Hawk camera mount”.

jdedmonds

billnikon wrote:

VR is changing rapidly, you should read the manual... (show quote)

The original 80-400 was not an AF-S lens; it was AF, and man, is it slow focusing. I think I bought mine in 2000, and the next lens I bought was Nikon's AF-S 80-200 ED-IF f2.8-an almost instantly focusing miracle that I've still got, even though it's without VR. It's interesting that you advocate using VR only with the gunstock; an earlier post put the cutoff line between monopod and tripod.