Introduction

Until recently, Canon’s 800mm f/5.6 lens has been about the longest lens currently in production by one of the big manufacturers. The longest lens on the Nikon side has been the 600mm f/4, which I took out for a spin not too long ago.

Now, Nikonians have their own cannon (yes, pun intended) to play with. The Nikon AF-S 800mm f/5.6E FL ED VR lens is finally shipping, and we’ve got them in our inventory for rental. I took this behemoth out for a test to see just what Nikon packed into it. Last week, I posted sample images from that shoot; here’s the full review.

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I’ve been out testing the Nikon 800mm f/5.6 lens we just got in, and have a few sample images to share. I went out to the Redwood Shores region of the San Francisco Bay Area to shoot the skimmers that show up around here every spring, and got a handful of other birds as well. The full-up review is coming soon, so stay tuned for that. (more…)

Nikon D4

Not so long ago, I did a post about Canon’s new “Big Guns”, the 600mm f/4 II and the 1Dx. We’re now waiting for Nikon’s newest super-tele, the 800mm f/5.6, to ship, but I thought I’d take the newest flagship camera from Nikon out for a spin with the venerable 600mm f/4 that they’ve had out for a while.

Nikon 600mm f/4

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The Rebel T5i performs as well as it was expected to but is it really any better than its 2012 predecessor, the T4i? BL investigates.

BorrowLenses.com is at the 2013 NAB Show in Las Vegas! If you are here, too, please come visit us in booth #C9550! We have great cameras for folks to try out and other surprise goodies, including a chance to win a free rental from us! Not at NAB? That’s ok – take a virtual tour with us below. Here are some of the shots we were able to take during quick breaks. See more here and here.

BorrowLenses.com is at the 2013 NAB Show in Las Vegas! If you are here, too, please come visit us in booth #C9550! We have great cameras for folks to try out and other surprise goodies, including a chance to win a free rental from us!

Not at NAB? That’s ok – take a virtual tour with us below. We’ll be posting pictures and videos all week so be sure to check our blog for more fun footage!

Welcome to Cool Stuff, a weekly feature where we post our favorite links from the past week, including our favorite articles and how-tos, videos, images and more.

•  We start with a bit of a blast from the past. One of the editors, Eli Sinkus, at 522 Productions took an audio narrative from photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson and overlaid it onto a touching and inspiring B&W film on what inspires him.
  
• Here’s another one from the “blast from the past” department. The guys over at PetaPixel have a really cool piece on Alfred Eisenstadt on photographing Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s Propaganda Minister. Worth reading.
• If you’re an ex-Instagram user looking for something to sate your craving, check out Pressgram. This Kickstarter campaign looks to give you the filter-y goodness of Instagram with a self-hosted WordPress-based display solution.
• Shane Hurlbut is one of our favorite cinematographers, not just because he’s really good at what he does, but because he shares his process, thinking, techniques, and inspiration with all and sundry on his blog. Here’s a fantastic piece on lighting for cinematographers.
• And finally, we turn again to Benjamin Von Wong. Put this guy together with either flames, waterfalls, or in this case, colored pigments, and you have some pretty amazing imagery.

 And now, for the BorrowLenses.com Roundup!

• We’re going to be at NAB next week! If you’re around, come by, say hello…
• There’s a bunch of new Zacuto gear to rent; stand by for an announcement tomorrow!
• In case you missed it, we have the hot new X100s to rent. They’re in demand, so book yours now!

That’s it for this week’s Cool Stuff. As always, questions and feedback are welcome in the comments below.