Nikon AF-S Nikkor 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR Lens

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR Lens

The Revolutionary, Hand-Holdable Super-Telephoto Prime

For decades, shooting wildlife, aviation, and field sports with a 500mm prime lens meant lugging around a massive, heavy piece of glass that absolutely required a sturdy monopod or heavy-duty gimbal tripod. The Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR completely rewrote the laws of optical physics. By utilizing Nikon's revolutionary Phase Fresnel (PF) lens technology, they engineered a true 500mm super-telephoto prime that weighs an unbelievable 3.2 pounds (1460g) and measures just 9.3 inches long.

This lens democratized extreme reach, making it incredibly easy to hike all day and shoot entirely handheld without sacrificing a shred of professional optical quality. Packed with advanced weather sealing, lightning-fast autofocus, and powerful Vibration Reduction, it remains a highly coveted "unicorn" lens for classic F-mount DSLR shooters, and performs flawlessly on modern Z-series mirrorless bodies via the FTZ adapter.

Why You'll Love This Lens

• A Lightweight Miracle: The Phase Fresnel (PF) element allows this lens to be significantly shorter and roughly half the weight of traditional 500mm primes. At just 3.2 lbs, you can effortlessly track birds in flight or follow sports action handheld for hours without experiencing the crippling neck and shoulder fatigue associated with massive super-telephotos.

• Flawless Optical Quality: Despite its small size, this lens delivers staggering professional sharpness. The PF element, combined with three Extra-low Dispersion (ED) glass elements, virtually eliminates chromatic aberration (color fringing). Furthermore, Nano Crystal and Super Integrated Coatings meticulously suppress flare and ghosting, ensuring your images retain deep, rich contrast.

• Powerful Vibration Reduction (VR): Shooting handheld at 500mm heavily amplifies even the slightest hand tremors. This lens combats that with up to 4 stops of built-in optical image stabilization. Crucially, it features a dedicated "Sport VR" mode, which provides a highly stable viewfinder image when panning to track highly erratic, unpredictable sports and wildlife action.

• Blazing Fast Autofocus: Driven by Nikon's Silent Wave Motor (SWM), the autofocus is incredibly fast, precise, and remarkably quiet. An internal focusing design means the physical length of the lens never changes during operation, promoting faster focusing speeds.

• Memory Recall Buttons: The lens features programmable focus function buttons on the barrel. You can easily save a specific focus distance (like a bird feeder or first base) into the lens's memory, and instantly snap the focus back to that exact spot with the press of a button.

• Professional Durability: Built to withstand the rigors of professional outdoor use, the lens barrel features a magnesium-alloy construction with extensive dust and moisture-resistant weather sealing. A fluorine coating on the front element easily repels water droplets, dirt, and oily fingerprints.

Technical Specifications

Things to Note

To achieve its miraculously compact size and lightweight build, this lens relies on a relatively dark maximum aperture of f/5.6. While f/5.6 is perfectly adequate for daytime sports and wildlife, it lets in exactly half as much light as a massive 500mm f/4 prime. This means it is strictly a "good weather" lens; if you are shooting deep under a dark forest canopy or at dusk, you will need to rely heavily on your camera's high-ISO capabilities to keep your shutter speeds fast enough to freeze action.

Secondly, you must keep the minimum focusing distance of 9.8 feet (3.0m) in mind. While excellent for distant wildlife, if a subject approaches you closer than 10 feet, the lens will simply not be able to focus on it, and you will have to physically step back.

Finally, because this is a classic F-Mount lens designed for the DSLR era (like the D850 or D500), modern mirrorless shooters using the Nikon Z system (like the Z8 or Z6 III) will absolutely need to use the Nikon Mount Adapter FTZ or FTZ II to attach this lens to their cameras. It performs flawlessly on the adapter, but it does add slightly to the overall length of the rig.

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