Visit to Quebec province with the Nikkor 200-400VR lens

The following pictures have been taken with the Nikkor 200-400VR zoom mounted on the Nikon D3 camera, some with a 1.7 Teleconverter. All were shot during a trip to Quebec, Canada, including a short visit to Ottawa, Ontario.

  First of all a few tests to check my hand holding capabilities:
#1 650mm with 1.7 TC fully open

#2 BIF 450mm with 1.7 TC

Then a real life experience in Ottawa (I got strange looks - I have been using the 200-400VR and the 70-200 on a second body)
#3 the guards in Ottawa 400mm fully open (f4)

#4 a detail 400mm fully open

#5 I really don't understand how they find their way and how they keep their distances...

Wildlife in a natue park..
#6 for the eyes

#7 400mm hand held

#8 400mm again

Concert shots in Tremblant (I was very far from the stage, and I was more or less the only person who could take decent pictures, I needed ISO6400, VR to the max (shutter speeds as low as 1/60 or 1/100 sec, @400mm, fully open... hand held ... not exactly the best conditions to take pictures with lots of people moving around you...)
#9 that guy was just awesome... incredible blues music... he is 95 !

#10 wonderful bass guitar...

#11 a pity you can't hear the music :D

#12 another group

#13 those two were incredible as well

#14 and a last one - the details in those pictures are just incredible

#15 just another concert picture (this time Francofolies in Montreal), D3, 200-400VR @f4 ISO6400, hand held

#16 BIF - I have tons of them - gannet colony on Bonaventure Island (ISO 1600 f6.3)

#17 another one for the fun

#18 a last gannet for today (there are some overexposed parts - these are the jpegs out of camera, I will reprocess from the raw files when I have time (around 7000 pics in three weeks :D)

#19 something different - a lighthouse - Forillon park - Gaspesie

#20 just simple flowers (there might be better and cheaper tools for this :D)

#21 with the 1.7TC 650mm fully open - difficult to compose properly when using it hand held, but I could get pictures like this one

#22 visit to the zoo

#23 zoo number two - looking for bugs

#24 NFB (non flying birds :D)

#25 last animal

#26 portrait can too (from a distance :D) this is my best friend's daugther, we met over there in Canada

#27 nature is so beautiful

#28 the tool itself


The 200-400VR on the D3 is a real killer combo - highly recommended.
and for those who think the 200-400VR is huge... THIS is a lens :D
(Fresnel lens in the lighthouse in Rimouski, QC, Canada)
D3+Tamron 28-75 2.8


thanks for watching
Guy