Oscar Dewhurst Photography: Farewell to the beast

Ever since I'd been photographing wildlife, I had longed for a super telephoto lens. You know, the sort that line the perimeter of sports matches, the sort that would crop up year after year in the camera specifications of the winning images in competitions such as Wildlife Photographer of the Year. In my head, the sort that would immeasurably improve my photography and result in me having pin sharp, nicely isolated subjects against creamy smooth backgrounds.

A few years ago, this dream became reality, and I was the proud owner of a Nikon 600mm f4 AF-S II. It was an old model, one without VR, but I wasn't concerned about this when buying it as the lens weighed over 5kg so was pretty much permanently attached to a tripod! Over the next few years my camera was seldom attached to any other lens, such was its quality, with lightning fast autofocus and fantastic image quality. I never was bothered about the lack of VR, and have managed pin sharp images at shutter speeds as slow as 1/100s, so I really don't think it's as big of a deal as may keyboard warriors online make out.

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end, and in this case I am now selling this lens. It's by no means faulty, but I simply found myself wanting more flexibility and something a bit lighter! I'm now using a 400mm f2.8 and although I'd love to keep the 600, it's not getting any use and someone out there will get a lot more enjoyment out of it.

I would like £3200 for it (plus P&P, or collection from west London). If you are interested, please get in touch using the contact me form on my website HERE: http://www.oscardewhurst.com/contact-me/

I've shot a huge range of subjects with this lens over the last few years, including things like swifts and hobbies in flight, which require extremely quick AF. Below are a few images. The first set are all low-res, and below that will be some 100% samples and hi-res images so you can see the quality.