Photographing a Criterium Bike Race with the Nikon NIKKOR Z 180-600mm f/5.6 - 6.3 VR Lens

Nikon Z6II, NIKKOR Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR Lens at 600mm, ISO 1000, f/6.3, 1/800 sec.

For the past 37 years, the city of Boise has hosted a criterium bike race in the downtown area. For those unfamiliar with criterium bike races and what they are, here is an overview from Wikipedia: “A criterium, or crit, is a bike race consisting of several laps around a closed circuit (in Boise’s case, downtown streets). Race length can be determined by the number of laps. However, the average speed and intensity are appreciably higher.” Yes, I can attest that the speed is much higher than what is normally experienced during a typical endurance road race due to the shorter length of the race. Among other related activities, the day culminated with a professional level women’s and men’s race.

You may be wondering why I shot the race with the Nikon Z6II considering that I own the Z8 (see my complete gear list here). I often like to see what I can eke out of older equipment. Sure, my hit rate would be higher with the Z8 (an assumption) but since I wasn’t shooting on assignment (although I did have my own credentials), I thought the Z6II would be fun to try with the added benefit that it is lighter, smaller than the Z8 and since this race is shot late in the day and into the evening, it should have lower noise levels than the Z8. I did not use subject detection. I had the AF set to continuous with single point set on the center of the frame.

One thing that was apparent after holding the lens for more than a few hours is that it becomes heavy, and I’m use to heavy lenses. I have owned the F mount Nikkor 600mm f/4, the 300mm f/2.8 (my favorite portrait lens), all used hand held. While the weight of the NIKKOR Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR lens is lighter, it does start to become noticeable after awhile.

Nikon Z6II, NIKKOR Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR Lens at 600mm, ISO 1100, f/6.3, 1/1000 sec.

Overall, I was happy with the results, both the keeper rate and the sharpness level of the resulting photos during the women’s division, Until………

Nikon Z6II, NIKKOR Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR Lens at 600mm, ISO 1250, f/6.3, 1/1000 sec.

The men’s division. Wow, this is on a whole other level compared to the speed of the women’s race.

Nikon Z6II, NIKKOR Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR Lens at 400mm, ISO 3200, f/6.3, 1/800 sec.

I noticed right away my keeper rate started to drop. I think this was due to 2 factors: The light level was starting to drop as we headed into the evening hours and second, the speed of the riders, as mentioned earlier, increased dramatically. Now, the Z6II AF was really being pushed to the max.

Nikon Z6II, NIKKOR Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR Lens at 510mm, ISO 2800, f/6.3, 1/800 sec.

You can see that my ISO value is creeping up despite dropping my minimum shutter speed from 1000/sec to 800/sec.

Nikon Z6II, NIKKOR Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR Lens at 500mm, ISO 2000, f/6.3, 1/800 sec.

Overall, I was pleased with the results. After shooting around 2,500 photos, the ones that had compelling compositions and were sharp were around 625, fairly typical results at an event like this for me.

So, there you have it. One thing to note is that at 600mm, you really get a perspective that you just can’t get with shorter focal lengths. The compression produces photos that make the riders appear on top of each other (in real life, they are close). Basically, the longer the focal length, the more dramatic the photos become due to the compression produced at this extreme focal length. I can only imagine what the riders would look like at 800mm!

Overall, the speed at which the Z6II drove the AF was sufficient. If I attend this event next year, I will most likely use the Z8 (or Z8II) and compare the keeper rate to the Z6II.

Be sure to leave a comment below as to your thoughts about the resulting photos.

A few more sample photos: