This might be a really dumb question but I’ve been shooting with a Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 and have been looking to upgrade to the 500mm PF f/5.6 (I shoot mostly birds and some other wildlife). I’ve seen some forums saying that I should just save up my money for a 500mm f/4 instead. But the newest f/4 lens is way more expensive than the PF f/5.6 lens on the used market. It’s also a lot heavier and just BARELY sharper according to the MTF charts comparing the two. So why should I sacrifice more money and back problems just for one extra stop of light? And why does that one stop matter SO much, especially when you can edit the background to make it look blurrier and make your subject pop out more?

I’m mostly a handheld shooter anyways so I think I’d only really want the 600 or 800 PF f/6.3 later down the road whenever I can afford to switch to mirrorless since they’re both much lighter than any f/4 lens on the market. I don’t think I would consider the 500 or 600 f/4 lenses Nikon has to offer, at least not right now. The 500mm PF fits my requirements almost perfectly.