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A colleague’s Nikon 600mm f4 VR telephoto lens, hard at work in pit lane at Valencia. At this moment, it’s being used to shoot into a team garage.

What caught my eye was the degree to which the black paint has been worn off, one little scratch at a time, around the Nano Crystal Coat badge. There are so many scratches there that the small letters have been almost worn away.

Some of the pro lenses and camera bodies I see at work really remind me of the old pitch for Timex watches: It takes a licking and keeps on ticking. I think many of us perceive camera gear, lenses in particular, as fragile and delicate. I certainly treat my gear as gently as possible. But examples like this show that this level of pro gear is designed and manufactured not only to perform well but to do so in harsh conditions.

In case you’re wondering, this lens costs over $10k. Details on Nikon’s site here.

On a side note, just for the Nikon vs Canon crowd, this lens is one example where the Canon version is more expensive, with the white 600mm f/4 being $12k. The Canon 800mm f/5.6 is a bargain at $13.5k, however, as Nikon’s 800mm f/5.6 is a whopping $18k!

Photograph: ©2014 by Scott Jones / PHOTO.GP – All Rights Reserved

Camera Info: Nikon D4 with Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8

[mgallery keyword=”Pit Lane”]