Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR. enlarge. I'd get mine at Adorama, Ritz, Amazon or B&H Photo-Video. It's often out of stock. It helps me keep adding to this site when you use these links to get yours, thanks! Ken. Base text written in 2006. Page under Rennovation, 14 May 2008. Introduction Specs Performance Recommendations I love this lens. If you have $1,700 then this is most likely the best telephoto zoom ever made by Nikon at any price. The only reason not to get this lens is the price, size and weight, all of which are to professional standards. You can get the same superb optical performance in lenses that cost much less, but they won't have VR, or they'll require moving a switch to get to manual focus, or they won't zoom, or they won't autofocus. This 70-200mm f/2.8 VR (or the 80-200mm AF - D) is one of the two lenses used by most professional photographers every day. The other lens is usually a wide zoom on a second body. The premium you're paying over other 80-200 f/2.8 Nikkors is for speed, ease of use, slightly smaller size and vibration (hand-shake) reduction; not sharpness or optical quality. If you're contemplating getting this lens, just get it. If you're more familiar with the plasticy $500 - 1,500 VR lenses like the 18-200mm VR, 70-300mm VR, 24-120mm VR or the 80-400mm VR, then you've in for a pleasant surprise. The mechanical quality of the 70-200mm VR is several steps above any sub-$1,500 lens. It's completely metal, completely solid, and a pinnacle of professional durability, optical quality and precision. For half the price the Nikon 80-200mm AF-D offers the same great optical quality. DO NOT be tempted by used 80-200 lenses or the discount-brand lenses, since a brand new, latest model Nikon 80-200mm AF-D can be had for the same price as used lenses or junky non-Nikon brands. The 70-200 VR is a little lighter than my $1,500 80-200mm AF-S. It is the most expensive AF telephoto zoom ever from Nikon. (OK, the new 200-400mm announced in September 2003 is $8,000.) If you can live without VR, as we have for 30 years of these lenses, you can get the same optical quality in the 80-200mm AF-D. Compatibility This AF-S lens works perfectly with every Nikon DX and FX digital SLR. It also works perfectly with any but the very cheapest or oldest Nikon AF film cameras. Because its gelded ("G," or has had the aperture ring removed to save cost) it's 99% useless with manual focus cameras. For manual focus cameras, the much less expensive 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D works much better. See Nikon Lens Compatibility for details with your camera. Read down the "AF-S" column for this lens. History Here are all the versions of 80-200mm f/2.8 Nikon has made. For the sake of brevity, unless otherwise noted all are ED, f/22 minimum, push-pull zoom, 5' (1.5m) minimum focus, no tripod collar, a one-position focus limit switch, slow autofocus speed, no AF lock buttons and 77mm filter size: 1.) 1982-1988: AI-s manual focus. 15/11 elements, f/32 minimum, 8.2' (2.5m) close focus, huge 95mm filter, 1,900g (over 4 pounds!), 231mm long. Nikon only made 1,500 of these, so you'll probably never see one in person. 2.) 1988-1992: AF, 16/11 elements,1,280g, 176mm long, f/32 minimum, 3 position focus limiter. Nikon made about 180,000 copies of this first AF 80-200. 3.) 1993-1997: AF-D,16/11 elements, 1,300g, 187mm long. Nikon also made about 175,000 copies of this version. 4.) 1997-present: AF-D, 16/11 elements, 1,300g 188mm, two-ring, tripod collar, $920 US new, fast autofocus. Nikon has cranked out about 250,000 of these, and is still making them. 5.) 1999-2003: AF-S, 18/14 elements, 1,550g, 207mm, two-ring, tripod collar, $1,500 US new, fast autofocus. Nikon only sold about 60,000 of this version; too bad because it's so good. It also has AF lock buttons. 6.) 2003-present 70-200mm VR, 21/15 elements, 1,430g, 215mm, two ring, collar, $1,700 US new, fast autofocus and AF lock buttons. Nikon has cranked out about 160,000 of these — so far. I'm discussing version #6 here.
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR. enlarge.
Specifications back to top Specs Performance Recommendations
Identity Plate: Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR.
Bottom, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR. Name: Nikon calls this the Nikon AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED-IF. AF-S and SWM: Silent focusing with a motor built into the lens. VR: Vibration Reduction, for shooting still subjects without a tripod. G: Gelded, meaning the aperture ring was omitted to save cost. Won't work on manual focus cameras. ED: Extra-low Dispersion glass for sharper pictures. IF: Internal Focusing Nothing moves externally as you zoom or focus. Focal Length: 70~200mm. Used on a DX camera, it gives angles of view similar to what a 105~300mm lens would give on an FX or 35mm film camera. See also Crop Factor. Optics: An astounding (my use of the superlative) 21 elements in 15 groups. There are five ED glass elements and multicoating, but no aspherical elements or nano-crystal coating. Diaphragm: 9-bladed. Round at larger apertures, nonagonal at smaller apertures. Autofocus Lock (hold) Buttons: YES, three! Close Focus Distance: 5 feet (1.5 meters), marked. It gets a little closer than that. AF stops just short of the manual focus stop, so if you're at the edge, twist the focus ring by hand and you may get what you need. Maximum Reproduction Ratio: 1:5.6. (only 1:6.1 if you stop where the AF stops.) Filter Threads: 77 mm, metal with rubber bumper. Size: 8.465" extension from flange by 3.439" diameter (215.0 x 87.35mm), measured. Nikon specifies 3.4 inches (87mm) around and 8.5" (215mm) long. Nothing changes when focused or when zoomed. Weight: 51.790 oz. (1,468.15g), measured, with tripod collar. Nikon specifies 50 oz. or 1,430 g, a little lighter than the 80-200mm AF-S or a little heavier than the 80-200mm AF-D. Accessories: Comes with HB-29 hood and CL-M2 case. Nikon Product Number: 2139, in catalog as of spring 2008. Development Announced (teaser): February 2002. Availability as a Real Product Announced: 12 December 2002. Available: Since Spring 2003. Price: About $1,700 in 2008.
Performance back to top Specs Performance Recommendations Overall back to Performance back to top As Nikon's newest and best professional moderate telephoto zoom, one of these (or one of its earlier siblings) is in almost every professional photographers' bag. Its optics and mechanics are superlative for everything a full-time career professional news or sports photographer would want to shoot with it, on any modern Nikon film or digital camera. The only reason I don't have one myself is because I already had an older 80-200mm AF-S when this 70-200mm came out, and I usually use my 80-400mm VR instead of either since I shoot things that don't move and prefer the longer range. Focus back to Performance back to top
Nikon 70-200mm VR Focus Ring: Simple! Focus is fast and sure. Manual focus is easy: simply move the focus ring at any time. It just works. Tap the shutter button again for AF. Manual focus has two speeds: normal and slightly slower. For normal speed, grab the longer part of the manual focus ring. For slightly more precise manual focus, move your fingers forward to the slightly larger diameter section. It really does make a difference.
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR Focus Lock Buttons (two of three). Turn the 70-200mm over and you'll see three perfectly positioned rubber-covered buttons. These are AF lock buttons. On most cameras, hold them to lock focus. You have no idea how handy these are until you've used them. Most cameras also allow you to program, in the camera's custom functions menus, to have these buttons do other things, like start AF. They all do the same thing. There are three so you have one for horizontal shots, and one for each vertical orientation. You're on you're own shooting upside -down. Bokeh back to Performance back to top Bokeh looks nice, better than average for Nikkor lenses.
Color Rendition back to Performance back to top Color is neutral and matches my other AF Nikkors.
Distortion back to performance back to top As in almost every zoom lens, there is barrel (bulging) distortion at the shorter end and pincushion (sucking) distortion at the longer end. Luckily it's trivial to correct the distortion by plugging these figures into Photoshop CS2's lens distortion filter. + means barrel distortion, and - means pincushion distortion. These aren't facts or specifications, they are the results of my research that requires hours of photography and calculations on the resulting data.
© 2008 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved.
Falloff (darker corners) Falloff isn't a problem with the 70-200mm VR, unless you shoot blank walls at 200mm at f/2.8. Shoot normal subjects, or shoot at less than 200mm, or stop down, and any falloff becomes invisible. I've greatly exaggerated the falloff below by shooting a blank target and then presented the images against a gray background. The only time any of this is visible is at f/2.8 at 200mm, and when you're shooting at those extremes, falloff isn't likely to be a concern. On DX it's a non-issue, since only the middle of these images is used. (see crop factor).
Ghosting There is one ghost opposite the center of the image if I deliberately point it into a bright light on a black background. I'm unsure if this will be visible in real sunset photos. Mechanics Rubber environmental seal at the lens mount. Rubber bumper at the front. Vibration Reduction (VR) Blur is a random thing. I made a series of shots and here's what I saw on my D1H. On film one would be much pickier. Remember that even with VR you sometimes get good results, sometimes blur at the same slow speeds. VR improves your averages. It does not fix everything all the time. More when I get a sample for an extended test. at 70mm: 1/125:
OK at 200mm: 1/125:
usually OK No, I have no idea why there is a sweet spot around 1/10 second but blur around 1/100 at 200mm. It may be chance or the design of the lens. I'll have to test it further when I can get a sample for a while. I did see these effects repeated a couple of times. Sharpness Of course it's sharp! It's sharper than I can appreciate on a digital camera. To really give this lens a workout you'd have to be shooting Velvia, which as of 2005 I really no longer do on 35 mm. Teleconverters, use with I haven't tried it. I'm not a fan of teleconverters with zoom lenses. See my Teleconverters page. TC-20E Zoom Ring The zoom ring is well done. It's linear: equal rotation anyplace along the range gives equal percentage change in magnification. (Mathematicians actually call this logarithmic, not linear, but if I told you all it was the correct Log scale then I'd confuse you all.) The zoom ring is engraved metal with white paint filling in the engraving, jut as it ought to be. It's not simply painted on as with most other lenses today. Engraving doesn't wear off. It's a little more damped than I'd prefer. This prevents it from creeping. I suspect with continued daily professional use it would loosen up.
Usage
Nikon 70-200mm VR Switches. enlarge. Focus Lock Buttons
Recommendations back to top Specs Performance Recommendations
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR. enlarge. I like this lens for it's light weight (compared to other Nikon f/2.8 zooms) and ease of use. It costs a lot, too. If you want to afford it by all means go get one. You'll love it. If you want to save money, then forgo the VR feature and get the 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D for half the price with the same optical quality. For digital cameras I find the $140 70-300 mm AF-G is almost as good, so long as your subjects are moving slowly enough for the slower autofocus to catch and you have enough light for a short exposure at the slower f/stops without VR. The advantages of the 70-200mm VR are subtle unless you're a full-time professional. Just pick up the two and you can feel the difference mechanically. Optically in good light the cheaper lenses are just about as good. The 70-200mm VR shines for pros who beat on it all day, every day, and need to shoot fast action in bad light. The 70-300mm G is probably fine for your children's soccer games if you want a lens for 10% of the price of the 70-200mm VR. Again, this 70-200mm f/2.8 VR (or the 80-200mm AF - D) is one of the two lenses used by every professional photographer every day. The other lens is usually a wide zoom on a second body. This is Nikon's latest professional workhorse lens. More Information: Nikon, Japan. See also the press release from February 2003 and Development Announcement from February 2002. Home Search Gallery How-To Books Links Workshops About Contact |
