Nikon Nikkor AF-S G ED-IF VR 70 mm - 200 mm F/2.8 Lens (Silver)

This lens is awesome if you own a DX camera and not full frame model. This lens has been brought down a little due to sharpness lagging in the corners on full frame Nikon cameras. On a DX body such as the Nikon D300s the crop sensor is smaller so the part that suppose to be slightly soft does not exist due to the crop area being smaller compared to a full frame camera. The sharpness at f2.8 if tack sharp and is the reason why I purchased this lens in the first place. Why buy a f2.8 or faster lens when you have to shoot at f4 to get clean sharp photos? The weight is pretty heavy but when you buy quality glass in this size they are all pretty heavy in weight and I am use to it already. The bokeh is nice and creamy and makes single model shooting at f2.8 very enjoyable knowing the results will be awesome. There are also 3 AF lock buttons located at the top portion of the lens which comes in handy if shooting vertical or at weird angles. The hood many say is cheaply made, but I think it is built very solid and quality is there. At first it feels like metal but is is actually made of plastic. The lens bag is okay but I prefer the hard case better for storing. This lens fits on my D300s with hood on backward in my small Lowepro Micro Trekker 200. I also bought a Lowepro Toploader 75 bag when I am only going to carry this lens attached to my D300s. This way I can take out and out back my camera without having to put the bag down. I am very happy with this lens and glad I bought the VRI model instead of the VRII. This saved my about $400-$500. If I had a full frame camera I would recommend buying the VRII to get full sharpness in all the corners if you are picky. Most people don't even care about the corners of the photos and the center sharpness is what counts and both will provide that. Focusing is very easy and there is also a A/M button so you can also over ride and adjust the lens focus manually even when the auto focus is locked. This feature is also found on my Nikon Micro 105mm f2.8. Another great lens. The going price used in Excellent to Mint shape is about $1350-$1400 if it comes complete with the all the included accessories and the cardboard box. I would not pay more as this lens sold brand new for about $1600. Getting back to the 70-200mm VRII model....I read that there are some bad batches that the paint near the filter ring has been flaking off at the ring area and inside just behind the front glass. This was also one reason I did not what to risk buying a used lens if I get one of those. Internal flaking paint can be a huge problem if it starts to happen after you buy it years on down the road. Anyhow...This lens will be a keeper in my bag and hope reading this helps some in your decision making.

Zoom-lens Nikon 70-200 mm AF-S VR f/2.8 G IF-ED is an excellent choise for professionals or skilled fans which appreciate quality of pictures. Smart ergonomics and powerful aperture allow to do shooting even in uneasy conditions of light and to receive excellent result in the form of qualitative, sharp, contrast pictures. If you choose work with digital cameras in an equivalent of thirty five millimetres, the range of focal lengths will accept values from hundred five to three hundred millimetres. Magnesium body protects the lens from dust and water and will allow to use is in difficult weather conditions. VR stabilizer system allows to work with slower shutter speed without worry. The given model of a lens perfectly approaches for work «from hands», without support use, even at shooting of a portrait photo. Photographers who appreciate time and instant shooting, even being in transport, special mode will allow to work in moving trasport. The nine-petal round diaphragm allows photographers to receive an exact colour rendition, even those objects which are outside of a sharpness zone. The optical construction of lens Nikon AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8 G IF-ED VR consists of twenty one elements in fifteen groups among which five elements from glass of the low dispersion, capable effective image to suppress a chromatic aberration. Device lenses are made with application of exclusive multilayered enlightenment Nikon which give pictures of a correct colour rendition, and also minimise occurrence of patches of light and rereflections. Ultrasonic drive SWM allows to act with autofocusing which guarantees accuracy and speed of prompting of sharpness, doing this process almost silent. Using M/A you can in a second get from an automatic mode of focusing to manual and on the contrary. Zooming and sharpness prompting, thanks to internal moving of lenses, remain invariable. That gives the chance to use comortably the filters and circular polarizers. The minimum distance for sharpness prompting is 1.5 meters. Lens has front and back caps LC-77 and LF-1, hood НВ-29 and CL-M2 or CL-L2 lens case. I hope this is helpful.

Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8D ED AF Zoom Nikkor Lens is a very good quality lens. It's fast (fixed f/2.8), solid (built like a tank), produce great quality image, and priced very reasonably for a professional grade telephoto lens.

Having said that, there are some additional features that would be nice to have for this lens such as image stabilization, more silent autofocus (AF-S), and shorter minimum focus distance but those features will make this lens a lot more expensive (as those feature is included in the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 AF-S VR lens). If budget is not an issue, then I would recommend the 70-200mm f/2.8 AF-S VR (the Vibration Reduction technology and faster and more silent focus are very useful) or the 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-S (which has faster and more silent focus). If large aperture (fast lens)is not your main requirement, then you can get the 70-300mm VR (at a lower price)

There are several version of 80-200mm f/2.8 lens, and the latest one (non AF-S model and that Nikon still produce as of 2009) is the two ring model. The one ring push pull model is also good quality lens (solidly built and produce great image quality) but autofocus is much slower. If budget is an issue, the older push pull model would still be a good choice too.

FYI: This lens will not autofocus with Nikon D40, D40x, D60 or D5000.

Pros
1. Great quality lens (very sharp pictures. 3 of the glasses made/coated with ED technology)
2. Very fast (fixed f/2.8 throughout the zoom range)
3. Very reasonably priced (compared to 70-200mm f/2.8 AF-S VR and 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-S)
4. Built to last. Very solid
5. Great for sport, action, wedding and low-light photography
6. Uses standard 77mm lens filter
7. Bokeh is very nice at f/2.8
8. Autofocus much faster than the older 80-200mm f/2.8 model (the push pull version)
9. The price is very stable (I bought mine several years ago and I could still sell it at the same price today)
10. With non full frame Nikon DSLR, the focal length becomes 120-300mm equivalent (nice reach). you can get Nikon 80-400mm for more reach but that lens is not fixed f/2.8).

Cons
1. Heavy at 2 lbs 14 oz or 1.3kg. (Good arm exercise :), or using tripod or monopod would be nice)
2. Autofocus not as fast and silence as the AF-S model (70-200mm f/2.8 AF-S and 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-S), but the autofocus limiter switch improves autofocus time
3. Tripod collar is too close to the zoom ring (you can remove or adjust the tripod collar though)
4. Thread for the filter can be better (it's made of plastic)
5. Lens hood is sold separately (highly recommended to reduce flare and internal reflection)
6. More expensive than Non-Nikon (sigma, tamron etc) brand alternative (some comparable price but they have faster and silence focus)
7. Lens could jump around a bit during autofocusing if you are not strong enough (due to the glass moving fast as the lens autofocus)
8. No Manual focus override mode on Autofocus mode
9. No Macro mode (can't be use for macro shot). closest focusing distance is quite far
10. No VR (Vibration Reduction), which will help a lot for this type of lens (heavy and telephoto)

In conculsion, if you are looking for a Nikon professional grade telephoto lens that is reasonably prices, you can't really beat this Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8D ED AF Zoom Nikkor lens. This lens is really good choice for sport, action, wedding, low-light, indoor photography.

The 70-200mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Nikkor is the latest evolution of nikon's 80-200 range lenses. Over the years many versions have existed, but this is without a doubt the best.
The lens is ergonomically designed for ease of use- a nice control panel on the side controls AF and VR functions, while the raised zoom ring is on the thinner part of the lens barrel. This is much more comfortable than the large diameter of the older AF-S 80-200 f/2.8D that I previously owned. The focus ring is easily distinguished, and contains the transition to the larger portion of the lens at the front. This makes it easy to hold and manipulate. Ring type AF-S means that you can instantly change and override autofocus with just a move of this ring.
AF-S also results in blindingly fast focus with even the slowest digital bodies, and ever improving with the higher models. On my D70, the focus could cycle from infitity to 1.5m (close focus) and back in around 2 seconds. with the focus limiter, it can cycle from infinity to 2.5m and back to infinity in A SECOND OR LESS!
Vibration reduction brings a whole new level of use to this telephoto- now a photographer can use their great lens in low light handheld- fast response time, no need for a tripod all the way down to 1/5 second at 200mm if used with proper technique and VR is allowed to stabilize for around 5 seconds for maximum correction.
Extremely useful for static work, also useful for action shots when the light gets tough- it is easier to stop motion than camera shake- VR gives that added bit of help on a monopod or handheld once the shutter speed drops below that critical point.
But that is just the feature set of the lens....
Actually speaking about quality, there is no comparison. The 70-200 VR is amazingly sharp- practically lethal! It is fine at f/2.8, though I often stop down a bit to f/3.5 for a bit better quality while maintaining shallow depth of field. At F/4.0, the lens is brilliant, and at f/5.6 and f/8 the lens performs beyond even the highest expectations.
The 'Bokeh', or out of focus character, of the lens is praised extensively, with a 9 bladed diaphragm to provide a very smooth rendition. It is excellent for portraits as such.
Color rendition is very pleasing, with contrasty and vibrant images produced. Chromatic Aberration exists at very wide apertures, but isn't a problem in my opinion and once you stop down.
This lens outperforms my AF-s 80-200 f/2.8D ED-IF that was its immediate predecessor and up to now the best in the range.

One key improvement is also the tripod collar- instead of a flimsy completely removable rotating collar, the 70-200 VR now has a permanently integrated rotating tripod collar with quick release mounting foot! This is very useful as the lens can be removed quickly from a tripod or monopod for handholding, and the foot can be removed if it is in the way for handheld shooting. It also has opened the door for such comanies as Kirk's and Really Right Stuff, for example, to make replacement feet with an integrated Arca-Swiss style dovetail Quick Release for tripod heads with that sort of QR clamp.
The only problem is the rather small and hard to reach knob for tightening the collar's rotation- there are larger aftermarket replacements available.

This lens is absolutely the best lens I have used from Nikon or Canon. It is superior in construction all metal not plastic, it weights closer to four pounds when you attach your filters. The tripod mount is reinforced and much stronger than the 80-200mm lens which were commonly known for the tripod breaking from the weight of the lens. All of the pictures I have taken with this lens and my F5 camera combo are superior to any photos I have taken with my Canon cameras and lenses which cost two to three times the price of this lens. After using this lens for a year I decided to sell my Canon cameras and use Nikon begin using Nikon exclusively without any regrets. I purchased a new Nikon D200 camera which is like a dream come true, this lens is 105mm-300mm on a digital camera making it the perfect lens for portraits and telephoto work. Hands down this lens will satisfy the perfectionist and is so easy to use that the amateur photographer can use this lens with outstanding results like a point and shoot camera. The lens does all the work for you such as focus and metering and the continuous f/2.8 allows for all of your pictures to be brighter and colors more vivid to astound your expectations. As a professional photographer I need equipment that is visually impressive and must be reliable to make money consistently every week. Nikon's claim that the VR (vibration reduction) allows for three f stops faster operation when it is hand held, however I have found that this is very conservative on their part because I use it mounted on a tripod which eliminates any lens movement and I achieve best results this way. I have used this lens with the Nikon TC-20E II 2x teleconverter AF-S at f5.6 on my D200 which equates to 600mm with outstanding results it just doesn't get any better. If you have Tiffen filters use them with this lens and see for yourself that you can't find a better priced lens in any price range. I want to buy the Nikon 600mm lens next to add to my collection before I go to Africa next year to photograph elephants, rhinos and lions. If you can't afford the price to by this lens new then I recommend you buy this lens on eBay to save yourself some money so you can have the best of the best! Go to nikon.com and look at this lens to do your own research and read reviews posted on the net by Nikon users and you'll agree with me completely. Have fun and record your memories for a life time for children to share and enjoy with their kids like I do with mine.