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84 of 86 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ultimate Nikon tele zoom, but heavy, 29 Jun 2007
This review is from: Nikon Af-S 70-200/2.8 Vr Ifed G Nikkor (Electronics)
Nikon describes this as a "Compact, lightweight G-type fast telephoto zoom lens with Vibration Reduction (VR)". This is slightly bizarre because Nikon makes a number of lightweight zooms. However, at 1.47 kg, this is not one of them. That, and the price, are the only downsides to this extraordinary lens. The price, once paid, is something you forget about fairly quickly. The weight, however, stays with you.
If you can live with that, this is an astonishing piece of glass with a measured acutance that puts it not only at the top of the 70-200 category, but close to the top of any lens, zoom or prime, of any length available on 35mm. It also has a beautiful bokeh, giving wonderful out-of-focus backgrounds, with virtually no measurable distortion.
Nikon made six highly rated 80-200 f/2.8 constant aperture autofocus lenses before this one. Any one of them is _almost_ as optically perfect as this lens. The early ones were 'screwdriver' focus, which is slower and slightly jerky, but the latest ones are AF-S, which means they are equipped with 'silent wave' motors. I'm not really sure why they call this 'silent wave', as the noise of the 'screwdriver' type was never a problem, but AF-S does focus more quickly for less battery drain. As well as offering an extra 10mm of focal length range on the short end, the 70-200 is equipped with Vibration Reduction, which accounts for the massive price hike.
Vibration Reduction (VR) puts a floating element in the lens which a voice coil vibrates to cancel the vibrations inherent in hand-holding. It has two modes, normal and active. Normal is for regular hand-holding and panning, while Active is for use when shooting from a moving vehicle. Nikon promises three full stops better performance through VR, which means that, instead of shooting at 1/250 for 200mm focal length, you can shoot at 1/30. VR is a real 'seeing is believing' function. I certainly didn't believe it, until we bought an 18-200 VR lens, and I saw for myself. Three days later, I bought this lens: VR really does work.
What more is there to say? This may well be the most technically perfect, uncompromising lens that Nikon has ever built. It was redesigned from the ground up, taking the best characteristics of its predecessors and improving on them. The metal construction is well suited to the rigours of professional life, and the tripod collar is much better than the earlier versions. It also comes in a really good padded case/bag. Alongside the VR controls, it also has switches for auto and manual, for focus hold, and for limiting focus distance -- useful to reduce hunting if there are close objects such as fences or railings. It also focuses superbly quickly, and, naturally, its f/2.8 constant aperture speeds up autofocus, makes manual focus easier, enables you to work with longer teleconverters, and gives you even more options in low light, or for differential focus.
Aside from the weight, there are just a couple of down sides. It suffers from flare when light enters straight into the lens. It is a little finicky on a few older and lower end bodies. The nearest focus distance is 1.5 metres. It's also a G-type lens, which means no aperture ring, and therefore will not work well with older manual focus cameras, although it is a superb choice for both DX digital and film cameras such as the F5 and F6.
If you think I'm harping on the weight rather a lot, then consider this. The 70-200 is designed to balance with a deep body SLR, such as an F5, D1, D2X, or any of D100, D200 or F6 with the requisite battery pack. Obviously you can fit it to a D70, D80, or a D200 without the battery pack, but, unless it's on a tripod (in which case you should switch off VR, thereby losing one of the lens's main advantages), it will balance badly and be hard to handle. This means that you are effectively committed to 2.5 kg for the camera and lens combination, or 2.8 kg with a flash.
Ultimately, this is a top professional lens to produce top professional results. For most kinds of photography, and for most sizes of print, the 18-200 VR will do just as well, costs 1/3 of the price, and is 1/3 of the weight. But if you want to own and use just one truly great lens in your entire life, consider making it this one.
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