Nikon 70-210mm f4 owners - where are you?

AJQS

AJQS

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Alan
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Sell me this lens! I need to save some weight in my camera bag, my Sigma f2.8 is a big heavy b****r and doesn't AF properly. My choices are the above Nikkor or another Sigma that does work.

Photozone hate it, Ken Rockwell loves it - who's right? Is it as I would like to believe yet another damp squib of a Nikon lens or is it the best thing in telezooms short of the 80-200 ED?
 
Alan Clogwyn said:
Sell me this lens! ...
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Sorry...no can do.

Alan Clogwyn said:
...Photozone hate it, Ken Rockwell loves it - who's right? Is it as I would like to believe yet another damp squib of a Nikon lens or is it the best thing in telezooms short of the 80-200 ED?
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By my reading of his recommendations (link) I don't think KR loves this lens. Rather he's prepared to give it its rightful place.

Then I'll add another -ve: link. That's enough for me...
 
Right. I'm an actual owner of this lens and paid for it out of my own pocket! And I have used (but not owned) the F2.8 VR2.
The F/4 is a great lens. The VR is great allowing hand held shots @200mm @1/4S. To be fair I don't regularly go that low.
The lens is sharp. As soon as you look through the viewfinder you can see that.
And it's light by comparison to the F/2.8. It's a lens you can put in the bag "just in case". Where as the F/2.8 is in the bag because you feel obliged to use it. I'm just back from a holiday with the family and took this lens and three others, my D700 body and SB-700 in a lowepro micro tracker 200 bag.

I'm sure the lens will not take the professional beatings that the F/2.8 would take. But i'm not a pro, and look after my kit. Unless you are a pro, I can't see any reason to by the F/2.8 VR2. Forget the extra stop. It's meaningless when you have a body that you can crank up the ISO with easily.

I'm taking mine to an airshow tomorrow with the TC14. First time using this partnership and the D700. Only because my wife will not lend me here D3200 body.

The last link added above refers to the OLD 70-210 F/4. Not the new ( been out nearly a year?) F/4.

In short, it's a great lens. End of.
 
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I think its more to do with price,you can pick up a good con 70-200mm V1 F2.8 for the same price.
Plus there are quite a few other lens in the Nikon range that cover the same range although not having a constant aperture.

Also its not waterproofing of the 70-200 V1/2 its a hard sell at the moment the price does need to drop.

:)
 
Which lens are we talking about here? The old 70-210 f/4 AF-D or the new 70-200 F/4 AF-S?

I've got the D and it's fantastic. Nice and sharp and personally I'm a fan of the swirly bokeh. Focuses fast and close, with an "M" marking on the focus ring which indicates some sort of modest macro ability. Pretty lightweight for what it is. If you shoot moving things you don't need VR anyway, and with the price differential between the D and S, the D is a screaming bargain IMHO for those who don't need f/2.8. I have enough worry about focussing @ f/4!


Etape Pennines 2012 (7 of 177) by martsharm, on Flickr


Etape Pennines 2012 (22 of 177) by martsharm, on Flickr


The Heartbreaks @ Kendal Calling 2013-9017 by martsharm, on Flickr
 
martsharm said:
Which lens are we talking about here? ... I've got the D and it's fantastic...
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Can I check with you, please? Yours lens is a D version of the constant aperture AF 70-210mm f/4 and not the AF 70-210mm f/4-5.6D?

[Edit] The lens ID on one of your shots shows that it is indeed the constant aperture lens, but I didn't know that there was a 'D' version.
 
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PickleB said:
Can I check with you, please? Yours lens is a D version of the constant aperture AF 70-210mm f/4 and not the AF 70-210mm f/4-5.6D?

[Edit] The lens ID on one of your shots shows that it is indeed the constant aperture lens, but I didn't know that there was a 'D' version.
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Ok so it appears no, no one has the lens! There is no D version, and definitely no G version!

This would purely be a landscape lens, hence I can live with F4 to gain some free space and a little spinal relief! If it does have swirly bokeh though I'll never put it down, I love that stuff!
 
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Alan Clogwyn said:
...no one has the lens! ... If it does have swirly bokeh though I'll never put it down, I love that stuff!
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I think that martsharm does have the lens but he may be mistaken about it being a D-lens.

Have a look at his shots and see if the bokeh is to your liking.

You may be encouraged that Bjørn Rørslett says "Sharpness in fact for landscape work was quite good at 70mm" and he rated it at a maximum of 3.5, which isn't too bad (ratings link).
 
cambsno said:
So what lens are we actually talking about????
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Dunno about you lot but the plan was for the one in the title!

Found a Flickr group and the results are looking plenty good enough for me, asuming of course they are talking about the right lens! :lol:
 
PickleB said:
I think that martsharm does have the lens but he may be mistaken about it being a D-lens.

Have a look at his shots and see if the bokeh is to your liking.

You may be encouraged that Bjørn Rørslett says "Sharpness in fact for landscape work was quite good at 70mm" and he rated it at a maximum of 3.5, which isn't too bad (ratings link).
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Yes I do like that Bokeh a lot :thumbs:
 
I think OP is talking about the new model that's only just come out,Nikon hasn't had an constant aperture F4 70-200 in its range for a long time,whereas Canon have.
Nikon were alway talking about it but its taken them this long to finally add one to the range :)
 
simonblue said:
I think OP is talking about the new model that's only just come out,Nikon hasn't had an constant aperture F4 70-200 in its range for a long time,whereas Canon have.
Nikon were alway talking about it but its taken them this long to finally add one to the range :)
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Can everyone who has not visited specsavers recently please leave this thread? :lol:
 
Have you looked in the Wanted section? :whistling:

Though to be fair, that thread's in the archive now. I've got a few photos at home that I took at a bird sanctuary using this lens, can post them up later if you'd like to see 'em?
 
Alan Clogwyn said:
Can everyone who has not visited specsavers recently please leave this thread? :lol:
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Sorry talking about the older model :D,had this len a couple of times over the years,thought it was ok,but it got replaced by the F2.8 ED then VR-1 F2.8,but found that just to heavy to carry around a lot.
So i have settle with the 28-300 VR :)
 
I replaced my 70-200 f2.8 vr2 with the 70-200 f4 vr3. Very rarely I miss my old lens.

VR 3 is amazing. My copy is very sharp, fast and works well with my tc17 on Nikon's latest cameras. It is half the weight of the f2.8 vr2 which means I use it/take it out a lot more
 
No worries guys, I've just gone and bought Strappy's old one so I'll see for myself soon enough how good it is.
 
Just so anyone searching something similar gets to this thread, the lens arrived today and in summary: Plenty sharp, plenty of resolution, plenty of contrast, light, slooooow AF, couldn't manually focus any slower than it even if you got drunk first, but it's accurate enough it seems. Haven't worked out what the little switch thing by the aperture ring is meant to do.
 
Haven't worked out what the little switch thing by the aperture ring is meant to do.
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Lenses with the aperture ring were originally designed for older SLR's which did not control aperture via the camera body.

Newer SLRs and DSLR control aperture via the body, so these older lenses must be stopped all the way down in order to be used. Your lens is working as it should, and is not defective.

To select aperture using your camera, ensure the aperture ring is set at 22 and shoot in either aperture (A) priority or manual and use the command dial and LCD screen to select the aperture you desire.
 
What bulldog said but the smallest aperture on that lens is 32 - it's coloured orange as hint. The switch is there to lock the aperture ring at 32 so you don't knock it off accidentally. :)
 
Strappy said:
What bulldog said but the smallest aperture on that lens is 32 - it's coloured orange as hint. The switch is there to lock the aperture ring at 32 so you don't knock it off accidentally. :)
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how does it work though, it doesn't seem to move in any direction :thinking:

Thinking about it the locks on all my lenses are broken! :lol:
 
If you are getting an FEE error message you will need to do the following
Set the aperture to F32 then use your thumb nail and turn till the white dot lines up with the red dot, the aperture is now locked.

If no FEE error message the aperture is already locked.
 
Alan Clogwyn said:
how does it work though, it doesn't seem to move in any direction :thinking:
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IIRC, you need to press it in while rotating the aperture ring but you shouldn't need to force it. Turning it back to 32 locks the ring automatically; you don't have to press the button then.
 
Ahh it unlocks rather than locks, woohoo a working button! Much better than the slide to lock tabs my other lenses no longer have.
 
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