Nikon telephoto f/2.8 zooms

PatrickO

PatrickO

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May I ask people's opinions about the various versions of the various 70-200 and 80-200 f/2.8 nikon zooms.

I can pick up the old 80-200 push-pull for not much over £300 and at the other end of the price range there's the new 70-200 VR II which go on ebay for around £1100 used.

How important is VR when using lenses of this size and weight?

How much variation is there likely to be in individual copies of the same lens?

I'm mostly doing outdoor family shoots.
 
Can't speak for the 80-200 but use a 70-200 vr11 daily. Wouldn't worry unduly about the size and weight, the VR will give you a couple of stops back but unless your shooting in low light and trying to capture moving images i wouldn't say it's a game changer. What body will you use it with as this will obviously have a bearing on it if your concerned aboutshutter speeds ?
 
At one time or the other have used & owned all of Nikon 70/80/-200mm F2.8 zooms, IQ wise they were all very good,the last on was the VR-1 which was very sharp.

As for VR can be useful on large lens,i always try and keep my shutter speeds as high as possible when using this zoom at the highest focal length :)
 
charlie 5 said:
Can't speak for the 80-200 but use a 70-200 vr11 daily. Wouldn't worry unduly about the size and weight, the VR will give you a couple of stops back but unless your shooting in low light and trying to capture moving images i wouldn't say it's a game changer. What body will you use it with as this will obviously have a bearing on it if your concerned aboutshutter speeds ?
Click to expand...

Will be using of a D700, so can push the ISO up a fair bit. On a lens of that size I'd be wanting to keep shutter speed well above 1/200 without VR
 
simonblue said:
At one time or the other have used & owned all of Nikon 70/80/-200mm F2.8 zooms, IQ wise they were all very good,the last on was the VR-1 which was very sharp.

As for VR can be useful on large lens,i always try and keep my shutter speeds as high as possible when using this zoom at the highest focal length :)
Click to expand...

Did you have a preference for any particular version?
 
isnt the normal advice to buy the tamron unless you need 200mm close up (focus breathing) or more solid construction ?
 
PatrickO said:
Will be using of a D700, so can push the ISO up a fair bit. On a lens of that size I'd be wanting to keep shutter speed well above 1/200 without VR
Click to expand...

With a 700 and the fact that your goal is shooting at or above the focal length I wouldn't say that the VR or lack of is too much of an issue. What it would offer though is the ability to comfortably shoot below that threshold in terms of shutter speed /iso when the conditions dictate it.
Still doesn't give you an answer though, sorry...
 
Had a VR1, thought it was pretty good. 'Downsized' and replaced with an 80-200 (one before AFS one I think). Didn't get on at all. Loads more shots OOF or not sharp, at higher speeds it was ok so put it down to technique/VR, got a different VR1 which is excellent - so I would say VR1 is great value.
 
The 70-200mm vr1 is an excellent combination with the d700. The main complaint of vignetting is easily dealt with the right lens profile. And it's great value going by some of the recent prices on here
 
I wished I saved my money and didn't go via the various older models an side steps via Sigma...If I knew then what I know now, I would go straight to the VR1 or VR2 models and save some money along the way...The road will end there anyway....
 
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