Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II

AF-S, FX and DX Coverage

Sample Images   Intro   Compatibility   Specs

Unboxing   Performance   Compared

User's Guide   Recommendations

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II

Nikon 200mm f/2 G VR II (52mm drop-in filters, 6.5 pounds/2.93kg, 6.2 feet/1.9m close focus, about $3,100 used if you know How to Win at eBay and also available used at Amazon). bigger or fit screen.

This all-content, junk-free website's biggest source of support is when you use those or any of these links to approved sources when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Thanks for helping me help you! Ken.

 

February 2024, Hot August 2019   Better Pictures   Nikon Reviews   Nikon Lenses   Nikon Flash   All Reviews

Ideal for: Perfect for portraits, concerts and low-light indoor action shots. This is the lens for indoor gymnastics, volleyball and concerts!

Not for: Anyone on a money or weight budget.

Older and nearly identical 200mm f/2 VR (2004-2010, sold used for about $2,900 in 2019 if you know How to Win at eBay.)

Original 200mm f/2 ED-IF (1977-2005, manual focus, sells used for about $1,500 ~ $2,100 in 2019 if you know How to Win at eBay).

Why Fixed Lenses Take Better Pictures

 

Sample Images       top

Sample Images   Intro   Compatibility   Specs

Unboxing   Performance   Compared

User's Guide   Recommendations

This is shot hand-held by available light at night as a BASIC ★ JPG; no RAW files, no NORMAL or FINE JPGs or tripods were used or needed.

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II Sample Image

Surf City All Stars, 26 July 2019. Nikon D850, Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II wide-open at f/2 hand-held at 1/125 at Auto ISO 1,800, Perfectly Clear v.3.7. bigger, full-resolution or camera-original © file.

 

How sharp is this at 45 megapixels? Here's a 1,200 × 1,200 pixel crop of the face:

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II Sample Image

1,200 × 1,200 pixel crop from above. bigger, full-resolution or camera-original © file.

And here's a crop from the same file of the fretwork. You can see the strings vibrate!

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II Sample Image

1,200 × 1,200 pixel crop from above. bigger, full-resolution or camera-original © file.

If either of these 1,200 × 1,200 pixel crops are about 3" (7.5cm) wide on your screen, the complete image would print at a large 21  × 14″ (55 × 35 cm) at this same high magnification.

If either of these 1,200 × 1,200 pixel crops are about 6" (15cm) wide on your screen, the complete image would print at a huge 41¼ × 27½″ (105 × 70 cm) at this same super high magnification.

If either of these 1,200 × 1,200 pixel crops are about 12" (30cm) wide on your screen, the complete image would print at a mammoth 82½ × 55″ (2.1 × 1.4 meters) at this same extremely high magnification!

Yes, any 70-200mm f/2.8 VR could have shot the same thing, but it wouldn't have been as sharp because I'd have to shoot it at twice the ISO of 3,600 or shoot it at only 1/60, either one of which will soften or blur the image.

 

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II Sample Image

Desert Sunset, 7:54PM, 02 August 2019. Nikon D850, Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II wide-open at f/2 hand-held at 1/200 at Auto ISO 160, Perfectly Clear v.3.7. bigger or camera-original © file.

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Introduction       top

Sample Images   Intro   Compatibility   Specs

Unboxing   Performance   Compared

User's Guide   Recommendations

New   Good   Bad   Missing

Adorama Pays Top Dollar for Used Gear

B&H Photo - Video - Pro Audio

Crutchfield

This is an optically superb lens with extreme sharpness and almost no color fringes on out-of-focus areas, especially shot wide-open at f/2, and has nearly instantaneous autofocus, even on Nikon's cheapest cameras.

200mm f/2 lenses are for full-time career professionals who already own the 300mm f/2.8 and need a shorter, faster lens usually for indoor and night concerts and closer-in sports like gymnastics, boxing and volleyball, where the extra stop of speed give us a huge competitive advantage over others with only 70-200mm f/2.8 zooms.

f/2 lets us shoot at half the ISO for much cleaner images, or twice the shutter speed for sharper action shots, than any f/2.8 lens. When you do this for a living and have to make better shots than the next guy, or the talents' uncle with a 70-200/2.8 FL shooting for free, this is the lens you bring.

This porker also immediately lets everyone know you're the hired, authorized professional who should be ushered down to the front row or the press box immediately. With this lens, you don't need any credentials other than this beast in your hands. If you're not a pro, see Phil Steele's Event Photography Course for the insider tricks for getting free VIP access and perks using a lens like this.

I'd get my 200/2 used at eBay (How to Win at eBay) or used at Amazon .

 

New since the 200mm f/2 VR (2004~2010)

This is the same 200mm f/2 VR lens as the 2004 model, with only these changes. Optics and focus are identical.

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com Now claims 4 stops VR improvement. (previous model 200mm f/2 VR claimed only three.)

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com Adds Nano Crystal Coat to one surface of one element as a marketing ploy; none of Nikon's 200mm f/2 lenses (1977-present) have ever had flare or ghost problems.

blue ball icon © KenRockwell.com Adds an additional auto/manual focus mode with a slightly larger amount of focus-ring motion required to let the lens recognize that you want manual focus. This is only useful if you tended to knock the focus ring by accident and unintentionally put the lens in manual-focus override.

 

Good

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Outstanding optics, especially wide-open at f/2 where it's ultra-sharp with minimal spherochromatism (color fringes).

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Incredibly fast autofocus, even on Nikon's cheapest cameras.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Instant manual-focus override.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Manual focus flicks with a fingertip.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Direct-coupled mechanical manual focus ring — not some crummy electronic encoder like on a mirrorless camera.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Four control buttons around the front of the lens that change functions instantly with a dedicated slide switch to any of AF-LOCK, AF-ON, or instant return to a preset focus distance.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Superb padded nylon system case included.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Image Stabilization.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Stops all the way down to f/22.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Made domestically in Japan.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Super-fast autofocus even with a TC-20E 2× teleconverter.

 

Bad

red ball icon © KenRockwell.com Not very sharp with TC-20E 2× teleconverter.

red ball icon © KenRockwell.com Big, heavy and expensive.

 

Missing

gray ball icon © KenRockwell.com No 90º clicks on tripod collar.

gray ball icon © KenRockwell.com No way to remove the tripod collar.

 

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II

Nikon 200mm f/2 G VR II. bigger or fit screen.

 

Compatibility       Intro     top

Sample Images   Intro   Compatibility   Specs

Unboxing   Performance   Compared

User's Guide   Recommendations

I'd get my 200/2 used at eBay (How to Win at eBay) or used at Amazon .

Everything works perfectly on every digital Nikon, both FX and DX, and even on Nikon's cheapest digitals like the D40, D40x, D60, D3000, D3100 and D5000.

It's also perfect on decent or recent AF film cameras like the F6, F100, F5, N80 and N75.

The incompatibilities for older or cheaper film cameras are that:

1.) It won't autofocus with the cheapest new AF film cameras like the N55, but if you focus manually, everything else works great. Even if you lose autofocus, these cameras have in-finder focus confirmation dots to help you.

2.) Late 1980s ~ early 1990s AF cameras like the N90s, N70 and F4 will auto focus just fine, but you'll lose VR. You'll have Program and Shutter-priority modes, but lose Manual and Aperture-priority modes since you have no way to set the aperture on the camera or on the lens.

3.) You're really pushing it with the oldest AF cameras like the N2020, N6006 and N8008. You'll have no AF, confused exposure modes, and no VR. Manual focus is fine, along with electronic focus indications.

4.) Since it has no aperture ring, it's just about useless with manual focus film cameras.

See Nikon Lens Compatibility for details with your camera. Read down the "AF-S, AF-I," "G" and "VR" columns for this lens. You'll get the least of all the features displayed in all columns, since "G" (gelding) is a handicap which removes features.

 

Specifications         top

Sample Images   Intro   Compatibility   Specs

Unboxing   Performance   Compared

User's Guide   Recommendations

I'd get my 200/2 used at eBay (How to Win at eBay) or used at Amazon .

 

Name        top

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II

Nikon 200mm f/2 G VR II. bigger or fit screen.

Nikon calls this the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200mm f/2G ED VR II.

    AF-S and SWM: Silent Wave Autofocus Motor.

    NIKKOR: Nikon's brand name for their lenses.

    G: Gelded for cost-reduction and removing compatibility with older cameras.

    ED: Magic Extra-low Dispersion Glass.

    VR: Vibration Reduction.

    II: Same as the last one, just more expensive.

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II

"N" Nano Crystal Coat solid gold vanity plate. bigger or fit screen.

 

Optics        top

Nikon 200mm diagram

Internal diagram, Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II. bigger.

13 elements in 9 groups. 1 additional protective plate.

3 ED, 1 super ED.

Internal focusing; nothing moves externally as focused.

Nikon Super Integrated Coating (SIC), and one surface with nano-crystal coat. Nano-crystal coat is an anti-reflection coating which varies its index of refraction continuously to achieve even greater reflection reduction. It's only on one surface.

 

Diaphragm        top

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II

Nikon 200mm f/2 G VR II. bigger or fit screen.

9 rounded blades.

Stops down to f/22.

 

Coverage        top

Film, FX and DX.

 

Focal Length        top

200mm.

When used on a DX camera, it gives an angle of view similar to what a 300mm lens gives when used on an FX or 35mm camera.

 

Angle of View        top

12.3° on FX and Film.

8° on small-format DX.

 

Close Focus        top

6.2 feet (1.9m).

 

Maximum Reproduction Ratio        top

1:8.2.

 

Focus Modes         top

Manual, and two auto modes.

The two autofocus modes, M/A and A/M, differ in just how far you have to turn the focus ring for it to shift itself into manual.

Nikon obfuscates these as "Equipped with three focus modes, M/A (autofocus with manual override, MF priority), M (manual) and A/M (autofocus with manual override, AF priority).

 

Focus Scale        top

Yes, but small.

 

Depth-of-Field Scale        top

No.

The two tiny pips for f/22 don't count. Why bother?

 

Infra-Red Focus Index        top

No.

 

Aperture Ring        top

No.

 

Vibration Reduction         top

Claims 4 stops improvement.

Claims automatic tripod detection.

 

Filters        top

52mm filters screw into a rear holder. See Filters.

 

Hood        top

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II

Nikon HK-31 hood. bigger or fit screen.

HK-31 hood, included.

Don't lose it; it's $600 for a replacement.

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II

Nikon D850, 200/2 VR II and HK-31 hood. bigger or fit screen.

Caps

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II

Nikon 200mm f/2 G VR II. bigger or fit screen.

 

Tripod Collar

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II

Nikon 200mm f/2 G VR II. bigger or fit screen.

Rotating collar with friction-lock thumbscrew.

No 90º clicks.

Single ¼″ × 20 TPI thread on a short foot.

 

Case        top

Nikon CL-L1 case

Nikon CL-L1 case. enlarge.

CL-L1, included.

 

Teleconverters        top

Any of the TC-14E, TC-17E and TC-20E series.

 

Size        top

4.9" (124mm) diameter by 8.0" (203.5mm) extension from flange.

 

Weight        top

103.4 oz. (6.5 pounds or 2.93 kg).

 

Included        top

Slip-on padded front lens cap.

Rear Lens Cap LF-4.

Lens Hood HK-31.

Semi-soft Case CL-L1.

Dedicated slip-in filter holder.

52mm Screw-on Neutral Color NC Filter.

Strap LN-1.

 

Announced        top

15 September 2010.

 

Available         top

Promised for early October 2010.

 

Nikon Product Number        top

2198.

 

Price, USA        top

February 2024

About $3,100 used if you know How to Win at eBay.

About $5,100 used at Amazon.

 

Hot May~August 2019

$5,697 new at B&H, at Adorama and at Amazon.

About $3,500 used if you know How to Win at eBay.

 

September 2010 (introduction)

$5,999.95.

 

Unboxing

Sample Images   Intro   Compatibility   Specs

Unboxing   Performance   Compared

User's Guide   Recommendations

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II

Box with Nikon 50mm f/1.4 AI-s for size comparison. bigger or fit screen.

I got my 200/2 at B&H. I'd also get mine at Adorama or at Amazon, or get it used if you know How to Win at eBay.

The box and lens are completely unsealed. There is no way to know if anyone else has been fiddling with your lens, swapping parts and accessories, or even if it's a dropped, returned, damaged or used lens.

This is why it's critical to buy only from an approved online source, since they ship from automated warehouses where no shifty salesmen or customers ever get to touch your new camera before it ships. While new $5 CDs, DVDs, Blu-Rays and bottles of milk and drinking water are sealed and quite obvious if anyone's opened them, paradoxically Nikon doesn't bother sealing anything, so your only insurance is to buy only from a trusted online dealer.

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II Unboxing. Subscribe for more videos.

 

Performance       top

Sample Images   Intro   Compatibility   Specs

Unboxing   Performance   Compared

User's Guide   Recommendations

 

Overall   Autofocus   Manual Focus   Breathing

Bokeh   Distortion   Ergonomics   Exposure   Falloff

Filters   Flare & Ghosts    Lateral Color Fringes

Lens Corrections    Macro    Mechanics

Sharpness   Spherochromatism   Stabilization

Sunstars    Teleconverters    Tripod Collar

 

I'd get my 200/2 used at eBay (How to Win at eBay) or used at Amazon .

 

Overall

Performance          top

The Nikon 200/2 is a great performer with superb optics and lighting-fast autofocus, and priced to match.

Other than the size, weight and price, there's nothing not to like.

 

Autofocus

Performance          top

Autofocus is ultra fast, even on basic Nikon cameras:

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II autofocus performance. Subscribe for more videos.

 

Manual Focus

performance          top

Manual focus is perfect.

Just grab the direct-coupled mechanical focus ring at any time for instant manual-focus override.

It turns smoothly without needing any damping with just a fingertip.

 

Focus Breathing

Performance          top

Focus breathing is the image changing size as focused in and out. It's important to cinematographers that the image not breathe because it looks funny if the image changes size as focus gets pulled back and forth between actors. If the lens does this, the image "breathes" by growing and contracting slightly as the dialog goes back and forth.

This Nikon 200mm f/2 has plenty of breathing; the image gets obviously bigger as focused more closely.

 

Bokeh

Performance          top

Bokeh, the feel, character or quality of out-of-focus areas as opposed to how far out of focus they are, is superb. That's one of the main reasons pros have been forking over many thousands for each of these lenses every day since Nikon invented the 200mm f/2 lens in 1977.

Here are photos from headshot distance wide-open. Click any for the camera-original © file:

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II bokeh

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II bokeh

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II bokeh

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II bokeh

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II bokeh

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II bokeh

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II bokeh

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II bokeh

Davis 6250 weather station, 24 July 2019. click any above for the camera-original © file.

As always, if you want to throw the background as far out of focus as possible, shoot at f/2 and get as close as possible.

Here's the same thing, shot from twice as far away at a different time on a different day, with the TC-20E teleconverter:

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II bokeh

Davis 6250 weather station, 15 August 2019, adding the TC-20E teleconverter. bigger or camera-original © file.

 

Distortion

Performance          top

The Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II has no visible distortion, except at the very closest distances where is has a tiny amount of pincushion distortion that I doubt anyone will ever notice.

Turn on in-camera distortion correction and it all goes away. Even with in-camera correction off, it's easy to correct fully for scientific uses with Photoshop's lens correction filter with these factors.

These aren't facts or specifications, they are the results of my research that requires hours of photography and calculations on the resulting data.

On Full-Frame and 35mm

Correction factor with uncorrected images

Correction factor to use with images made with correction ON in D850
10' (3m)
-1.20 ±0.00
30' (10m)
-0.50 ±0.00
100' (30m)
-0.50 ±0.00

© 2019 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved.

 

Ergonomics

Performance          top

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II

It's easy for a man to hand-hold.

The front rubber grip has four programmable function buttons that fall right under my thumb regardless of how I'm holding it. You set their function with a slide switch, no need for menus, hallelujah! (see my User's Guide.)

Manual focus glides effortlessly with a single fingertip.

 

Falloff

Performance          top

Falloff on FX and 35mm is invisible, except maybe if you're shooting blank skies at f/2. Anything you can see goes away by f/2.8 with blank skies, and in normal shots falloff is invisible even wide-open at f/2 as you can see at Sample Images, all of which are shot wide-open at f/2.

I've greatly exaggerated the falloff by shooting a gray field and placing these on a gray background; it will not look this bad in actual photos of real things:

 

falloff on FX and 35mm at infinity, default Vignette Correction NORMAL.

f/2
f/2.8
Nikon MMmm f/FF falloff
Nikon MMmm f/FF falloff
Nikon MMmm f/FF falloff
Nikon MMmm f/FF falloff
f/4
f/5.6

© 2019 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved.

 

If you go out of your way to turn off vignette correction and then go looking for it, then, yes, you'll see it at f/2 and f/2.8 in these gray-on-gray exaggerations:

 

falloff on FX and 35mm at infinity, Vignette Correction OFF.

f/2
f/2.8
Nikon MMmm f/FF falloff
Nikon MMmm f/FF falloff
Nikon MMmm f/FF falloff
Nikon MMmm f/FF falloff
f/4
f/5.6

© 2019 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved.

 

Filters, use with

performance          top

52mm filters screw into a little drawer that slides in and out of the rear of the barrel:

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II

Nikon 200mm f/2 G VR II. bigger or fit screen.

 

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II

Nikon 200mm f/2 G VR II. bigger or fit screen.

Be sure to use only Nikon brand 52mm filters; other brands are sometimes a tad too long to fit in the slot.

 

Flare & Ghosts

Performance          top

There isn't any flare or ghosting to speak of; this lens is quite free from them.

You'll probably go blind trying to see any pointed at the sun with a long, fast lens like this.

 

Lateral Color Fringes

Performance          top

There are no lateral color fringes as shot on Nikon cameras, which by default correct for any that may be there.

There is very minor spherochromatism, which can cause slight color fringes on things that aren't in perfect focus. Spherochromatism is a completely different aberration in a different dimension than lateral color fringes.

 

Lens Corrections

Performance          top

My D850 can correct for any or all of distortion and/ or falloff. You can turn either of these corrections ON or OFF.

All Nikon models introduced since 2007 always correct for lateral color fringes (chromatic aberration), this is part of Nikon's secret sauce and never appears in any menu.

 

Macro Performance

Performance          top

While it doesn't get that close, it's ultra-sharp even wide-open at f/2:

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II Macro performance

Casio G-Shock Solar Atomic Watch at close-focus distance, 24 July 2019. Nikon D850, Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II wide-open at f/2 at 1/6,400 at Auto ISO 64, Perfectly Clear v.3.7. bigger or camera-original © file.

 

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II Macro performance

1,200 × 900 pixel crop from above. bigger or camera-original © file.

If this 1,200 × 900 pixel crop is about 3" (7.5cm) wide on your screen, the complete image would print at a large 14 × 21″ (35 × 55 cm) at this same high magnification.

If this 1,200 × 900 pixel crop is about 6" (15cm) wide on your screen, the complete image would print at a huge 27½ × 41¼″ (70 × 105 cm) at this same high magnification.

If this 1,200 × 900 pixel crop is about 12" (30cm) wide on your screen, the complete image would print at a mammoth 55 × 82½″ (1.4 × 2.1 meters) at this same extremely high magnification!

Mechanical Quality

Performance          top

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II

Nikon 200mm f/2 G VR II. bigger or fit screen.

This is one of Nikon's best lenses today. It's all metal, built for a lifetime of professional use, misuse and abuse.

 

Hood

Plastic with rubber front and rear bumpers.

Thumbscrew lock.

 

Front Lens Bumper

Yes, rubber.

 

Front Filter Threads

No front threads.

(uses a rear filter holder.)

 

Hood Mount

Metal.

 

Gold ED Band

Solid 14 karat gold.

 

Front Rubber Ring with 4 Buttons

One continuous piece of rubber.

 

Tripod Collar

All metal.

The collar doesn't come off.

One standard ¼″ × 20 thread.

 

Focus Ring

Rubber-covered metal.

 

Mid Barrel Exterior

Section with focus window: metal.

 

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II

Nikon 200mm f/2 G VR II. bigger or fit screen.

 

Slide Switches

Plastic.

 

Identity

14 karat solid gold metal plate around focus distance window.

 

MEMORY SET Button

Rubber covered.

 

VR ON/OFF Ring

Metal.

 

VR ON/OFF Ring Lock Button

Plastic.

 

Strap Lugs

Metal.

 

Rear Barrel

Metal.

 

Filter Holder

All metal: body, cover, knurled release knob and internal catch.

 

Dust Gasket at Mount

Yes.

 

Mount

Dull chromed metal.

 

Internals

All metal!

 

Markings

Just paint, although all the white dots are engraved.

 

Serial Number

Laser-engraved in gold identity plate.

 

Date Code

None found.

 

Noises When Shaken

Just some minor clicking.

This is a solid hunk of lens.

 

Made in

Made in Japan.

 

Sharpness

Performance          top

Lens sharpness has nothing to do with picture sharpness; every lens made in the past 100 years is more than sharp enough to make super-sharp pictures if you know what you're doing. The only limitation to picture sharpness is your skill as a photographer. It's the least talented who spend the most time worrying about lens sharpness and blame crummy pictures on their equipment rather than themselves. Skilled photographers make great images with whatever camera is in their hands; I've made some of my best images of all time with an irreparably broken camera! Most pixels are thrown away before you see them, but camera makers don't want you to know that.

If you're not getting ultra-sharp pictures with this, be sure not to shoot at f/11 or smaller where all lenses are softer due to diffraction, always shoot at ISO 100 or below because cameras become softer at ISO 200 and above, avoid shooting across long distances over land which can lead to atmospheric heat shimmer, be sure everything is in perfect focus, set your camera's sharpening as you want it (I set mine to the maximum) and be sure nothing is moving, either camera or subject. If you want to ensure a soft image with any lens, shoot at f/16 at ISO 1,600 at default sharpening in daylight of subjects at differing distances in the same image.

This aside, this is an extremely sharp and contrasty lens under all conditions. Even better than lenses that are very sharp but suffer from spherochromatism that puts color fringes on the out-of-focus areas and spoils other lens' magic in real-world shooting, this 200/2's almost complete lack of spherochromatism increases the perceived sharpness especially when shot wide-open.

Not that anyone except astronomers would care, but unlike the 300mm f/2.8, this 200/2 is a little softer in the corners wide-open. We don't care about that because we who own these lenses don't have things in focus in the corners at f/2; that's why we buy these fast lenses.

Here are Nikon's claimed MTF curves, which agree with what I see in actual shooting:

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II MTF

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II AF-S claimed MTF at f/2.

This curve says that it is, as expected, ridiculously sharp everywhere except the far corners at f/2.

 

Spherochromatism

Performance          top

Spherochromatism, also called "color bokeh" by laymen, is an advanced form of chromatic aberration in a different dimension than lateral color. It can cause colored fringes on out-of-focus highlights, usually seen as green fringes on backgrounds and magenta fringes on foregrounds. Spherochromatism is common in fast lenses of moderate focal length when shooting contrasty items at full aperture. It goes away as stopped down.

This super fast and long lens astoundingly has almost no spherochromatism:

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II spherochromatism

Mondaine A132.30348.11SBB at close-focus distance, 14 August 2019. Nikon D850, Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II wide-open at f/2 at 1/5,000 at Auto ISO 64, exactly as shot. bigger or camera-original © file.

 

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II spherochromatism

1,200 × 900 pixel crop from above. Nikon D850, Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II wide-open at f/2 at 1/5,000 at Auto ISO 64, exactly as shot. bigger or camera-original © file.

This is awesome! While with some lenses you barely can see the subject under all the spherochromatism, with this lens the spherochromatism is barely visible. Magnificent!

If this 1,200 × 900 pixel crop is about 3" (7.5cm) wide on your screen, the complete image would print at a large 14 × 21″ (35 × 55 cm) at this same high magnification.

If this 1,200 × 900 pixel crop is about 6" (15cm) wide on your screen, the complete image would print at a huge 27½ × 41¼″ (70 × 105 cm) at this same high magnification.

If this 1,200 × 900 pixel crop is about 12" (30cm) wide on your screen, the complete image would print at a mammoth 55 × 82½″ (1.4 × 2.1 meters) at this same extremely high magnification!

 

Image Stabilization

Performance          top

Optical Image Stabilization (OIS, IS or VR (Vibration Reduction)) works great, giving me four real stops of improvement.

"Percent Perfectly Sharp Shots" are the percentage of frames with 100% perfect tripod-equivalent sharpness I get when I'm shooting hand-held while standing with no support. Hand tremor is a random occurrence, so at marginal speeds some frames will be perfectly sharp while others will be in various stages of blur — all at the same shutter speed. This rates what percentage of shots are perfectly sharp, not how sharp all the frames are:

% Perfectly Sharp Shots
1/2
1/4
1/8
1/15
1/30
1/60
1/125
1/250
1/500
VR ON
0
5
0
90
90
90
100
100
100
VR OFF
0
0
0
0
0
25
25
83
100

I see four real stops of improvement, which is superb. I can hand-hold down to 1/15 and get perfect results 90% of the time. Bravo!

 

Sunstars

Performance          top

With a 9-bladed rounded diaphragm, the best I can get is mild 18-pointed sunstars on brilliant points of light only at the very smallest apertures:

Nikon 00mm f/2 VR II sunstars

Desert Tree, 29 July 2019. Nikon D850, Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II at f/22 hand-held at 1/200 at Auto ISO 72. bigger.

 

Teleconverters

performance          top

Autofocus is still super-fast with the TC-20E 2× teleconverter, but it's not very sharp.

Also, unless you try a rare TC-14C which came with the exotic 300mm f/2, teleconverters aren't designed to work with lenses as fast as f/2, so they lose light at maximum aperture.

Even though the camera and meter all seem happy setting f/4 with a 2× converter, it's really only working with the central part of the 200/2 and really only working at about f/5 rather than f/4.

All in all, just get a 300/2.8 if you need it.

 

Tripod Collar

performance          top

The tripod collar has no 90º clicks.

It does have a nice lock/drag screw.

It doesn't come off.

 

Compared

Sample Images   Intro   Compatibility   Specs

Unboxing   Performance   Compared

User's Guide   Recommendations

I'd get my 200/2 used at eBay (How to Win at eBay) or used at Amazon .

 

Versus a 70-200mm f/2.8

Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 FL

70-200mm f/2.8E FL (metal 77mm filter thread, 50.3 oz./1,425g with tripod collar, 3.6'/1.1m close-focus).

All this $5,700 lens does for you is make you look like the pro you are and get you the access and privilege you have earned, and once you get there, gives you a full stop more speed to let you shoot your low-light work at half the ISO or twice the shutter speed to give sharper, cleaner images than a 70-200/2.8.

Unless you use this lens wide-open at f/2, it offers no advantages other than prestige over a 70-200/2.8 once you've stopped down to f/2.8 and smaller.

 

Versus the 300mm f/2.8

Nikon 300mm f/2.8 VR II

300mm f/2.8 VR II(52mm filters, 102.3 oz./2,900 g, 8'/2.2m close focus).

Don't get a 200/2 unless you already own the 300mm f/2.8. The 300/2.8 is a more useful lens, and even costs a little less. The 300mm f/2.8 is also sharper in the corners wide-open, if you care.

You get this 200/2 for niche shooting of indoor or night concerts and small-court indoor and night sports, and that's about it.

 

Versus the older 200/2 VR (non-II, 2004-2010)

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR

200mm f/2 VR.

See the differences at New.

The optics and autofocus system are the same.

 

Versus the 200mm f/2 ED-IF (manual focus, 1977-2005)

Nikon 200mm f/2 AI-s

200mm f/2 AI-s (FX, DX and 35mm coverage, metal 122mm filter thread, built-in hood, 84.7 oz./2,400g, 8.2'/2.5m close focus).

The manual-focus lens has inferior optics and was never that sharp wide-open, while either of the newer AF VR lenses are worlds sharper at f/2 — if you care.

The 200mm f/2 ED-IF still sells for a premium price used as many artists love its particular bokeh for portraits.

 

User's Guide

Sample Images   Intro   Compatibility   Specs

Unboxing   Performance   Compared

User's Guide   Recommendations

I'd get my 200/2 used at eBay (How to Win at eBay) or used at Amazon .

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II

Nikon 200mm f/2 G VR II. bigger or fit screen.

Exposure and Apertures

Do what you want, but know that the only reason to own this lens is to shoot it at f/2.

As soon as you stop down to f/2.8, you may as well be shooting your 70-200/2.8

 

A/M - M/A - M Switch

A/M: Auto Focus. You have instant manual focus override by turning the focus ring at any time. It will try to ignore minor accidental bumps.

M/A: Auto Focus. You have instant manual focus override by turning the focus ring at any time, and will respond even to the slightest turn of the focus ring.

M: Manual Focus only.

 

Full / ∞-5m Switch

This is a focus limiter.

Leave it in FULL.

The ∞-5m position prevents the lens from autofocusing closer than 5 meters (16 feet). Use this setting only if you're having a problem with the lens attempting to focus on irrelevant close items, or if for some reason the lens is "hunting" from near to far looking for distant subjects.

 

Vibration Reduction (VR) Switches

ON / OFF

This is a metal ring around the back of the lens. Press the lock button to rotate to turn VR ON or OFF.

Leave it ON unless you're on a very sturdy tripod, or if you're making exposures longer than a second on any kind of tripod.

 

VR Normal / Active

I leave it in Normal. 

Use Active if you're trying to track objects which change direction unpredictably. 

 

AF-L / MEMORY RECALL / AF-ON Switch

Far better than having to mess with this in a menu, this pro lens lets you select what the buttons around the front of the lens do by sliding this switch:

AF-L: AutoFocus Lock. Any of the four buttons around the front of the lens locks autofocus.

Memory Recall: Tap any of the four front buttons and the lens instantly refocuses to the distance previously set when you tapped the MEMORY SET button: 

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II

Nikon 200mm f/2 G VR II. bigger or fit screen.

AF-ON: The 200/2 autofocuses when any of the front buttons are held. This works best if you set your camera so that it doesn't focus with the shutter pressed halfway. Now you can hold to focus, and release to keep locked.

 

Tripod Collar

Rotate it out of the way for handheld shooting.

 

Video Tutorial

How to Use the Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II Tutorial. Subscribe for more videos.

 

This Review on Rockwell.TV       top

Nikon 200mm f/2 VR II Review. Subscribe for more videos.

 

Recommendations       top

Sample Images   Intro   Compatibility   Specs

Unboxing   Performance   Compared

User's Guide   Recommendations

I'd get my 200/2 used at eBay (How to Win at eBay) or used at Amazon .

200mm f/2 lenses are very specialized; most people find the similar 300mm f/2.8 or 180-400mm f/4 lenses more useful most of the time.

If you have to ask if you need this lens, you don't. If you shoot concerts, gymnastics, volleyball or similar things, this lens is fantastic.

 

© Ken Rockwell. All rights reserved. Tous droits réservés. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

 

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21 Feb 2024 formatting, 14-15, 08 August 2019, 27 July 2019, 19 May 2019, 15 September 2010