Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D. I'd get mine at Adorama, Amazon, B&H Photo Video, J&R or Ritz. It's a pro lens, so its not always in stock everywhere. It helps me keep adding to this site when you use any of these links to get yours, thanks! Ken.

July 2008

Introduction

This is the best buy in 80-200 f/2.8 zooms going. It offers fantastic performance at about the same price as some people pay for used or garbage like Sigma. Don't even think about buying something used or off eBay when you can buy this most recent lens brand spanking new for as little as $820 after a rebate.

It focuses 80% as fast as the AF-S 80-200 f/2.8 and costs and weighs less. This lens focuses about three times faster than almost any other telephoto zoom, save for the 70-210 f/4-5.6D AF and newest 70-200 VR and 80-200 AFS lenses.

You can buy one of these superior lenses brand new for the same price that many stupider people pay for older used versions on eBay! The USA version sells for only $915 here. The USA model has a 5 year warranty from Nikon USA last I checked.

History

See Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 History for explanations and photos of all the various models made from 1978 through today.

Specifications

Name: Nikon calls this the Nikon ED AF Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 D

Optics: Sixteen elements in eleven groups. Three of them are of ED glass.

Diaphragm: 9-bladed diaphragm with nine conventional straight blades. They make a nice 9-sided polygon at all apertures, unlike the AF-S that simulates a circle at larger apertures.

Filters: Uses standard 77mm filters.

Close Focus: About 5.5 feet, which is pretty good. That's about a foot less close than the AF-S when I compared the two directly, and about the same as the 180/2.8AF.

Size: 3.4" (87mm) around by 7.4" (187mm) long.

Weight: 2 pounds, 14 oz (46 ounces total or 1,300g)

Case: It comes with a fairly useless case. Just put it away someplace for when you sell the lens.

Nikon Product Number: 1986, in catalog as of spring 2008.

Performance

This is an extremely sharp lens. I have only shot with it a couple of times.

Distortion performance is also good for a zoom:

80-115mm: fairly neutral
200mm: some pincushion distortion

It has the usual light falloff. Here's a page, made at 200mm by someone else illustrating the falloff.

Autofocus is accurate. In real photographs the focus is always dead on at f/2.8. This is important to me, some other lenses' focus errors exclude me from being able to get good results wide open. I like this lens because of this.

Oddly I've heard a couple of others have inaccurate focusing at f/2.8 at 200 mm on a D70. If you want to use this on a D70 I'd check this carefully. The one I used worked great on my F100, and just as many other people see this lens working flawlessly, no, spectacularly, on their D70s.

I'm unsure if it is free from the ghost problem flawing the 80-200 AF-S.

AF speed is almost as fast as the AF-S on an F100. Don't worry about this difference. It does of course make more noise and jump around more than the AF-S does while focusing because the big front lens group is rotating at blindingly fast speeds.

Jump around? Yeah, this is because of the torque reaction you get as the big front element starts and stops rotating almost instantly while driven by the camera's AF motor. In the AF-S lens the elements that move for focusing are the smaller internal elements.

Recommendations

See my History of the Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 for suggestions and comparisons to the other versions available.

There is no point of buying this lens used because it sells new for about the same price.

I love VR, and if you want to pay double, the 70-200mm adds this. THen again, the 70-200mm VR won't work on manual focus cameras.

THis lens will not autofocus with a D40, D40x or D60. You will need either the 80-200mm AF-S, the 70-200mm VR, the 70-300mm VR or 55-200mm VR.

Its front filter threads are made of plastic. Watch out threading your filters or you'll cross-thread it. Plastic makes it less likely that a filter will vibrate loose when you least expect it.

Nikon tends to rebate this lens now and then. 2005 Rebate info is here.

PLUG

I support my growing family through this website.

If you find this as helpful as a book you might have had to buy or a workshop you may have had to take, feel free to help me continue helping everyone.

If you've gotten your gear through one of my links or helped otherwise, you're family. It's great people like you who allow me to keep adding to this site full-time. Thanks!

If you haven't helped yet, please do, and consider helping me with a gift of $5.00.

It also helps me keep adding to this site when you get your goodies through these links to Adorama, Amazon, B&H, Ritz, and J&R. I use them and recommend them all personally.

Thanks for reading!