Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D

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Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 D
© 2006 KenRockwell.com

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 $820 after rebate here. The USA model has a 5 year warranty from Nikon USA last I checked.

First let me list all the versions of 80-200mm f/2.8 Nikon has made. For the sake of brevity unless otherwise noted all are ED, f/22 minimum, push-pull zoom, 5' (1.5m) minimum focus, no tripod collar, a one-position focus limit switch, slow autofocus speed and 77mm filter size:

1.) 1982 - 1988: AI-s manual focus. 15/11 elements, f/32 minimum, 8.2' (2.5m) close focus, huge 95mm filter, 1,900g (over 4 pounds!), 231mm long. It cost four times what the f/4 manual focus 80 - 200 mm lens did, which is why few were sold and why you'll probably never see one.

2.) 1988 - 1992: AF, 16/11 elements, 1,280g, 176mm long, f/32 (f/22?) minimum, 3 position focus limiter.

3.) 1993 - 1997: AF-D,16/11 elements, 1,300g, 187mm long. Nikon Product number: 1985 NAS.

4.) 1997 - present: AF-D, 16/11 elements, 1,300g 188mm, two-ring zoom, tripod collar, $825 US new, fast autofocus. Very strongly recommended.

5.) 1999 - 2004: AF-S, 18/14 elements, 1,550g, 207mm, two-ring, tripod collar, $1,500 US new, fast autofocus.

6.) 2003 - present 70-200mm VR, 21/15 elements, 1,430g, 215mm, two ring, collar, $2,000 US new, fast autofocus.

There are very few reasons to want to pay more for the bigger and heavier AF-S version #5 or VR version #6. The optics are entirely different and they are all excellent.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

This sort of lens has been the most popular pro lens for 35mm shooters for over a decade. Just buy one and don't worry. You don't need the AF-S unless you prefer a light wallet and a heavy camera bag. It is compatible with every Nikon camera ever made. You should be able to have a coupling prong installed by Nikon if you have a pre-1977 non-AI camera.

I see little reason to get the AF-S lens over this, even though I got stuck with the AF-S version myself. I'd really like to get some more stick time shooting with this lens.

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.