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Nikon Nikkor AF-S is a telephoto lens with zoom capability and a focal length of 70-200 mm and an aperture of f/2.8. This Nikon camera lens is quick focusing with vibration reduction (VR) and ED glass for reduced chromic aberration at high magnification levels. An auto and manual camera lens is quickly switched from auto to manual focus and includes internal focus (IF) for balance and smoothness of focusing. The Nikon Nikkor AF-S is a G-design allowing for select Nikon AF SLR camera bodies to select apertures. This Nikon camera lens also features an exclusive Silent Wave Motor (SWM) creating optimal quite operation of the lens. The auto and manual camera lens uses no power during manual operation, and also includes Nikon Super Integrated Coating (SIC) for effective color reproduction and limited ghosts and flares. The Nikon Nikkor AF-S is a capable telephoto lens with all the quality one expects from a high performance Nikon lens.
Focus is very sharp and the lens takes almost no time at all to auto-focus. Image quality is the best in my kit, on par with my prime lens. Smooth, creamy bokeh with next to unnoticeable chromatic aberration or lens vignetting. 70-200mm Zoom covers a wide focal range and vibration reduction keeps images clear at 70mm and even 200mm. I love that I can focus as close as 4ft away. The infinity - 2.5m (10ft) switch makes focusing almost twice as fast, nearly instant focus on subjects even in dark or low light.
Pictures are tack sharp, it seems that Nikon did not compromise on quality. the VR system is very efficient, you can hand held this lens and have perfect pictures with 1/60s at 200mm, very handy for action photography or events. As expected, this professional grade lens is heavy, but if you need a 2.8 aperture ,VR and top quality, this is the price to pay. If you can leave with F4 only, the 70-200 f4 has identical performances and is much lighter and smaller to carry around. Overall it is a very specialized lens with top notch performances in its domain. This lens is compatible with almost all Nikon teleconverters and can be extended easily without noticeable image deterioration. Definitively one of the best lenses (if not the best) for low light situations requiring wide aperture like theater, dance, indoor sports or requiring small depth of field: studio, portraits...Read full review
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.Read full review
This is a very sharp/fast lens with no distortion. This works incredibly well on both DX and FX formats. The auto focus is real fast and tracks moving objects very well. Although this is not a mega zoom nor go into the wide angle, it does not suffer from any of the compromises you get with bigger zoom ranges. Beautiful portrait capabilities and good with medium range sports, even in lower light. It is as good as or better than most any fixed focus lens out there within its' focal length range.
This is still the best lens for Nikon in the 70-200mm range. Now there are some great third party lenses where you can still get a great product and save yourself lots of money, but this is the type of lens that can last for as long as you do photography and then some.
This is my heaviest lens thus far and will likely remain my heaviest lens so it takes getting used to. Don't think you will be carrying this around your neck for hours on a shoot.