nikon 80-200 AF

[Quinten]

Hi lads appologies for yet another question, (I am a curious mind)

I read a little about nikons 80-200 f2.8D and it seems to have nice AF speeds, I am planning to buy one before march to shoot sports. (still need to save a bit)

Older versions for this lens are for sale with an identical name, they have a push/pull system to zoom instead of a rig. So I wonder wheter their AF systems are identical?

It's more expensive brother, the AFS VR 70-200 f/2.8G , has these extention rings that can increase the focal lenght with a factor like 1.7 etc. I wonder wheter they can be used on the 80-200 as well or will this mess the AF up? Well maybe it might be whise to just win the lottery and go for the 200-400

cheers!
Quinten

 

[Dinesh]

Great lens. I have the 70-200 and have had the 80-200 (non-AFS, two touch) The AF-S models seem to focus a little faster than the non AF-S. The teleconverters as far as I know, work on all models, although you will lose a stop and a little sharpness.

Cheers!

 

[colrehogan]

I have the 80-200 2.8 with the IF in it's name (I think) and I believe that the difference is the internal zoom focus vs. the push/pull focus.

 

[jp80874]

Older versions for this lens are for sale with an identical name, they have a push/pull system to zoom

Well maybe it might be whise to just win the lottery and go for the 200-400mm zoom.

Quinten,

Another difference between old and new may prove important if you use a tripod. The new version has a tripod mount on the lens. My older version (early 1990s) does not have a tripod mount. The newer version has the mount because the older version was too heavy to be suspended from a
tripod mounted camera. (my same vintage Nikon 8008). That led to unsteady shots of non moving objects and damaged tripod threads in the camera base.

An engineer friend built an aluminum frame that held the bottom of the lens and mounted to the tripod directly. The camera hung off the back. The frame was designed to allow the sliding zoom sleeve to move back and forth to change magnification. A much simpler solution that you see could be incorporated into Nikon’s next version, oddly still with the same name. If a tripod is in your plans this is an important consideration.

Good luck,

John Powers

 

[Dave Parker]

I have the 80-200 2.8 with the IF in it's name (I think) and I believe that the difference is the internal zoom focus vs. the push/pull focus.

The IF designation means that the focusing is all internal and the front element does not rotate allowing you to use your polarizer with out worrying about readjustment once you have found the amount of polarization you want, or use split grads with out readjustment once focus is attained.....

For sports shooting or any kind of faster type shooting, if you can save the money and get the AVS model, it will benefit you by allowing you to shoot up to 2-3 stops while still hand holding.

Also make sure if you decide to get a teleconvertor for it, that it is one that is matched with the lens, there are several different Nikon and after market teleconvertors on the market that will not work correctly with this combination, so you want to make sure..

Dave

 

[MattCarey]

Another difference between old and new may prove important if you use a tripod. The new version has a tripod mount on the lens. My older version (early 1990s) does not have a tripod mount. The newer version has the mount because the older version was too heavy to be suspended from a tripod mounted camera. (my same vintage Nikon 8008). That led to unsteady shots of non moving objects and damaged tripod threads in the camera base.

I know someone who worked for the Nikon repair facility in LA a while back. He says that they used to get a lot of cameras with the lens-mount tweaked because of people using the 80-200 lens and the body tripod socket. Having that heavy lens hanging off the front of the camera is more than the camera was designed to take.

There were a few after-market tripod collars for these. I would probably try to stick to the newer lenses, though.

As I recall, KEH had pretty good prices on these lenses.

Matt

 

[Quinten]

Thanks I wouldn't have thought about the tripod connection untill experiencing the problem so that's great to know although I never even asked. (nice how these things go)

It seems althouh I am not totally sure that there are actually three versions of this lens, 2 with a zoom rig 1 with a push pull. Sounds wierd but when buing used it is a thing to look at, I am not sure wheter the two with rig are both with tripod connection....

And yep the AFS VR has it's advantages but is hardly on the used market over here in holland.

cheers and many thanks!
Quinten