AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II

Product Information

This lens is a professional quality 2.9x zoom with a fast constant f/2.8 aperture and Vibration Reduction. It's version two of Nikon's AF-S 70-200 f/2.8 that has been eagerly awaited for some time now and is a complete redesign of this popular professional workhorse. The Vibration reduction system has been updated and promises to give an extra stop of grace over the previous version. Nikon's Nano-Crystal-Coat has also been employed in this lens, which should improve overall contrast and its resistance to flare and ghosting.

Nikon showed a prototype of the first 80-200mm f/2.8 ED. It was never sold or seen again. It took an 86mm filter, as did the 18mm f/4 of its day.What's really important is that the corners are now as super-sharp as all the other lenses, not slightly duller as was the previous VR lens at 200mm. Although I no longer have my old 70-200mm lens (I sold it at a higher price than what I paid for it 3 years ago) to compare with, I feel that the bokeh actually looks better on this lens than on its predecessor. I went through some of my archived images and I can say that the bokeh on the previous 70-200mm does look a little harsher, although I rarely shot the older lens wide open, due to softness at very large apertures between f/2.8 and f/4. Due to the use of low dispersion glass, Chromatic Aberrations are very well controlled peaking at around 0.8 pixel widths at 135mm towards the edges of the image area. At both the long and short ends of the zoom range are of little concern and barely register 0.25 pixel widths. Most people will struggle to notice this, even if they go hunting for it. AF-S: Built in auto focus motor, that also works on ML with FTZ adaptors plus on entry level Nikon cameras (!)

Perhaps the most interesting handling feature on the Z 70-200mm f/2.8 S is that it lets you program two different custom functions: L-Fn and L-Fn2. While L-Fn has a single dedicated button on the lefthand side of the lens, there are a total of four buttons wrapped around the lens which you can use to access L-Fn2.These four buttons duplicate one another and cannot be independently programmed; they always match whatever custom setting you’ve chosen in your camera for Fn2. Nikon made this decision so that you can access your chosen Fn2 setting regardless of how you’re holding the lens. Note the L-Fn and L-Fn2 buttons on the 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S. The unlabeled button at the top of the lens (near the “200” in this image) is a duplicate of the L-Fn2 button. There are two more duplicates: one on the bottom of the lens and one on the righthand side. They cannot be programmed independently. One of the main attractions of this lens is the versatile focal range that goes from moderate to close-up telephoto.

Ease of Use

There is a distance scale sheltered behind a window, but there are no depth-of-field marks and no infrared focus index either. Our used products are subject to wear and tear in comparison to brand new products. This also applies to accessories that are supplied with the camera including batteries which may have a lower optimum performance level/life expectancy. The pictures below illustrate the focal length range from wide to telephoto, on FX (35mm full-frame) and DX (APS-C) camera bodies: When the TC-20E III is used with slow f/4 aperture lenses, autofocus stops working completely or becomes extremely unreliable. With the exception of the new Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, zoom lenses also start acting up in daylight with very mixed results. The Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II works surprisingly well with the TC-20E III and I found the autofocus performance to be good in bright conditions, although the lens also works very well with the TC-14E II and TC-17E II teleconverters. The same cannot be said about the older 70-200mm f/2.8 lens – it is only known to work well with the TC-14E II. The above table chart outlines which lenses perform best at what aperture with the TC-20E III. When photographing sports, wildlife and other fast-action photography, you have to be extremely careful when using the TC-20E III. However, as you can see, the red contrast line sits very high in the diagram and the blue sharpness is also impressive for center sharpness at least. Then it drops towards the edges, as is the case for so many other great lenses, but it remains over 0.7 close to 15mm from the center, and I find that impressive.

The third conclusion I can make from this test is that the Tamron SP lens seems to be ever so slightly more sharp than the newer G2 lens. You can really see this in the corners and pretty much on every small piece of text. Overall though, I think both of these lenses are extremely sharp all things considered.

The forebarrel is extended so the overall length is longer, and filters now screw into the fixed, extended front barrel. With the original AF lens, the front group and filter ring rotated and extended as focused. With this first AF-D lens, the filter stays put while the front group wiggles around inside the lens barrel. The new vibration reduction system in this lens is truly amazing! I loved my old 70-200mm, but it made me nervous to shoot it below 1/40-1/50th of a second. After I got the new 70-200mm VRII in my hands, I decided to see what I can get with this lens at much lower shutter speeds. Take a look at this shot: NIKON D700 @ 180mm, ISO 400, 1/13, f/2.8 Sigma’s AF 70-200mm 2.8 EX DG APO HSM OS is the cheapest way (around 950 EUR) to get a stabilized 70-200mm f2.8 zoom. See my Sigma 70-200 f2.8 OS review. The original Nikon 70-200 2.8 VR probably has a slight edge over the original Canon 70-200 2.8 L IS. I am basing this off both the actual optical performance as well as the resale value. In other words, people seem to still desire the older version of the Nikon a little bit more than the older version of the Canon. It also features Nikon's Vibration Reduction (VR) system, which offers 4-stops of compensation. Two modes are available. Normal for everyday shooting, Active for shooting from a moving vehicle. There are two VR switches on the lens barrel, one for turning Vibration Reduction on and off, the other for switching between the Normal and Active modes.