At first after buying this lens I felt a little disappointed as I really wanted the AF-s version which is now discontinued and ended with the AF-D.
This proved to be unfounded, sharp clear great blurring of backgrounds giving pictures a clarity and soildness i ahve not seen in a long time, I coupled to a Nikon D300 and it works superbly. I test photographed a notice board size approx A1 at 200 metres and was able to read the site map on it when I zoomed in this was at 200 2.8
If you have a notion for it, Buy it its a bargain compared to the £1500 new 70 -200
Strengths:
fast, sharp, great contrast, lighter than the AF-S, Price.
Remeber this is a Nikon lens and they don't make bad lenses.
Great street cred' !!!
Weaknesses:
Lens Hood optional, £30 GBP, can hunt during auto focus but does have a limiter,
bit of torque whip but nothing discouraging, unless in bright light with a high shutter speed you will need a monopod or tripod but that applies to all types of this lens
I bought this lens in 2/07. I have no complaints about the lens whatsoever. The chromes have excellent contrast, color and sharpness. It feels like a pro lens and looks like a pro lens (crinkle finish) and all. When I put this lens on my F3 or FE2, it just feels right. It has the stiffness I like on both rings. I believe it's got 3 ED elements and the first one if I remember right is the front one. That's where I like a lens with ED to start (Just a personal preference). I thought at first I really wanted the AF-S version of the 80-200. However, the price was insane, even on "sleeze-bay) and it would have been used as well. I understand also that the weight is quite substantial. Forget that! So, for $800 you get a new lens, lighter than the AF-S and produces some outstanding chromes. A no brainer....
This lens is everything I was looking for. Tack sharp images even at 200mm. Although it does not have VR sharpness is not a problem. Handheld this lens produced sharp colorful images. I have only done a few test shots outside of some birds and I am amazed at the clarity and quality of just a few snapshots i took. If you are looking for a good telephoto zoom lens at an affordable price this is the lens for you.
Strengths:
Tack Sharp Images. Good quality images. Forgiving with shaky hands even though there's no VR. Well Built, has a nice feel to it. Good for bird pictures. Tripod Mount. Manual focus is easy to use and get quality images.
Weaknesses:
Although it's affordable for the quality, 850 is a lot of money. Sometimes on AF it searches too long. No VR.
The 80-200mm AF-D lense is an absolutely fantastic lense. I would recommend this to anyone looking to make a step up from the consumer level telephoto zooms. It is now 2 generations behind the current lense in this family, the 70-200mm VR. But it still performs wonderfully, and is definetly a pro quality lense. So far, I primarily have used this lense for shooting aircraft. The photos are beautifully saturated, SHARP, and always spot on focus.
Strengths:
There are so many to mention. Tack sharp images. Very fast AF even on a D50. The 2.8 max aperture allows for high shutter speeds in low light and indoors. I prefer paying less for the 2.8 aperture than several hundred more for the 80-400 VR. The VR helps stablilize the whole image in low light, but won't freeze motion. The 2.8 aperture gives you a much better chance of freezing the motion. Also, the DOF with the 2.8 is fantastic. It allows you to very effectively isolate the subject. Be careful though, it is entirely possible to focus on the nose but have eyes be soft in headshots. Bokeh on this lense is also quite pleasing The construction is solid and can stand up to heavy everyday use. I haven't seen how well it plays with TC's yet, but it has plenty of sharpness to spare and the 2.8 aperture allows you maintain autofocus up to a 2x TC (and not sure why you would ever want more than 2x). But to maintain the AF, you will need to look at something like the Kenko Pro 300 series. The Nikon TC's will not maintain the physical connections from the lense to the camera required for AF. But again, I haven't actually tested it with a TC. I assume it would perform well, but I'm not sure. The focus and zoom rings are well greased and very smooth. I have had absolutly no problems with CA or distortion.
Weaknesses:
Since it's a pro lense, it's fairly heavy and large. Not a big issue for me, but I can have a sore neck and arm after shooting landings all day. There is fall off wide open, but it disappears quickly with smaller apertures. At 200mm fall off is basically unoticable in real world shots by f/5.6, and completely gone in test shots by f/8. But honestly, I often like fall off in some of my photos. I fell it adds artistic value to the photos. If you've got the extra money just sitting around, get the 70-200mm VR. Or get the 80-200mm AF-D and take that money you saved to go on a great photo trip. I would pass up the 80-400mm VR for both of these though. A 80-200mm AF-D + Kenko Pro 300 1.4x TC + Kenko Pro 300 2x TC is still over $100 cheaper than the 80-400mm VR. But that's just me, almost all my really long work is in bright light. Otherwise the 80-200 range is fantastic, and the 2.8 aperture will give you the shutter speed you need.
This is a very sharp lens indeed, used mainly for weddings, portraits, & nature, for the latter it is not quite long enough so i tried it with a converter but it softend it to much for my liking. Other than that i would highly recommend it as a general knock about lens. It is is very high quality in both build & clarity even wide open.
I have given it four stars just because it doesn't like teleconverters.
Strengths:
Build quality, pin sharp wide open,
Weaknesses:
Does not like teleconverters, a little heavy if carried about to long.
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