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

Product Information

Weighing 1540g, the AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II is one of the biggest and heaviest Nikon pro-level telephoto zoom lens, almost twice as heavy as the new f/4 version that we reviewed last week. We found that though it balanced well on the Nikon D4 body provided for this review, using it handheld for more than a couple of hours soon grew tiring.

AF-S NIKKOR lenses feature Nikon’s Silent Wave Motor (SWM). This technology converts “traveling waves” into rotational energy to focus the optics. This enables high-speed autofocusing that's extremely accurate and super quiet. Cameras – LCD screen is heavily worn either by de-lamination or has scratches to it. Rubber grips are starting to come away from the body. Lenses – Should have no marks on the elements andoptically clear. There may be light dust present that will not effect theimagery. Optics: 21 elements in 16 groups. 32 air/glass-surfaces provide a lot of opportunities for flares and ghosts. Nikon has applied their special Nano Crystal Coat on some elements. We’ll see how this works out in practice. The cross-section shows a lot of special elements: seven extra-low dispersion elements. [0]

Similar to other Nikon teleconverters and its predecessor, the Nikon TC-20E III has a rugged all-metal exterior and a metal mount that is built to last a lifetime. The solid construction, along with a whopping 7 elements make it one heavy teleconverter, weighing a total of 330 grams without a lens attached. As a comparison, the Nikon 50mm f/1.4G lens weighs only 280 grams. The Nikon TC-14E II and TC-17-E II weigh 200 and 250 grams, respectively. While the number of optical elements has not changed between the new and the older 2x teleconverters, two key differences to note are the redesigned layout/lens groupings and replacement of a regular lens element with an aspherical one. The aspherical element was added to improve image quality by increasing sharpness, decreasing coma and other aberrations. Like other teleconverters, the Nikon TC-20E III has fixed lens elements that do not move when focus ring or zoom ring are touched on the lens. This means that the lens is protected very well against dust and moisture. NIKON D3S + 300mm f/2.8 @ 600mm, ISO 200, 1/800, f/7.1 Autofocus Speed and Accuracy

The very first question I respond with is, what do you use your 70-200 for? Because in the case of both Nikon and Canon, the mk1 versions are good enough for many different kinds of work, while others will indeed “demand” that you upgrade to the mk2. The Nikon 70-200mm lenses Distance information is relayed to the camera, so the Nikon body can do all the advanced exposure-related stuff with this lens. But this is true for all alternatives too. [+] A common criticism of this lens's predecessor is the light falloff towards the corners at wide apertures when used on digital bodies. Fall-off is still noticeable with this lens, but is improved with the far corners being just over a stop darker than the image centre at 200mm and f/2.8. By f/4 the situation is much improved and at f/5.6 any fall-off is very difficult to spot. At shorter focal lengths, Fall-off is much less of an issue, with image corners only being 0.4 of a stop darker than the image centre at f/2.8 and 70mm. Anyway, I still had to do a bokeh test of this lens against the Nikon cream machine and the king of bokeh – Nikon 85mm f/1.4. Take a look at these image samples: The lens works incredibly well with the Nikon 1.4x teleconverter at all apertures, even wide open. Although sharpness is definitely impacted (as expected with any teleconverter), you will not notice a visible drop in sharpness in your images. If the corners look a bit fuzzy, just stop the lens down to f/5.6 and smaller, and they will improve dramatically. I have tested both the TC-14E II and TC-14E III with the 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II and both teleconverters performed admirably. When measuring the performance of the teleconverters in Imatest, I did not notice any drastic sharpness differences in the center of the frame, but the TC-14E III did show slight advantages in the extreme corners. If you already own the TC-14E II, there is no need, in my opinion, to upgrade to the TC-14E III for use with this lens. The TC-14E III performs a tad better with the latest generation Nikkor prime lenses, as it is specifically designed for them.The score in the “features-department” is 1[-]/5[0]/7[+]. The minus-point being the steep price. But the price is only high compared to third party alternatives. If you compare the lens to offerings from Sony and Canon you could as well say that the Nikon is comparatively priced. Motivation 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. As for the rest of the build quality features, this lens is extremely well sealed against the elements. Nothing externally moves on the lens except for the switches, buttons, and dials that you move yourself. In other words, this is an internally zooming and internally focusing lens. (Incidentally, the same cannot be said of the Canon RF 70-200mm f/2.8 L, which extends when zoomed – one of the main compromises that allowed Canon to make it so lightweight.) The multi-position focus limiter ring is replaced with a simpler and easier to use Limit/Full slide switch. Many of these switches fell off, leaving a hole in the lens which otherwise works swell throughout the entire focus range.