Nikon 80-200mm f2.8 AFS vs Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VR

The Nikon 80-200 f/2.8 AF-S vs Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 VR

Having owned both these lenses, I felt Ill talk a bit about their slight variances, & how they are still my favourite lenses for Image Quality.

Firstly, there is nothing, absolutely nothing wrong with either of these lenses. If you are on a budget, buy the one thats cheaper! Mind you VR will cost extra & is very worth it, but if you are squeezed, get whats cheapest. VR or the lack of it on my other lens hasnt been a huge deal for me.

If youre on a very tight budget & have a camera body that has a built-in auto focus motor, then buy the Nikon 80-200mm f2.8 AF-D. You will be hard pressed to find anything optically wrong with it. Just ensure your camera has a built in focus motor. This lense will not auto focus with cheaper entry level bodies like D40/D60 or D3000/D5000 & related series. D90 & upwards you will be fine.

Short answer, if you can afford either, get the VR version. Its lighter, slightly faster focus, tad less focus hunting when there is too much subject motion, & has VR.
It also has a tad nicer bokeh to my personal taste as compared to the 80-200 AF-S. Bear in mind bokeh is a personal thing.

I would think the new VR II version would be very similar to this. Have any of you got an ideas on the new version. Please tell us your findings.

The bokeh of these 2 lenses at f2.8 is better than the 50mm f1.8 or even the 50mm f1.4.
Those tend to be much brighter & sharper. but I like the clean & more warm subject isolation I get with the type of bokeh this lens in particular has.

I like the subject isolation, bokeh & colour rendition of these 2 70/80-200 f2.8s so much that I dont mind walking back 10 metres away just to get a picture with this lense, albeit looking retarted in the eyes of other amateur photographers who use instead of their 50mm f1.8 / 1.4 prime

What do you think? Please do share your thoughts. Whats been your favourite large aperture (fast) lense; prime or zoom, & what do you like about it, & what do you use it for?

Happy Photographing :)