Nikkor AFS 70-200mm/4 VR - First impressions

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kovairaja99
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p.3 #1 · Nikkor AFS 70-200mm/4 VR - First impressions

Awesome pictures Andy..I would like to hear your thoughts about any FOCUS Breathing issues in comparison to the F2.8 version.

Oct 29, 2012 at 04:31 AM

microsnook
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p.3 #2 · Nikkor AFS 70-200mm/4 VR - First impressions

Nice lens

Oct 29, 2012 at 05:56 AM

Guldsmed42
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p.3 #3 · Nikkor AFS 70-200mm/4 VR - First impressions

thx a lot for the info and examples. From the pics here, and other seen elsewhere, it seems to me, that if this lens has a flaw, it would be, that it is not quite as sharp in close ups as in other situations. Is this also your impression or am I seeing differences not really there?

Oct 29, 2012 at 11:59 AM

nandadevieast
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p.3 #4 · Nikkor AFS 70-200mm/4 VR - First impressions

Andy, can you put the picture of this lens next to a 180 2.8 af-d...?

Oct 29, 2012 at 04:34 PM

AndreasE
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p.3 #5 · Nikkor AFS 70-200mm/4 VR - First impressions

nandadevieast wrote:
Andy, can you put the picture of this lens next to a 180 2.8 af-d...?
Sorry, no.
As written above, I had to give back the lens.
General availability is scheduled for end of November.

Guldsmed42 wrote:
thx a lot for the info and examples. From the pics here, and other seen elsewhere, it seems to me, that if this lens has a flaw, it would be, that it is not quite as sharp in close ups as in other situations. Is this also your impression or am I seeing differences not really there?

Take my view as a preliminary view, as it wasn't that much time to check all aspects.

Any lens sharpness assessment should be done from pictures taken with a tripod. I didn't have a tripod with me for the first few shots

D800E, ISO 200, 70mm, f4. 1/100sec, close to MFD

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100% crop

D800E, ISO 400, 70mm, 1/80 sec, f5.6, close to MFD

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100% crop

D800E, ISO 400, 200mm, 1/100 sec, f4, close to MFD

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100% crop

Here are 2 images with the D800E and the lens set at f4. Distance about 40 meters. WIth my small travel tripod (Gitzo Traveller QR5). I did only one attempt per image, nothing fancy.

D800E, 200mm, f4, Full size D800E image (23 MB)

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D800E, 70mm, f4, same position, Full size D800E image

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One more handheld from this overcast day

D800E, ISO 800, 200mm, 1/160 sec, f4

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I cropped a 1500x1000 piece of the image above and resized it to 900x600

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I really look forward to use this lens on a sunny and brighter day

regards,
Andy

Oct 29, 2012 at 05:43 PM

lou f
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p.3 #6 · Nikkor AFS 70-200mm/4 VR - First impressions

Beautiful tiger shot andy! That 800e 70-200 f4 is as amazing combo nice sooc workflow. So with the new vr you recon this is the 1 system tele zoom of choice?

Oct 29, 2012 at 09:48 PM

Guldsmed42
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p.3 #7 · Nikkor AFS 70-200mm/4 VR - First impressions

Thx for taking time to answer my question, it looks better now, but I would still like to see, what it is really capable of in close-up situations under ideal conditions (enough light and on a tripod..)

Oct 30, 2012 at 08:10 AM

AndreasE
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p.3 #8 · Nikkor AFS 70-200mm/4 VR - First impressions

Guldsmed42 wrote:
Thx for taking time to answer my question, it looks better now, but I would still like to see, what it is really capable of in close-up situations under ideal conditions (enough light and on a tripod..)
For this you have to wait, unfortunately. I am sure though that one of the usual review sites will cover this question. I don't have this lens anymore and mine will (hopefully) arrive end of November or beginning of December.

rgds,
Andy

Oct 30, 2012 at 09:38 AM

jsbeith
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p.3 #9 · Nikkor AFS 70-200mm/4 VR - First impressions

First of all - thank you for putting forth the effort to provide information on the new lens. I really appreciate it.

Second - Fantastic shots!

I am looking forward to your long term opinion once you get one in your hands.

Scott

Oct 30, 2012 at 01:10 PM

Marshall Alsup
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p.3 #10 · Nikkor AFS 70-200mm/4 VR - First impressions

Thank you so much for putting in the time and effort to put this series of posts together. You did an amazing job, as did the lens. I really appreciate your efforts.

Oct 31, 2012 at 06:56 AM

AndreasE
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p.3 #11 · Nikkor AFS 70-200mm/4 VR - First impressions

Marshall & Scott,
thanks you for your comments. Good to see that you could extract some info out of my posts. Hope it helped.

I forgot to mention in the original posts, that the lens has some distortion of the pin cushion type at the long end. Distortion at the short end is less prononouced.

To show an example:

This is the 200mm shot without distortion correction:

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The same image with distortion correction applied in CNX2.

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I don't have a similar image with 70mm, but from other images (with less than ideal structure) it looks like that the correction applied at 70mm is smaller than at the long end.

Distortion used to be such a "nighmare" for architecture photography. In combination with the recent crop of high resolution cameras, enough "superfluos" pixels are available that distortion could be more easily corrected in software, allowing the lens designers to focus on some other aspects of the broad set of requirements a lens has to fullfill.

regards,
Andy

Oct 31, 2012 at 04:16 PM

kovairaja99
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p.3 #12 · Nikkor AFS 70-200mm/4 VR - First impressions

Hi Andy,

Once again, thank you for the review and samples.

Did you observe any focus breathing issues with this new F4 version? 2.8 version has pronounced focus breathing when shot close to minimum focal distance

Raja

Oct 31, 2012 at 08:37 PM

Guldsmed42
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p.3 #13 · Nikkor AFS 70-200mm/4 VR - First impressions

Thx Andreas, I will be patient then, hope some one will try this out :-)

Nov 05, 2012 at 08:34 AM

AndreasE
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p.3 #14 · Nikkor AFS 70-200mm/4 VR - First impressions

To keep the one thread of my impressions with this lens.

Today, I got my own copy of the lens. The collar will arrive tomorrow.

The good impression I had 4 weeks ago continued today. The lens is basically free of CA, resolution at f4 can't be challenged by the D4 I had today with me. The VR is working very well. All pictures of this evening's walk were shot between 1/10 and 1/30 sec. My estimate is that about 90% of the 100 or so shots are free from (my) motion blur.

A few shots to share the fun. Nothing fancy.

ISO 800, f4, 1/10 sec, handheld, 1920x1280, full D4 resolution

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CA around lights is well controlled, in or out of the focus plane, or at the edges
ISO 800, f4, 1/20 sec, handheld, 1920x1280, full D4 resolution

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rgds,
Andy

Nov 29, 2012 at 12:14 AM

AndreasE
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p.3 #15 · Nikkor AFS 70-200mm/4 VR - First impressions

Here I had 185mm, f4, 1/30 sec handheld and ISO 800. Usually this would create some optical "challenges".

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100% crop:

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The absence of CA and other abberations contribute to pleasant images

ISO 1600, f4, 1/25sec, 145mm, handheld, 1920x1080

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Same settings, 70mm. No CA at the wide end of this zoom lens.
1920x1080

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regards,
Andy

Nov 29, 2012 at 12:15 AM

jhinkey
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p.3 #16 · Nikkor AFS 70-200mm/4 VR - First impressions

Thanks Andy - it also looks like it's pretty resistant to ghosting and flare - would you agree?

John

Nov 29, 2012 at 12:21 AM

DontShoot
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p.3 #17 · Nikkor AFS 70-200mm/4 VR - First impressions

How fast is the focusing? Would you say up to par with the 70-200 VRII or slowish like the 50 1.4G?

Nov 29, 2012 at 05:50 PM

AndreasE
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p.3 #18 · Nikkor AFS 70-200mm/4 VR - First impressions

jhinkey wrote:
Thanks Andy - it also looks like it's pretty resistant to ghosting and flare - would you agree?
John

John,
currently I would say that ghost and flare is largely absent with this lens. Very well controlled.

DontShoot wrote:
How fast is the focusing? Would you say up to par with the 70-200 VRII or slowish like the 50 1.4G?
I haven't tried it explicitly, but I'd see it much closer to the VR II than to any of the 1.4G lenses.

I got the collar today. A few remarks:
1) I don't like the unbundling of "essential" things. Beside the unfavorable increase in total price, it has negative implications on a functionality side.

2) The price point is 27% above today's silver price. :-)The weight of the collar is 147 gram (5,2 ounces). The current silver price is approx 34 usd / ounce. So, the price of the collar as its weight in silver would be 176 US$. Nikon's list price 224$ for the collar puts a premium of 27% of today's world silver price. Potentially, some people would consider this a steep price for such a low tech thing.

3) This collar is stable - no doubt about it. But it is annoying that what used to be a silky smooth movement on previous lenses is now far off. Turning the collar on the lens creates a clear audible scratch noise so that one has to fear that it will scratch away the paint of the lens in not too much time. Nikon, please give us back the silky smooth collars you had in the last 60 years. This development is not positive.

rgds,
Andy

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Nov 29, 2012 at 07:06 PM

brunobarolo
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p.3 #19 · Nikkor AFS 70-200mm/4 VR - First impressions

AndreasE wrote:

I got the collar today. A few remarks:
1) I don't like the unbundling of "essential" things. Beside the unfavorable increase in total price, it has negative implications on a functionality side.

2) The price point is 27% above today's silver price. :-)The weight of the collar is 147 gram (5,2 ounces). The current silver price is approx 34 usd / ounce. So, the price of the collar as its weight in silver would be 176 US$. Nikon's list price 224$ for the collar puts a premium of 27% of today's world silver price. Potentially, some people would consider this a steep price for such a low tech thing.

3) This collar is stable - no doubt about it. But it is annoying that what used to be a silky smooth movement on previous lenses is now far off. Turning the collar on the lens creates a clear audible scratch noise so that one has to fear that it will scratch away the paint of the lens in not too much time. Nikon, please give us back the silky smooth collars you had in the last 60 years. This development is not positive.

rgds,
Andy

I think I will buy this lens once the price has settled. But regarding the collar, I for one will rather pay the same price for a third party solution than reward Nikon for this greedy attitude.

Nov 29, 2012 at 10:07 PM

LizzieShepherd
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p.3 #20 · Nikkor AFS 70-200mm/4 VR - First impressions

So the collar has no lining or felt strips as normal? Well normal from my experience with Canon and 3rd party lens collars. That seems extraordinary - I hope to get this lens in time but not that collar!
Thanks very much for all your info on the lens though - looks promising!
Lizzie

Nov 29, 2012 at 11:09 PM

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