Grantland wrote:
don't do it . . . the 400 with a 200 is a great combo.
come back to your senses
Yeah, but that's another $4k I got to come up with. I know if I get rid of my 200/2 I'll have to have another someday, but I could be OK with that - after all, I don't think there's such a thing as a bad copy
My first outing with this beast. Didn't have much time and haven't really finished processing this one but it shows the ridiculousness of this lens....
Thanks to this thread I brought out the 200/2 to a swim meet the other night. Glad I did. A couple of full frame images with 'chubby' wide open at 1/400 sec and ISO 6400 on a D600.
Wow, love the amazing variety of suitable 200/2-subjects!
It even works on marching soldiers at rainy nights:
200/2VR I, D700, ISO 6400, f/2.2, 1/30sec
Killer images guys. Just got mine and I can't wait to shoot it. It's been raining here but hopefully in a few days I can finally contribute to this thread
In the meantime here's some shot of El Chub, mounted on my D600:
The hood is so big that it can swallow the 24 1.4, 50 1.8 and 85 1.4!
Here's my quick first impressions:
What I found weird was that the 200/2 doesn't feel heavy at all. In contrast I've always felt that the 70-200's were heavy.. perhaps the length gives me that fake illusion. The hood is about 3/8 the size of the lens and it can be a hassle to store when not in use. The huge front element is always exposed and I think a Don Zeck cap is in order. The stock foot is very low profile and you cannot grab it or use it as a handle, like with other telephotos.
Shooting with it around the house, I noticed one particular thing that I've never seen in any lens I've used: It creams the background even if there's only a very short distance between the subject and the background. This is unbelievable. What I mean is that with most lenses, the subject must be reasonably far from any background to render a decent isolation---- not with El Chub. The background can be 1 foot away and it gets creamed regardless.
Autofocus speed is out of this world. "Angry" is the right word to describe it. It is instantaneous and always snaps into focus.
Sharpness.. well, I haven't really tested it outside but initial shots are nothing short of AMAZING. And I thought my 70-200 VRII was sharp.. hahahahaha Someone once said that "If the 70-200 VRII rates a 10, this lens rates at least a 15." He aint kidding.
I think I'm gonna have some real fun with this lens.
Beautiful shots so far Heard some cheep cheeping outside my window this morning, managed to grab a few of the cardinal in the bush before he flew off, had to run and grab lens, shot through the new window too.
Now to head back out and shovel some more, don't want to tackle it all at once, so I go out every few hours and whittle it down.
