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Archive 2013 · 70-200mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/4 compared!

  
 
vieri
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · 70-200mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/4 compared!


Hey guys, I just published an article with my user review and comparison of the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 vs f/4. Both are great lenses and choosing one vs the other basically boils down to what you shoot and what for.

See my article here:

http://madshutter.blogspot.com/2013/04/f4-or-f28-nikon-70-200mm-lenses-user.html

and let me know what you think!

Best,

Vieri



Apr 28, 2013 at 05:58 PM
BenV
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · 70-200mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/4 compared!


why is the exposure changing so much in the tests with the same lens?


Apr 28, 2013 at 06:22 PM
m.sommers00
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · 70-200mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/4 compared!


The conclusion I've gathered when comparing these two lenses is that unless you require the extra stop of light, the f/4 makes so much more sense. And the latest VR system is incredible!


Apr 29, 2013 at 01:40 AM
Albi86
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · 70-200mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/4 compared!


I've been reading that the f/4 version suffers from CA. Did you test both in high-contrast situations?




Apr 29, 2013 at 03:27 AM
workerdrone
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · 70-200mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/4 compared!


Personally I'd mostly be interested to see the difference in subject isolation and bokeh quality with both of them wide open in portrait work. I'm guessing I won't see $1000 in difference.


Apr 29, 2013 at 04:30 PM
lsutigerfan
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · 70-200mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/4 compared!


Nice write up!


Apr 29, 2013 at 04:38 PM
Joseph.
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · 70-200mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/4 compared!


Thanks for doing the test/review. I will read it in full when I get home.

I posted a side by side comparison of the 70-200 f/4 vs. 200 f/2 including differences in bokeh in another forum (NikonCafe) but it didn't get a lot of replies so I pretty much deleted it, lol.



Apr 29, 2013 at 07:27 PM
M635_Guy
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · 70-200mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/4 compared!


I love my f/4. Haven't noticed any significant CA so far...


Apr 29, 2013 at 10:01 PM
vieri
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · 70-200mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/4 compared!


Thanks guys for reading and commenting.

About your posts:

@BenV: The relative exposure between the two lenses returned by the camera are exactly the same, but the lenses show different degrees of vignetting, different colour response and different contrast. With the same lens, I used A mode because I was interested in seeing how the camera would deal with the differences in f-stops (different vignetting, etc).

@m.sommers00: Well, besides the extra f-stop, if you need really sharp corners then the f/2.8 is definitely the way to go. However, the f/4 makes a lot of sense for I guess the 90% of users if not more.

@workerdrone: I will do a portrait comparison, however unless you really need the f/2.8 I can say that the new lens is very pleasant in rendition at close distances. Especially at 150mm and above, f/4 is more than enough for subject isolation and the new lens is a real 200mm at all distances, which helps as well.

@Albi86 & M635_Guy: I didn't particularly notice CA in high-contrast situation. As well, Nikon Capture NX2 does a really good job in fixing it.

Thanks again, best

Vieri



Apr 30, 2013 at 04:49 PM
JimFox
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · 70-200mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/4 compared!


Hi Vieri,

It looks like you put a lot of time and effort in to writing up this comparison. Overall it's a nice write up. Two thoughts.

1st, to Ben's point, when you are doing the side by side comparisons, the exposures should stay the same between each shot. Vary the aperture for the test, but the shutter speed should change so that all of the shots look the same exposure wise.

Then 2nd, since the point of this seems to be so a person could decide to choose between the two lenses, when you are doing the side by side comparison shots, it's always most helpful to me when the reviewer posts the images from each test piece next to each other. For example, I see where you posted 4 shots at various fstops from the f4 lens, and then below it the 5 shots from the f2.8 lens. As a reader, the shots are too far apart for me to say that f4 on the f4 lens is not as sharp as the f4 on the f2.8 lens because they are not right next to each other. All I can do is compare the one lens to itself... I hope that makes sense.

I guess I have a 3rd suggestion. In some of the comparison shots, the shots for the f4 lens are large, but then for the f2.8 lens, the shots are small... consistency between comparison shots in terms of size would be a nice touch too.

I am not meaning to be too picky, you obviously spent a lot of time with the review, and that's appreciated. I am just adding a few thoughts to take the reviews presentation to the next level.

Jim



Apr 30, 2013 at 05:21 PM
vieri
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · 70-200mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/4 compared!


JimFox wrote:
Hi Vieri,

It looks like you put a lot of time and effort in to writing up this comparison. Overall it's a nice write up. Two thoughts.

1st, to Ben's point, when you are doing the side by side comparisons, the exposures should stay the same between each shot. Vary the aperture for the test, but the shutter speed should change so that all of the shots look the same exposure wise.

Then 2nd, since the point of this seems to be so a person could decide to choose between the two lenses, when you are doing the side by side
...Show more


Hi Jim,

thank you very much for your detailed reply, I appreciate your time and help. Let me answer:

1. The exposure is actually the same between shots; if you look at the center samples, they are exactly the same. In the vignetting test, they don't look the same due to vignetting, and if you look at the corner samples they don't look the same for the same reason - vignetting. I think I didn't explain myself very well in my answer to Ben

2. Point well taken. Will see to it and add a side-by-side comparison.

3. Actually, the comparison images are exactly the same size on my computer; I just checked, and it seems that blogger - even if you click on them to expand - doesn't resize them to their full size. I know this isn't very practical, but you can right-click on them and download them to see them at full size. I added a link to download them in a zip for convenience.

The link is: http://www.madshutter.com/photos_zip/70_200_test_images.zip

Again, thank you very much for your help, I really appreciate it. All the best,

Vieri



Apr 30, 2013 at 06:45 PM
Frogfish
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · 70-200mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/4 compared!


Vieiri.

I would love to see your review, unfortunately my VPN is not working for some reason, after installing a new router, and in China any links with 'blog' in the address are blocked so unviewable without the VPN !

However thanks for the review, I have copied the address to get to once my VPN is up and working again.

I will be most interested in seeing for myself the results based on your comments on corner sharpness and bokeh.



Apr 30, 2013 at 11:04 PM
vieri
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · 70-200mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/4 compared!


Sorry to hear that, I hope you'll be up and running again soon - on a side note, it is really sad to hear that there are still places in the world where freedom is so much restricted. Growing up in Italy as I did one takes a lot of things for granted - freedom being one of these - but since I came to work in Turkey (pretty illiberal country, not as much as China though) I understand much better the value of freedom. Let's hope and work for better times...

Best,

Vieri



May 04, 2013 at 02:38 AM
Rooster L200
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · 70-200mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/4 compared!


This is not a good test Vierl (wink, wink), because it gives the 2,8 too much of a fair deal......The f4 is a clear winner in all aspects not at least in the corners:-).


May 29, 2013 at 11:22 AM
vieri
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · 70-200mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/4 compared!


Rooster L200 wrote:
This is not a good test Vierl (wink, wink), because it gives the 2,8 too much of a fair deal......The f4 is a clear winner in all aspects not at least in the corners:-).


That's the beauty of making a comparison test - everyone can draw the conclusions they want, according to the use they do of a lens

Even though, in this case, I am afraid you must have confused the two lenses (wink, wink). The f/2.8 is optically better in all respects, especially in the corners, except for vignetting which cleans earlier in the f/4.



Jun 06, 2013 at 11:57 AM





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