Possibly the best zoom lens ever made

Background

The Nikon 70-200 2.8 AF-S VR is the successor of the 80-200 range of Nikkor lenses (all discontinued), but is more of a complete redesign than just a tweaked new version. The new lens is far more complex than the previous designs, now featuring a whopping 21 elements, of which five are made of Nikon's ED low dispersion glass.

Also for the first time in this zoom range, the new 70-200 VR features both Nikon's internal silent wave focusing motor (SWM) and VR image stabilization, while maintaining a reasonable weight and size. All this certainly does not come without a substantial cost of course - the 70-200 VR is most likely far too expensive for the casual shooter and is instead aimed towards the professional or the high level amateur (the group I personally belong to).

I was quite happy with the results of my previous Nikon 80-200 2.8 AF-D zoom, but I always wished that it would perform better at f/2.8 and that it would focus faster and more quietly. My major problem with this lens was its inability to focus correctly on the Nikon D70 - all 80-200 AF-D zooms backfocus quite heavily on the D70 at the 150-200 mm range, which limits its usability at wide apertures.

For a long time I hunted around for a mint condition used 80-200 AF-S, but these seemed impossible to find on the second hand market. Finally I had no choice but to bite the bullet, break the bank and buy a brand new 70-200 VR.

While the purchase left me with a huge hole in my wallet, it wasn't without great anticipation that I opened up the huge golden cardboard box. Inside a nylon carrying pouch (far more usable than that awkward leather hat-box provided with the 80-200) lurked the lens itself. As I picked it up for it to see the first light of day since the manufacturing plant in Japan, I immediately noticed the excellent build quality, down to the tiniest details, such as the screwed-on brass plate proudly carrying the full lens designation: "Nikon ED AF-S VR Nikkor 70-200mm 1:2.8G" (yes, the lens name is quite a mouthful).

The exterior

The lens barrel is made of magnesium alloy for weight reduction purposes and has a smoother crinkle finish than the previous 80-200 lenses. The provided lens cap is the new squeeze-type, which you can remove even with the lens hood in place. The hood is made of black plastic and seems awfully brittle to me - just like the one provided with the 80-200 AF-S. It will most certainly break, should you accidentally bump the lens into something - so be prepared to purchase a new one after a few years of use!

Two rings on the lens barrel control the zoom and the manual focusing actions. The rings turn smoothly and quietly with just the right amount of resistance - much smoother than my old 80-200. Like with all AF-S lenses, the autofocus set by the camera can always be overriden by grabbing and turning the focus ring.

The front lens doesn't rotate while focusing, which makes it easier to attach polarizers and gradient filters. The filter thread size is the usual 77 mm, and I immediately attached a multi-coated UV-filter to protect the front lens from scratches, water spray, dust and smudges.

On the left side of the barrel is a panel with a number of toggle buttons - autofocus/manual focus switch, focus limiter lock switch, VR on/off switch and a VR mode switch, named "normal/active" (more on that later). Near the front of the lens barrel are the focus hold buttons, which can be quite useful when you want to make sure to keep the pre-acquired focus locked. The lens will not refocus as long as any of the three redundant focus hold buttons are depressed. Quite a useful feature, even though I find the buttons a bit hard to reach without looking.

The tripod collar is non-removable, but the tripod foot can be de-attached to make the lens easier to hand-hold (which I am sure many photographers will try to do most of the time thanks to the VR image stabilization system). I quickly found that that the lens handles much better than my previous 80-200 AF-D, which I always found a bit too chubby for comfort. The 70-200 VR is a bit longer but much slimmer and more pleasant to hold. It is heavier than the 80-200 AF-D (although lighter than the 80-200 AF-S), but due to its slimmer design, the extra weight goes pretty much unnoticed while shooting. Of course having the camera and lens dangling from the shoulder strap quickly becomes a tiresome task!

Vibration Reduction

The VR system used in the 70-200 VR is nothing short of a technical miracle and probably contributes quite heavily to the hefty price of the lens.

The lens features two distinct VR modes called "normal" and "active". The handbook does a pretty lousy job describing when to use which function, apart from that "active" mode is to be used when shooting from a moving vehicle. The difference between the two modes is actually quite simple: in "normal" mode, vibrations in the vertical plane are cancelled out, while in "active" mode, vibrations in the vertical and the horizontal plane are cancelled out. This gives that "active" mode is not suitable for panning shots. Before you start wondering, the lens can distinguish between portrait or landscape orientation of the camera and takes that into consideration when equalizing camera shake in "normal" mode. I can only marvel at the technical aspects of such an intricate lens design!

With VR enabled, as soon as you half-depress the shutter release button, the lens will emit a quiet hollow swirling sound from the inside as the vibration reduction circuits kick in, and you can clearly see the image in the viewfinder trying to hold still to counteract your own involuntary hand movements. It takes a split second for the image to stabilize and it is quite an interesting experience to watch the system in action as the image in the viewfinder appears to be glued in position!

The VR system certainly seems to be working as expected and makes it possible to shoot with ridiculously long shutter speeds - I have even managed to get reasonably sharp images handheld at 200 mm at 1/8 second, which would have been absolutely impossible without VR. Amazing!

However, be prepared to fire off at least half a dozen shots in tricky situations as VR is only good for giving better averages, not for granting that every shot will be tack sharp. VR should never be regarded as a substitute for a sturdy tripod or even good holding techniques, but it sure does help increasing the number of keepers!

Although it is obvious, it should also be kept in mind that VR is only good for minimizing the effects of camera shake - not the subject itself moving. VR is not an alternative to cranking up the ISO and shooting at the shortest possible shutter speed!

By the way, VR should be switched off when using a tripod and long exposure times or the system will add some blur to the images because of the tiny servo motors constantly moving.

The AF-S motor does its job admirably well - focusing is lightning fast and of course nearly silent. Just as one would expect, but still a striking difference from the rather noisy and slow focusing of the 80-200 AF-D! To further minimize focus hunt when shooting distant subjects, you can use the focus range limiter switch, which limits the focus range from 2.5 meters to infinity.

Image quality

While 200 mm will not make the lens very usable as a dedicated wildlife or sports lens, the zoom range is incredibly useful for general "situation" photography. The lens works beautifully as a portrait lens, but since the closest focus distance is 1.5 meters, some space is required to allow the photographer to back off when shooting from close quarters.

Scrutinizing the images taken of my backyard and my two-year old daughter playing (I refuse shooting focusing charts or brick walls) gave me quite a pleasant confirmation that my money was well spent - this lens is optically excellent! All the way from 70 to 200 mm, wide open or closed down, the images come out razor sharp and beautifully rendered. Although I didn't expect the lens to be optically any different from the 80-200 AF-D (which I regard as being a very sharp lens), it soon became rather obvious that the 70-200 VR is in fact a notch sharper! Also, it has none of those annoying focus error issues in the 150-200 mm range that plagues the 80-200 AF-D when used with the D70 (read the comments section for an explanation).

Brightly lit white subjects, that with my old 80-200 AF-D always were surrounded by a nasty purple halo unless the lens was stopped down to at least f/4, are handled with ease with the the 70-200 VR and with a total absence of chromatic aberrations. This is my only lens that I have no worries about using wide open if I need to. As the aperture is stopped down to f/5.6, sharpness increases to breathtaking levels, equaling or surpassing every prime I know of in the zoom range!

With my D70 I couldn't detect any light falloff whatsoever near the corners, but then I didn't expect to find anything. I couldn't notice any distortion either but I must admit that I really wasn't looking for it.

Out-of-focus blurred background is rendered beautifully and with a "creamy" quality - this lens probably has the best bokeh I have ever seen. The 70-200 VR is a gorgeous tool when you want to declutter the images and separate the main subjects from the background. Nothing I have ever used even comes close!

Flaring and ghosting seems a bit more pronounced than with the 80-200 (probably because of the larger number of elements). Framing the sun makes the contrast drop pretty quickly and causes distracting flares to appear all over the image. However, since you can clearly see these in the viewfinder, it should not be a surprise. The provided lens hood is deep enough to shadow the front element from direct light so flare is not really a practical problem as long as you are careful.

Conclusion

The 70-200 VR is a highly professional lens that has all the goodies you can imagine in a single unit. It is fast and quiet, exact and deadly sharp. The VR system works miraculously well and the image rendering is nothing short of amazing. It is a very expensive lens though, and that will probably stop all but the professionals and the most keen amateurs from ever trying their hands on it.

Although I haven't tried it myself, the 70-200 VR should pair up perfectly with Nikon's tele converters (both the Nikon TC-14E II or TC-17E II) without significant loss of sharpness or brightness. I would love to get the TC-17E II converter, but my credit card definitely won't allow any kind of optical extravaganza in the nearest future!

The only negative aspect I can think of about the lens is its physical size - it is big, bulky and heavy and not something that you will happily drag around for a couple of hours of casual shooting at an amusement park with the kids. Some people also tend to be intimidated by having such large lenses pointed at them and may even shy away from having their photos taken with this beast.

Still, if you're looking for the best medium-range tele zoom lens ever created, the 70-200 VR might very well be it!