Hi Nikoneers. I just received my 80-200 AF-S from my supplier a few days ago. All I can say is that the lens is just outstanding. Its handling is just the best. Its AF smooth as silk. When tracking moving objects, it doesn't jump focus and the green dot is ever present in the viewfinder. The focus is so quiet. Image quality should be better, (although IMHO it will be very hard to compare this with the already super sharp 80-200 AF mechanical drive lens.) I think any improvement in image sharpness and quality will be very evident with the use of the dedicated TCs, TC-14E and TC-20E. First thing you notice is the lens hood. It's just huge. It is a well designed hood, and I think it will do its job really well. The old 80-200 had a shallow HB-7 hood which gave a greater angle of light hitting the front element or filter. The depth of the old hood is less than the diameter of the front element or filter, in this case 77mm. The new HB-17 for the 80-200 AF-S is so deep that at the the top the distance of the filter to the edge of the hood is 95mm; at the side, from filter to edge 75mm; and at the shortest part, 55mm. Do a little geometry and you will find out this hood really covers a lot. The feel of the zoom and focus rings are just so positive. It feels like a manual lens. The damping is just right, even in A/M mode when switching from AF to manual focus override. A very good thing about this lens is the manual priority AF mode. In both standard AF modes (focus- priority single servo, and release-priority continuous servo modes), when you override AF and turn the focus ring manually, focus remains in manual mode. Lifting off your finger from the AF start button or shutter release button and depressing it halfway again will reinitiate AF. The AF lock buttons are helpful when in AF mode, and you manually override AF, and you lift your finger off the shutter release button to use the sub-command dial, re-depresing the shutter release button does not activate AF. In other words, when your right hand is so busy fiddling with the aperture, shutter speed, and shutter release button, your left hand can take care of retaining focus through the three AF lock buttons that are placed around the lens barrel. The tripod collar on the other hand isn't what anyboy would expect from a lense of this caliber. But then I migt be wrong. Initially when I pulled out my lens from its case and tried rotating the collar, I got the worst feel anyone cold imagine. It was grinding and would only rotate in one direction. The cause, the crinkle-finish paint on the barrel and collar. A little polishing or smoothening out of these contact surfaces should dramatically improve the feel of the rotation of the collar. Mine has already improved, but I think it will never be as smooth as the ball bearing equipped collars of the big lenses. I'll post more info in the future. Happy shooting. Carlo _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
