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No matter where I go or
what subject I am shooting, I always have my
70-200mm in my camera bag. This is quite possibly
the best mid range telephoto zoom lens Nikon has
ever made. The optics are razor sharp and with the
fast f/2.8 working aperture I can shoot in low light
situations and handle wildlife portraits with no
problem. The angle of view on a DX (crop sensor) is
equivalent to 105 – 300mm focal length and of course
70-200mm on a full frame camera (35mm equivalent).
Mountain Goat Kids captured on Mount Evans,
Colorado. The fast f/2.8 aperture was perfect for
isolating the goats against a soft background and
the silent auto focus didn’t scare them away!
Not only does the lens
have superior optics, but its auto focus is quiet
and precise which is priceless when capturing
wildlife subjects. The front of the lens has
convenient focus lock buttons which allows the
photographer to lock focus on the subject. This is
particularly useful for framing the subject off
center or when panning for movement. The Vibration
Reduction is also a great feature on this lens and
allows the photographer to handhold down to 1/15 of
a second without the worry of camera shake (vibration
reduction will not stop action of the subject but
will reduce or eliminate camera shake due to
vibrations from the photographer).
Reflection on Bierstadt Lake, Rocky Mountain
National Park, Colorado. After shooting sunrise at
the lake, I had packed up my photo bag and was
walking back to the car along the edge of the lake
when I spotted these reflections. The 80-200mm was
the perfect choice for zooming in a picking out the
most graphic and colorful part of the scene.
Not only is the
70-200mm great for photographing wildlife, it’s also
my lens of choice for picking out patterns and
details in the landscape. Taking out the trash is
what I call it. Too often photographers leave too
much information in their shots and it is helpful to
have a lens that can really pull the viewers
attention to the intended subject.
Colorado Columbine and fern, Rocky Mountain National
Park, Colorado. The minimum focusing distance of 1.5
meters was close enough to capture this Colorado
Columbine framed amongst the ferns in the Wild Basin
area.
The minimum focus
distance is 5 feet (1.5 meters) which means you can
get in close to many subjects for full frame views.
The lens also has three convenient knobs on its side
just in front of the zoom to switch from Auto Focus
to Manual focus, set the focus limit on full or
infinity–2.5m for precise auto focus and a switch
to turn the Vibration Reduction on and off. The
70-200mm weights in at 51 oz. with the tripod collar
and is a little lighter than its predecessor, the
80-200mm AF-S. It’s not the lightest lens in the
Nikon family, but with superior optics, fast and
quiet auto focus and built in vibration reduction
it’s well worth the extra weight.
Longs Peak at sunset from Trail Ridge, Rocky
Mountain National Park, Colorado. The 70-200mm was
the perfect choice for this scene. I wanted to only
show a small section of the tundra and really focus
the viewers attention to Longs Peak and the
beautiful display of color in the clouds. This
lens was perfect for the job.
The 70-200mm is not
only great for wildlife and patterns, but also the
perfect choice for long lens landscape photography.
The built in tripod collar allows you to switch from
horizontal to vertical format in a cinch. My tests
conclude that the 70-200mm gives the best resolution
between f8 and f f14 which makes it perfect for
rendering the grand landscape in absolute tack sharp
relief. You will of course need to have the lens
mounted on a sturdy tripod to make sure there is no
camera shake or vibration when shooting landscape
images, especially in the low light of sunrise or
sunset. Also when the camera is mounted on a tripod
it is essential to turn off the vibration reduction.
Detail of Glacier Creek, Glacier Gorge, Rocky
Mountain National Park, Colorado. Just focusing in
on the cascades in contrast to the fallen trees was
important and the 70-200mm did a great job at 180mm
of picking out the details I wanted to include in
the shot and nothing else.
The 70-200mm is a main
stay in the camera bag and I will sacrifice my own
personal comfort to have this lens with me at all
times, whether I am working out of the car or hiking
many miles into the back country. |
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