Nikon Nikkor 80-200mm f/4 Ai-S

Great bargain zoom This lens is not all that sharp. That said, when you consider that you can buy decent examples of this lens for under $100 it becomes a stronger value. The push-pull zoom is meh. It is a little loose so as long as the barrel is relatively parallel to the ground it shouldn't slip outta focal length. The manual focusing is not as smooth as I'd like, but it's usable. The lens is heavy, and there's no place for a tripod collar. I know my current tripod won't handle the front-heaviness. But it's not uncomfortable or exhausting to hand hold, at least for me. The image quality is decent wide, but seems to fall off noticeably by 200. It's not bad, just noticeable. Contributes to the lack of tack sharpness. This makes a decent landscape lens, but insufficient for portraits. IQ nitpicking aside, this thing is built like a tank. This is typical of Nikkors from the late 70s to early 80s. Heavy, solid, metal, little or no plastic anywhere. And you can even find pristine examples like I did for chump change. Overall I think this is a good enough lens for certain types of photography or photographer. I'm not a professional or commercial photographer so I don't need perfect sharpness. This is fine for me and much easier to swallow than the premium coin needed for a 70-200 2.8 VRII. I can just buy 20 of these instead. Read full review

Best Zoom Value I bought my copy based on numerous good reviews posted online. These lenses are quite sharp and well made. These things are so ridiculously inexpensive in today's marketplace - a true bargain. Only thing I don't like about it is the damping is a little too light for the zoom/focus ring to stay in place on its own...

Excellent old lens, no regrets on this purchase I'm very happy with this used lens. I wanted to try an older lens for the feel of the manual focus technique (push-pull type), also to see the what diferences might be apparent in the image quality of the older lens formula. Similar in size and weight to the 70-300vr, this lens has wonderful build quality, silky smooth focusing (270 degrees), the bokeh wide open is amazing, its almost as sharp as Nikon70-300vr, with slightly better contrast and more saturated color. The lens rotates during focus, a consideration if using a polarizing filter. The purchased lens has a problem with infinity focus at 80mm (focuses at about 75 yards) but I'll have this corrected if possible. Its dead on at 200mm. Also chromatic aberration is higher than some lenses, noticeable in bright, high contrast areas. This lens will be a go-to option for low light where contrast and color are desired and the CR won't be an issue. Manual focusing can be somewhat slow but practice improves speed. Overall, it's a really enjoyable lens with character, charm and very pleasing results.Read full review