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Great lens if you know what you are doing

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Leica Kid

Leica Kid

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I love my 200-400, cant believe I only paid 1300 bucks on it. Great lens, fast af, solid VR, great output. Many people online complain about it, and I see it being a problem with the learning curve of it. People seem to expect the t stop to equal the f stop, which is never going to happen...especially not with a 24 element count lens. Past that, I don't get how people seem to hate it. Very happy I bought it. Very versatile, always nails the shot, and still small and ergonomic enough for me to comfortably handhold and run around with



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--
Sigma is overrated
 
Jeep_Joseph said:
I love my 200-400, cant believe I only paid 1300 bucks on it.
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That is a great value



Good going!
Leica Kid said:
Great lens, fast af, solid VR, great output. Many people online complain about it, and I see it being a problem with the learning curve of it. People seem to expect the t stop to equal the f stop, which is never going to happen...especially not with a 24 element count lens.
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Leica Kid said:
Past that, I don't get how people seem to hate it.
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I didn't hate it, and for over a decade it was my go-to lens.

Leica Kid said:
Very happy I bought it.
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Justifiable!
Leica Kid said:
Very versatile,
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Yes.



Don't forget to take advantage of its close focusing abilities:



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Leica Kid said:
always nails the shot, and still small and ergonomic enough for me to comfortably handhold and run around with
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Agree.



For me, the 200-400VR was near to, but just below my limit for reasonable hand holding.



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Leica Kid said:
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It's a very versatile lens for sports, even more so than when I was using mine on less ISO capable cameras.

I used the 200-400 al lot with D2H which got pretty noisy at ISO's above 800! The lens was much more useful when I got a D3 to use it with.



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You got a great deal.



Have fun!



Best Regards,



RB

--

NikonImages

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creative edge said:
great lens..
Funny, I am selling one for 1200 and cannot get anyone to buy.. lol
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Hi!

If I recall. you and I were two of the early users of the 200-400 VR

There are a lot of alternatives now.

But in 2004, when I got mine the choices were very limited.

I wanted a 400mm Nikon lens that had VR, AF-S and was at least f/4.

The 200-400VR was the only option. to meet those criteria.

In 2003, the year the 200-400 VR was introduced, Nikon had yet to come out with the VR versions of their "exotic" primes (200/300/400/500/600).

So the 200-400VR was it.

Now there are other alternatives that come close to or exceed certain attributes of the 200-400VR (but evidently, not the current market price!)

Best Regards,

RB
 
I am suprised, have you tried ebay? An auction could help, the only thing is if you are new to selling you can't go above 500 bucks
 
RBFresno said:
creative edge said:
great lens..
Funny, I am selling one for 1200 and cannot get anyone to buy.. lol
Click to expand...
Hi!

If I recall. you and I were two of the early users of the 200-400 VR

There are a lot of alternatives now.

But in 2004, when I got mine the choices were very limited.

I wanted a 400mm Nikon lens that had VR, AF-S and was at least f/4.

The 200-400VR was the only option. to meet those criteria.

In 2003, the year the 200-400 VR was introduced, Nikon had yet to come out with the VR versions of their "exotic" primes (200/300/400/500/600).

So the 200-400VR was it.

Now there are other alternatives that come close to or exceed certain attributes of the 200-400VR (but evidently, not the current market price!)

Best Regards,

RB
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Yes RB you are correct I remember... that was way back then. I now shoot with a 400 2.8 FL and
the Nikon 120-300 2.8 so the 200-400 (my third copy since back then) just sits in the safe.

--
http://www.michaelfullana.com
 
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Jeep_Joseph said:
I am suprised, have you tried ebay? An auction could help, the only thing is if you are new to selling you can't go above 500 bucks
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I dont like ebay much, may try posting on Facebook marketplace.. if not I can always sell it to my local camera store.
 
Good seeing some D2H images around here! My favorite camera back in the day and I still have it. Just don't shoot in low light! One of the best 4MP cameras ever made - caveat - in good light.

I rented a 200-40mm VR once for a professional Australian Rugby exhibition at UCLA. Photo next day in the morning Australian newspaper. And it was with the D2H!

Much better now with a D3S and a D850 on the way. Wondering if you guys have ever shot/compared the Nikon 200-500mm/5.6ED VR to the 200-400mm/F4 VRII? Significant price variance between them, but I've also read it's 50/50 to get a good copy of the 200-500. Every image I've seen from this lens has been highly impressive.
 
Rich_D3s said:
Good seeing some D2H images around here! My favorite camera back in the day and I still have it. Just don't shoot in low light! One of the best 4MP cameras ever made - caveat - in good light.

I rented a 200-40mm VR once for a professional Australian Rugby exhibition at UCLA. Photo next day in the morning Australian newspaper. And it was with the D2H!

Much better now with a D3S and a D850 on the way. Wondering if you guys have ever shot/compared the Nikon 200-500mm/5.6ED VR to the 200-400mm/F4 VRII? Significant price variance between them, but I've also read it's 50/50 to get a good copy of the 200-500. Every image I've seen from this lens has been highly impressive.
Click to expand...
the 200-400 hands down. Much faster to focus and very sharp throughout the focal lengths plus it is one stop faster.
 
creative edge said:
Rich_D3s said:
Good seeing some D2H images around here! My favorite camera back in the day and I still have it. Just don't shoot in low light! One of the best 4MP cameras ever made - caveat - in good light.

I rented a 200-40mm VR once for a professional Australian Rugby exhibition at UCLA. Photo next day in the morning Australian newspaper. And it was with the D2H!

Much better now with a D3S and a D850 on the way. Wondering if you guys have ever shot/compared the Nikon 200-500mm/5.6ED VR to the 200-400mm/F4 VRII? Significant price variance between them, but I've also read it's 50/50 to get a good copy of the 200-500. Every image I've seen from this lens has been highly impressive.
Click to expand...
the 200-400 hands down. Much faster to focus and very sharp throughout the focal lengths plus it is one stop faster.
Click to expand...
Agree

RB
 
Thanks, yeah I agree with that last line. I had the choice of the 200-400 vr1 or a 300 2.8 vr2 for 1700. I half regret not buying the 300, just due to seeing what they go for. But I didn't sacrifice much in perforations, mainly just a stop of light and gained a lot more versatility. I shot a friend's 1dxmk2 with a 300 2.8 isll for a soccer game. Beautiful lens, but the lack of versatility kept making me miss shots.
 
I am friends with the manager of a large camera store that is also the former Makita race team photographer. He says the 200-500 is a solid lens that punches above it's price class, but the 200-400 is in a different league. And is it a huge price gap? Where I am (usa) my 200-400 was 1300 bucks from mpb, and their comparable 200-500 is 900.
 
Thanks, what's a slalom? I know nothing about sports, just to follow the ball
 
Slalom, when it pertains to Waterskiing, skiing on a single Ski, and is also a Reference to a Course that is run while on One Ski.
 
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