AF Nikkor ED 80-200 mm f/2.8 D

In 1988 Nikon introduced the AF 80-200/2.8, a telephoto zoom addressed to professionals. The first two versions (AF and AF-D, 1992) of this lens lacked a tripod collar and were a one-touch design. The <New> AF-D model (1997) is a two-ring zoom and has the tripod collar. All models have the same optical scheme (16 elements in 11 groups), with three ED-glass elements to reduce chromatic aberration and colour fringing.

I have owned all the 80-200 Nikkors (with the exception of the AF-S f/2.8) and this one is the best, definitely. The old f/4.5 was a surprisingly good performer but did you never try to use a polarizer with that lens? The brightness in the viewfinder dramatically decreases. As a matter of fact, a polarizer cuts about 2.5 stops and this means that the f/4.5 becomes a f/11 lens. The 80-200/4 was an excellent lens, being both distorsion and vignetting very well corrected. It was 1/3 stop faster than its legendary predecessor. Even wide open, sharpness was very good, particularly at the near focus limit (1.2 m).

In my opinion, the AF 80-200/2.8 resembles the excellent performance of the f/4 model, but with the following differences:

1) you can shoot at f/2.8 (it's obvious, but it's important!);

2) it's sharper at infinity and softer at the near focus limit;

3) at the long end of the zooming range the f/2.8 suffers some corner light fall-off, which disappears at f/5.6;

4) at 200 mm, the f/2.8 exhibits a slightly higher pincushion distorsion.

I swapped my one-ring AF 80-200/2.8 D for the new two-ring model. Therefore, I have extensively used both the AF-D versions and I could not detect (by my 8X loupe) any visible difference, in terms of sharpness, distorsion, vignetting and color rendition, between the two lenses.

The Apennines (Italy)

Gran Sasso d'Italia (Italy)

Smoke + fog = Smog (Rome, Italy)

All images © Copyright Riccardo Polini