My shiny, new Nikon Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 VR II lens seems to have a damaged thread inside. The thread coating seems to be flaking (click photo below to enlarge). I’m worried that the flaking parts are going to damage the lens over time. You need to zoom to 200mm and then check the area indicated in the photo below if your lens has a damaged thread too. The problem seems to be pretty widespread, I’ve already seen dozens of users reporting the same problem after checking their 70-200 VR II.

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There has been a lot of controversy lately about the brand new Nikon Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 VR II lens. Some folks claimed the lens is utterly unusable for wedding photography because of the changes to EFL (effective focal length) compared to the older VR I lens. As usual with expensive gadgets, the noise to fact ratio skyrocked in the ensuing (sometimes emotional) discussion in several photography related forums. Interestingly, the EFL issue went unnoticed in all the raving pre-release reviews of the new VR II lens.

I just want to point to a thread on dpreview.com which IMHO is the most accurate comparison between the VR I and VR II lens to date:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1030&message=33908735

The first three posts from user em_dee_aitch sum it up very nicely.

Just in case you were wondering if the Kirk LP-45 replacement foot fits on the new Nikon Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II lens: yes, it does, just as it did on the old Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR. If you’re using Arca Swiss compatible clamps, this is the foot to go for, you won’t be disappointed. Read more »

In a previous post I wrote about the possibility to use the Tokina AT-X 116 Pro DX 11-16mm lens on a Nikon FX body – in FX mode. I detected some corner softness with the Tokina on my D700 so I thought it would be useful to have a direct comparison between the two lenses in FX mode. The comparison itself is pretty unfair because the Tokina was designed to work only on APS-C (DX) DSLR’s and costs 3 times less than the Nikkor AF-S 14-24mm ultra wide zoom.

Weather conditions for a comparison test shot weren’t too good today but still sufficient to show the sharpness differences between the two ultra wide zoom lenses. Read more »

I’m in the middle of transitioning from my Nikon D80 DX-crop sensor DSLR to a Nikon D700 full format FX-sensor DSLR. I replaced the Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 DX lens (24-300mm) with:

• Nikkor 24-70 AF-S f/2.8
• Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 AF-S VR
• Nikkor TC-17E II teleconverter. I’m still getting acceptable sharpness with the 70-200 tele. Of course this is a compromise and I don’t think I’m going to use the converter a lot. Maximum aperture is f/4.8 with a f/2.8 lens. The teleconverter also works great on my Nikkor Micro 105mm AF-S VR macro.

I still have my Tokina AT-X 116 Pro f/2.8 DX ultra wide zoom lens. I was thinking about replacing it with a Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 ultra wide zoom lens but the Tokina actually works quite well on a FX body like the D700 – in FX mode! Read more »

I’m a big fan of the Nikon Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G VR II AF-S lens because it’s so versatile. It’s also a great companion to my Tokina AT-X 116 ultra wide angle zoom lens. Both fit nicely into my small LowePro SlingShot camera bag and it doesn’t get too heavy.

After reading Ken Rockwell’s review about the Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.3-5.6 G I was curious to see how much sharper it is than my 18-200mm lens. Ken claims the 28-80mm to be “unbelievably sharp”. Read more »