80-200 AF-S w/ 14E and/or 20E for Birds and Wildlife

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I use N70, 80-200 2.8 EDIF, tripod and print film for nature, wildlife, and birds. Most go to the album, a few to home and office walls enlarged. I cannot justify Nikon primes. Could go third party. But with advent of the 80-200 AF-S, it occurred to me that I wait on price to go down a bit and replace the 80-200 with the AF-S and use it with the 14E, the 20E and with both, 560 f/8. It sounds like a sensible, flexible solution to me. I would appreciate your evaluations of this approach. Thanks. GTE

-- Gerald T. Elliott (gerald.elliott@jocoks.com), March 05, 1999

Answers

You will not be able to use both tele's together unless one is modified -- they will not mate with each other. I'd question the optical results using both unless the lens is stopped down and f8 is already kinda slo

-- Geof Grieble (ggrieble@gte.net), March 06, 1999.

Personally, I would not use more than a 1.4 TC on such a wonderful lens. In my opinion, stacking converters is like putting 4 extra tires on a sportscar to drive faster. Besides, stacking converters is NOT advised by many manufacturers - it can lead to damaging the electronics. May'be you should wait until next year for an AF 400/5.6 from Nikon (I've heard some rumours this week). Ivan

-- Ivan Verschoote (ivan.verschoote@rug.ac.be), March 08, 1999.

I do not really understand yur reasoning, I guess that you expect too much when you say you wait that the price of the new 80-200 Af-S goes down. Upgrading from your current 80-200 to the new one plus the 2 converters if definitely more expensive than a 300 or 400 prime. The current 80-200 does not work that nice with the TC201, so I would not expect to much from the new version, and I definitely forget stacking 2 converter in terms of optical quality. And also from AF I would not expect too much, it is not only speed but also exactness of the AF algorithm (major improvement between F90 and F90X).

Think about a Nikon 300/4 or a Sigma 400/5.6, or wait for new Nikon AF-S primes in that range.

-- siegfried boes (boes@first.gmd.de), March 08, 1999.


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