gear

THE DIGITAL SOAPBOX OF ANDY CLEAVENGER

80-200mm f2.8 AF D

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Email:  graycard18@gmail.com

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Zoom lenses don’t usually inspire much emotion for me. This one probably comes the closest. It’s a simple, no frills, quality made tele zoom. No bells and whistles. Just really good all around. The only reason to spring for something fancier than this is if you need some special ability such as a Silent Wave motor, vibration reduction or more reach than 200mm will give you.

I’m currently in the process of rethinking my lens lineup for my personal work and I’m pretty sure it’s going to be all prime lenses for everything from the wide to short tele range. This one however is guaranteed a spot in my bag for a long while. Why not go with a 135mm or 200mm prime? Mostly because the situations under which I usually need a focal length that long don’t typically allow me to zoom with my feet.

I admit, I have contemplated getting a cheap, amateur grade 75-300mm zoom specifically for vacations in order to help save space and weight, but I haven’t decided yet. I really love the fast f2.8 speed of this 80-200mm. I’m not sure how bad I would miss that. I definitely would have missed it in India. I was really glad to have a constant f2.8 there since we were shooting indoors with low light on several occasions. In Alaska, where everything worth photographing is outside, I probably could have lived without it. So I dunno. We’ll see.