Camera Labs

Great Review, interesting to see that there was no 'creep' with the 55-200mm lens compared to the 18-200mm lens.

On the subject of creep I have just taken receipt of my new 70-300mm Nikkor lense as per in my signiture. If anything it looks like Nikon have over-compensated for this lense creep problem with the 18-200 VR. The zoom on the 70-300mm is quite stiff and it makes minute zoom adjustments a little difficult. It could be just a case of it being new and perhaps after a little use it will soften hence making it easier to make fine zoom adjustments. Time will tell. That is my only gripe so far with the lense but I'm a bit of a noob so don't take my word for it. Still I'm pretty happy and even managed to get out for a lunch break with my new lense and D40 for 30mins to take some photos of aircraft on landing approach at LHR (London Heathrow). It was fun except for the cool breeze and murky overcast conditions.

Also on the subject of the 70-300mm Nikkor Gordon has said that he is working on a future review of this lense which should make for good reading and viewing.

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GEAR: Nikon D40 | AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II | AF-S VRII Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED | AF-S VRII Nikkor 105 f/2.8G IF-ED micro | SB-400 Speedlight | Lowepro Slingshot 200 AW | Manfrotto 676B monopod

Hi Konovalov, yep, I'll be doing a review of it very soon - and you're right, the zoom ring is quite stiff!

Gordon

Thanks for the review Gordon!
I bought my first DSLR D40 on the 29th of Aug.

I wasn't sure which lens to buy but after watching your preview and recommendations from a few friends , I finally settled with 55-200vr as the 18-200vr was beyond my budget.

http://fotokrazy.com/gallery2/v/members/New2mac/

The chinatown shots were with the 55-200vr and the rest with the kit lens.

Question
1. Are there any lens accessories that I add to my collection.
2. Can the 55-200vr shoot bokeh/ How do I do it. (right now I am basically using only the Program mode)

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/new2mac

Hi new2mac! Welcome to the Cameralabs forums!

By bokeh, do you mean getting a nice out of focus effect? That's easy: just put your camera into aperture priority mode and choose the smallest f-number; your camera will work out the exposure to match.

This will open the aperture, minimise the depth of field and produce the out of focus effect. It's also accentuated by zooming-in, and also being close to your subject. If you're photographing a person or wildlife, be careful to focus on their eyes, as the rest of their body (or even face) may not be sharp.

This technique was used for the portrait and bird shots in our DX 55-200mm VR sample images gallery, here:

http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Nikko ... ages.shtml

Gordon

Does anyone know if there are any teleconverters that work with the 55-200 mm Nikon lens?

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Nikon D700, Nikon F301, Nikon FG and Nikon FM
Nikon 105mm f2.8 VR, Sigma 12-24mm, Nikkor 50mm f1.8 D, Nikkor 50mm f1.4 AI, Sigma 35-70 f2.8-4
Benro C-297 w/Benro KS-2

I'd assume that any tele-converter that technically works with that lens (like the Nikon AF-S TC-14E II) will make the AF with the 55-200mm slow because you lose aperture: 1stop with a 1.4x, 1.7stops with the 1.7x and 2 stops with a 2.0x converter. So the pic is getting too dark for the AF-system to focus properly. So with the 1.4 converter your 55-200mm/f4.0-5.6 becomes an effective 77-280mm/f5.6-8.0!
The 1.4x might work ok at brighter days, but try out at your own risk and make sure you can give the gear back, if not working properly.
Never expect to make properly focussed night-shots though...

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Yeah I assume, I would probably be betetr of getting a cheap 500 mm lens. How is your Tamron working out Tombomba2? And what exactly does mirror mean? Ive been looking at some 500mm lenses from Opteka or Phoenix that are 500 mm. Theyr both below 100 $ so I wouldnt expect them to be very good but do they work?

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Nikon D700, Nikon F301, Nikon FG and Nikon FM
Nikon 105mm f2.8 VR, Sigma 12-24mm, Nikkor 50mm f1.8 D, Nikkor 50mm f1.4 AI, Sigma 35-70 f2.8-4
Benro C-297 w/Benro KS-2

See my review of the Tamron SP 500mm here (there is also an explanation of a "mirror-lens") and my review of the Tamron 200-500mm there.
The other thread that you should be looking at is over here. Kriss shoots with an Opteka 500mm.

Yeah good tele-converters aint cheap and they magnify the errors of the lens, so have a look at the alternatives...

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Some samples from the Nikon 55mm-200mm VR in action, The Rugby pictures.

http://picasaweb.google.com/staverjg

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Nikon D700, Nikon F301, Nikon FG and Nikon FM
Nikon 105mm f2.8 VR, Sigma 12-24mm, Nikkor 50mm f1.8 D, Nikkor 50mm f1.4 AI, Sigma 35-70 f2.8-4
Benro C-297 w/Benro KS-2