Does anyone have a clue as to when nikon 80-400 VR lens will be available?

-- mark haflich (jhaflich@erols.com), August 16, 2000

Answers

Nikon had said August 2000 it would be available, but usually it takes several months from the release date before anyone actually has them in stock. You can expect to pay quite a premium if you can't live without one and need to get one right away. No dealer will discount a lens like this for at least 6 months to a year from when it becomes available, and then the price will likely drop by a good amount.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), August 16, 2000.

A Nikon source told me unofficially that the current US release is October, 2000.

-- Danny Weber (danny_weber@compuserve.com), August 16, 2000.

Hi Mark:

At first, I was also eager to get my hands on this lens real fast. So I called a highly respected Nikon retailer up here in Canada. He said the release was delayed, but that it would be available in late September 2000. Price approx. US$ 1,950. Now I have second thoughts: First, this VR thing is new for Nikon, and it might take a while to get the bugs out (witness delayed release!). Second, it's not an AF-S lens, which sucks big time. All my lenses so far are AF-S. This lens is driven from the camera body by a little screw driver. What a joke!

-- Bob (robert.lang3@sympatico.ca), August 24, 2000.

A Nikon rep told me the manufacturering of this lens ran into early trouble and only low rate production has been made. It will first be released through privileged channels and won't be generally available in significant numbers until after the newyear. So anyone who could get their hands on a early release lens could probably make a killing by reselling it on ebay. He also said that at least one other VR lens would announced between now and next feburary, but further inqueries yielded "You didn't hear that from me and I am not saying anything more"

-- Chuck Fan (chaohui@msn.com), August 25, 2000.

My dealer (Industrial Photo in Silver Spring, Maryland)just called and said my Nikon 80-400VR lens was expected in this month and that my cost would be $1499 plus tax. Now if Nikon will just come out with an 600mm F4 VR lens and a 400mm F2.8 VR.

-- mark halich (jhaflich@erols.com), October 03, 2000.

I just took the Nikon School seminar on 9-29-2000, and they said October was the release, but Nikon did not say which day. Good Luck!

When Nikon does it, they do it right!

-- Jack Bobrow (jak51@aol.com), October 22, 2000.

My dealer called on October 30, 2000 and told me my 80-400 VR was here and to come and get it. I will pick it up today, October 31,2000. According to Nikon the lens will be in very short supply until after new years with most dealers being allocated only one per store and not all stores will get even one. I will shoot a couple of rools handheld this weekend (migratory birds on my pond etc) both with VR on and off. Review to follow.

-- Mark R. Haflich (jhaflich@erols.com), October 31, 2000.

Mark: please inform us of your results as soon as you obtain your images. I tried out the lens in a local store and it seems pretty compact for the range offered. Autofocus- on a F100- was slow however. Does image quality hold up?

Karl Johan

-- Karl Johan Borgis (kjborgis@telia.com), November 05, 2000.

I bought this lens 2 weeks ago and I paid US$ 1,470. I am very happy with the lens performance in terms of optical quality and vibration reduction. I used only 1/60 sec for shutter speed with 400 mm zoom and all the pictures were sharp. I recommend to some people and one of them plan to buy it this week. Apart from this lens I also have 80-200 f2.8, 300 f4.0, and some wide angle lens. I found the optical quality of Nikon 80-400 VR is comparable to 80-200 lens.

Somsak

-- Somsak Jaitrong (sjaitron@conth.jnj.com), November 23, 2000.

While we're asking about that lens, I'd like to know what the manual tells you to do when you put it on a tripod. That is, should you turn the VR off on a tripod (thereby negating the usefulness of the vr)?

-- Joseph Hearst (hearst@ix.netcom.com), November 24, 2000.

The Nikon 80-400 VR manual states :

"When the lens is mounted on a tripod, set the vibration reduction mode switch to OFF".

It doesn't state whether leaving the switch on will damage the lens. I know the Canon community has discussed this and it seems that VR can be left on when the lens is mounted.

-- Ted Zimmerman (zimmerma@netbistro.com), November 25, 2000.

Now that this lens is trickling into stores (or so I am told), has anyone got any real world results to share? As much as I'd like the range and VR feature, the slow shutter speed still doesn't help me in taking sports shots of the kids. That said, I own a 70-300 f4-5.6 and I am pretty satisfied with the results. After all, I am an amateur. What I really miss is AF-S! Any rumours to whether or not newer versions of any Nikon lenses, VR or not, will be getting the AF- S treatment? I have a 17-35 f2.8 AF-S and love its speed of focusing (not that it is really needed on a wide angle). I still don't understand why Canon can put USM on just about all their lenses and Nikon can't...

-- kelly rijn (dkk82d@aol.com), December 10, 2000.

Nikon's AF-S is substantially larger more complicated than Canon's ring USM. This is possibly because Nikon wanted to circumvent Canon patents. So I would not be surprised if Nikon AF-S cost much more toproduce than Canon USM.

-- Chuck Fan (chaohui@msn.com), December 11, 2000.

I would like to mention one line regarding the Nikon & Canon systems : "All that Nikon forgot, Canon will never achieve.... !"

-- asher pinsler (asherpi@amdocs.com), February 23, 2001.