I need a fast autofocus lens for sports action.My 85mm 1.8 & 180 2.8 are just too slow & or innacurate at focusing. My options are the 80-200 AFS ( too expensive for me) the Nikon 80-200 edif or the Sigma 70-200 HSM.All these lenses offer good quality optics but I cannot get the opportunity to try any of them. I am not interested in resale value or the stigma of Sigma; all I want is a fast accurate auto focus lens.Has anyone had the opportunity to compare these lenses. NO I am not going to change to Canon.

-- Melvin (bramley@nanaimo.ark.com), October 29, 2001

Answers

which body are you using? unless you are using a F5, F100 or a D1 already, upgrading the body may help.

-- umit (umyth@mailcity.com), October 29, 2001.

I am using a F100. The reccomended setting for fast focus is continuous auto focus & dynamic. This is not very reliable; in fact not at all. Single area & single servo gets me more reliable results but still short of when I use a FE2 & "wait for the moment". Prefocusing & anticipating action with the FE2 whilst it works is not "catching the moment" as I thought the F100 combo would.It could be that the camera or lens are faulty; I have had to return the camera & lenses for what Nikon only described as adjustment after one lens had focus errors & the camera finally quit focusing at all.As I have no other camera or lenses to compare mine to I am uncertain if my problem is operator error!! equipment malfunction or am I expecting too much?

-- Melvin (bramley@nanaimo.ark.com), October 30, 2001.

The fast AF on the new Nikon cameras really is meant to work with the AFS series lenses. There is no other answer for ultimate performance.

The reason you get poor results using the AF-C mode is that the camera is in release priority rather than focus priority when in AF-S mode. That means the shutter releases whether focus is locked on or not. The non-motorized lenses cannot move fast enough to work on action in this mode.

If you attach the 80-200 AFS lens you will find more than 90% of your shots are sharply focused in AF-C mode. I would never go back to non- motorized leneses for action photography.

If the AFS lens is too expensive I suggest you wait and save more money. The other choices will be a disappointment.

-- John Robison (robison@robisonphoto.com), October 31, 2001.