Well, here it is... flame me but I'm just as surprised as you will be... Lens:Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 D ED AF VR 2: Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 D ED N Test constants: Light: (natural light in my living room, it took me 6' 30" so I guess it was constant) Distance: Although the tripod remained I had to move a little the subject Focus Distance: The lens said 2.8-3.0m but it was more-or-less 30cm (1ft) Drinks: The famous Greek Frappe (icy shaken instand coffee with lots of milk!!!) {} ...and for the red Xs... http://www.pbase.com/pkazan/image/43210095/original
I think the focus on both lenses are not the same so when the 80-200 focuses it actually focuses longer than the 80-400. For example take a prime lens (macro lens is a good example) and manually rotate the focus from closest to infinity. You should see the focal range move a few millimetres as well (as the elements move forwards and back). Some lenses (I think the micro 60mm) have a 5mm to 10mm focal change when focusing from close to infinity. I also would like a test but at f/5.6 simply because 2.8-4 has a pretty low DOF anyway, and both lenses also offer an f/5.6. However an f/4 would be nice as well if you feel inclined to retest Good info! Joel.
Paul, that's one of the surprising elements of my home-made amateur test... I tend to agree with Joel, but I have to repeat the test with more parqameters (including more f/#)... I guess...
Panos, I like what I see with the 80-400 VR VR VR :>))) I have heard it works great with the 24-120 VR VR VR :>)) Pardon my sillyness. I have to get one thats all there is to it. It is sitting in the cart at B&H since this morning. You guys are a terrible influence on my credit card. I'll send you the balance..
Gale - my singlet (one lens, as opposed to the doublet Canon and Nikon cu lenses) +2 and +3 B+W close up lenses work fine with my 24-120vr. And they are about half the price.
Hi Paul, I thought about this. Each of the lenses is set to 200mm. Now when additional elements (the close-up lens) are added to the lens, it is no longer a 200mm lens. Adding positive lenses to the front of a lens, makes the lens longer. From comparison of the image sizes in Panos' work, the [email protected] changes to something slightly longer than the focal length the [email protected] becomes once new front elements are attached. So I'm thinking the test should be conducted so the image sizes are all equal. It's the only thing that's directly measureable.
