Question about 70-200 & 70-300 VR lenses

snugelbune · Apr 27, 2007

Hi all.

I have the 70-300 VR lens, like it very much, but it's a little slow for what I truly like to do...it's a great portable backup though.

A while back, I owned the 70-200 VR but about a month and a half after buying it my son took ill and I had to take a leave of absence from work to care for him. Without income, I had to sell some equipment and the 70-200 VR was one of the casualties. Well, I'm missed it so much that I decided to re-buy it. It arrived today and it is what I would term noisy. The whirring is pretty loud in my estimation and the the AF-S seems to be loud at either ends of the focusing scale...SO here's my question:

I emailed Nikon and they said I should be able to hear a whirring though not loud whirring with a VR lens. Ok, but that begs the next question...my 70-300 VR lens doesn't make a peep!!! Now I feel like I'm whatever you would call a hypochondriac for cameras, but should I hear something on the 70-300 VR lens when the VR is on, and for those that have a 70-200 VR, do you hear it pretty easily as it's focusing?

So, those of you who own one or both of these, let me know your impressions of the noise factor if you would be so kind.

I've had to send 2 cameras to Nikon and then one had to go back and now I'm having this paranoid feeling for every thing Nikon I own...not good! Any opinions on these two lenses as to their speed and stealth would be appreciated.

Thanks

dlee79 · Apr 27, 2007

I used to own a 70-300mm VR and now a 70-200mm VR. The AF-S sound was extremely quiet on both. Seems there is something wrong with your copy.

snugelbune · Apr 27, 2007

Thanks Lee

dlee79 said:
I used to own a 70-300mm VR and now a 70-200mm VR. The AF-S sound was extremely quiet on both. Seems there is something wrong with your copy.

Thank you for your thoughts Lee,

I think this is somebody up there trying to tell me to STOP spending money for a little while...darn it, I loved my first 70-200 but had it for such a short time and it's been a while so I just didn't know if maybe I was remembering that lens in a much more favorable light and had expectations that were too high...but I kind of had that feeling.

I'm glad to hear someone say the 70-300 VR lens is quiet...can you imagine telling nikon that one lens is too noisy the other too quiet...can you fix them? B&H is closed on Saturdays but they'll be in on Sunday, so I'll call and see if they will be kind enough to exchange it for me.

Clix Pix · Apr 27, 2007

I own both lenses, so tomorrow if I get a chance before I have to go to work I'll pull both out and fire off a few test shots to listen for how the VR in each sounds...... Right now my memory of when I last used each is telling me that neither is very noisy, that the VR is a subtle presence.

snugelbune · Apr 27, 2007

Thanks, Connie

I appreciate it. Don't make yourself late for anything on my neurotic account

izzy: Ugggh...now I know how my 4 year old must feel when we tell him we got him a surprise and he is thinking "puppy" and he gets a candy bar:Shocked: Poor kid!

snugelbune · Apr 27, 2007

Connie, I'll check in but...

Clix Pix said:
I usually leave for work at around 12:30 PM, so if I get up and moving early enough I should have plenty of time to do a quick test of both lenses before heading out the door!

Remember, don't rush on my account...if it's noisy, it'll be noisy Sunday and Monday, too! If it is not noisy then I'm still crazy and that's not going to change.

Clix Pix · Apr 28, 2007

Good morning! Test conducted! The 70-300 is somewhat quieter than the 70-200mm but in both instances the VR and focusing was not excessively loud. More of a soft "click" as the VR adjusted itself..... No excessive noises when autofocusing on either lens. The clicking of the VR is audible to me but I'm not sure it would be audible to someone standing a few feet away or to an animal or bird several feet away. It's not noisy at all. I've had my 70-200mm VR for several years and the 70-300mm VR I bought a few months ago.

If your 70-200mm VR sounds unusually noisy and loud to you then it might be a good idea to get things checked out, as that is not normal. Better yet, I'm sure B&H will be willing to simply exchange it for you.

Happy to conduct this test for you! :smile:

snugelbune · Apr 28, 2007

You're Awesome, thanks so much!

Clix Pix said:
Good morning! Test conducted! The 70-300 is somewhat quieter than the 70-200mm but in both instances the VR and focusing was not excessively loud. More of a soft "click" as the VR adjusted itself..... No excessive noises when autofocusing on either lens. The clicking of the VR is audible to me but I'm not sure it would be audible to someone standing a few feet away or to an animal or bird several feet away. It's not noisy at all. I've had my 70-200mm VR for several years and the 70-300mm VR I bought a few months ago.

If your 70-200mm VR sounds unusually noisy and loud to you then it might be a good idea to get things checked out, as that is not normal. Better yet, I'm sure B&H will be willing to simply exchange it for you.

Happy to conduct this test for you! :smile:

Thanks, for a lot of reasons that helped...my 70-300 is church mouse quiet but I'm going to assume that's a good thing. This morning the sun actually reappeared in the north east and I took the 70-200 outside to shoot some magnolia blooms before they are completely shot. Well, outside in good light (shutter speed up around 1000 to 1250 at ISO 200!) the 70-200 VR is pretty quiet. Perhaps it was struggling with the low light conditions I was stuck in yesterday. I also think it struggles to focus at 6'-7' and I think the specs say about 5' is the closest focusing distance...then again, all of my lenses are now struggling when getting close to their minimum focus distance and this just started since coming back from Nikon for servicing--but that's another neurotic caper that I won't subject you all to.

Any way you slice it, I the pictures I took (even if w/a noisy lens) were very nice. I haven't checked them for sharpness, but the color rendition seems beautiful. I emailed B&H, I'm sure they will respond tomorrow. I'm also meeting another cafe member to shoot birds tomorrow and he has this lens and has agreed to bring it along so we can test them side by side.

Again, thank you so much for running the test. It makes me feel a bit better to know that the 70-300 is quieter than the 70-200. Today my 70-200 seems to have less noise (left my D200 on all night...grrrr...with it attached) but again, lighting is much better today than the soggy, rainy, gray, foggy day of yesterday.

Gale · Apr 28, 2007

Yes they will make more noise hunting in low light for a focus:>)))))

In low light or even very low contrast, like a white bird in the sky.. You should hear the 80-400 searching...lol

snugelbune · Apr 28, 2007

Thanks Gale,

Gale said:
Yes they will make more noise hunting in low light for a focus:>)))))

In low light or even very low contrast, like a white bird in the sky.. You should hear the 80-400 searching...lol

Gale, I'm hoping that's all it was, I was just stressing it with the low light conditions of the day...c'mon, I figured that lens was supposed to take perfect pictures even if I can't, right?!?:wink:

I shot next to a guy who had the 80-400 when we were shooting eagles in flight on a cloudy, yucky, EARLY winter morning...yep, I've heard that lens hunt--no, this was NOTHING like that, and that is the one experience that made me realize I didn't want to buy any lens that wasn't AF-S...unless it might be a Sigma HSM.

snugelbune · Apr 28, 2007

Connie, maybe you...

Clix Pix said:
Gale's right: under low light conditions any lens will search, and, yep, that 80-400mm VR really lets you know it's working hard!!! LOL! Sounds as though that was your problem yesterday: low light and perhaps too close to the minium focusing distance.

Perhaps you did your scientific double blind study for nothing?! I still appreciate it, though, because I'm telling you, I put the 70-300 in low light and while it will hunt for a couple of years (ok, slight exaggeration) to find focus, it doesn't sound anything like what I was hearing yesterday. However, I'm going to assume that my lens is FINE and that I'm f.i.n.e. fine...for those of you who don't know what that means, I'll leave the f to your imagination and as for the rest, insecure, neurtotic and emotional kind of fine:Shocked:

I am shooting w/someone (Yi from our own cafe...awesome wildlife shooter!) tomorrow and he's going to bring his lens to compare with mine and then I'm sure we can put things to rest!

Thanks to EVERYONE!!

Gale · Apr 28, 2007

AFS is wonderful ..But 400 plus 1.4 is longgggggggggg
lol
I make it work...lol
When all else fails I quit for the day:>))

snugelbune · Apr 28, 2007

Yes M'am, you do

Gale said:
AFS is wonderful ..But 400 plus 1.4 is longgggggggggg
lol
I make it work...lol
When all else fails I quit for the day:>))

Gale, I've seen your shots, you do make it work, that is a fact! I use my 300 f/2.8 with a 1.7 and I'm lusting after the 200-400 VR (with 1.7 TC of course) or maybe I'll just win the lottery and then I'll by the Nikon 600...or that soon to be released 35lb Sigma 200-500 f/2.8 (yes, that's right!)

Thanks for all the help...and if someone could dumb down the posting pictures instructions for me, I'd actually post a couple of pictures. (You know you'd think if I can figure out photoshop, NX and capture 1 Pro I could figure out how to post a picture!)