Customer Ratings & Reviews

I was looking for a lens to fill a gap between my Nikkor 85mm f/1.8G lens and my Sigma 150-600mm. I was looking for the best lens for landscapes and seascapes, portraiture and even studio product shots. Here are the reasons I love this lens: 1. It's sharp at all focal lengths and all apertures. It has great color and contrast, and the bokeh is pretty good. 2. It's a constant f/4.0 aperture, not variable, which makes it pretty fast at 200mm. 3. Here's the real deal-maker for me—it has both internal focussing and internal atom. Nothing moves when you focus nor when you zoom. There is no "pumping," no air being pushed into my camera with dust and moisture to pollute my sensor. 4. It has full-time manual focusing that is fast and easy. 5. For a 70-200mm it is relatively small and light. 6. The Vibration Reduction is fantastic, allowing 3-4 stops over non VR. Compared to the Nikkor 70-300 f/4.5-5.6G this lens is way better. Compared to the 70-200mm f/2.8 VR at nearly twice the price, this lens is a real bargain. Check out its stats on dxomark.com

This is a great telephoto lens for travel. It's relatively light and can be handheld for a whole day of shooting without the weight being bothersome. I happen to own both this lens and the larger/bulkier f/2.8 version, and in terms of image quality, they're practically the same. While I do rely more on the f/2.8 lens for shooting in dim indoor lighting, I tend to bring the f/4 lens more often overall simply because it is so much easier to carry and can handle 90% of everything I shoot. If you shoot most often outdoors or in decent lighting levels, then save your money (and back) and consider this f/4 lens.

I purchased this lens to replace my aging 80-200mm 2.8D lens. My old lens is sharp, quick, but it lacks VR. I am able to take shots indoor, hand held, at 1/50th of a second and still get a sharp image. The focus is just about perfect on my D800, right out of the box. Low light-no problem. Added bonus; its a lot lighter. I would not hesitate to buy it again.

Great lens, focus and sharpness are just as good as it's big brother the f2.8 version. Much lighter and a pretty good value. As you should already know the tripod foot isn't included and the Nikon one is way overpriced. You can get a third party one for a much better value. Unless you REALLY need shallow depth of field or f2.8 speed, this lens is great. I'd say the f2.8 is better for portraits but it's amazing focus breathing (focal length shrinks the closer you focus) half kills that anyways. I use this mostly outside for fast moving race vehicles and it's performance is every bit as good as the 70-200 f2.8 VR 1 I had before, but sharper across the frame, and no nasty vignetting on full frame sensor cameras. If I was sticking with a DX cam I'd have kept the VR1 but for FX unless you really need and have the cash for the VR2 just get this.

As a professional photojournalist I have used the 2.8 version of this lens from Nikon and Canon for years. This is a very nice, more affordable alternative. The lens is very sharp, the image stabilization works very well, and it focuses at about 3.5 feet, which is amazing for a 200mm lens. It is also much lighter and smaller than the 2.8 version. The downsides are the f4 aperture, which makes the viewfinder dark, especially if you are used to using very fast pro glass. The price is also a little high for what you get. I think it should be about $1000. The lens is made in Malaysia, as opposed to Japan where the pro glass is made, so reliability and durability may not be as high, but this has yet to be determined.

Overall a great lens. It is a nice step up from the standard kit lenses and provides really nice image capabilities. The one downside is indoors or low light level performance. In bright sun and outdoors the lens is fast and accurate. F4 makes indoors shooting a little more difficult without external strobe or strong light source. On the plus side it is significantly lighter that the 70-200 f2.8 lens. If you shoot indoors, sports, or want to add a TC, the f2.8 lens is the right one. If you want great glass, shoot in good lighting, want nice bokeh, then this lens is a fantastic value.

I've been lusting after the 70-200 f/2.8 for a while, but it's just too expensive! When Nikon announced the f/4 version, I initially didn't even bother looking into it. I already had the 70-300 f/4.5-5.6, but I was getting disappointing results, even with plenty of light. After reading a bunch of reviews, I decided to pull the trigger on the 70-200 f/4. I was also considering some of the 3rd party 2.8 lenses at about the same price point, but I guess I still want that legendary Nikkor quality. All I can say is Wow! This lens is easily on my camera 75% of the time now. It's lighter, shorter and skinnier than the 2.8, which makes it easy to carry for extended periods. VR performance is excellent, although I'm probably not using it to its full potential since I'm keeping shutter speed a bit higher to freeze subject movement. I love that you can focus as close as ~3 feet at all focal lengths. Sharpness on this lens is fantastic. I certainly hope to have this lens in my bag for many years to come. No regrets.

At first I was concerned that I did not hold out for the 2.8, but after using this model, I am very happy with this lens. Somewhat smaller and lighter and still gives very clear shots with good bokeh.

Excellent lens, great color rendition and fast focus even in low light inspire of being a f/4. The second generation VR is great especially for the f/4 focal length. I have the new 2.8 70-200 FL and I find myself carrying this more often due to the light weight and great pictures

I have been contemplating getting this lens for a long time. When I saw an open box at a local Best Buy, I jumped all over the opportunity to save $300 and still get a full manufacturer warranty. I use this lens on my D7100 and it works like a champ. For my needs, I can get away with f4 so saving a ton of weight from the f2.8 version was the reason I wanted this lens. It handles so nicely. The VR on this lens is almost unbelievable. It gets me 4 stops!!! If you are looking for a prosumer zoom that travels nicely and is tack sharp, this is a great fit. Unless you really need the f2.8 to freeze motion in less than ideal light, I would recommend saving the money and weight and get the f4.

I would recommend this to anyone who wants to have a decent zoom lens. Wish I could say the same for GeekSquad of late. Read on if you want to know my bad experience with GeekSquad. Your experience may vary. I bought a three year protection plan when I bought my first DSLR with kit lens a year ago. I took it back to GeekSquad a few months ago for my first annual cleanup service of the three allowed. The kit lens came back uncleaned. The lens hood was broken. I had to go through the trouble of ordering the lens hood myself and fax the receipt to BestBuy for reimbursement. Why not also reimbursement me for my time and hassle? I bought the service plan to have a peace of mind. Making me jump all these extra hoops defeats the purpose. The camera came back unbroken. I can't say for certain whether anything was done to it. Nothing was wrong with it to begin with. I was very unhappy with the cleanup that I thought I would do one myself. Unfortunately it was my first attempt and I managed to get some dusts inside the viewfinder. The sensor seems okay. I am not seeing any dust in the image. I took it back to GeedSquad for another cleanup with explicit instruction to clean up the dusts in the viewfinder. Yes, it costs me my second cleanup. I will be getting it back in a few days. If I can update the review, I will let you know the outcome. Wish me the best of luck.

This lens is almost as sharp as its big brother but the fact that it's lighter makes it a better traveling lens. The one stop slower f-stop does result in it not forcusing as fast as the f-2.8 in low light and when using teleconvertors the 2x will not forcus on the dx cameras. I use it as a companion to my 24mm-120mm f-4. Defiantly a good buy

Sharp images, great bokah, great addition for the everyday photographer and more

This is a great lens to have in your bag. Awesome reach with out the weight. If you want to save money over the 2.8 and still get great shots buy this lens.

Very light lens. Very sharp. Great if you have a FX camera since you can use it as a 105-300mm in DX mode.

Read all the reviews online so I took the plunge. I have a Nikon D7200 so I am only using the 'meat' of the glass. In my opinion I could not have purchased a better telephoto lens.

I wanted an SLR lens to capture photos of eagles who live nearby. I needed a telephoto zoom lens to capture these birds up close and also in flight. Thanks to this lens, I was finally able to capture portraits of a Bald Eagle last week! Awesome lens. Thank you!

If this weren't on sale, I'm not sure I'd have gotten it. Needless to say I'm pleased with the results of the lens.

I bought this lens to go with my D800 as a medium zoom. I did not want the weight or the cost of the 2.8 lens, and this lens gives me everything I want. You only loose 1stop from the 2.8 lens, and with the quality of the D800 sensor, you can always adjust the ISO to maintain a fast shutter, without giving into any noise problems.

excellent lens, quick and sharp focus. Light compared to the 2.8f. I use it on a D850 and have had wonderful results. The colors are amazing and the VR works wonders.