Looking for 70-200mm f/2.8 lens options that are compatible with D5500

[STiZzle2010]

I have been shooting since March of this year and I'm looking to expand. I'm not too familiar with compatibility as mounts and various still daunt me a bit lol. As mentioned in the title, I currently have a D5500 and I know that being a crop body, what I'm looking for will not actually equate to a 70-200mm. Brand does not have to be Nikon and I'm not opposed to going used either as I know this lens is generally pretty expensive. I absolutely want auto focus and VR.

Whether it is relevant or not, I currently have a 18-140mm kit lens as well as a Nikkor 50mm 1.8G. I generally shoot portraits as well as cars (mostly stationary).

I appreciate any suggestions and feedback.

 

[lacogada]

Satisfied with my Tamron 70-200mm 2.8.

 

[STiZzle2010]

Satisfied with my Tamron 70-200mm 2.8.

What body are you using?

 

[lacogada]

Images shown were shot with 610.

Have also used it with a D7100.

 

[STiZzle2010]

Images shown were shot with 610.

Have also used it with a D7100.

I'm not very familiar with those bodies. Do you know if this lens compatible with my D5500? Is this the lens you have?

 

[lacogada]

I bought mine at BH Photo when they had $100 rebate. (they now have $50 rebate)

I believe mine is a different model then the one in your link.

I bought this one Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD Zoom Lens AFA009N-700 B&H

On Keh site it would be this one
TAMRON 70-200MM F/2.8 SP DI VC USD (A009E) LENS FOR CANON EF MOUNT {77} - KEH Camera

 

[lacogada]

With the d5500 you will need a focus motor built-in to the lens to use auto focus.

 

[STiZzle2010]

With the d5500 you will need a focus motor built-in to the lens to use auto focus.

Hmmm is this something that I can have done? I wasn't planning on the added expense but I'm not comfortable enough to use just manual focus. Where and how would this be added? I appreciate the help btw...and I wonder if this is just with the Tamron or all of the 70-200mm on the market.

 

[Peeb]

Images shown were shot with 610.

Have also used it with a D7100.

I'm not very familiar with those bodies. Do you know if this lens compatible with my D5500? Is this the lens you have?

The D610 is a full frame camera
The D7100 is a cropped body camera- just like the D5500; HOWEVER, the D7100 has a focusing motor built into the body of the camera (D5500 does not)

 

[Derrel]

Nikkor AF-S 70-200/2.8 VR-G, the original, has very,very nice bokeh quality to its images, and focuses extremely fast, fast enough for high school sports, and is a very skinny-barreled lens design that makes it balance very well with the smaller, lighter bodies. That's a solid lens on crop-frame. It HANDLES better than the fat-barrelled 80-200 or 70-200 models which I have used.

Nikkor AF-S 80-200 f/2.8, made 1998-2002 or so I guess? Is affordable and WILL work on the D5500. It has AF-S focusing, and great focus-lock buttons on the barrel, very nice for talls. Focus is not quite as fast as the 70-200 VR. This is not the 80-200 "one-ring" or the 80-200 "two-ring",neither of which have AF on a D5000-series camera, but the 80-200 AF-S Nikkor.

NEW Nikkor 70-200 f/4 AF-S VR-G would be light and sweet, and have better optics than the prior two lenses I listed. Easier to carry, better weight for a D5500 than the 70-200/2.8 VR-II or 80-200/2.8, both of which are straight, fat, stovepipe barreled designs.

Tamron 70-200 VC would be a nice lens; plenty of those around.

Sigma 50-150???

 

[coastalconn]

The 70-200 VC will auto focus on your body no problem. The only drawback is the D5500 does not have AF fine tune so you can't micro adjust the lens and body combo. BTW, I am selling mine in Nikon mount as I switched to Canon. Shoot me a PM if you are interested. You can read an article about me and that particular lens that Tamron wrote in the link in my signature..

 

[goodguy]

Another vote for the Tamron 70-200mm 2.8 VC

I use it on my D750 and D5100 with amazing results.

 

[robbins.photo]

I use a Sigma 70-200mm OS - always been happy with it. Most of the guys I know who have the Tamron seem to really like it as well.

 

[Mr.Photo]

This is one of the many drawbacks to the entry level Nikon bodies (D3xxx/D5xxx). Nikon stripped them of the in body focusing motor so that you can't use the slightly older AF (screw drive) series lenses on those camera's and have to buy the expensive AF-S lenses with the focus motor built in to the lens itself. As mentioned by a few people above there are options from both Tamron and Sigma which are actually quite good and considerably less expensive than the Nikon 70-200 2.8.

For this very reason I picked up the D7000 and now can use just about every Nikon lens made from the late 70's to today, as well as save a boat load of money.

 

[STiZzle2010]

Thanks for the responses and info everyone!