Purchased a 70-300 mm Nikon lens

[Lonnie1212]

Got a new lens in the mail today. Bought it on eBay for $69.00. It is all manual and rather simple to use. Attached it to a Nikon D3200 and took a few pictures from the living room window. Didn't know how I was going to feel about using a manual lens. But actually I found it quite simple and pleasant to focus. There was no pushing the button and waiting for the automatic focus to set. Just used my hand and it was just as fast. Tomorrow maybe I will take it out on the streets and try it out.

Thanks,

Lonnie

 

[Solarflare]

I own an AI 80-200mm f4.5 "N" (the "N" denotes the variant, its not officially part of the name, but theres two variants of this lens with the same name, the "N" variant being the younger one, that also got produced in much higher numbers, with a different optical formula than the original lens, and easily identified by the square backside exit for the light).

Its horrendously dusty. As a push pull zoom, the lens sucks air like theres no tomorrow if you zoom. Its really not that comfy to use because the focal length wont stay unless you actively hold it in place.

The output is great though, including certainly no lack of sharpness whatsoever, its build quality is pretty flawless all metal, the lens is very compact and lightweight, and it only cost me 50€ on the used market.

IMHO pretty much the ideal lens for landscape shooters. Except for the dust, which is probably unavoidable given the way the lens works. This will sadly cause increased flare. Otherwise you might look for ways to fix the push pull element into a place because by itself it doesnt stay in place, but always follows gravity. Rubber band would be the obvious solution.

 

[ac12]

I own an AI 80-200mm f4.5 "N" (the "N" denotes the variant, its not officially part of the name, but theres two variants of this lens with the same name, the "N" variant being the younger one, that also got produced in much higher numbers, with a different optical formula than the original lens, and easily identified by the square backside exit for the light).

Its horrendously dusty. As a push pull zoom, the lens sucks air like theres no tomorrow if you zoom. Its really not that comfy to use because the focal length wont stay unless you actively hold it in place.

The output is great though, including certainly no lack of sharpness whatsoever, its build quality is pretty flawless all metal, the lens is very compact and lightweight, and it only cost me 50€ on the used market.

IMHO pretty much the ideal lens for landscape shooters. Except for the dust, which is probably unavoidable given the way the lens works. This will sadly cause increased flare. Otherwise you might look for ways to fix the push pull element into a place because by itself it doesnt stay in place, but always follows gravity. Rubber band would be the obvious solution.

Ha
To each his own.
I LOVE that lens, for the reason you do not.
I love a push/pull zoom that has a light butter smooth zoom ring, and that lens is it.
I used it for sports, and because it was EASY to zoom, it was/is easy to follow focus/zoom on a moving athlete.

I used a 75-300 push/pull zoom on my D70, and I did not like the comparatively high effort that it took to zoom the lens. That did not make for an easy to use sport/action lens.

 

[shadowlands]

I just ordered a used Nikon AF-S 70-300mm VR for $224.00. Can't wait to finally have reach on my Z6. I know a Z version will come one day, but likely costing 1K.

 

[wfooshee]

Got a new lens in the mail today. Bought it on eBay for $69.00. It is all manual and rather simple to use. Attached it to a Nikon D3200 and took a few pictures from the living room window. Didn't know how I was going to feel about using a manual lens. But actually I found it quite simple and pleasant to focus. There was no pushing the button and waiting for the automatic focus to set. Just used my hand and it was just as fast. Tomorrow maybe I will take it out on the streets and try it out.

Thanks,

Lonnie

The D3200 won't meter with that lens, will it?

As for pushing the button and waiting for auto-focus, I haven't had to wait for focus since I moved up from a D50.

 

[Lonnie1212]

Got a new lens in the mail today. Bought it on eBay for $69.00. It is all manual and rather simple to use. Attached it to a Nikon D3200 and took a few pictures from the living room window. Didn't know how I was going to feel about using a manual lens. But actually I found it quite simple and pleasant to focus. There was no pushing the button and waiting for the automatic focus to set. Just used my hand and it was just as fast. Tomorrow maybe I will take it out on the streets and try it out.

Thanks,

Lonnie

The D3200 won't meter with that lens, will it?

As for pushing the button and waiting for auto-focus, I haven't had to wait for focus since I moved up from a D50.

No, it won't meter. But that is just fine. I really like this lens.

 

[wfooshee]

I have an 85mm f:1.8 that's old enough to have been converted to AI, and I love it. It meters on the D7200 and the D7000 before, but would not meter on the D7500 I almost went to instead of the D7200. For some reason, Nikon removed the AI ring from the lens mount of the D7500.