Nikkor lense

Ok everyone heres another zoom question. I own a Nikon 70-300mm 4-5.6

G zoom lense. I am looking for a better lense to cover this range or

at least up to 200mm. I want this lense for wildlife photography with

a D70. I am not opposed to using prime lenses (again at least 200mm).

I would like a faster lense than the one I have and one that is

optically good to very good. VR does not interest me because of

price!!!I would really like somthing at about 300-400mm but price is

definetely a consideration (Hoping to find something below $1000). I

prefer Nikon lenses but any lense in my price range with good to very

good optical quality will be considered. I am not opposed to buying

used either.As always I appretiate the help.

Used 70-210mm f/4 AF Nikkor.

A good place to start is the 300mm/f4 AF-S which is around $1000 new. The main problem with that lens is that it comes with a very poor tripod collar. You can add a TC-14E to boost the focal length by 1.4x and the combo on a D70 is fairly long.

80-200mm f/2.8D AF Nikkor.

Ditto 80-200/2.8. Excellent optics, good value and useful zoom range.

 

Lots of used ones around.

The 80-200mm f/2.8. I use it on my D70 and love it.

 

However, I don't use it for wildlife photography. I would think that

it would be a bit too short for that. But the optics and speed of it

are great.

Any 80-200mm/f2.8 AF Nikkor is a fine lens, although the early push-pull zoom ones have slow AF. However, IMO 200mm is not going to be long enough for most wildlife photography, even on the D70.

Easy answer. 80~200/2.8 AF-D (last model w/ tripod mount) if you want a zoom OR the older 300/4 AF. Both can be had for under $600 used. Both optically superb. Given you want this for wildlife photos, the 300/4 is probably better suited. Mate it with a Kenko Pro or Tamron SP 1.4X ($150) for more reach - this lens performs very well with converters. AF is somewhat slow, but unless you are shooting birds in flight it probably doesn't matter.

 

Michael

Dan,

 

Given your needs, especially "I would really like somthing at about 300-400mm", I think the 300f4 is your best bet, especially if Michael is right regarding cost for used older 300f4AF AND if you do not need the faster AF speed of the newer "S" model. Although I haven't used the converter's mentioned by Michael, I do know that the 300f4 with the TC-14B will give you a 420mm with an effective f5.6 and superb results. Thus, you should be able to pick up a 300f4 and a TC-14B for about your price point and have an absolutely excellent 300f4 and an excellent 420f5.6. Staying at your price point, you either need to sacrifice speed or reach and when you say 300-400mm range, it seems doubtful you will be happy with a 200mm max. Although you can use the TC-14B with the 80-200 to get to a 280f4, the quality will be nowhere close to that of the 300f4. If you need the faster AF speed, my guess would be that the 300f4AF-S would be the way to go with the idea that you could add a 1.4 converter at a later date.

 

Best regards,