200/2.0 ED IF AIS

[shawngibson]

<p>Hey guys,</p>

<p>I've only seen this for sale once, it was $1600USD with de-clicking and new mount.</p>

<p>Is this lens generally available? I don't see it on Ebay. What's the normal value of it? I've seen its images on Flickr, love the lens.</p>

<p>Merci:)<br>

Shawn</p>

[User_6502147]

<p>It's currently available from KEH under "bargain" and it's 400 less. If it was de-clicked, it likely was used in video/film work. IMO, little caution about "new mount"....unless it was installed and checked by Nikon....you really don't know what you are getting.</p>

<p>I know for a fact that Nikkor 300/2 is way more rare.</p>

<p>Les</p>

[Wouter Willemse]

<p>Looking at <a href="http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/serialno.html#200">the serial numbers</a>, it is a rare lens - around 4000 copies made. So I don't expect it to be available very often, and when available, it won't be cheap. It's hard to say what the value is - the last few years, prices on some manual focus lenses has gone up considerably (probably part popularity of mirrorless, part the increased interest in film). Above $1000 sounds very likely anyway.<br /> The 180mm f/2.8 does make an awful lot of sense ;-)</p>

[John Crowe]

<p>I regret selling my Nikon 200/2 ED IF AI a few years ago. I have kept my eye on eBay and keh the last couple of years and the prices are between $1200 and $2200 USD. There are usually 3 or 4 of them on eBay, so I was surprised that there are currently none. The one on keh.com is in bargain condition and I have bought a couple of their "bargain" lenses that were near perfect to me.</p>

<p>The 200/2 AIS is said to be even sharper than the AI version that I had. The 200/2 AI is the sharpest lens that I have had at f2, and it gets even sharper at f2.8 and f4. The "bokeh" is phenomenal and I have been unable to come anywhere close with the Nikon 105/1.8 AIS or Nikon 135/2 AIS. The Zeiss 85/1.4 T* was likely closest in bokeh and while quite soft at f1.4 and f2 by f2.8 it was the only lens that I have had that was sharper than the 200/2 at f2.8. </p>

<p>The 200/2 AI had noticeable chromatic aberration that would be easily corrected in Adobe Camera Raw today. The AIS version should be better. I often used the 200/2 AI with the TC-16A to provide AF with the D2X wtih excellent results. It worked quite well with the TC-14B and E, but quite poorly with the TC-20E.</p>

<p>Now the negative, and one of the reasons I ended up selling it. It is heavy! Still lighter than a 300/2.8 but if you want to hand hold it for ease of following sports, like I did, it becomes very difficult to do so over several hours. When I shot still images from a tripod it was unbeatable!</p>

<p>Good luck in your hunt and purchase.</p>

[mag_miksch]

<blockquote>

<p><em>"if you want to hand hold it for ease of following sports, like I did"</em></p>

</blockquote>

<p><em><br /></em>thats why sport shooters use monopods^^</p>

[John Crowe]

<p>Oh I have used monopods too, but for panning race cars, for instance, you get a much more fluid motion handheld.</p>

[rodeo_joe1]

<p>Samyang's 135mm f/2 lens is about as close to optically perfect as you'll find IME. CAs are practically undetectable and it's stunningly sharp wide open. Bokeh is very neutral, so front and back focus "blobs" are rendered equally, as evenly illuminated circles with no doughnut or central hotspot effect. A 9 leaf iris keeps the aperture fairly round too. It's not a 200mm lens obviously, but it's so sharp that it can be easily cropped or used on a high megapixel DX format body.</p>

<p>At around $500 it's a real bargain for such high optical performance.</p>