My Preciousssss Has Arrived: The Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8

After saving my pennies for many months, and re-directing incoming birthday and Christmas presents into the "Lens Fund", I'm thrilled to have finally purchased a lens I've had on my want list for two years: the AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED VR II. It's a beast of a lens, a full 209mm (8.2 inches) long, and weighs in at a hefty 1504 grams (3.4 pounds). I adore my 24-70mm f/2.8 lens and shoot with it 90% of the time, but the occasions when I need more reach mean I have to grab my 18-200 Nikkor lens or my Tamron 28-300mm. In the case of the Tamron, a lens I used earlier this week at an indoor pool where the light was awful, at maximum zoom it's an awful f/6.3. The Nikkor isn't much better at f/5.6.

My photos from that day were high-ISO and generally not that great. If only this 70-200 had shown up a few days earlier! I'll be going back to the same location in a few weeks, so I'll get a chance to see how this lens performs. I'm not one of those photographers who thinks it's "all about the gear", but you can cheat physics: if there's not enough light, you need a faster lens. One thing is for sure though: I need to put the battery grip on my D300 to use this lens. Without the battery grip, the lens pulls the camera forward in a big way - and it's hard to counteract because the D300 body isn't very tall. I can see why this thing comes with a tripod support bracket - it will take some getting used to!