This super telephoto zoom lens appears to be a great improvement on the previous 80-400mm lens. It uses the latest VR technology, AF-S, the latest ED glass elements and the latest Nano coatings on the lens elements.
The early users of this lens confirm that it focuses much faster than the previous version and it also appears to be much sharper at the maximum focal length of 400mm. Importantly it should be noted that this lens is also suitable to be used with Nikon’s teleconverters.
I am an avid bird photographer and this new super telephoto 80-400mm zoom lens has much to appeal to me. With the TC-14E telecomverter the lens will be an equivalent focal length of 560mm . When used with a DX camera with the 1.5 times crop factor the lens will be an amazing equivalent focal length of 840mm.
The lens has Nikons Nano Crystal Coatings, super ED glass and ED glass elements. A Silent Wave Motor (SWM) ensures extramely fast and silent autofocus even when using a 1.4x telephoto converter. For enhanced sharpness, the VR, Vibration Reduction, will help reduce shake with a shutter speed equivalent to 4.0 stops faster than a lens without vibration reduction.
With this lens three focus modes are available as follows,
- A/M, autofocus with manual override, AF priority
- M/A, autofocus with manual override, manual priority
- M, manual focus.
Auto focus is also possible even with a 1.4x teleconverter when the teleconverter is attached to an f/8 compatible focusing camera.
Lens Specification
- ED glass elements
- Super ED glass elements
- Type G AF-S lens with built in CPU and F mount
- Focal length, 80-400 mm
- Maximum aperture, f/4.5-5.6
- Minimum aperture, f/32-40
- 20 elements in 12 groups
- 4 ED lens elements, 1 super ED lens element and lens element with a Nano Crystal coating
- Angle of view, Nikon film SLR and FX-format D-SLR cameras: 30° 10′ – 6° 10′, Nikon DX format D-SLR cameras: 20° – 4°
- Nikon Internal Focusing (IF) System with autofocus controlled by Silent Wave Motor,n separate focus ring for manual focus
- Minimum focus distance, AF: 1.75 m (5.74 ft) at all zoom positions, MF: 1.5 m (4.92 ft)
- Maximum reproduction ratio, 1/5x
- 9 rounded diaphragm blades
- Filter size, 77 mm (P = 0.75 mm)
- Dimensions, 95.5 mm x 203 mm
- Weight, 1570 g (3.5 lb), including tripod collar.