to VR or not to VR

gerk86

ill be in the US for the summer (j1) and am bringing enough money for a serious lens upgrade from b&h. Im looking at the nikkor 70-200 f2.8 for $850 but then there's the 70-200mm f2.8 VR for $1620. The VR is within my budget but is VR really worth double the price almost?

thanks!

Arciphel

I had a loan of the 70-200 VR recently and thought it was a cracking lens. But in the end i opted for the sigma 70-200 f2.8, the new version with the HSM motor inside. Paid €600 for it, use it with a 2x Sigma APO teleconverter for wildlife, and am very happy with it. If you can afford the 70-200Vr then go for it by all means, but a non VR version will do 90% of what you need it to do - unless you shoot sports in low light regularly?

Borderfox

If they are like Canon then Vr means weather-sealing. The Canon 70-200 f2.8IS is weather-sealed whereas the non-IS is not. Personally I went for the IS as it was well worth the extra for myself.

gerk86

ya, ill be looking to shoot surfing and rugby mainly. When I return from the US in september we'll be back to the short dull evenings.

Wouldn't bumping up the ISO & monopod compensate for the lack of VR in lowlight situations?

nilhg

VR/IS is useless when the subject is moving.

Paddy@CIRL

nilhg wrote: »

VR/IS is useless when the subject is moving.

Bollocks.




:rolleyes:

Borderfox

vr/is is only good for static subjects and I think you can get up to three stops by using it.

quilmore

I've had 2 x nikon 80-200 2.8 (without VR) and now I have the nikon 70-200 VR
it may cost double, but let me tell you, it's worth all the extra money
that lens is one of the may be 5 or 6 best lenses nikon does at the moment

AlanMooneyPhoto

Hey gerk86,
VR is worth the money alright, you can generally gain 2stops by using it, 2 stops can make a huge difference when shooting sports as you will be doing. yes you can up the iso but you will most likely introduce some level of noise, at least with the vr you can up the iso to a level that you have none or very little noise and still use the vr giving you a couple of stops more.
If you can afford it, get it, you'll be glad you did.

quilmore

forgot to mention, the 70-200 is AF-S, it focuses MUUUUUUCH quicker than any of the 80-200 AF or AF-D (I haven't tested the 80-200 AF-S but only a handful were made and are very rare nowadays)

AnimalRights

I'm a Canon user so I assume the VR is the equivalent of the IS on Canons?
I bought the 70-200 f/4 non IS, if I could do it again I'd love the IS version, a lot more money though.

bp_me

nilhg wrote: »

VR/IS is useless when the subject is moving.

VR has an active mode specifically for moving subjects :cool:

@OP

if you can afford VR, get VR. It's well worth it.

Also I presume you are comparing the 80-200 2.8 to the 70-200 2.8? Remember the 70-200 is an AF-S lense so it will focus that bit faster than the AF-D 80-200 (The 80-200 will use your camera's focus motor).

nilhg

bp_me wrote: »

VR has an active mode specifically for moving subjects :cool:

Fair enough, but its a panning mode, useful for shots like Paddy posted above, but for general sports including rugby and surfing which the OP is interested in you need a high shutter speed to stop the action, and get sharp pictures.

VR/IS does give you a couple of stops of advantage, but it allows you to handhold at a slower shutter speed, great in many situations but not ideal for sports.

bp_me

Seems I was wrong about the active mode function...

nikon wrote:

Normal mode on the Nikon VR lenses reduction camera shake, the lens will automatically detect if you pan the camera horizontally and only vibration in the vertical axis is reduced.

Active mode should be used when taking images from a moving vehicle or vessel. The frequency of camera shake experienced during handheld shooting is different from that encountered when trying to shoot from a moving vehicle or vessel. The VR active function is designed to be able to compensate for severe vibrations encountered when you're in a car, boat, on a train or airplane, and even aboard a helicopter. The active mode does not automatically distinguish panning from camera shake unlike normal mode. If you wish to pan it is recommended you use normal mode. Recommend conditions for using Normal or Active modes.