perhaps new 80-200mm lens for my D200

Hi,

I'm considering moving from my 55-200mm (non-VR) lens to a 80-200mm F 2.8D ED, can I expect the D200 to perform better with AF? I know I will have the advantage of f2.8 over f5.6 at 200mm, my concern is the AF speed may be disappointing for the dollars spent since its reliant on the D200 (as I understand it). If its roughly the same that will be good enough, I'm really looking for better low light performance at outdoor sports events.

cheers
Bryan

Hi Bryan...My son in law has this combo...He came with us shooting MotoX and he was very happy with the results...

We shot from about 9 am till about 4 pm Sat/Sun...Front on and from the side the D200s AF worked very well...

I have one that I use for sports mainly...Very good for portraits....

I have the 2.8 80-200 should be fine, fairly rapid focus with the direct drive. D200 is a fine camera.

I use mine for photographing the local high school band during football season. Sometimes the light is so bad that even 1.8 wouldn't help. I then have to jack the ISO up, and without VR, I use a Bogen (now Manfrotto) monopod. At a certain point, the autofocus really has a hard time, and hunts for the focus. I then go to single-point focus or manual focus to keep going.

While it would be nice to have a 70-200 with the VR, I can't say that it would be that much better. The one time I used a friends 70-200 VR, we had plenty of light.

I don't know how the D200 and D90 compare as far as autofocus speed under low light levels.

Good luck.

​WM

Thank you all for your advice, received my 80-200 ED yesterday, it is sublime. $850 and other than a quite stiff zoom in great condition. It has a serial number 742458 so judging by the photosynthesis.co.nz site it must be close to 12-13 years old!