Nikon Nikkor AF 80-200 mm F/2.8 ED A/M Lens...

I'm looking for one of these for my D5200 to do astrophotography with. I'm looking on Ebay where there is a proliferation of these lenses. They're still not cheap but I'm wondering why there are so many for sale. Also, how can you tell the older ones from the newer, the AF with in the lens motors etc.? Does Nikon have a site that lists all there lenses with the designation for each possibly? Thanks for your help.

edit: Ok it looks like there's a ED and a D ED. Does anyone know the difference because the D ED go for more money.

Jacknet said:

I'm looking for one of these for my D5200 to do astrophotography with. I'm looking on Ebay where there is a proliferation of these lenses. They're still not cheap but I'm wondering why there are so many for sale. Also, how can you tell the older ones from the newer, the AF with in the lens motors etc.? Does Nikon have a site that lists all there lenses with the designation for each possibly? Thanks for your help.

edit: Ok it looks like there's a ED and a D ED. Does anyone know the difference because the D ED go for more money.

Click to expand...

the ED and D ED are almost completely the same but the D have the distance chip which told the camera the distance it was focused on which helped the flash for better exposure. many have said they didnt see any benefit to the D. I didnt see a big benefit with or without D on any lens I owned.

the picture here shows the 4 (AF) version available that nikon made

the left is the last of the great 80-200 the AFS verison. as fast as the one before it but doesnt have the torgue pull the AFS has. at 200mm, it should be stopped down to f/2.8. the other focal lengths are fine open though. this was the first gen AFS lens and many in the field are failing and its expensive to fix. if it has the "squeak" its the beginning of the end of the piezo motor. the 17-35 and 28-70 are opf the same family that nikon launched together. still very rellevant in terms of performance today. you can find them pretty cheap but be aware repair to the motor (not always a motor problem and sometimes just bearings) will cost around $350-600

the next over is the AFD two ring version with crazy torque motor. I personally think its great. its as fast as the AFS motor. basically all of the 80-200 need to be stopped down to f4 at 200mm

the next over to the right is the one ring push/pull which you use to push or pull the ring to adjust the zoom.

the last to the right is the same push pull design but its without the D chip inside.

all the 80-200 were excellent performers and are very relevant today. many people seem to frown down on older lenses with a superiority complex but most of their work looks like crap also. old doesnt mean not great. it was a time when nikon built lenses like tanks. this is not the case today with cheap plastic lenses and slow AFS motors inside.



pictures are from roland vinks site where they have a serial number database thats been around for many years now.
Nikon Lens Versions and Serial Nos

rocketman122 said:

the ED and D ED are almost completely the same but the D have the distance chip which told the camera the distance it was focused on which helped the flash for better exposure. many have said they didnt see any benefit to the D. I didnt see a big benefit with or without D on any lens I owned.

the picture here shows the 4 (AF) version available that nikon made

the left is the last of the great 80-200 the AFS verison. as fast as the one before it but doesnt have the torgue pull the AFS has. at 200mm, it should be stopped down to f/2.8. the other focal lengths are fine open though. this was the first gen AFS lens and many in the field are failing and its expensive to fix. if it has the "squeak" its the beginning of the end of the piezo motor. the 17-35 and 28-70 are opf the same family that nikon launched together. still very rellevant in terms of performance today. you can find them pretty cheap but be aware repair to the motor (not always a motor problem and sometimes just bearings) will cost around $350-600

the next over is the AFD two ring version with crazy torque motor. I personally think its great. its as fast as the AFS motor. basically all of the 80-200 need to be stopped down to f4 at 200mm

the next over to the right is the one ring push/pull which you use to push or pull the ring to adjust the zoom.

the last to the right is the same push pull design but its without the D chip inside.

all the 80-200 were excellent performers and are very relevant today. many people seem to frown down on older lenses with a superiority complex but most of their work looks like crap also. old doesnt mean not great. it was a time when nikon built lenses like tanks. this is not the case today with cheap plastic lenses and slow AFS motors inside.

View attachment 126090

pictures are from roland vinks site where they have a serial number database thats been around for many years now.
Nikon Lens Versions and Serial Nos

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Great post, most excellent! I have collected multiple old school bits and all are top notch.

absolutely. they are stellar performers. I would go back to the 80-200 AFS if I didnt need the extra 10mm. at times it gets tight and im with my back up against the wall. the 800 caused me to lose images that would have been perfect if not for the 10mm. many pros still work with the 80-200's

Can't put it any better than the Rocket. Plain and simple ... it's a damn fine lens!! I have the 1st AF non-D version myself. Very fast, definitely a tank, and sharp as a tack. Only drawback is it's sans a tripod collar.

To also contribute info for the OP... all of these lenses will need to be manually focused with all D3XXX and D5XXX body cameras as they lack a focus motor built into the camera.

Thanks guys for all the good info. So pretty much ones as good as the next. My sole reason for getting this is night sky photography or astrophotography as they call it over at Cloudy Nights forum. I'm just starting out at it. They recommend that you don't go over 200mm and get a lens with a wide opening which this lens more than covers. I find the ED's without the D on Ebay for about $300. The D's are a little more. The older lens's are scarcer and more expensive especially if you find one in good shape which is hard. I have the D5200 so manual focus which is no biggy for me since it's pretty much the same focal point every night. Thanks again for the help.

I'm hoping someday to get one, since the Nikkor af-s 70-200mm f/2.8 lens is out of my budget range.

Jacknet said:

Thanks guys for all the good info. So pretty much ones as good as the next. My sole reason for getting this is night sky photography or astrophotography as they call it over at Cloudy Nights forum. I'm just starting out at it. They recommend that you don't go over 200mm and get a lens with a wide opening which this lens more than covers. I find the ED's without the D on Ebay for about $300. The D's are a little more. The older lens's are scarcer and more expensive especially if you find one in good shape which is hard. I have the D5200 so manual focus which is no biggy for me since it's pretty much the same focal point every night. Thanks again for the help.

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Perhaps a Nikkor 200 f4 Ai would do the trick at a much better price then?

I picked up a bargain one on KEH.com for $525....amazing lens...sharp and built like a tank! Clean as a whistle too....highly recommend it!!!


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Sishac said:

I picked up a bargain one on KEH.com for $525....amazing lens...sharp and built like a tank! Clean as a whistle too....highly recommend it!!!


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Which one did you get the AFS AFD or one of the push/pulls?

An AF 2-ring went for $553 on Ebay yesterday. I wish I could afford it, it was in great condition. Yesterday morning it was at $305 and I was likin' my chops.
There's some ED no D's on there from Roberts that are going for $324 including shipping that aren't in too bad of shape. I'll probably try for one of those. I guess this shows how good of a lens this is. Retail is still over a thousand for this lens.

All KEH deals are 10% off till the end of the day for cyber Monday.

Was 15% off till 11AM hope the OP got on that train!

Ok here's a thought, I have the D7100 and the older 80-200 push-pull on the right.... Love it, love, and love it even more when you realise that any of these lenses will give you an effective 1.5x the stated focal length due to the magnification of the sensor because it's DX and these lenses were not. So that means one of these on the D5200 at 200mm is effectively 300mm!

And here's the best part... They maintain their max aperture of 2.8 throughout....

(Can you hear the penny dropping?)

That means for a fraction of the cost you now have a 300mm 2.8 zoom on a 24.1mp DX body, that's still plenty of resolution!

Personally I can't fault the D7100 with which my older lenses like this one all work perfectly, maybe you should think about a second user D7100 and put the extra cash towards the lense with the tripod collar, much better balanced on the tripod for long exposures.
Also the push-pull collars can tend to slip a little when pointed up or down if they're been 'run in nicely', this would NOT be good for Astro...
Hope that helps


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Sorry, missed that you already have the D5200, still, might be a good idea to consider paying a little xtra for the lenses with the tripod collars though.

I replied to yours FF but it was from my phone and we all know how that goes. Anyways thank you for the information. I didn't know I was getting more for my money. I ended up getting a push pull also at Roberts Camera on Ebay for $307. Judging by the pictures it looked in really good shape. It has a full return policy for no reason if I don't like it. I thought it was an extremely good deal. I thought I was paying $324 but for some reason when it billed out it gave me a discount to $307. Go figure. That's the complete cost. Free shipping to boot. So if it's in as good of shape as the pictures showed I'll be doing some serious Astrophotography by Saturday night, trouble is it's supposed to rain here all w/e. Now to get to work on that barn-door tracker.

I received my Nikon 80 - 200mm f2-8 ED lens today and it is real clean. The optics are immaculate. The only thing somewhat disappointing is that the AF doesn't work. I think that was mentioned here by someone that it would not work with most of the cheaper D cameras. I'm assuming it's because this lens was designed to work with cameras that have the drive motor built into the camera. I also noticed that the f stops are changed through the internal workings of the camera. Once you set it at f22 and lock it in I can change f stops with my camera not the lens. Are there any other peculiarities I should know about?
The focus wasn't a big problem for me because I'm doing mostly night star photography and I have to manually focus anyhow. It would have been nice to have though in case I wanted to do some daytime action shooting. Oh well, live (spend) and learn.

Will work like bees knees with a d7100 that should be your next purchase. Prices are plummeting !!! Foolish to limit that marvelous lens to shooting stars IMHO !

hrstrat57 said:

Will work like bees knees with a d7100 that should be your next purchase. Prices are plummeting !!! Foolish to limit that marvelous lens to shooting stars IMHO !

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Really? I guess I need to look into that. Thank you sir.

Hi all. I don't know if this will revive an old thread so here goes.
Concerning my Nikon/Nikkor AF 80 - 200mm f/2.8 ED, it did not come with the tripod bracket so I was wondering if there ever was one. Call to Nikon says yes but he couldn't get me one. He said the only way I could get one from them was to send it in to Service and if they have one have them put one on. Anyone have any experience with this? I've looked at many other 3rd party Nikon parts sellers and nothing. Anyone know where I might be able to buy one on the internet?
I need one for my Astrophotography (which its great for by the way) to steady it as much as possible. It will be riding atop my 102mm Celestron telescope with guider camera on the back of it. I have a new motorized tripod to track the stars with so I'm pretty much ready to go. Now if it would just get warm out. Thanks and take care,
Jack