I popped into a camera shop in The Centre, MK today. They are having their usual clearance sale cos the store is closing down.
They had a couple of nice Nikkor lenses going cheap, including an AF-S 17-35 2.8 for £625 which I was quite tempted by. However, this is the old pro widea ngle zoom and I think I would prefer to save for the 17-55 2.8.
I was even more tempted by the Micro-Nikkor 200mm f4. Unfortunately I didnt realise it was the old MF version... I've done some research since I got it home and opinions seem a bit mixed on this lens. There still seems to be some new stock around which is being sold at approx £900. Therefore the £440 I paid doesnt seem so bad.
However, 2nd hand examples are going for £200-£300 at the most. 
What I have managed to find out is that it only focuses to 1:2 which is a bit odd for a Micro_Nikkor I would have thought!
Apparently it needs a 2x teleconverter to get it to 1:1. The focal length becomes 400mm and the max aperture becomes f8! The TC-300 or TC-301 which are the suggested TCs seem to still be over £100. In the meantime I have put my Sigma 1.4x on it and it seems to be working ok.
I've taken a few test shots and it looks ok. Hopefully I will do a proper test on some bugs tomorrow! The metering is working well in Aperture-priority mode on my D200 which is good.
Will let you know how I get on!
They had a couple of nice Nikkor lenses going cheap, including an AF-S 17-35 2.8 for £625 which I was quite tempted by. However, this is the old pro widea ngle zoom and I think I would prefer to save for the 17-55 2.8.
I was even more tempted by the Micro-Nikkor 200mm f4. Unfortunately I didnt realise it was the old MF version... I've done some research since I got it home and opinions seem a bit mixed on this lens. There still seems to be some new stock around which is being sold at approx £900. Therefore the £440 I paid doesnt seem so bad.
However, 2nd hand examples are going for £200-£300 at the most. What I have managed to find out is that it only focuses to 1:2 which is a bit odd for a Micro_Nikkor I would have thought!
Apparently it needs a 2x teleconverter to get it to 1:1. The focal length becomes 400mm and the max aperture becomes f8! The TC-300 or TC-301 which are the suggested TCs seem to still be over £100. In the meantime I have put my Sigma 1.4x on it and it seems to be working ok.
I've taken a few test shots and it looks ok. Hopefully I will do a proper test on some bugs tomorrow! The metering is working well in Aperture-priority mode on my D200 which is good.
Will let you know how I get on!
