In article
>Opinions on the Nikkor 70-210 f4-5.6 AF-D next to the AF-D 80-200
>f2.8? Clearly the former is a slower lens, but is it that much the
>worse optically? The price difference is huge and there seems to be
>no middle ground in the Nikkor range.
Take a look at SUBJECTIVE Lens Evaluations (Mostly Nikkors) for an
idea of relative performance of many Nikkors in this range. It is at:
http://www.phys.rug.nl/mk/people/aue/photo.html go to "NIKON"
The 70-210 f4-5.6 Nikkor is a good lens, but it is near the low end
of Nikkors in performance (it is very good in the middle of its range, decent at the extremes). The 80-200mm f2.8 (at least the non-D) is a very fine performer - placing high in a large line of high-performance lenses. You may not see the difference for some uses.
Hope this helps.