AF Zoom-Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D ED (N)

Hello, everybody! Do you remember Chen Kenichi (陳健一), the “Iron Chef“? He is the longest-serving of the group, who were originally three (later four) – Chinese, Japanese, French and Italian. He is one of the original chefs and had the most record, wins-or-loses. Unfortunately, it’s with a sad heart that I announce to you his death, he left us a couple of months ago this year. Such a legendary chef with a long career. So, for today’s article, I am going to introduce to you a lens that has the longest production amongst all of its siblings, and just like the “Iron Chefs“, it’s part of an original trio, but was joined by another one later. This is considered to be one of the best in the whole family, befitting to be likened to the late Chen Kenichi.

Introduction:

The AF Zoom-Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 ED (N) is the last version of the venerable 80-200/2.8 ED family that has the original optical formula. It was made from 1997 and only finished its run in 2006, a very long time for a professional zoom, even surpassing a few of its successors. It came about after feedback from many photographers that demand a 2-ring setup and the very important tripod foot. It’s one of the evergreen lenses many people swear by, even to this day.

The first thing on will notice about this lens is how different it is from its older siblings. Compared to the AF Zoom-Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 ED and AF Zoom-Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D ED, this on has two separate rings, on for focusing and another for zooming. There’s finally the addition of a tripod foot, too!

The 16-elements-in-11-groups formula was inherited from its predecessors, a time-tested design that will still perform very well to this day. While it’s true that the coating is old and it will not out-resolve the new zooms that came out recently, it will still makeup for it by giving you exquisite photos that look more like paintings than a clean reproduction of reality. I’m not aware of any changes in the coatings nor the optics, so it’s safe to assume that it retained every optical attributes of the previous generations. Now, inheriting the optical formula is not all that good, because it also inherited an issue with the design – the annoying back-focusing issue that could be reproduced with certain Nikons made within a couple of years. You can see this happening with the Nikon D90, Nikon D300/s, Nikon 7000 and even the Nikon Df to name a few. I know that it has something to do with the autofocus modules and how it interacts with the distance chip used for helping with flash metering. The good news is there’s a workaround, because it only happens at 200mm when shooting at the minimum focusing distance. You will notice a shift, on my Nikon D7000, I’d focus at the tip of my model’s nose in order to get the eyes in-focus! Thankfully, I am yet to see this with my Nikon D4s, it ha proven to be quite reliable.

What’s different between this version and the older ones apart from the obvious 2-ring setup and tripod foot? The ergonomics has improved significantly, of course, you no longer need to purchase a third-party tripod attachment for it, you won’t have to worry about the zoom creeping as well, which is the obvious problem with older push-pull designs, and the most important thing is it’s the fastest one of the three. It’s able to track subjects a bit better than the AF Zoom-Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D ED, which isn’t very slow at all, this one just took it to another level.

The best cameras to shoot this with are the ones that have some bit of weight in them such as a Nikon F4 or a Nikon F5. In this photo, I have paired it with my Nikon F6, the combination has the right weight to it, I just feel tired carrying it around.

I won’t be making any tests with this lens because it has the same optical formula as the older AF Zoom-Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 ED and the AF Zoom-Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D ED, which I have written and made plenty of images of. By now, you should be familiar with how well this lens renders, so I’ll be writing more about how it handles.

This is definitely one of the best portrait zooms ever made, and that is the reason why the optical design has lasted for so long, even outliving its successors in the production line. Until just a few years ago, one can buy one of these new from a shop. You can still find some of them brand-new if you’re lucky!

Exquisite! What a masterpiece of a lens! People who knew what they are doing held on to this despite the fact that there are newer ones on the market, with VR and other things that won’t add much value to your final image.

This is one of the workhorses of many portrait photographers, in the field or inside a studio. It’s not hard to hear of stories about professionals who still use their decades-old copies of this.

This is not the best photo for testing its autofocus performance, but I can say that it’s adequate. If you are shooting in a dark location, then it may be a frustrating, but this has more to do with your camera and its autofocus module.

Apart from portraiture, this lens is also a favorite of many journalists. It’s perfect for reportage, the 80mm-end is great for environmental portraits, it’s wide enough for you to incorporate the background together with your subjects.

The ability to isolate your subjects is also important for this kind of photography, helping lead the eyes of your viewers to what’s important in your story. If everything is in-focus like what you would get with using a phone, then it’s not going to be as effective. As the storyteller, you lead the narrative, fake or real.

Bark, twigs and foliage will surely be rendered in an awful way if a lens’ optics are not up to the task. Here, you can se that all of what I’ve just mentioned were all rendered sophistically, so refined that it’s difficult to think that the optical design of this lens is older than many people who read my articles.

The pavement is rendered beautifully, without any hints of “cheapness”. Details like this will look ugly if shot with a lens with lesser optical performance, giving you a rough and unsettling look. While the village drunk looks too-clean for the part, I want you to take a look at how this lens renders the saturation and tonality of the wood and hat, it’s able to capture them in a natural way.

The tones looks so natural, making skin look healthy. This is one of the reasons why I prefer using older Nikkors, if ever there are imperfections, they all add to the photo instead of making it look ugly.

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Here is the rest of the set. This is still a wonderful lens despite its age, specially when paired with a great camera. With good light, there’s nothing you can’t do with it, just make sure that you can shoot using a fast shutter speed in order to prevent vibration.

Here are some photos that I’ve shot with film. Film has a unique look that is difficult to simulate with a digital camera, this is because film grain works and reacts differently to light. It can either hide or amplify a lens’ flaws. It’s important that we shoot this with film since it was designed to work with it, the results we’ll see can help give it a fair score since we are seeing how this performs with its intended medium. I shot these with a Nikon F6 and a roll of Fujifilm Superia X-Tra 400.

This is such a lovely portrait, it’s rendered really well, the colors and blurry parts look refined. It’s charming in a way, because it reminds you of photographs that we used to see in magazines.

This is a sharp photo, the compression algorithm just made it look soft. Do note that I shot this up-close, close to its minimum focusing distance. I got my focus where I wanted it to be, all I am saying is I did not experience any back-focusing issue with the Nikon F6, it’s something that’s affecting Nikons made about the same time as the Nikon D80 and severely seen with the Nikon D7000.

Shooting indoors with an ISO400 film can be tricky, even at f/2.8. If this was shot in a darker place, I would not have shutter speed to capture a sharp photo, unless I use a flash.

It’s great for shooting events, the autofocus could keep-up with the dancers. Of course, it has a lot to do with which camera you use since it doesn’t have a motor, and just uses the camera’s screw-drive to turn the focusing mechanism.

Just look at how lovely it renders colors, also note how sharp the center is.

You can see that the quality of blurred parts look smooth, but the grain just made it look rougher than it should.

It’s great for stage photography, only if you can get close to the stage. Even at 200mm, it’s not enough to get a tighter shot than this, I was standing right in front of the stage when I took this photo.

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Here’s the rest of the roll. Fujifilm’s colors has always looked a bit greenish to me. I love how it handles when matched with a Nikon F6, thee weight of the camera helps balance the whole setup. I’d imagine it will even feel better when paired with a Nikon F4 or Nikon F5 because the ergonomics will match. I don’t like how my photos turned out if you ask my honest opinion, but that has more to do with the grain and scanning than with the lens. Overall, I think it’s a wonderful lens to use together with film.

I can definitely recommend this lens, it stayed in the lineup for this long and there’s a reason for that. It’s the best deal around for an autofocus zoom-tele lens, but only for those who still shoot with the legacy screw-driven Nikkors. It’s not so useful for dedicated mirrorless shooters, unless you’re willing to sacrifice some comfort in exchange for wonderful photos and videos. The lack of VR is also another downside but I could work without it, just shoot with a camera that has great high-ISO performance and that should help cover for this inconvenience. There is an abundant supply of this lens, all you need to do is wait for a nice deal. Make sure that the autofocus/manual switch is not damaged in any way, try to switch all of the rings and see if the autofocus limiter works, too. Check for the accuracy of the focus and turn all of its rings, it’s important that they all work properly. Finally, make sure that it could communicate with your camera, lock the aperture ring to f/22 or you will get an error, this happens with many Nikons, except for some special bodies. You will also want to find a hood for it, too. Do not spend too much on these, I’d say that $300.00 is a good ballpark figure for a nice one, and $200.00 for a beater is a bit high, damaged ones or the ones with fungus should be way lower for obvious reasons. It’s also common to find some dust/dirt inside, and it’s not a problem at all so long as it doesn’t affect your photos, but the one issue that you should look for is the iris not actuating or responding to the aperture ring or the camera. That’s not a common issue but I have seen quite a few copies with it, I can say that it’s one of the weaknesses of this lens, second only to the broken autofocus/manual ring problem that is the most commonly seen problem of this lens. Wait for a nice one and never settle for less, this lens is a keeper. Happy hunting!

Before We Begin:

If this is your first attempt at repairing a lens then I suggest that you see my previous posts regarding screws & drivers, grease and other things. Also read what I wrote about the tools that you’ll need to fix your Nikkors.

I suggest that you read these primers before you begin (for beginners):

• Essential tools
• Best practices 1
• Best practices 2
• Best practices 3
• Ai conversion
• Working with Helicoids

Reading these should lessen the chance of ruining your lens if you are a novice. Before opening up anything, always look for other people who have done so in YouTube or the internet. Information is scarce, vague and scattered (that is why I started this) but you can still find some information if you search carefully.

I highly recommend that you read my working with helicoids post because this is very important and getting it wrong can ruin your day. If I can force you to read this, I would. It is that important!

For more advanced topics, you can read my fungus removal post as a start. It has a lot of useful information, it will be beneficial for you to read this.

Disassembly (Front):

Before anything else, I would like to point out that this is not the correct sequence for disassembling the lens. This is the convenient way, but it has risks. The correct, and recommended sequence is to start from the rear, in which you strip the barrel from there, then finish by dismantling the front. That is the long way but it is less risky. Now, the part that we are trying to avoid damaging is the brush, it’s for measuring the distance that the lens is focused-at, it’s mostly for metering with flash. If you have read my other articles, you will know what I am talking about.

Having said that, this lens is not something that a beginner should tackle, it is a bit complicated and there are many interlocking assemblies inside that needs preparation to put-back, or else you might ruin a part or two, making your lens useless.

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Locate this grub screw and carefully extract it, making sure that you do not damage the delicate head. It’s for securing the front ring, not all examples of this lens has it, if yours doesn’t have this little screw, skip it and leave the front ring along, you do not need to remove it in order to service the lens, unless you only want to remove the front optical block to clean some fungus or dirt around that part.

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Carefully remove the nameplate by using a drop of alcohol, wait for the adhesive to soften then use a flat tool to pry it off. Underneath the nameplate is a screw, there are 2 more located around the front barrel. Carefully extract them all.

Do not bother with this, it’s tempting to remove it, but doing is unnecessary.

Depending on the lens, you may find another grub screw securing the collar just below the front barrel. I can’t find one in this lens, but another one I’ve worked on has it, extract it if you are sure that it’s present. Get a rubber sheet to help you grip that thin ring, and unscrew it while holding the front barrel securely. Be very careful not to rotate the front barrel too much, as it will damage the focusing mechanism. There’s a focus-limiter switch here, that’s another thing that can get damaged if you’re not careful.

The front barrel only acts as a sheath to protect what’s underneath it. Note that you will have to unscrew the front barrel in order to remove the lower ring from it, or else you won’t have enough room to do that. Remember that this is not the correct sequence do dismantle the lens, so some things won’t make sense.

This is the focusing mechanism for the front, which also houses the helicoids.

You can unscrew the large optical block easily, note that there’s a brass shim underneath it.

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Zoom the lens so this part is recessed, this will enable you to access these screws, extract them, but don’t forget to note the assembly’s orientation in reference to the midline of the lens.

Carefully remove the helicoid assembly. There’s no need to dismantle this further unless the lens is filthy, or you need to lubricate it. If the latter is needed, clean the helicoids carefully with a strong detergent and a stiff-bristled brush, set the dismantled assembly aside to dry, then only apply a thin film of fresh grease to the threads. Never apply too much grease on autofocus lenses and only use the thinnest one available to you so the autofocus motor won’t strain.

Carefully remove both rings. I must apologize, you have been hearing me talk about the “brush” for some time now, but I do not have any photos of it. That brush is the part that comes into contact with these, it helps the lens communicate with the camera, that brush has to be perfectly-aligned with these.

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Locate and carefully extract this tiny screw, then remove this ring.

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Zoom the lens to expose this part then carefully remove it using your rubber tools.

Now, this lens is broken here, this is a very delicate part because it’s made from plastic. This is vulnerable, a lot of Nikkors have broken A/M switch rings, so be careful when you’re buying lenses. There’s no way to fix this “beautifully”, only a replacement will do. Now, if you are set on repairing this, you can fabricate an insert to help support this part from the outside. I had no time for this, unlike before, so this lens became a parts donor of some sort.

Again, this is not the correct sequence to dismantle the lens, it’s only good for a quick fix, and is only for people who know what they are doing because it’s tricky to remove and install the focusing mechanism without damaging the “brush”. If you want to see how to dismantle this lens from the base, read the next section. If you need to do a complete overhaul, that is the correct way to start.

Disassembly (Rear):

This lens is supposed to be dismantled from the rear in order to prevent damage to the focus-scale brush. You can start from this section if you wish to do a thorough disassembly for any major repair. The things that you should be careful of are the flexible electronic parts here and iris mechanism. Be sure to ground yourself properly so you won’t accidentally fry the electronics with static electricity.

Extract these so you can free the contact block, do this before anything else. Then remove the rest around the throat of the mount, except for the one with the tall head, you never touch that. Once the screws are gone you can carefully remove the plastic baffle.

Extract these to remove the bayonet mount. Do not forget to read my article on how to remove screws, If you get it wrong, there is a high chance that you will strip the screws’ heads, leading to a bigger problem.

Before you proceed, make sure that you zoom the lens to give you more space, then carefully nudge the contact block so it’s not stuck to the bayonet mount.

Carefully remove the bayonet mount, the aperture ring can also be removed at this point.

Wow, that looks like a healthy patch!

Carefully remove the rear barrel’s neck, notice how delicate the flex-cable of the contact block is, do not break this part.

These brass shims adjust the rear-focus of the lens, so do not lose any of them. Also Visible here in this picture the transmission of the autofocus mechanism. At this point, you will be able to remove the rear optical block without any special tools. I’ve managed to remove it using just my bare hands and a rubber sheet.

Carefully store it in a safe place so it won’t get damaged.

The iris mechanism is now exposed, but don’t do anything to it just yet! Notice that the spigot of the gear transmission is gone, I pulled it out earlier.

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Carefully extract these and never forget where each screw came from originally.

Remove the collar together with the tripod foot. You generally won’t have to do anything with it, unless it needs to be serviced or cleaned, I will show you how to dismantle it in the next step.

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Locate and extract this, then carefully unscrew the ring so you can completely disassemble everything.

If you want to remove this part, be sure to note its original position first.

You won’t need to dismantle this further or do anything else with it.

Carefully remove this assembly while making sure that you don’t damage the delicate iris.

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Remove the iris mechanism assembly by extracting these.

Carefully unscrew this off so you can work with the iris mechanism if you have to. There is really no need to open the iris mechanism, except for cleaning it. It rarely gets dirty and I have never seen this lens show any signs of the oily iris problem.

I did not have the chance to take the iris mechanism apart, it does not look complicated at all, if you have worked on similar Nikkors before then this should be something familiar to you. Just b sure to decouple the spring first before you do anything.

Disassembly (Middle):

We’re really getting into the core of the lens, and quite literally, too. Most of what you will see here won’t be necessary, even for serious repairs, nobody needs to dismantle this lens up to this point. One thing to remember is to be very careful when handling the printed electronics here and never touch them without wearing any rubber gloves. Alternatively, you can ground yourself by purchasing one of those wires that you can clip to your wrist and attach the other end to a metal object, like your table. It will discharge any harmful amounts of static electricity, making sure that you won’t accidentally short the electronics.

You can carefully remove the zoom barrel by stripping the rubber grip, extracting the rollers will finish the the job. While you are at it, make sure that you don’t damage the delicate brush, it’s visible in the photo. It’s used for communicating with the camera about what focal length the lens is set.

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Carefully extract these rollers, they may be stubborn because their threads are sometimes glued, if that’s the case for you, just heat the other end of the rollers with a soldering bolt but be careful not to melt the plastic parts.

Removing the rollers will enable you to remove this tube. Remember not to forget the original orientation of this thing before you remove it.

Extract these rollers, they come in multiple parts.

Once the rollers are gone, you’ll able to remove this tube. Again, don’t forget to note its orientation. Also visible in this photo are the dismantled rollers.

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You can remove this group after removing this ring. It can be tough to remove at times so acetone helps, but just apply a drop to its threads.

Extract these to remove this barrel, it has a switch for coupling the autofocus drive.

Carefully remove it while making sure that you don’t damage the brush.

Unscrew these to separate inner barrel located at the front of the lens.

Don’t bother to dismantle this, it’s not worth it.

If you see any caked grease on the helicoids, it’s a sure sign that it needs to be cleaned and refreshed. Do not apply too much grease on any helicoid, specially for autofocus lenses, a very thin film is enough. Now, before you apply a fresh film of grease, be sure that you clean and dry the helicoids very well. I wrote this important article titled – “how to work with helicoids“. Many people get stuck here just because they don’t know how it’s done. Reading this article should prepare you for this task, never ignore this advice.

Disassembly (Optics):

This section shows how the optics can be dismantled and cleaned. You do not need to strip everything, all you have to do is access the surface that needed cleaning. Many of you won’t need to go this far, unless you are dealing with severe fungus. Remember, only clean what you need, the less you open, the better. I will also warn you about dismantling the rear optical assemblies, in most lenses, this is avoided because of the fine adjustments needed there in order to achieve critical sharpness. You’ll also need to have a pen or pencil ready for marking the walls of the optical groups as you remove them.

The front group can be extracted after removing its retainer, the 2nd group can be easily removed once this is gone.

The 3rd group can be extracted after its ring has been removed. Do not forget to note which side should face where, I usually add a small mark denoting its direction and order within the lens.

The 4th group can be easily extracted by using a lens sucker. Of course, don’t forget to mark its direction and order.

Same thing for the 5th group, the last group in the 2nd optical assembly.

You can access the 8th and 9th group in this manner. Do note that one of them is sealed, do not remove it, you won’t be able to do that safely and you’ll surely damage the glass or its casing.

The last groups at the rear can be dismantled in this way. Again, one of them is sealed so don’t bother.

If you need to clean fungus, read my article on how to clean lens fungus. Never use the cleaning solution without thinning it with pure, distilled water. Using it straight will risk damaging the coatings or leave an obvious mark. Clean your glass thoroughly before you put it back.

Conclusion:

I have learned so much from servicing this lens, it is complicated to work with but not as complicated as the other ones that came after it. You can say that it has just the right level of difficulty for an average guy like me. I will never recommend this lens to anybody who is not familiar with lens repair, if you need some help, be sure to look for a competent and honest repairman, there are many cheats out there so you need to be careful.

In case you have not noticed, this article is more “packed” compared compared to some of my articles, it’s because this one marks the end of my trilogy on the famous 80-200/2.8 ED AF family of Nikkors. This lens family deserves every bit of respect, so I gave it my all.

I am glad to have used this lens again after more than a decade after I sold my first copy. At that time, I was using it with my Nikon D7000 and Nikon D700. It was exhibiting the terrible back-focusing problem, specially with my Nikon D7000. I mostly shoot my longer zooms with my DX camera so that is something that is unacceptable for me, so after 2 weeks of dealing with it, I had to let it go. Luckily, it’s much better this time around and the dreaded issue is not that noticeable as much with my Nikon D4s.

Thank you so much for supporting my blog, every tip you send me helps me offset the cost of purchasing and processing film. I don’t put sponsored links here nor do I endorse products for a fee, everything here comes out of my own pocket and your support. If you think my work is excellent, please spread the word, let everyone know the joy of photography! This site is now considered by many to be the most complete in terms of content, from reviews, information and repairs. None of that will be possible without the help I get from you. Thank you very much and see you again next time.

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