Help w/ Lens suggestions

[Doug Moore]

New to the forum and I am a Retriever Trainer by trade with a "Hobby" of trying to take pictures. I've got a few questions if someone with a little more experience could help me out. I'm looking a lens for wildlife photography, primarily for Waterfowl (flying and swimming) as well as dogs working in the field and water. Most distances are going to be between 20-75 yds. My budget is around $1k and my local shop has two lenses within my budget. One is the Nikon AF Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D ED VR and the other is a Nikon 80-200 f/2.8 AF-D. I'm currently shooting a D80 until I can find a D7000 in stock somewhere. With those two choices of lens which would you suggest or if you have another suggestion what would that be. Thanks for your time and I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.

Doug

[Chris350]

80-200. Hands down the best value in medium length telephoto Nikkor. Out of production and very hard to find. Sharp, fast and built like a tank. They last forever. Not quite long enough for a lot of bird work, but the 80-400 isn't really fast enough in low light conditions.

[OldClicker]

You are going to be terribly disappointed if you think you are going to get a lens that will pull in a water fowl at 75 yards. Say a duck is 1 ft long – to get a nice shot filling about 2/3 of the frame, with the 200mm you will need to be within 10 yds. For the 400, still less than 20 yds. These lenses are great and will give you a nice image, but your hunting skills are still going to be the best way to get the shot. - Terry

[zerodog]

Do not spend 1000 on a AF D Hunt for a used one and pick it up for 600.

The 80-200 is perfect for dog shots but a bit short for birds. A good compromise and useful too is get the 80-200 and a 2x teleconverter. You will be right in there if you shop for some nice used ones. Nikon, sigma or tameron make decent teleconverters.

[Chris350]

Do not spend 1000 on a AF D Hunt for a used one and pick it up for 600.

The 80-200 is perfect for dog shots but a bit short for birds. A good compromise and useful too is get the 80-200 and a 2x teleconverter. You will be right in there if you shop for some nice used ones. Nikon, sigma or tameron make decent teleconverters.

Have you been able to use a teleconverter with the 80-200? I'm not aware of any of the Nikon TC's that work with the 80-200. They may work in manual only. I'd spring for the new one myself, but that's me.