When you simply must have 200mm

[DonSchap]

First off, I want to be clear that when you take a 18-200(250)mm f/3.5-6.3 lens and dial up 200mm, chance are ... it's not 200mm. The strange thing about this particular all-in-one style of lens is that the focus ring kind of makes up the length, past 135mm.

That being said, a more accurate 200mm standard is available from other lenses.

Here are four different ways to get to an accurate 200mm shot.



Above are a TAMRON AF 70-300mm /4-5.6 LD (MFD = 60-inches), TAMRON SP AF 200-500mm f/5-6.3 Di LD (MFD = 96-inches), TAMRON SP AF 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD (MFD = 37.1-inches), and a Minolta AF 200mm f/2.8 APO G HS (MFD = 60-inches)

1. The first lens produces a reasonable image, but has some serious purple fringing. It does so at F/5
2. The second lens is rather long, but delivers a sharp image, no fringe ... but, also at f/5.
3. The third lens had a medium focus speed and delivers a terrific image at f/2.8
4. The last lens delivers a sensational image, the fastest focus response of any 200mm lens, and is roughly the lightest and most pricey of the bunch. Yep, f/2.8, too!

You want 200mm ... take your pick! :smilewinkgrin:

[OldClicker]

I don't believe that the 70-200 lenses are actually 200mm either unless they are focused at infinity.

Do you have the Minolta? Like it?

TF

[DonSchap]

I have only owned the Minolta for a week, but it is "the lens" when it comes to speed and accurate focus.

I have shot the 200mm f/2.8 versus the 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm ... they are identically sized at the Minolta's MFD (minimum focus distance) of 5 feet.

Minolta AF 200mm f/2.8 APO G HS


TAMRON SP AF 70-200mm f/2.8 Di LD


Because of size limitation, these two 100% crops were reduced about 20%, but you can see the size of both images is nearly the same.

[NoKnees]

One more to add to the list, although I don't have anything to compare it's accuracy at 200mm to... Minolta 80-200mm APO HS f2.8... Not quite as sharp at f2.8 as the 200mm APO HS, but pretty darn good and bit more flexible...

[DonSchap]

Here is a 200mm f/2.8 APO G HS action shot, from last weekend:

See more at my Flickr link, in my signature