Editor's opinion: Nikon's AF-S Nikkor 80-400mm F4.5-5.6G ED VR

I think camera and lens manufacturers live either on another planet or in the past. Things went wild with incomes after the crisis, in general people have less money for at least same amount of work.

Yet they keep showing more and more expensive products. Maybe professionals will buy these, but amateurs who do not earn (or very limited income) from photography will think twice....wrong in fact, at these prices there's nothing to think about, will just look on the second market or forget about it.

But in the end what do i know, maybe these are the fair prices...and they are if the market is willing to pay. If not...what can they do...increase even more? :)

So the Elephant in the room right now must be the aging AF-S 300 F4 right? I bought mine a few months ago and I expect the bad news will arrive any day now of a 300 F4 VR.

Well at least the new Nikon makes the new Sony 70-400 f/4-5.6 G2 look like a comparable bargain at only $2198.

I don't see any surprises here, pretty much every new Nikon Pro lens that comes out is twice the price of its predecessor. People always seem to be wishing for improvements in pre-2000 prices.

Hopefully it's better than the old model, but while the 80-400 was much maligned it was usually by people that didn't have one or didn't know how to use it. Mine has give me excellent service for close to a decade and I'll only replace it if there are real benefits from this. The old one packed a lot of firepower into a small (relatively speaking) package.

Well, I was waiting for this lens since I bought my D200 when it was first released. I finally got tired of waiting and six months ago bought a Sigma 50-500 VR and I love it (plus it's about $1000 cheaper).

I'm sure I'm not the only sale Nikon has lost because they've been too slow, not only with this but in other areas as well (e..g. a direct D300s upgrade). Also, this would have been an ideal lens to target for Dx so they could make it smaller and lighter.

This type of thing is making it clear why I see about four Canons for every Nikon DSLR.

This lens has much in common with the Pentax DA* 60-200 F/4 ED (90-380 F/6 equivalent) which is tack-sharp at the long end even outperforming most fixed focal lengths.

This is one particular lens which makes the Pentax APS-C system quite attractive.

The new Nikkor 80-400 could do the same for Nikon FX if the optical performance is similiarly top notch and if the price comes down a bit.

Attractive lens maybe, but way too expensive for that slow aperture. It seems to be relying on-

A) The increased reach that newer crop cameras/ high MP sensors cropped offer, to give a really long reach (plus it's compatibility with tele-convertors) and

B) The better performance at high ISOs on today's sensors, along with the better VR. Presumably, this will only improve, making brighter lenses less important for capture speed.

... yet other lenses will share these benefits, including brighter ones presumably having better bokeh and faster AF due to letting in more light. It seems to me yet another opening for third parties like Sigma to offer similar ranges at a radically better price-point with only slightly worse optics, though that 'slightly worse' factor may push many to the Nikon.

title is wrong, is 4.5-5.6 aperture not 4-5.6 aperture, I think you got it confused with a Sony

For the money, I'd rather have the new Sigma 120-300mm 2.8 that's coming out in a few weeks and use a teleconverter if needed on that.

Nearly double the cost of the outgoing lens? Fantasy pricing for this slow lens - unless, that is, build and optical quality are beyond reproach. We'll have to see.

For the price it should be much better than the mediocre 70-300 VR!

Odd focal length.
Nikon has already 2 very good 70-200 lenses. The 80-400 has some massive overlap to both of them. Additionally there is the quite good 70-300 consumer lens which is inexpensive and delivers a lot for the money.
I'm not confident if this is really the lens photogs are after except "birders".

Well, yea, "shame about the price." I offer $1400. Want more? Nope, not from me, you keep the lens. I am endlessly patient. I will rather take my old 80-200 F/2.8 with extender.