Lens Rental for Airshows next month....

[thetford569]

I'm looking at renting a lens for a couple of airshows next month.  I'm trying to decide between the Nikon 70-200 F 2.8 VR AF or the Nikon 80-400 F 4.5-5.6D ED VR lens.  I currently use a Nikon 70-300 ED F4.5-5.6 ED lens.  My main problem with it is focus speed so I'm probably mainly looking for something that has a fast focus.  Does anyone know which one of these lenses is faster at focusing?  I'm having trouble deciding because I know I would use the 400mm but I'm thinking the 70-200 2.8 is probably a faster lens.  Any suggestions or information from people who know about these lenses would be appreciated!

Brandon

[M.M.]

The 70-200 would have faster AF by far.  Can you also rent a TC14E (1.4x) or TC17E (1.7x) teleconverter to extend the reach?  (There's also a TC20, butby that point you might be trading focus speed for image quality against the 80-400.)

Have you read this thread?

-M.M.

[CAVU Mark]

if you can get a 200-400 VR and the 70-200 VR you will be set.  Ok, and a wide angle to 70mm or so too.

[thetford569]

well I could only do one so I went with the 80-400 VR.  I'm renting it from the advertisement on this site (borrowlenses.com).  I'm anxious to see how the experience is because this will be the first time renting a lens.  I hope it will be worth it.  I'm thinking that it will.

Brandon