Image quality is very good to excellent. Yes it is a bit soft wide-open (particularly at 200mm), but I would have no issues printing 11x14's wide open with this lens, and find the bokeh to be excellent for portraits and candids. I've got an old Kenko 1.5x SHQ that give good results with the AF 80-200/2.8D EDn and D300 but as far as I remember never used on the D700 apart from making shure it works. My old Kenko 2x converter was pretty poor with the AF 80-200/2.8D EDn even on a D100 and AF is slow as molasses. Yet we all (those of us that don't already) salivate at the prospect of one day owning the 70-200 vrii. There's something magical about the images this masterpiece produces - some quality I can't put my finger on. You grab the 2-1/2" (65mm) wide rubber ring and have at it. I can wrap three of my big American fingers around it; littler guys probably can fit their whole hand around it.

The other challenge is nailing focus if you're using wider apertures. Sometimes I get better results without focus peaking enabled. CPU processing power, algorithms which affect both speed and accuracy of AF, on both AF-S and non-AF-S lenses. The 70-200/2.8E FL is very slightly sharper at f/2.8 in the lab (not any sharper in actual shooting), has less distortion, has VR and allows one to focus manually simply by grabbing the ring at any time. I love VR, but the 70-200mm FL won't work on manual focus cameras as will this 80-200, and VR does nothing for you for shooting sports and action. VR only helps if your subject is not moving. If I was working in nasty, dirty areas, I'd forget the cap, and use an uncoated 77mm Tiffen UV filter instead. Uncoated filters are much easier to clean, but more prone to ghosting. Real weaknesses of the lens in use are that it is not as rugged as it seems on the outside. The MF/AF toggle ring soon develops problems and the focus limiter switch which is glued on can fall off.The lens sits in a clear plastic bag inside the CL-43A case, and the paperwork and strap sit on top.

Zoom is now a separate ring instead of push-pull combined with focus as every previous production lens has been. The optics are still the same as the excellent original AF version of 1988, and used the same HB-7 bayonet hood as the previous D version. Unfortunately it did not perform well at 2.8 on that camera. The lens is (as is well known) soft wide open, and the D800 was quite unforgiving to show that in that respect. So I sold it and upgraded to a 2.8/70-200 VRII. The Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D (new) is pretty good at the wider settings, and has some pincushion distortion at the 200mm end. (Both earlier 80-200mm f/2.8 AF lenses share the same optics as this AF-D "New" version.) It is never annoying. Nikon has been making so many different versions of this lens for so many decades that I wrote an entire 80-200mm f/2.8 History to chronicle it all. Read this if you're thinking of buying one of these to help you sort it all out.The 80-200/2.8 D feels nice. Everything is metal, not crummy plastic like most of everything else from Nikon today. For shooting portraits of posed people and landscapes, it's great. For photographing moving people, kids or sports, forget it. Avoid the TC-20E if you're counting every pixel; it loses some sharpness at the largest apertures. It now is only f/5.6 wide open. Be careful to get this current model with two zoom rings; the "new" version. The push-pull models are much older and have much slower autofocus (see All Nikon f/2.8 tele zooms compared). I have found that if more reach is needed without lose in IQ, I use the Kenko 1.4x PRO300 DG TC and have had excellent results.

Newer models of Nikon f/2.8 tele zooms can't do this: Nikon curved their diaphragm blades, so they would have made this image without the stars, which would be much plainer images. I used it with Kenko 300 Pro x2 TC and was really disappointed with the soft results (used a heavy tripod and remote release) and awful A/F speed.

Build

EXIF and exposure data read correctly with the TC-20E, meaning the camera and EXIF read in the effective f/stop, which now starts at f/5.6, and the effective focal length, which goes from 160-400mm.

The focus and zoom rings operate very smoothly and slightly damped. The length of the lens remains constant regardless of the focus and zoom settings and the front element does not rotate thanks to an IF (internal focusing) design. The best 80-200 (both optically and functionally) is the AF-S version. However, it's been out of production for a number of years and the ultrasonic motor has been known to go bad. If you find one in good condition that Rugged: This lens is mainly maid up of metal and is made really well. It can take a beating without you worrying about it's welfare. One less thing to think about while shooting.The biggest reason to consider paying twice as much for the newest 70-200/2.8 VR II is if you need fast access to manual focusing. With this 80-200mm lens, you must press a release button and rotate the M - A ring between auto and manual focus; you cannot simply grab the manual focus ring as you can with all the newer AF-S f/2.8 zooms.