more of a price and quality question

idiotabroad

I found a nikon 80-200 push pull 2.8 for sale. Is there anything special I should be looking for when I get my hands on it? and is 500 a normal price for this item? Just some pointers would be helpful. Thanks guys.

time2smile

Scatches, smothness of zoom, and will it AF on your body,

You may be able to talk him down in price a little, usually seen them sell for between $4 and $5.

Good quality lens if you like push pull, but the 2 ring ones are better and faster AF.

Matthew Saville

Honestly unless you REALLY need the zoom, I would MUCH rather have a more up to date and multi-use lens such as the Sigma 150 2.8 Macro. It's got HSM, which to me is WAY more worth it than being able to zoom. But, like I said, that may depend on your use purposes. Also, it is built rock-solid like a brick, and has a decent tripod foot unlike the 80-200.

You should be able to find a used Sigma 150 2.8 for about $500, if you hunt very carefully, but anyways yeah that's my advice in the telephoto "bargain" department... BTW for the record, I say this as both a nature / macro photographer, and also a low-light wedding / portrait photographer. Personally, I recently sold my Sigma 150 2.8 for $350 (it was REALLY beat up, but still worked flawlessly) ...and I'm currently saving up for the new OS (stabilized) version of the same lens.

Take care,
=Matt=

idiotabroad

Thanks guys. Matt I'm checking in the Sigma, I want to just use it for portraits. But it would be fun to mess with macro. Now to find one for 500 or less.