No fewer than 7 of these are fashioned from Extra-Low Dispersion (ED) glass to minimize aberrations, and Nikon's latest Nano Crystal Coating is employed to combat flare.

When photographing sports, wildlife and other fast-action photography, you have to be extremely careful when using the TC-20E III. What threw me off is that VR II started showing up on the metal-mount DX line BEFORE the 18-55, 55-200, and 18-105 came out - in the 16-85, 18-200, and 70-300. Maybe not a surprise, but to me this clearly shows that the lens in review here has very good contrast and sharpness. However, I do see some big shift when I push the profile compensation button in Lightroom, but it is not an issue as such, just interesting to see how big the change is at several apertures.The lens features the golden ring that we know from pro grade glass from Nikon, but the jury is still out as to what exactly the gold ring signifies. The lens autofocus system with SWM (Silent Wave Motor) is quiet, while focusing is instant and accurate, even in low light conditions. The less expensive lenses - which in the current Nikon lineup are usually DX but not always, have VR I. At close distances, the 70-200mm loses quite a bit of the range, which can be a problem for those of us that like to fill the frame with small objects.

The multi-position focus limiter ring is replaced with a simpler and easier to use Limit/Full slide switch. If your photography demands a medium telephoto zoom with a fast maximum aperture that will deliver across the board, but particularly at 200mm, and your budget holds no bounds, go get yourself a Nikon 70-200mm f2. No matter what you’re shooting, you’ll capture it with uncompromising speed and precision—at any focal length.The AF is still super fast, racking the manual focus will work occasionally for awhile, but a battery change will fix it right away. But the lens is very sharp corner to corner, it has less vignetting, and some even say it has improved contrast and superior colour rendering over the first generation lens. And there is no performance variation whether the lens focuses coming from infinity or from minimum focus distance. Color accuracy is critical for modern creative work, but many creatives have no idea what a colorimeter is actually doing when you put it on your display.