Nikon 18-200 vs Nikon f2.8 80-200

Well I've had my new (used) lens in my hands for less then an hour.  A Nikon F2.8 80-200mm arrived from Henry's Ebay Store in a nicely packaged box, cut it open, took a look inside (very clean), took a look outside (a few scuffs) and slapped it on the camera.   Was pretty self explanatory.

Sitting on the D200 - it look big!  Even bigger when the lens hood on.

Noticed a dripping icicle so took a few pictures, put the old 18-200 on, took a few pictures and this is the result:

(click the image for full size to see the difference - the files are big!)

First test, used F5.6 for a sharpness comparison @ 200mm.  Since the 18-200 won't do F2.8 I stepped it down to 5.6.  I'd also read that 5.6 is pretty sharp.

     

Nikon 80-200 @ f2.8 @ 200mm

 Nikon 80-200 @ f2.8 @ 200mm

Nikon 80-200 @ f2.8 @ 200mm

My first impressions are WOW, this thing is sharp compared to my 18-200mm.  These were shot hand held.   The zoomed in images makes it very clear that the sharpness and detail is way above the 18-200mm.  Weight wise it's not as heavy as I feared and seems pretty decent to handle.  But let me re-advise on that after I've carried it for a bit.  Time will tell I guess, but for now I'm pretty happy!  Now I'm dreaming of the Tamron F2.8 17-50mm VC for the low end ;-)