One of my dream lenses has been upgraded to a version 2 – the Nikkor 200-400mm f/4 VRII is brand new and weighs in at about $6999. I am drooling already. Will I ever own this lens? Probably not – I really don’t photograph enough events or sporting events that would use this lens. And this wouldn’t be very good for indoor sporting events because you want to have an f/2.8 to try and freeze the action with a 1/1000 of a second shutter speed.

I can see using a really long lens for models or fashion because you can make the person look thinner with the compression available with really long lenses (one reason you don’t photograph models with a wide angle lenses). And you get the really blurry backgrounds behind the subject.

AF-S Nikkor 200–400mm f/4G ED VR II

So, yeah, the lens isn’t practical but it is really cool. It would be perfect for outdoor sporting events. All you would ever need for outdoor football would be a 70-200mm and the 200-400mm lens. And with improving ISO capabilities on these camera bodies this lens may soon work for indoor sports photography.

And this lens doesn’t have a Canon counterpart. And Nikon is the king of zoom lenses (Canon is the king of prime lenses.)