I have owned my Nikon 80-200 f4.5 manual focus lens since I bought it in 1974. The lens has traveled with me practically around the world and it has given me gorgeous images full of details at high resolution.From lanscapes to portraits it has seen lots of use and has always performed as a champ. It is heavy with all metal construction, big and suffers of cripping. I decided to replace it and I found a gentleman selling the Nikon 70-210 f4-5.6 D lens in brand new condition for a mere $69.

The lens is practically brand new. It is shorter and lighter than the old 80-200 f4.5 with a plastic barrel. No cripping and the zoom is smooth like it should be but, what about the images it is capable of producing? I was curious when I fit the lens to my Nikon D610. Camera and lens were supported by a carbon fiber tripod with a Linhof ballhead. To get the best that the lens can offer I shot with the mirror up. Due to the quarantine I was confined to my backyard and my front porch. I have found plenty of time to play with my cameras and lenses although I always photograph similar subjects which to me is boring. I will do better when this crisis we have right now is all over.

I just wanted to show you the quality of the images to expect from a $69 lens when using good techniques. Original RAW data edited with Nikon View NX2 with enhancements made by Topaz Adjust.

The first image made in my backyard is from the leaves of a mango tree. I darkened the image to taste and used a soft Gaussian blur for the effect. Shot at 210 mm wide open, ISO 200.
The second image comes from a flower my wife planted in our front yard. Focal length set to 210 mm at f22. ISO 800 to be able to use a decent shutter speed since there was a light breeze. I had some softness in the final file due to refraction, easily corrected with low sharpening.
The third image is part of my neighborhood to the right as viewed from our porch. Notice the golden color of the late evening light. Shot at a focal length of 80 mm at f16 to keep foreground and background in acceptable focus.

Finally the street number of our home here in Miami. I shot this at f22 and 210 mm focal length, ISO 200. I did not mean to shoot at f22 I simply did not pay attention, I wanted to shoot it at f8 but for now I am happy with the results and lets call it "a happy accident."
All in all I am pleased with the performance of the lens. I have never used a lens that did not do its part when I did mine.

I did a search of topics on this site about Route 66 and discovered, much to my dismay, that the last time a topic was opened concerning this historic highway was in 2017.

Really folks, some of the best (and historic) photographs can be had on this highway. I have occasion to drive portions of this road at least twice each year because my children and grandchildren live in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Once this virus situation is over I will once again be taking my cameras "on the road" and one of my goals for later this year or early next year is to drive the entire length of Route 66.

I've posted a shot taken in Tucumcari, NM a few weeks ago. I passed this scene late one evening and took a few photos. Upon review I decided that the blue hour would work better. I set my alarm for 5:00 am and made sure that I was set up for the shot during the morning blue hour. This is the result.

I always had a family of fox on my property each year, and would watch them out my office window playing on the yard about 30-40 feet away as they grew up. I even had a pair of orphans show up in July one year taking an abandoned den and with a little help from me (kibble spread around if i did not see them with a kill on the den camera for a few days) they made it to October when they left for their own territories as they always do. They somehow knew it was safe here. Sadly neighbours moved in with large dogs last year and since then not a fox to be seen. These two were from a litter of 4 that were raised on the property in 2018. They got to know me and often would come and watch me doing yard work. Sometimes they would pass me and I would feel them brush my leg. Even my lab got to accept them as part of the property critters. One would come running to us when I would take the dog out and sit about 10 feet away. The dog didn't care. It would also follow us on our walks from time to time. Sometimes they would come out and you could tell they wanted to play, run at the dog turn and look back at her, and the dog would chase them half heartedly in circles around the yard. Oh what fun. They were never any trouble. I miss seeing them.