I've been in from time to time, but I don't think I've ever bought anything there. Nice little shop. The original Aperture, now the Camera Museum, and The Classic Camera (mainly Leica) are very close, too. This area used to be a complete camera shopping destination - I miss York Cameras, and especially Jessops Classic Photographica. RG Lewis was also just up the road.
I'm looking a bit cheaper though atm. The second copy I had was very stiff on the MF ring, wasn't exactly a joy to use but I know the first one I had, which was like new, was buttery smooth - excellent portraiture lens too, if not 'too' sharp! [if there's such a thing]
I have the old Nikon 70-210 constant aperture f/4 AF, which is well-built and sharp:
I used to have it a while ago and I really quite liked it. I was using it on a D7000 so was only using the centre of the frame and performance seems admirable for the £50 I paid for it; I had the non D version which is supposedly slower but it seemed okay to me.
I got some half decent portraits using it, but it was mostly used for panning at Oulton Park which normally called for f8/f11 so performance was probably always going to be decent at those aperture
Just in case, they are a push-pull design which takes a little getting used to but not bad when you are used to it!
we get a lot of gloomy, over-cast/dark rainy days even in summer!
I think the Dante Stella page was written a long time ago, when Ken Rockwell was first hyping the variable aperture version. I've no experience of that one.
I have come across that one in my searches, looks a nice lens and seems to be highly regarded in the MF/vintage lens community. I don't mind spending a bit more if I know it's going to be good, can save a little extra. Atm my 'gear fund' is just a little on the low side, once I clear a few other boring bills I can start looking to something juicier so will have a look into it. One annoyance though, id the price of adapters has rocketed here, people trying to sell them for €25+, same ones I used to get for €5-10 just over a year ago! I had a bunch of them, MD/FD/Nik etc, had a few old MF lenses at the time and enough adapters to just leave them perma stuck on. I think I might actually order a few from China, and while waiting on those I'll continue the search, that is part of the fun
A 2.8 is really nice, and if I was going to stretch to that the older Nikon 80-200 2.8 original mk1 is probably hard to beat if you can get a good deal. There's the less flexible Canon FD 200 2.8 [in this price range] but from what I've read/heard it's thrash wide open, needs stopping down to at least 5.6 which defeats the whole point of a 2.8
I know. I'm just messing with you.
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I was wondering, as the one I bought from you had a little kink at the filter thread [clearly advertised as such so you gave me a wee discount
Push-pull is fine by me, I used to own the 80-200 2.8 push/pull and actually preferred it over the 70-200 VRII I had later on! Of course I wasn't manual focusing either at the time as was shooting Nikon. But I also had the Vivitar Series 1 70-210 f/3.5 that was also push-pull, that's another I wouldn't mind trying again. That one had 1:3 macro capability [at 70mm only if I rem correct] and I had it in Nikon mount so I know they are out there.
Most reviews I can find on the 4-5.6 non D are positive, I would only be casually using it to shoot garden birds and some light , close up, wildlife down the river. The F4 version has got my attention now though, here in Ireland every extra bit of light you can get is a blessing
I kind of bought the 4-5.6 on a whim without a lot of thought as it was cheap and had the range I wanted Once I’d learnt of the F4 my eye was always on that but it never seemed worth it to swap at the time 
DSCF1181 by Neville Watkins, on Flickr
DSCF1222 by Neville Watkins, on Flickr
DSCF1241 by Neville Watkins, on Flickr
I can't say I'm keen on them in general. I suppose they made more sense in the manual focus era (I remember when 'one touch' push-pull zooms were seen as modern, and 'two touch' with separate zoom rings as a bit out of date). But if the camera is doing most of the focusing, a zoom ring is nicer to use than a 'trombone' action, and they seem less liable to suffer zoom creep.Push / pulls, personally I hate them. Thankfully I only have one
Push / pulls, personally I hate them. Thankfully I only have one
I think the only thing I've used it for is some moon pictures. It's a Tamron in Minolta fit.
