Nikon's NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S II lens drops 26% weight, launches in India at Rs 2,89,995

Nikon has launched the NIKKOR Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S II, a significantly lighter and faster successor to its popular telephoto zoom, priced at Rs 2,89,995 in India with availability starting the third week of March 2026.At 998 grams (without the tripod collar ring), this is the lightest 70-200mm f/2.8 lens for full-frame mirrorless cameras right now. That's roughly 26% lighter than the original version from 2020—a difference you'd actually feel during a long wedding shoot or a day at the sidelines.The autofocus system has been overhauled with Nikon's Silky Swift VCM (SSVCM) actuator, pushing AF speed to approximately 3.5x faster and improving zoom-tracking performance by about 40% over the outgoing lens.

For anyone tracking athletes or unpredictable subjects, that's a meaningful upgrade.

What else is new under the hood

Nikon has trimmed the element count while adding Super ED and aspherical ED glass to keep chromatic aberration in check. The lens also gets Meso Amorphous Coat—Nikon's best anti-reflection coating to date—paired with ARNEO Coat to tame ghosting and flare.A few practical touches stand out. The tripod collar now supports Arca-Swiss screw-type clamps directly, a first for any NIKKOR lens.

There's a filter adjustment window on the hood for tweaking polarisers or ND filters without dismounting anything. And the control ring clicking switch lets you toggle between clicked and smooth operation—handy when switching between stills and video.Minimum focus distance sits at 0.38m at the wide end with a 0.3x reproduction ratio, so you can get surprisingly close. VR performance reaches 6.0 stops with Synchro VR-compatible bodies like the Z6III. It also plays nicely with Nikon's 1.4x and 2.0x teleconverters for extra reach.