Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G VR Lens

Ordered this at a great price well below others on Amazon and so was expecting the price to reflect the condition. But received the lens and genuinely thought i had received a brand new one. Excellent quality, no dust under the glass, no cosmetic marks or damage and came with cleaning pack, cap and lens pouch. Tested yesterday and everything seems to work as it should. Very happy customer, thank you.

Like a few other reviewers I have the 18-55mm kit lens but find its zoom capabilities rather limited. I also have the Nikkor 50mm and while it is a top class lens for portraiture it again (not surprisingly) has no zoom capabilities. So I was a little bit handicapped when it came to sports or wildlife photography. This lens plugs the gap very nicely. So like me you are probably an amateur photographer with delusions of grandeur and have been trying to work out how much more zoom do you get for your money and compared to the 18-55mm kit lens. Well you can directly compare it to a bridge/super zoom compact camera with 18x zoom. Although the quality of the image far out classes that sector. In real life terms this means you can zoom in on a rugby scrum if you're on the touch line. You can easily get that bird at the end of your garden in full frame and you can take pictures of your child at the nativity play from the back of the hall* *That's after you've asked permission from the headmaster, been CRB checked, had a DNA sample taken, probed, interviewed, micro chipped and then sought written permission from 300 other parents to be allowed to take photos of your son dressed as a donkey! Like all Nikkor lenses the VR switch works well and you are going to need it if you're taking photos hand held. The lens weighs quite a bit more than the 18-55mm kit lens but not so much that it will weigh your camera bag down. Being made of plastic certainly helps to keep the weight problem under check. Yes it's mostly plastic but its of a good quality and will take the odd knock and bump well. Quality of the image/ picture quality is excellent. If you want geeky in-depth reviews about it there are lots of nerdy charts and graphs on drop off, Dof etc on line. Lets just put it in amateur terms......its good! It takes nice photos with little to no distortion. A couple of reviews state that it is poor in bad light. I haven't found this to be true. If your camera is set to the right light conditions it copes as well in poor light as any of the others I have. Don't forget to order a UV filter cover for it. Better to scratch a cheap UV filter than this expensive lens!

For the money, this is a very good lens. It hasn't yet made me smile as much as some of my other lenses (e.g. the Nikon 10-24 or the 18-140) but it seems generally competent. I bought it to give me a long telephoto with vibration reduction capability (I also have the 70-300G, but this is only usable on the more upmarket Nikon bodies, and has no VR, which means it can only be used in reasonably bright light). I've mainly used this on a D7000 but also tested it on a D40. The 55mm wide end does seem more useful than the 70mm on my other telephoto. I took this plus the 10-24 (which is great for landscapes) on a short country walk last weekend and not missed the mid range. I don't think I could have done that with the 70-300. It takes 58mm filters, which is an odd size. I've bought a cheap step up ring so I don't go mad with too many different filter sizes! I'm standardising on 52mm, 67mm and 77mm, and using a dedicated 58mm UV filter to protect the lens. On filters, the front element rotates when focusing, so you will need to readjust a polarising filter after focusing, but UV and other uniform filters work perfectly well, of course. Some have commented on the lightness of the lens. At 530g, this is actually the heaviest and largest lens I own (it's a bit big for my standard camera case), but compared with professional/most FX telephoto lenses, it is certainly relatively light. You would probably notice this after a day carrying it on the D7000, but for short periods the weight is not a problem. On a D7000, it feels chunky but not unbalanced. It has a metal mount, and is weather sealed. Neither is essential for me, but they're nice to have. The zoom control is a bit stiff, but not at all jerky (unlike e.g. my 18-70 which seems to do some weird gymnastics halfway on the range). In use, it is absolutely fine. It's very big and grippy. Manual focus is a weakness of this lens, but I was expecting that from the reviews. The A-M switch needs to be turned to M and the focus ring is small (but serrated so it is easy to turn by feel). Fine adjustment takes care. On my D7000, which has two arrows as well as a dot, it's not too bad. On a camera with only a dot, I expect it could be extremely frustrating! The lens does also have a tendency to hunt in low light and doesn't always get into focus in the autofocus mode. It's not worse than some of my other lenses (e.g. the 70-300G), but it could leave you lost for a shot in low light. Give it reasonable light and it's fine. The autofocus is reasonably quiet (no whining like the 70-300G) and I didn't notice any strange noises from the VR (the 55-200 chatters away to itself when in use). Pointing it into the sun gives washed out colours all through the image (general flare, apparently), but unlike my wider lenses, I didn't notice any specific flare reflections in the final images. I will need to experiment a bit to get the best from this lens. Playing with it last weekend, I've got some good shots at all focal lengths. However, the vibration reduction isn't completely magic (maybe wishful thinking on my part, but some reviews suggested I might get usable photos at 1/8s or 1/15s). Anything below 1/30-1/60 at 300mm doesn't seem to have worked for me (including some obvious double images at 1/8s). But that's still pretty good compared with the 70-300G, which I would normally shoot on 1/250s or better. This is the cheaper VR, with no Active mode (for shooting from a moving vehicle, for instance), but I haven't needed that yet, and to be honest I'm not sure that not having Active VR is really a major issue for most uses (I don't take safari holidays or go to war zones). What is more significant is the slow autofocus speed. You might miss some action shots with this lens if you're e.g. a sports photographer (but putting the D7000 into continuous mode would perhaps overcome that). The manual focus is tricky enough that it takes some concentration and can't be done very fast. At the long end, the depth of field is very narrow, so focus really matters. The lens hood that comes with the lens isn't the standard Nikon twist-and-click: it pushes on and clicks into place. The mechanism feels less robust but I haven't noticed any big problems yet. It also comes with a soft bag for protection. I've done what others recommended here, and bought some Tommee Tippee bottle covers, which are nice and padded, and also have a velcro strap, and are not expensive. They're black so don't look too silly (and you can always use a felt tip to hide the logo if you're embarrassed). My wife did want to know why I was buying baby items, so you might want to tell your partner if you do this :) Overall, I'm not unhappy with the lens. It does a useful job and it wasn't expensive (buy direct from Amazon or another official UK reseller and get £40 cashback up to Christmas). If you don't mind the size and weight, it gives a much longer zoom than the 55-200 at a slightly higher price. Optically, so far it seems similar to the 70-300G (which is apparently almost identical optically to the much more expensive 70-300VR, but much more primitive mechanically). Other than the convenience of the focus and VR controls on the 70-300VR, I think you probably need to go to the big and very expensive 70-200 to get a much better telephoto in the Nikon range.

Let me start by saying that the delivery was fast, so kudos to that. Now to the Lens, I wanted something light for my travels instead of taking my work camera Nikon D700 which is a pain to carry around the neck all day with all the other lenses I have when you want to relax, for travels instead I have a Nikon D90 with 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G and now this 55-300mm (it's very light) which is more than enough. After recieving this lens, I did some tests and got to say this big plasticky piece of glass is not to be underestimated and is a terrific performer. Despite it's build quality, it provides pretty good images at mostly all apertures and focal lengths. wide open in the center it is sharp, contrasty and soft in the corners with some vignetting and a slight loss of contrast; After f/11 it starts to get a bit soft in the center with some slight decay in contrast and in the corners vignetting is more controlled, it's a slightly softer and the loss of contrast is more noticeable. The sharpest aperture of this lens is f/8. In terms of focal lenghts this lens is a star performer from 55-200mm with almost no chromatic aberration, very sharp and good image quality overall (contrasty images), after 200mm to 300mm image quality decays a bit in terms of sharpness and contrast but it's still good and usable, chromatic aberration is slightly more noticeable at 300mm, viewing the image at 100%. Also tested the responsiveness of this lens and I'm impressed, Autofocus it's pretty fast in good light conditions and some dim light circumstances, although it has tendency to hunt for the subject when there is little light, when it finds it, snaps right into focus. Went on a casual Sunday to a football game to try further it's responsiveness in action photography and I'm amazed with the results, in good light conditions it snaps the subjects right into focus with AF-C (Continous Focusing) mode it almost no chance of hunting for the subject. Only things that makes me sad about this lens is two things: - VR Mode, I feel the absence of Normal Mode and Active Mode, it only has the switch to turn it off and on, the VR system itself is good though. - No manual focus override system (M/A - M Switch) only M - A (Manual - Automatic) Switch. Overall it comes down to this: Pros: - Sharp images from f/4.5|5.6 to f/11, being f/8 it's peak. - Crispy Images from 55-200mm with pretty good and usable images at 300mm. - Overall good optic quality for the price. - Almost no presence of Chromactic aberration from focal lenght 55-200mm. - Low chromatic aberration at 300mm that doesn't become intrusive in the image quality, only noticeable if you go pixel peeping. - VR Mode is functional and good despite not having the Normal/Active function. - Light which makes it good for travels. - Zoom/Focus ring feel sturdy despite being plastic. - Autofocus is excellent and responsive in good light conditions, it snaps right into focus on your subject. Cons: - Build quality, despite the metal mount which is ok, the plastic body may not please those who shoot under harsh conditions and look for something affordable, but then again something had to be sacrificed to be light. - Clunky Manual/Auto Focus Switch, it is annoying especially for those who have the Manual/AF switch in the camera like me, Manual Focus Override (M/A - M Switch) would be a better addition. - Lens Hood is so badly constructed with a thin layer of plastic that it feels it's going to get torn apart at any moment if something comes at it, it's still useful though. - Autofocus has tendency to go hunting for the subject in dim light conditions, it can become an annoyance for some, specially if they shoot action photography, but what to expect from a f/4.5-5.6 lens, it's still usable but don't expect it to snap right into focus in dim lights. Despite the not so good things about this lens it's still a good purchase for those who are looking for an excellent lens in terms of Price/Quality, you will not be disappointed as this lens, sure is a star performer. Sure, the Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 VR may offer a slight more image quality, Manual Focus Override, VR Mode with Normal/Active and slightly better AF than this lens, but unless you're planning of moving for Full-Frame later and can't afford the best performer Telezooms right away, there is no a reason for buying the more expensive 70-300mm, if you can't deal with the Cons you can spend the extra money, but if you're willing to live with the cons like I am, it's still a perfect choice for a Telephoto Lens and you won't regret it!

A few months ago I decided I was going to try digital photography. Many years ago I had a 35mm SLR camera, but ended up not using it very much because it was so expensive to get the photographs developed. The beauty of a DSLR camera is that you can take as many photographs as you want and it doesn’t cost you any money. I asked a very good friend of mine, who is also a very good photographer, which camera to go for and he suggested the Nikon D3400. I bought the camera and it came with an 18 to 55mm VR lens. I live in the countryside in a house with a very large garden. We get a lot of wildlife in the garden and I immediately began taking photographs with my new camera. It wasn’t long before I realised that the lens fitted to my camera could not get close enough to take a decent of photograph of the majority of subjects I was wanting to capture. So I decided that I would purchase a telephoto lens. This would be the very first accessory that I bought for the camera. I made the decision to go for a Nikon lens instead of a cheaper version and I decided to opt for a 300mm focal length. I had two choices, the 55 - 300mm or the 70 - 300mm and because my first lens was 18 - 55mm, I decided to go for the first one. This meant that my lenses covered 18 to 300mm with no gap. The lens arrived from the States a few days after I bought it and inside the box as well as the lens I found, a lens cap, a bayonet end cap, a lens hood, small protective bag and a set of instructions. The lens had VR, vibration reduction; this is a mechanical feature that reduces the vibration experienced when taking photos whilst holding the camera in low light conditions or with slow shutter speeds. The VR on this lens is 2nd generation even though this is not mentioned anywhere and it works very well. See the video. As well as a switch to turn VR on or off, the lens has a selector switch for auto or manual focus. Fitting the lens to the camera is a doddle and within minutes I was taking photos of deer and squirrels away in the distance. This lens really does open up a whole new world of photo opportunities. See the video for a real demonstration of the telephoto lens in use at several focal lengths. It is possible to take good close up images, not quite macro, but still close up. One thing I found out after a few weeks is that the camera will take much better pictures if the lens cap is fitted as it reduces glare and flaring giving a much better result, less washed out with richer colours. I had issues with the focus, it was a bit hit and miss and about 50% of the pictures I took were not in focus. This was because I was using the camera in full auto with area focus selected. I had to place the camera in position A, manual with aperture priority, and swap the auto focus over to single point auto focus. Then I was able to select the centre point on the camera using the curser on the camera menu and things got considerably better. I am now finding the focusing much easier. Manual focus is a little tricky as a very small movement will take the image through focussed and out the other side so care is needed to focus. It does get better after time as you become more used to it. Also it is very easy to knock the image out of focus in auto focus mode as there is a small amount of movement on the focussing wheel and you can turn it slightly if you are not careful where you place your fingers pushing it out of focus. This is not a big issue as my hands tended to be away from the focussing ring in normaI use. I have hardly used the 18 – 55mm lens since I got this one. I am very pleased with it and so glad that I decided to go for Nikon. It is by no means perfect, but I have taken some cracking (in my opinion) photos with it and having the extra reach is a real joy. I think it was the right choice as my first accessory and would recommend it if you too are struggling to get the photos you want because the subject is too far away. I think it is good value and it is a very welcome addition to my set up.

The first lens I purchased was superb, producing clear sharp images at all apertures throughout the zoom range but it had no warranty documents supplied. I have previous experience of Nikon's warranty terms and knew they would not carry out any warranty repairs without them so I took their advice and returned it to the seller. The replacement lens had all the warranty documents included but was completely unable to match the image quality of the test shots taken with the previous lens, using identical camera settings and conditions. The lens works ok on a tripod with VR switched off but I would have purchased a third party lens for half the price if that's how I wanted to use it. I was undecided as to return the lens to the seller for another or to get it repaired so I contacted Nikon Support again for their advice. After a few emails and sample images I was advised to return the lens with proof of purchase and the completed warranty slip for repair at Nikon UK... BIG MISTAKE... As I had purchased the lens from Amazon Marketplace and not directly from Amazon.co.uk they deemed me not to be the original purchaser and therefore not entitled to repair under warranty. Unfortunately Nikon do not mention this until you have returned it for repair and it is then too late to return it to Amazon and claim under their A to Z Guarantee. After more than 500 shots I have found this lens to perform reasonably well between f8 and f16 with VR switched off unless the shutter speed drops below 1/150s when hand held. Using VR at faster shutter speeds seems to produce a slight blur when compared to the non VR shot although I have not found this to be the case with any of my other Nikkor lenses. For the first lens I would have given 5 stars, like most of the other reviewers, but unfortunately Nikon's quality has proved inconsistent and this one only gets 3.

After using the kit lens with my D3200, I wanted to try another lens. I wasn't sure which lens I wanted to go for but after spending some time on this, I decided to go for this one and I am 100% glad I did! The first thing you will notice about this lens is the weight, if you are like me & are coming straight from the kits lens, you will feel the difference in weight but for me after around 30/40 mins of use, the weight was not a problem. Having said that, I am sure that the weight of this lens is very very light compared to other high grade lens. From the very first 'test' shot, I was blown away by how much better this lens is! The zoom is great & the pictures are so clear compared to the normal kit lens. I have only taken a few 'test' shots but I can't wait to get out & do a full shoot with this lens. This price of this lens was great - when you are saving 56% off the normal price, you really can't go wrong. The lens is great for wildlife, with the zoom you can get really great sharp pictures with out having to try & get to close. This is not just a wildlife lens, you can really use this lens anywhere! For me this lens is highly recommended.

An excellent starter telephoto lens. This lens gives the field of view of an ~83 to 450mm that would be used on a FX DSLR or an older 35mm SLR. From 55-200mm this lens produces very sharp results when wide open, and even better when stopped down to F8, past this the photos become soft the smaller the aperture, although this is down to physics and can be seen with any lens on a DX camera. At 300mm wide open the images tend to be soft, at this end of the focal range stepping down is essential if you intend to crop the results, I personally find F8 to be the best, although in some cases stepping down even further (although never higher than F11) can produce sharper images. This lens comes equipped with Vibration Reduction, or VR. This feature allows you to use slower shutter speeds than normal in exchange for draining your battery a little quicker when focusing or capturing the photo. At the longest focal length this can be an almost essential feature here on a cloudy day where pushing your ISO up any higher will result in grainy images. Nikon claims that it can give upto 4 stops, meaning at 300mm you can go down to 1/30 and still produce sharp results, although it is not guaranteed so shoot in bursts and more often than not you'll get a clean shot. The VR is also useful when using fast shutter speeds as with lenses this long and this light it can be difficult to keep it steady enough and you end up with a shaky view finder and less than optimal shots. The VR in this lens, with some good technique, can keep your center focus point locked onto a starling from over 20 meters away! This lens suffers from moderate pincushion distortion after around 100mm, although this is easily corrected by the camera or in post if shooting RAW. I personally have never considered the distortion to be detract from my photos, at any focal length. One important aspect of any lens is the bokeh, the quality of the out of focus areas. This bokeh this lens produces is very pleasing and easy to produce at longer focal lengths (an aspect of all telephotos), although bokeh quality is entirely subjective.