Nikon 70-300mm f/4-5.6G AF Nikkor SLR Camera Lens

Nikon 70-300mm f/4-5.6G AF Nikkor SLR Camera Lens
Rating:
First off, let me tell you that this lens only works fully with the latest Nikon SLRs because it has no aperture ring to set f/stops. You must do that electronically using a D100, D2H, D70, N80, N75, F5 or F100. However, Nikon does provide a nice compatibility chart telling you how to use this lens on older Nikon cameras. So you can use this lens on S and P modes with the N90s, N8008s, N 6000, and N4004. This backward compatibility of lenses and bodies is one of the strongest points of the Nikon system. Even a 24 year old lens can be used with a new Digital SLR, to some extent.

The lens is very light for it’s zoom range. It has a reasonably substantial feel, unlike some of the Sigma lenses I’ve used. It’s made of polycarbonate, which is the same stuff the F117 Stealth fighter is made from.

If you shoot lots of portraits, this is the lens to get. The telephoto allows you to throw the background out of focus with relative ease. The lens has a 9 bladed iris, so out of focus elements are rendered in very subtle and beautiful forms. The Japanese call this “Bokeh” and much has been written about it. It’s very nice that the Nikon engineers took this aesthetic principal into account when designing this economy lens. Once again, Nikon proves to be a design driven company.

The zoom ring has a nice feel with good manual dampening. Zooming is precise with no “slop” or wobble. Manual focus is about average for a lens of this caliber. It’s possible, but no great joy. Since I’m used to the silky feel of Nikon’s old AIS lenses, I doubt anything could rate higher. Autofocus for this lens is much better, and seems to be quick and precise. About the only time it balked was when shooting delicate cloudscapes. This is common for AF lenses and simply requires you to quickly disengage the AF on your camera body and rack the lens to “Infinity” setting.

My D70 DSLR made this lens handy to grip and insanely light. The great thing about using this lens on a DSLR is that you end up with a 450mm zoom lens! great for bringing in distant objects. Watch out when shooting against strong backlight, however. This lens seemed to have more than a little “Purple fringing”. Shots done in normal lighting conditions exhibit zero fringing, and superb sharpeness. So that’s the good news.

Overall this lens is a great bargain and worthy of the Nikkor name. Don’t let the low price fool you. Although it’s not a Nikkor 80-200 f/2.8 by any means, this lens is highly capable and a great second lens for your D70 Digital SLR or N series 35mm SLR. Nikon USA offers a 5 year warranty FREE if you mail the registration postcard in within 10 days of purchase. So be sure to get that in the mailbox right after buying!

Nikon 70-300mm f/4-5.6G AF Nikkor SLR Camera Lens
Rating:
Weighing in at about 15 oz., this Nikkor AF zoom lens is a lot of bang for the buck. The zoom range is 70-300mm; if you use a Nikon digital SLR like my D70, the effective range is 106-456mm due to the 1.5x crop factor. 300mm or 450mm, this is a very powerful zoom lens for relatively little money.

The maximum aperture of the lens is f4 at 70mm and one stop slower at f5.6 at 300mm. These are of course slower than more expensive Nikkor’s which can go to f2.8, but for that you’d be shelling out many times more money. For most outdoor daylight photos as well as well-lit portraits, this lens does the job. At f5.6 and 300mm, you’ll get a nice shallow depth of field that will give you that “professional” portrait you’ve been looking for. Just make sure you use a tripod.

This Nikkor sports excellent optics (despite not being an ED — see below), and is a full auto-focus lens when mounted on Nikon SLRs that can do AF on G-type lenses. To switch into manual focus on one of these cameras, be sure to set the focus switch on the camera body to M (manual) first, before engaging the focus ring. Because this is *not* an AF-S (S for silence) lens, it does not have the “ultrasonic” built-in motor and is completely driven by the camera, that’s why you want to set the focus mode switch on the camera to M before turning the focus ring.

Because this is not an AF-S lens, it’s noisy when hunting for focus. Being an economics lens, it focuses pretty fast when there’s plenty of light, but in low light situations, it can “hunt” for focus for a long time. In fact, where there’s little light, you’ll need to half-press the shutter button several times before the lens autofocuses properly; and don’t be surprised if you have to switch to manual focus. (Just remember to set the camera’s focus mode to M!)

Other features missing from this low-priced lens are a macro mode and low-dispersion (called ED by Nikon). Of course, it doesn’t have vibration reduction, either.

Oh, if you have a digital SLR, you’ll get an additional benefit of using a non-DX lens on a d-SLR: because only the central part of the image from the lens actually hits the sensor, you won’t have to worry about aberrations that affect the edges, esp. when using low-cost lenses. From corner to corner, side to side, your picture will be sharp.

In short, for a little over $100 you are getting a genuine Nikon-designed (but made in China) lens with excellent optics, a long zoom range, fast autofocusing in bright light, and relative light weight but solid construction. On the other hand, the low, low price means you won’t get macro, ED, ultrasonic focusing mechanism, or the very best optics that much more expensive Nikkor lenses have.

If you have enough money, I recommend getting a high-quality zoom lens that covers the wideangle to telephoto focal lengths. My favorite is the compact and lightweight Tamron 28-300mm Di XR LD lens sold here on Amazon (although you do give up aperture speed).

Nikon 70-300mm f/4-5.6G AF Nikkor SLR Camera Lens
Rating:
For the money, this lens is a GREAT deal in my opinion. I have taken some unbelievable photos with this camera, ranging from animals to motocross. Many of the photos look like they are magazine quality. If you aren’t used to a pro-quality lens (which I am not), you’ll think this lens is the greatest thing since sliced bread. In my amateur opinon, it seems to focus quickly (of course that depends on whether the item is close-up, lighting etc; can range from instant to a couple of seconds … if you are trying to capture a fast-moving object, I DO recommend that you already have the focus in the approximate focus range, and then the lens will focus in about a 1/10th of a second). So don’t take a picture of a flower that is 5 feet away, and expect to instantly snap a picture of an Indy car flying by 50 feet away at 200MPH … be ready for the Indy car, focus on the track before the car comes by, and you’ll probably get an awesome shot!

I’m not saying that every single shot turns out great – when zoomed to the max (especially if the conditions are cloudy or dark), a good number of my action shots were somewhat blurry. Since I have the new Nikon D50 (digital SLR), if I snap 5 pictures and 3 of them are blurry I can instantly delete them (or delete them when I get home). But if I had a film camera, I might not be quite as happy if I had to pay for developing some blurry pictures.

The actual zoom level is very good – I don’t know the exact magnification level, but it is as much as you could want if you don’t have the camera mounted on a tripod. The construction seems very sturdy and “professional” looking – included is a nice “hood” that goes over the end of the lens, and makes you feel like a pro!

If you are professional wildlife photographer, and are seeking out the perfect photo of the extremely rare and endangered African-duckbilled-yellow-breasted-warbler, then pay $1,000 for a true pro-quality lens that can stabilize images, etc. But if you are a weekend-warrior photographer who wants to be able to capture some pro-quality shots (but your income doesn’t depend on it) at a fraction of the price, then this is THE lens for your Nikon camera.

Nikon 70-300mm f/4-5.6G AF Nikkor SLR Camera Lens
Rating:
First, the negatives:

1. It’s not an ED Nikkor.

2. It’s not terribly fast

The pluses:

1. It’s the perfect compliment to the stock 18-70mm zoom

2. It’s really cheap.

This lens will not resolve as many lines, or deliver as much contrast as a kilobuck Nikkor zoom. But it will deliver surprisingly good results in a 6 Mpixel D-70. Between this lens and the 18-70 supplied with the D-70, you’ll be set until you decide you must have that exotic 12mm or 600m/2.8.

Nikon 70-300mm f/4-5.6G AF Nikkor SLR Camera Lens
Rating:
The 70-300 G is definitely one of the least expensive lenses to get you to 300 mm, but there are some tradeoffs with the low price tag. I’ve found my lens to be pretty soft throughout the zoom range (mine is soft even stopped down) and relatively slow to focus (D70). The lens performs best in well lit environments and is capable of taking high quality pictures, but may require more post processing and effort than faster lenses to achieve these results.

I bought the lens mainly to get the zoom range at an affordable price, but plan to replace it in the near future (probably will sell the lens). The build quality isn’t the best, but it is still pretty durable. Recommended for beginning photographers or photographers on a budget (like myself), but others may be left wanting more. Still, it is sold at a great price.