Nikon70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED IF AF-S VR Nikkor Zoom Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

Review updated on May 30, 2014I recently lost, i.e., someone walked off with my camera bag. Luckily I had my camera in hand at the time, but I lost all of my camera accessories, and my Nikon 55-300mm lens =:-OI took my time and looked around before I decided what I wanted for a long lens in my camera bag. I frankly would have loved something in the 400-600mm range, but I was not up for the $2000-$10,000 price tag that goes along with those lenses. So I looked seriously at a new Nikon Nikkor 55-300mm replacement lens and this Nikon Nikkor 70-300mm lens. When I saw that I could get a reliable refurbished Nikon VR ED 70-300mm lens for about the same price as a new 55-300mm lens I jumped at the chance.I have only had this lens for a few weeks, and have taken maybe 100-200 photos with it.The minimum focal distance is 4.9 feet, which takes a little getting used to after the shorter minimum focal distance of the 55-300mm lens. At the same time the 70-300 lens has a wider lens (67mm vs the 58mm of the 55-300 lens). This means that the 70-300 can let more light in. It also means that I probably need to be more aware of when and when not to use the accompanying lens hood.The reported weight of the 70-300 lens is 1.6 lbs, slightly heavier than the 1.3 lb 55-300 lens, but somehow it "feels" heavier than that.The 70-300 is actually quite a bit longer than the 55-300 lens, 5.6" vs 4.8". This is not really that big of a deal, except that the longer lens doesn't fit conveniently in my camera bag (Case Logic CPL-106 DSLR Camera Shoulder Bag). The 55-300 lens mounted to my camera body (Nikon D5100) fit nicely into this bag, but the longer 70-300mm lens doesn't. I can still zip the top shut, but it's a tight fit, and the top bulges :-(The 70-300 lens also makes an odd clicking sound (that you can get used to) whenever you use autofocus.UPDATEI've been using this lens for nearly a year now, but I've noticed that while it does a good job, it doesn't do a great job mounted to my Nikon D5100. The image, at least in the case of my lens/camera body combo, is just slightly out of focus. It's annoying. My guess is that I didn't do my homework before buying and I got a lens that was not intended to be used with the D5100 camera body. I don't have another Nikon 55-300 mm lens to compare to this 70-300 mm lens, but I do have a different camera with zoom capabilities. When I took the same shots with the other camera, the other camera consistently provided clearer images. It looks like it's time to sell this lens and get a 55-300 mm that is meant to be used with my camera body.Don't get me wrong, I still believe this is still a top-notch lens, I just don't have the right camera body to take advantage of its full potential.5 stars.

I purchased this lens over a year ago and to date, it is still one of my favorite lenses to use. If you reading this review, you probably have read all of the other reviews and heard about its minor quirks (slow AF speed and softness at 300mm). However, if you know its limits, you can work around most of these issues.I mainly use this lens for daytime bird photography on my D90 with the occasional sports/triathlon picture taking. This lens has a maximum aperture of f/4.5 at 70mm which increases to f/5.6 when zoomed to 300mm. Because it is a relatively "slow" lens, I wouldn't recommend taking low-light pics with it. Unless if you are into abstract photography or something and dig blurry or light streaked pictures.Build Quality:The lens feels really good. A little too plasticy but still pretty good. It has a pretty nice heft to it too. It is mostly made out of plastic with the exception of the metal top bit of the lens just after the zoom ring. The lens mount is also metal which is lovely. The zoom ring feels fine and decently smooth. The focus ring is a little stickier and offers a bit more friction but it is still easy to operate. I have had no issues with zoom creep when the lens is pointing downwards. This lens also features a rubber gasket around the mount of the lens. This further protects your camera and the lens from dust and debris. The petal-type lens hood that the lens comes with is fairly large and does its job well. The lens also smells nice too. A bit of rubbery smell mixed with with a hint of new electronics smell. The anti-glare coating also casts a pretty cool mix of colors when you look into the glass. It's a sort of greenish, redish, yellow.Image Quality:This is where some of the minor flaws of the lens comes in. The pictures from this lens are tack sharp in the 70-200mm range even at the maximum aperture. From 200-300mm, the images soften considerably at max aperture. It isn't really a big deal and not noticeable unless if you aggressively crop your images. At 300mm, if you stop up (or is it down?) the aperture to f8 or f11, the images do get sharper but aren't as sharp as in the 70-200mm range. Comparing it to the Nikon 300mm f4 which I recently acquired, the 70-300mm definitely isn't as sharp as the 300mm/f4 even when stopped down. The 300mm f4 is just a beast of a lens.Autofocus Speed:Decently fast at 70mm, slows a little at 150mm, slows down a little more at 210mm, slows down considerably at 300mm. Hunts a lot at 300mm, especially when focusing in the dimly lit environments. This lens has a manual AF over-ride which enables you to grab the focus ring at any time. I use this feature a lot to conk the lens back on track if it starts to focus hunt in the wrong direction. Not a major issue, but I can definitely see it becoming a little annoying if you are trying to focus in on something fast moving. AF is quiet which is nice.The 70-300mm lens also features Nikon's Vibration Reduction tech which helps you avoid shaky pictures from shaky hands when you are using slower shutter speeds. It really works well and its a wonderful addition to this lens.Overall, a good but not perfect lens. It is definitely a step-up from its little brother, the 55-200mm in terms of IQ and AF speed.