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This new Nikon lens has a compact and lightweight 4.3x zoom lens that is ideal for candids, portraits, travel and sports photography. Precise fingertip aperture adjustments are controlled from the camera body and Nikon optics provide great picture quality. A 4.9 (1.5m) minimum focusing distance allows you to achieve stunning close-ups at all focal lengths. Other features include: Nikon D-type design provides precise distance information for flash and ambient light exposure processes High-performance Nikon Super Integrated Coating offers superior color reproduction and minimizes ghost and flare HB-26 Lens Shade provided Compatible with the Nikon D1 Digital SLR, F5, F100, N80, N65, N60, N50, N5005, N4004, Pronea 6i and Pronea

Budget long zoom lens, nice – but not a mainstay
The G type lenses were originally introduced as budget Nikon optics for AF cameras. There are two main mechanical differences from the D type lenses. First, they don’t have any aperture settings at all as this is to be handled by the camera, and, second, they are external rather than internal focussing. Nikon have subsequently released higher quality G type lenses after market research showed that most professionals didn’t use the aperture ring any more. This particular lens, however, has the cheaper optics.

I bought this to use with the D100, which was Nikon’s first sub £2000 digital SLR, and is technically classified by them as ‘professional’ equipment. Nikon digitals have a magnification factor of approximately 1.5 x because the CCD sensor is only the size of APS film, not full frame 35mm. Effectively, therefore, this lens goes up to a 450mm equivalent, which is very long for a zoom lens.

All zoom lenses suffer by contrast with prime lenses. As a budget Nikkor, this lens clearly isn’t competing with Nikon’s premium zooms. On the other hand, at between one half and one third of the price, it’s a very attractive option for rounding out the longer end of your outfit.

We liked the overall compactness and light weight of this lens, although we didn’t like the generally cheap and plasticky feel. The autofocus works smoothly and the lens doesn’t drain the battery too much. On the other hand, we found it to be a little soft at the extreme end. This may be a result of UV haze, and it would probably be worth experimenting with a stronger UV filter than the standard Skylight. Speaking of filters, we were pleased that the thread is only 62mm, as this makes fixed filters much cheaper.

At f4.0 to 5.6 this is never going to be the fastest lens in your bag. I use it a lot with a monopod. You can also use faster film (or push process it) or, on digital, up the effective film speed to round the 1600 mark. At 1600, the slight softness of the lens is not going to bother you very much anyway.

I like having this lens in my bag. I don’t do a lot of extreme range shooting, and I wouldn’t really want to invest a huge amount of money in a long prime lens or premium quality zoom. Having this lens in the bag means I can be confident of getting _a_ shot when I need the extremes, and it’s physically light enough for me to take it everywhere.

Having said everything about this being a budget zoom, it _is_ still a Nikkor lens, and I would rather have this than an equivalent independent. In an ideal world I would have a range of long prime lenses at f2.8. In the real world, this is a good balance between cost, speed, quality and convenience.

Same optical quality as the ED version. This one BEST VALUE
I purchased the D version as an upgrade to this cheaper 70 – 300 G and after many test shots can find NO difference whatsoever in the optical quality between the two (I looked really hard). The D lens is built better than this G. On the D version I was very disapointed that only 1 of the 13 glass elements has ED glass and seems a bit of a con. The speed of focusing is also the same. This lens does suffer from a little purple fringing as does the D but otherwise takes good pictures. Strongly recommend that you buy this much cheaper G version of this lens. I suspect the optics are identical. You need a good steady tripod when used on maximum zoom.

Surprisingly good performer for the price
I was looking for a reasonably priced medium to long zoom for my Nikon F80. the 70-300mm seemed a good choice!
On delivery I was a bit disappointed at how light and plastic the lens felt – would it be fragile?
After shooting about twenty rolls of film through this lens I have to say I am pleasantly surprised – optical rendition is crisp and sharp. Focus is fast and responsive too, could this be because the lens motors have less weight to move in order to achieve focus? In comparison with my Tokina 24-200mm which is a very sturdy lump of metal and glass, the Nikon 70-300mm f4.0 to f5.6 zoom seems to focus about twice as fast.
I found this lens to be very good for action, wildlife and sports photography with very good results at the 300mm end when stopped down to f8. Although at such apertures, you need fast film (ISO 800+) to get the best out of it.
I also tried this lens on my Fuji Finepix S2 which is basically a converted digitalised Nikon F80, it performed well and provided an effective zoom range from 105mm to 450mm care of the the 1.5x multiplication factor when using lenses with this camera
I would not part with this lens, its cheap, robust and capable of producing very good images!