First of all I'll say that I ordered my lens as soon as Amazon had them available. I upgraded to next day shipping and got it 18 hours later - quick service. Thanks Amazon!
But now on to the real review...
This lens is fantastic - especially for $399. My first concern was whether it not it had a plastic or metal mount since some DX lenses in this price range have plastic. I even contacted Nikon and they couldn't (or wouldn't) tell me. Well, I was really pleased to see that it does have a metal mount. It has a nice solid feel to it. The zoom movement is smooth and I haven't had any problem with lens creep when I'm aiming it downward. Even when I point the camera downward and shake it, it won't creep.
I'm just beginning to get into testing it but my preliminary pictures are coming out nice - really nice. The sharpness is amazing and the lens produces a very nice bokeh. I posted the image of the dragonfly with the chicken wire background (see the customer uploads) Check out the detail in the wings. That shot says it all. It was HAND HELD and cranked all the way out to 300mm. The original image is great but a lot of the detail was lost with the upload to Amazon. But - none the less - it's still pretty sharp. The auto focus on this lens is fast, smooth, quiet and very accurate. It locked right in on the subject. It was set on aperture priority at f/8 1/500sec for the shot that I posted here (shot with a D-90).
The VR on this lens is great. The detail I get with hand-helds just amazes me. It has Nikon's VRII image stabilization and it even has a tripod detection mode that reduces any vibration from shutter release when it's on a tripod.
Colors are rendered accurately and the contrast is pretty sharp even at the max aperture. The lens is compact for a 300mm and it's lighter than my AF-S DX 18-200mm which I use as my regular walk-around. I'm sure the new 55-300 will be used as my walk around pretty frequently also.
All in all for an APS-C lens, Nikon did a great job with this one - especially for the price. It's a welcome addition to the DX line and I'm really glad I have one in my gear bag. Nikon 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR AF-S DX Nikkor Zoom Lens for Nikon Digital SLR
Pros:
+ Excellent Image Quality
+ Solid build with metal mount
+ Significantly better in all ways than the Nikon 55-200mm VR
Cons:
- Slight long (but that's expected for a telephoto like this)
I've owned (and subsequently got rid of) the Nikon 55-200mm and Sigma 18-250 OS. This lens beats them both significantly. The Sigma 18-250 OS was pretty nice when I needed to take only one lens with me, but that situation is rare.
I hardly shoot telephoto, but when I do, I'm glad I can turn to this new Nikon 55-300mm VRII lens. Low light focus hunts a little bit, but that's expected - and it's significantly better than the Sigma at equivalent low light.
This lens is much better than the older Nikon 55-200mm VR often sold as part of the kit. That lens feels like a toy with a plastic mount and cheap plastic feel. This lens has a much better build quality. Consequently, it's also more expensive.
If you're debating about the Nikon 55-200mm vs. this lens, I highly recommend you get this lens. I've been very happy with it.
I know it's twice as much but it's well worth it. I took about 150 shots with it this weekend and was blown away. Bokeh is beautiful and it is sharp from 55-300mm. I had the 55-200mm VR and this is a significant step up. It's more solidly built and the results are excellent. It's a huge lens, and heavy, but the shots speak for themselves. Great, great lens!
I just received my Nikon 55-300 lens and after taking pictures for an afternoon would like to share my impressions and opinions about the lens. I have had both the 55-200VR and the 70-300VR lens to compare it with.
Things I like:
1. Optically it is sharp with excellent color and contrast. I would rate it on par with the 70-300. Didn't do any extensive testing just compared pictures I have taken with both.
2. Lighter & smaller than the 70-300. Fits in camera bag better. Used to carry the 70-300 in a separate case.
3. Metal mount vs plastic mount on the 55-200 which was my biggest complaint with that lens. (optically I was pleased with the pictures I got from the 55-200) and 100mm more reach than the 55-200.
4. Solid, well built lens on par with other prosumer Nikon lens.
5. Wider than the 70-300. Equivalent of an 82.5-450mm vs 105-450mm.
Things I don't like:
1. Zoom action is a little sticky at the longer end. Not as smooth as either the 70-300 or 55-200 lens.
2. Slow auto focus. About the same as the 55-200 slower than the 70-300.
3. Manuel focus not as smooth as the 70-300 and harder to get precise focus. No instant override of auto focus, have to move a switch.
Overall I am pleased with the lens and will keep it. I added the Canon 500D 2 element closeup lens and get excellent closeup pictures, maybe not macro lens quality but very good. I also used the Nikon 3T & 4T close up lens with the 55-200 with excellent results. I would have been willing to spend a little more for this lens to have the instant manuel focus overide and faster focus of the 70-300 and smoother zoom action which is why I rated it 4 stars instead of 5. Which lens would I recommend? If you do not plan to purchase an FX camera I would get this one over the 70-300 for a DX camera. If you don't use a lot of telephoto and don't want to spend the money the 55-200 is an excellent alternative just be careful with the plastic lens mount. I hope this helps anyone who is debating which lens to buy. - Vr - Digital Slr - Nikon - Image Stabilization'
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