I wanted a prime long lens to use with my D300 for a trip to Alaska and wanted to hold down the cost. My 70-300 was just too slow for low light days and animals in shadows. I considered renting a better lens but ran into some insurance complications. Decided this lens was a good compromise with old technology but superb optics. It integrated okay with my camera with only a small loss of features, and the price was right. Like: Sweet, sharp, focus. Out performs my Nikon 70-300 zoom in low light. Great value, beats renting, I am able to make it work in most situations. Dislike: low depth of field at wide open f4, with no VR must use tripod or monopod,(wish it was f2 and Vibration Reduction II).
While this lens brings you upclose and personal in many situations, it does have it's ups and downs. Great crystal clear shots, but a little slow on the focus at times. Great lens for still life or birds. Good lens for daytime sports action or outdoor stuff. The weight could be an issue for some... make sure you use a mono or tripod to cut the fatigue factor for extended use on a shoot. I bought this because I shoot sports a lot, and needed the length to get some good shots works good at night with a high power flash
I shoot a d2x, so i have a cropped censor. on my camera this lens becomes 450mm. the image quality is incredible. I took a photo of my niece at 30 yards. 125th at f11. the sharpness was unbelievable...then I blew up the photo so that only the hairs of her eyebrows filled the frame. each hair was in perfect focus. wow. Definitely worth every dime. The body is solid, but heavy.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Robust, simple and uncluttered lens, does its job without fanfare or calling a lot of attention to itself. The key to razor sharp images with this lens is to maintain quick shutter speed. I set my D200 to shutter priority and set shutter speed at 1/640. ISO can be set to 800 without loss of detail. This s every bit as sharp as my Nikon 70-200 f2.8 VR, without all the bells and whistles. Bokeh is beautiful with this lens, though not as pronounced as 70-200 VR at 2.8. I use Really Right Stuff ballhead, so I purchased the much sturdier RRR collar for my 300mm. This adds tremendous rigidity to a tripod setup. Sure, I'd like a larger aperture (2.8) and VR, but this lens is what it is, a terrific lens for the bucks that earned its First String ranking in my all-pro gear lineup. Try it, you'll like it!Read full review
Amazing lens Great between my 70-200VR & 400mm F2.8 This lens in nice and not 4-6,000 like the 200-400mm which in my opinion isn't a close match to my 400mm F2.8 nor the 70-200vr. This lens I can hand hold and keep on one of my d3 bodies. It's seems to be great so far! I also will add the 1.7 teleconvertor to it as well. Rick Paris www.rickparis.com
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