The first impression is the incredible build quality and its weight. They do not make them like that anymore. I also love the built-in lens hood, also metallic. The only plastic thing on it is the focus ring. The one I bought is over 20-25 years old, and looks like new. This baby was build to last. Maybe I was lucky that the seller preserved it so well, but the glass is perfect. No fungus, haze aso. The only downside that may be is that is completely manual. I have no problem with that. Being manual has some advantages. No AF motor to break, and you can tell it Exactly where your focus should be. Obviously, no vibration reduction, but also an advantage and a disatvantage. Less parts, less chances for things to break. I bought it mainly to shoot from a tripod, and I can tell you it does the job perfectly. Extremely sharp and saturated images. It IS an issue firing it handheld, but that can be surpassed. Go over 1/1000 sec and all should be fine. The focus ring is sturdy and takes some effort to turn it, but that makes it very, very precise. The aperture ring moves from f/4.5 to f/22 in one stop increments. Overall, I find it the best performance/value lens I have so far. Its price was less than $200! And it will last longer than any 300 mm or equivalent produced today! I love it and I hope that you all will have a chance to try it someday! There will be love at first sight.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
This is an 80's vintage lens. The seller described it accurately complete to the fleck of dust on the back side of the front element. I bought this lens for the solar eclipse in August and wanted a lens that would produce the fewest artifacts. I'll be using it on a Nikon D750. I read reviews that it did not produce ghost images. So, that was the first thing I tested for and was pleased to see that it was indeed free of ghosting. I suspect a currently produced lens of equal focal length will be a bit sharper and have a bit greater contrast. However, for the very low cost of entry and very high build quality, I expect to have lots of fun with this lens.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
This Lens fits My D1, D1h,D1X Camera Bodies. The Lens I bought may not be Non AI. This Lens does have the small secondary F stops indicative of AI. This is a VERY sharp Lens.I have used this Lens with a 7 Element Doubler (2X Converter). There is no sharpness loss in many shots. The Lens has enough weight to help stabilize (hold steady) when the shutter trips. The weight also provides a sort of ballast (resistance) against any shutter vibration. The weight of the D1 Cameras also helps in both stabilization and ballast. The shutter speed MUST be around one 640th of a second. Lower shutter speeds WILL degrade image sharpness. The above shutter speed is for a hand held shot of course.
I collect old manual focus lenses and already have a sharp, old 300mm f4.5 nikon kogatsu lens. The lens in the present review is newer, but was beat up with scratches on the objective lens and other signs of heavy use. The price was relatively low so I bid. Despite the scratches, the images are quite sharp on my Canon 7D using an $8 Nikkor - EOS adapter. I suspect there is a minor loss of contrast because of the scratches but will have to perform more detailed tests vs. other 300 mm lenses to be sure. The lens is built like a tank and I don't mind the weight so don't place too much emphasis on the 3 stars for weight. I think the lens is capable of excellent image quality even with the scratches and recommend the lens as a bargain for long distance photography. drj3253
Like many Nikkor lenses of this era (this instance is from 1965), the Nikkor-P 300mm f4.5 is big, heavy and cumbersome. Compared to the Miranda 300mm f4 of the similar vintage, which I have, the Nikkor is longer and more heavy. However, the image quality is great and mounted on a tripod and with a Micro 4/3 body "mounted" on the lens it works just fine as a manual-focus lens. I took some great photos of the full moon, and of a family member's graduation with this lens. I shot a lot of film (the "real raw format") with Nikon/Nikkor in the '70s and '80s and have a fondness bordering on fetish for these old legacy lenses. Ken Rockwell (google him) damns this particular lens with faint praise, suggesting you buy the later Nikkor-H 300mm f4.5 instead. Certainly the later version will give you the rotating tripod mount, rather than the two fixed-position screws.Read full review
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