Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3G ED Vibration Reduction Zoom Lens with Auto Focus for Nikon DSLR Cameras

I purchased this lens for use with a Nikon D3300 camera. I wanted a wide-ranging zoom lens to cover as much "territory" as possible without having to change (and carry) extra lenses. I read a number of online reviews before purchasing and I would encourage others to do the same. The chief competitor for this lens is the Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR (product 2196). Product 2196 differs from the lens being reviewed here (product 2216) in three significant ways: 1) it goes one f-stop faster (f/5.6 vs. f/6.3) at 300 mm focal length, 2) it weighs 9.9 oz. more, and 3) it costs about $100 more (as of this writing). Most reviews I've read indicated the sharpness and clarity of the two lenses are comparable. For me, the weight savings (and price) trumped the 1 f-stop. Saving a half-pound around my neck all day was more important to me. The $100 savings wasn't bad either. One real bonus feature of this lens is its great macro capability. At 300mm it will focus amazingly close and the image quality is superb. It is now my go-to macro lens. A minor downside is that as of this writing, there is no firmware (yet) for auto-correcting lens distortion for this lens. For me, this is not an issue, but just be aware. As others have pointed out, this does not come with either a case or a lens hood. Again, be aware. Bottom line: this is a great "cover lots of bases" lens. I am very happy with it.UPDATE: As of 12 September 2014, lens distortion correction firmware is available for this lens (firmware L 2.005). See the Nikon website for details and installation instructions. I installed this on my D3300 and distortion corrections worked properly. One other comment. After upgrading to the new firmware, my older version of ViewNX 2 (free Nikon software) would not work with RAW files on which the corrections were applied. After upgrading to the newest version of ViewNX2 (free), everything worked fine.

This isn't the sharpest, lightest, or best lens you will buy. But for the price, and for being an all-in-one from 18-300 mm, it's excellent. I have sharper lenses, but they're primes, and if I'm not shooting a wedding or corporate event, this is the one lens I put on my camera. Photos are very sharp, and perfect for sharing with friends, family, and even printing for my wife's scrapbooks.The low-light capability of this lens is very decent when coupled with my D7500. I've taken some very nice photos and video with this lens. I like that it is also lighter than my older 18-200 and the VR appears to function better as well. When used at the extremes (18 or 300), you will need to do some lens correction in Lightroom or Photoshop, but it's not so bad that if you skip it, it will look bad (unless you're taking photos of something that needs to be straight; then you will notice it). It's an easy fix, and well worth it.I highly recommend this lens as a good walk-around lens. Nothing else I've tried matches its versatility to price ratio.

This Nikkor zoom is outstanding. I am very experienced in photography and I was pretty skeptical about such range of zoom, as this one has. My previous zoom Nikkor was 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G AF-S DX VR - good lens and was nearly perfect for my Nikon D70 and then Nikon D90 cameras. However, after buying Nikon D7100 I quickly figured out, that 18-200 is not sharp enough for D7100.I was waiting for test result and samples of Tamron 16-300 mm zoom lens. That result wasn't very satisfactory for me, especially at 300 mm. Then Nikon put to the market this 18-300 mm f/3.5-6.3 G ED VR lens and after reading Ken Rockwell's review and checking most of available samples ( one company was even using same camera (Nikon D7100) and same places for testing both Tamron 16-300 and Nikon 18-300 lenses, I made my choice. Of course, Tamron's 16mm wide angle looks very expressive and it has closer macro ability, but at 300 mm it fails. I was enlarging full sized original samples of both lenses at 300 mm: Nikon image was remaining sharp when Tamron had already blurred image. So, I made my choice and I am VERY happy with 18-300 mm Nikkor zoom. The lens is ultra sharp at any focal distances and seems to me even sharper at 300 mm than 18 mm, has very decent macro throughout the zoom range and superior VR ( 4 stops between 18-200mm and about 5 stops at 300 mm),not heavy and compact. For such zoom range it is making outstanding performance.I can recommend it to everyone who needs high performance compact and lightweight all in one zoom lens for almost any occasions.

This lens replaced my 2 old ones 18-55mm and 55-200mm. Couldn’t believe how light it was and fit right in into my neoprene holder. The focus is amazing, quiet slide out and beautiful natural colors!Was super surprised about how quickly I can focus on far objects in the water and moving animals! Didn’t require a lot of stability to get clear pictures! Amazing performance in small format!