Nikon 70-300 mm f/4-5.6G Zoom Lens with Auto Focus for Nikon DSLR Cameras

So you are looking for a good lens? You want something that will take great pictures, but you don't want to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars? Well this is the lens for you! I have used several 70-200, 70-255 and 70-300 mm lenses in stores which considering them and the answer is simple: You can't beat a Nikkor lens.This lens has excellent clarity and optics. I am the director of the Nicholas Copernicus Observatory at the University of Miami and I have extensive expierence in optics. I can tell you, without a doubt, that you wont find a better lens than this for twice the price. I have only bought Nikon cameras and lenses, but I get plenty of chances to use other ones at the observatory as different people bring their equipment to learn how to use it better. No matter how many cameras I use, I still recommend Nikon above all else.I presently use this lens with a Nikon D70s camera.There is a more expensive version available, the Nikon 70-300mm f/4-5.6D AF Nikkor SLR Camera Lens, which has superior optics. I highly recomend that lens if you are a professional who needs perfect clarity on sunny days for nature photography at the 300mm length. If you are an amateur or even a semi-professional, if you use this in lower light, or if you are using the shorter length most of the time, save the $200 price difference and save it toward another lens!

Quite often people dismiss cheap lenses (under $200). While there are certainly bad lenses in this price range, there are often lenses that are surprisingly good. Many of these are Nikon's cheaper consumer lenses.I bought this lens for use on my Nikon D700 and D40 until I get around to buy a nicer telephoto, which would cost significantly more. I wasn't expecting a whole lot, but I have been pleasantly surprised with the quality of the pictures for the price. The sharpness and colors are significantly better than another Cheap lens at 70-210mm (can't remember the brand, it was an off-brand).There are a few drawbacks to this lens, of course. This lens does auto-focus on cameras with AF and G capability, but must be manually focused on cameras that do not. This includes some other 35mm SLRs as well as Nikon's newer consumer SLRs that don't contain a focusing motor. These cameras would include the D40, D40x, D60, D3000, D3100, and D5000. I own a D40 and can use this lens on it, but have to focus manually. You also can't adjust the aperture on old manual-focus cameras.There is also no image stabilization, therefore to take consistent sharp images in low light you need to use a fast shutter speed, which may not always be easy to do. This isn't the fastest lens either, starting at f/4 at 70mm and f/5.6 at 300mm. Because of both of these omissions this lens works best in good light unless you have a camera that performs well at higher-ISO settings or you have a flash that can compensate.I've also noticed that the autofocus is a bit slow, as well as loud. It's not as bad when the focus adjustments are small however, making it usually fine for tracking moving subjects, it just becomes inconvenient if for example you are tracking a soccer player and at some point accidently focus on the background and have to go back.The final drawback I noticed is there seems to be a little bit of distortion and softness as you reach 300, but it's acceptable considering the price of this lens.Overall this is a great deal. There are some conveniences and frills that are left out, as mentioned above, but considering this is only $130 I feel you can't go wrong. If you don't have a telephoto for your Nikon and considering this because you don't want to spend $500+, buy this. It's worlds better than nothing. Just keep in mind that the autofocus will not work if you have a D40/40x/60/3000/3100/5000.

Though this product does not offer the autofocus option it will for other Nikor enabled cameras such as the D300, D500, D2000, D3000 and D5000 cameras, it is still an excellent buy. Originally even I thought it would allow for Autofocus for the D3000 SLR digital camera I have, but even without that it's still quite useful and just worth the effort. Offers range settings for distance and when coupled with range-finding tools in the D3000 still will give you excellent focusing adjustability in manual mode. Clear as a bell lens means excellent photography at any magnification and distances from 7 feet to 30 feet at close range, and very clear shooting for further distances.This product was purchased from this seller. Seller shipped very quickly, and packaged this product very well. Clear invoicing with product. Product shipped new, in the box. On a scale of 1 to 10 in satisfaction, this gets a 10. Very pleased with service.

Honestly, I dunno what I'm doing, so I also purchased the dummies book. Anyway, where I live, there's a lot of private planes that fly over and when I take a picture with my standard 18-55 lens, I can see the design on the planes pretty good. I started to wonder if I could see the people in it too with a longer lens so I bought this. I tried to snap one of the planes, and the angles sucked, so I couldn't see the people, however I was able to see great detail on the planes.. numbers and letters even! I decided to get serious and tried to take some real photos. This lens is AWESOME! Everything I took a picture of looked like it came from a magazine. I took a picture of a monarch butterfly up close. Did you know some have blue on it?? Until I used this lens, I didn't! The only thing that's difficult about this lens is that it's manual focus. To get a great shot, I can't focus fast enough and I ended up getting a picture of a super clear blade of grass and a blurry bee. :( (I'd be aiming for the bee). Also, when I THINK I have a clear shot, it turns out I don't. I've gotten better at it, so it's definitely an issue on my part, not the lens. I recommend it!