Nikon Telephoto AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4D ED-IF Autofocus Lens USA

Comments about Nikon Telephoto AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4D ED-IF Autofocus Lens:

Bought this lense after reading many positive reviews. After 2 weeks of use I am very happy with it. I huge upgrade from the 70-300 zoom.

Comments about Nikon Telephoto AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4D ED-IF Autofocus Lens:

I have been using this for wildlife. I like the nice quick auto focus on the D7000 body. Nice edge to edge focus.

Comments about Nikon Telephoto AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4D ED-IF Autofocus Lens:

This lens is a good choice if you like wild life photography and don't want to spend thousands of dollars on one of the long-range high-end professional lenses. I use it on my D90 in combination with a TC-14E II 1.4x converter, which translates into a 630mm equivalent on a 35mm camera. To "seal" the lens, which does not have glas at its rear end, I leave the converter attached to the lens at all times.

Influenced by negative comments on the tripod collar that comes with the lens, I ordered a Kirk replacement collar right with it only to send it back immediately after I received the lens. In my opinion there is nothing wrong with the original Nikon lens collar. Perhaps I was lucky with my specimen but I could not find any amount of give after tightening the collar properly or any other problems. Also, the Nikon collar has markings for lens rotation in 90-degree increments, which the Kirk replacement collar does not have. Since it is quite heavy and does not feature VR, I use this lens only mounted on a tripod (with quick-release system).

The built-in lens hood is very convenient. You just slide it over the lens barrel, and it will lock in extended position. However, in not extended "click-stop" position, it is not held in place too firmly, and I'm afraid that over the time this mechanism may wear out.

Having this said, I have been able to take excellent pictures with this lens, and would buy it again.

Comments about Nikon Telephoto AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4D ED-IF Autofocus Lens:

This lens simply does what it is supposed to do with no-frills performance.
With adequate lighting, very clean and sharp images are easy to come by. Excellent for birds and other wildlife and if you have the distance, stunning portraits can be produced.

Comments about Nikon Telephoto AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4D ED-IF Autofocus Lens:

This lens may take some practice to get used to it. I am fortunate that I had borrowed a friend's earlier version and practiced on it a while. This lens seems to work sharpest for me at f/5.6-11. I get brilliant results with or without the TC14-EII. When I need a bit more shutter speed, I crank the ISO on the D7000. I have not used it yet on my D700. The lens is light weight for its size and quite rugged. The tripod collar seems to be a newer type, but I can't be sure and haven't mounted it. As wonderful at it is, for a relatively inexpensive lens, for birds in flight, it is as good for long landscape shots. Highly recommended!
Note: The iris is visible from the rear, so cleaning the rear element is not recommended.

Comments about Nikon Telephoto AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4D ED-IF Autofocus Lens:

Used to take pictures of wild life in the Texas Hill Country!! Everything going very well so far.

Comments about Nikon Telephoto AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4D ED-IF Autofocus Lens:

I use this lens primarily for wildlife, including birds. Auto-focus is fast, especially when limited to 3m to infinity. Lightweight, produces sharp images wide open and can be hand-held. I've also used this lens for landscape and portraits with excellent results. Overall an excellent lens for a reasonable price.

Comments about Nikon Telephoto AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4D ED-IF Autofocus Lens:

I use the nikkor lens for wildlife an far away landscapes. You can get great seperation with this lens wide open. It brings far away mountain peak into great landscapes. Iam just too shaky ( I like to think too fast) to use this lens without a tripod or a monopod. VR sure would help this great lens!! A faster auto focus would help. I know some people us it for bird shots but I find running antelope hard to keep focused

Comments about Nikon Telephoto AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4D ED-IF Autofocus Lens:

I got this after I feel my Nikon 70-300mm does not have enough reach. I get 300mm because I want to shoot handheld and be able to carry it with me while traveling, with or without tripod. I also change the original collar to Kirk NC-300, plus getting together Nikon TC/14EII. With this combination, I get 420mm and light weight combination, able to go into my Thinktank UD35 without any problem. Truly portable and travel friendly.
One thing I observed is that if shoot below f/8, the DOF is rather narrow.

Comments about Nikon Telephoto AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4D ED-IF Autofocus Lens:

I LOVE this lens for any telephoto purpose. Super-sharp, a bit bulky but quite manageable, and not too heavy. If Nikon had put a bit of thought and effort into the tripod collar I would have given it five stars. THROW THE TRIPOD COLLAR AWAY and replace it with the Kirk model; in fact, buy the Kirk collar when you buy the lens and save yourself the aggravation. Collar issues aside, it is a lovely lens.

Comments about Nikon Telephoto AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4D ED-IF Autofocus Lens:

I primarily use this lens for nature (birds, flowers, insects, wildlife) and scenic photos. The sharpness and overall image quality are superb, and combined with the D7000 makes for a great nature lens even with significant cropping. VR could be useful, although that would add some complexity and cost that may not be worthwhile. And even though this is not a lightweight lens when compared to say a 35mm f/1.8, in the realm of super telephoto, it may be the best weight to performance ratio value in the Nikkor lineup.

Comments about Nikon Telephoto AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4D ED-IF Autofocus Lens:

I bought this as a backup to my 300 f2.8. I have been very impressed with the image quality from this lens. Some people have complained of "slow" focus, but I have not experienced anything like that. 4 stars due to the "clunky" tripod mount. Otherwise, great lens!

Comments about Nikon Telephoto AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4D ED-IF Autofocus Lens:

An excellent value, incredibly sharp and fast lens, cost alot less then f2.8 version. Highly recommended.

Comments about Nikon Telephoto AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4D ED-IF Autofocus Lens:

Amm: Bird photographer
Sharp as a tack in good light
For hand held it is A bit heavy, But I can work with it. will know more in the future

Comments about Nikon Telephoto AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4D ED-IF Autofocus Lens:

I upgraded from the Nikon 70-300 VR with the intention of photographing birds on a budget. This lens is a major improvement in almost every way over the 70-300. It focuses faster, is far sharper and has much nicer color rendition. Coupled with the Nikon 1.4 TC, this lens give you adequate reach to photograph smallish birds up to 40-50 feet away and larger birds up to 100 or so feet away. If you are patient and can get closer to the birds, then the lens performs tremendously. Highly recommended if your intention is a to take adequate bird photographs without spending many thousands of dollars on the exotic 500/600mm lenses.

Comments about Nikon Telephoto AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4D ED-IF Autofocus Lens:

I think that this is a great telephoto for someone who wants to travel light: images are sharp at all distances, it focuses quickly (on a D5000), and it is relatively small. I cannot give the lens a 5-star rating, however, because the tripod collar/foot assembly is really poorly designed: (1) when I have left the collar slightly loose to rotate the camera from landscape to portrait orientation and back, often the lens will come partially out of the collar (when pins on the lens align with the slots in the collar that allow the collar to be removed) forcing me to stop photographing and re-seat the lens in the collar; and (2) the lens vibrates horribly because of a poorly designed tripod foot. My solution was to by a Kirk after-market replacement collar that solves both of the problems noted above. The replacement collar is designed so that it cannot fall away from the lens during rotation, and the lens is visibly more stable. I convinced myself of the latter by using live view on maximum magnification with the lens locked down on a sturdy tripod and ball head first with the Nikon collar and then the after-market replacement; with the stock collar the image in live view essentially never stopped vibrating if I was touching the camera or seemingly even breathing on it, but with the replacement collar any vibrations quickly damped out to nothing and holding the camera gently did not induce vibration.

One other point: this lens works better with some teleconverters than others. I have used this lens with both Nikon 1.4 and 1.7X teleconverters and a Tamron/Kenko 1.4X teleconverter and I have been hard pressed to find any image degradation even with the lens wide open with either 1.4X converter (to my eye the Nikon teleconverter seems to produce photos with richer colours and more contrast wide open, but sharpness is very comparable with both converters to the lens by itself). Using a Nikon 1.7X teleconverter the lens will autofocus a bit slower but it did focus for me in all but low (outdoors dusk) light levels; however, I have never been able to produce a picture that was acceptably sharp not matter what aperture or shutter speed I used or how solidly my tripod was locked down. Depending on your definition of "acceptably sharp", I think that you will or will not be happy. Personally, I find that cropping photos taken with a 1.4X converter gave me more acceptable images than comparably-sized images using the 1.7X converter.

Comments about Nikon Telephoto AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4D ED-IF Autofocus Lens:

This lens is everything people said it was and more!!! The photos are TACK SHARP straight out of the camera! The Bokeh is incredible!!

I don't understand why people are saying it's heavy. I'm a woman that weighs 130lbs and I find that its so light, it's almost toy-like. It's lighter than the Nikon 70-200 VR I....

At 1/3 of the price of the 2.8 version, it just makes it that much better!!! This lens is for people that want a pro-nikon lens but do not want to pay the pro-nikon price!!!

Get it, you will be glad you did!!!

I can't say enough about this lens!

Comments about Nikon Telephoto AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4D ED-IF Autofocus Lens:

I bought this to add a little reach to my kit. I mostly shoot fast and wide (24mm f/1.4G is my everything lens). I have the 70-200 VR II but didn't really like it for bird photos--not enough contrast and reach. Plus I am interested in more wildlife photography in general. Anyway, I picked up this lens and I think it's just nifty! I don't know what people are talking about regarding the tripod collar--the one on my 300 seems rock solid.

The lens hunts a little for focus in dim lighting with little contrast, but not nearly as much as my 105 f/2.8G. (I have black dogs and I'm always wanting to photograph them after dark. This is disastrous even for a f/1.4 sometimes!)

I think this 300 will really rock with good lighting. I'm looking forward to discovering the pleasures of the longer telephoto. And I appreciate that Nikon makes a longer prime like this that is affordable for the rest of us. Those big f/2.8s are way out of my price range.

The only caveat with this lens: there is no back glass--the back of the lens is open to the aperture blades--so you won't be changing lenses in a dusty environment--particles that enter will end up behind the glass of the front element.

I say it's "heavy" but I imagine the faster telephotos are even more oppressive. This 300 seems about the same size and weight as my 70-200. With either, I have to brace myself.

Comments about Nikon Telephoto AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4D ED-IF Autofocus Lens:

I really like this lens. I mounted it on a D7000 to take pictures of birds or other wildlife. I use it on a tripod, so VR is not that important to me (I would not mind having it though). The lens is light enough to carry it for hours. The picture is very sharp even with a TC14 converter. I replaced the lens collar with a Kirk which is more convenient and may add a bit of rigidity.The first lens I received did not focus well manually[...] I find the autofocus accurate, but sometimes a bit slow.

Comments about Nikon Telephoto AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4D ED-IF Autofocus Lens:

I shoot a lot of sports photography as a stringer for a number of local newspapers. Primarily I've been using the Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 lens, but I wanted a lens with just a little more reach. The f/2.8 super telephoto lenses are more costly than I wanted to spend at the moment, but the 300mm f/4 was reasonable although admittedly an older lens. I've owned this lens 2 weeks now, and have put it through it's paces at high school baseball and girls soccer. It is crisp and sharp; has excellent color, near to no distortion and shooting mounted on a monopod is well balanced.

I have seen lots of complaints regarding the stock lens collar. I won't make any comment regarding it's build. All of my gear is equiped with quick release plates so I further invested on the Kirk replacement collar for personal convenience. I can say that the Kirk collar is built substantially more stable and looks like it would be much easier to use than the standard stock collar.

I honestly don't care about the lack of VR on this lens. Shooting fast moving sports action isn't something suited for VR anyway. I don't mind the lack of VR it hasn't affected my image quality and a good photographer knows what he's capable of and what his gear can capture anyway.