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The Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Zoom Lens works on both FX and DX-format D-SLR cameras. The lens features a broad zoom range, and it close-focuses down to 18" at every focal length.
On an FX body, the AF-S 28-300 ED VR covers nearly every aspect of travel, landscape, and portrait photography - including those elusive distant subjects. On a DX-format camera, the apparent focal length gets a 1.5x bump and it turns into a long-range ace-up-the-sleeve. The VR II image stabilization allows you to handhold the your camera at up to 4 shutter speeds slower than would otherwise be possible, assuring dramatically sharper still images and stable video capture.
For critical focusing-moments the lens has a M/A focus mode switch that allows the photographer to quickly change between manual and autofocus modes. The autofocusing is remarkably smooth and quiet - thanks to Nikon's silent wave motor system. The aperture diaphragm boasts no fewer than 9 blades that produce a rounded opening - a feature that will be greatly appreciated by bokeh-lovers everywhere!
The lens elements have been treated with Nikon's Super Integrated Coating - an optical lens coating process that maximizes light transmission while enhancing clarity and contrast. All of these world-class features add up to the AF-S 28-300 ED VR being a go-to lens for just about every adventure.
| Performance | |
|---|---|
| Focal Length | 28 - 300 mm |
| Aperture |
Maximum: f/3.5 - 5.6 Minimum: f/22 |
| Camera Mount Type | Nikon F |
| Format Compatibility |
Nikon FX/35mm Film Nikon DX |
| Angle of View |
74° - 8° DX Picture Angle: 53° - 5° |
| Minimum Focus Distance | 1.64' (50 cm) |
| Magnification | 0.32x |
| Maximum Reproduction Ratio | 1:3.12 |
| Groups/Elements | 14/19 |
| Diaphragm Blades | 9 |
| Features | |
|---|---|
| Image Stabilization | Yes |
| Autofocus | Yes |
| Tripod Collar | No |
| Physical | |
|---|---|
| Filter Thread | 77 mm |
| Dimensions (DxL) | Approx. 3.26 x 4.5" (8.28 x 11.43 cm) |
| Weight | 1.76 lb (800 g) |
REVIEW SNAPSHOT®
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Most Liked Positive Review
Not a perfect lens, but .....
Autofocus: autofocus is quite fast. Not as fast as say the 24-70 f/2.8 but it's still reasonably fast and should be good enough for normal use on my D700 (check out some...Read complete review
Autofocus: autofocus is quite fast. Not as fast as say the 24-70 f/2.8 but it's still reasonably fast and should be good enough for normal use on my D700 (check out some of the action shots i'm going to post below). The lens does generate quite a bit of strange noise during focusing. It's not as noisy as the older AF lenses but i've never hear this kind of noise before on other AFS lenses. When i first got the lens, i actually thought my lens may have some problems but the other 28-300 VR are also reporting the similar experience so i guess this is "normal". The autofocus would hunt around a bit when shooting dynamic scenes under very dim light.Size and weight: with a 77mm filter thread, it's not a small or light weight lens. but then it's not a 70-200 VR neither. It is a bit shorter than the 70-300VR and slightly bigger and heavier than the 18-200VR.Sharpness: Didn't really do any real test but by looking at the real life photos i took it seems quite good even at wide open. Just remember this is a superzoom so you can't compare it with a prime lens or even a f/2.8 zoom lens. Just stop down to f/8 if you want very good sharpness, but to be honest, even when shooting at wide open, the image quality is still not too bad for a 10x zoom lens. Image at 300mm wide open is slightly soft but definitely useable.CA: i notice a bit of CA at wide open, but it's not too serious.VR: It's quiet and quite effective. I tested it by shooting at 50mm handheld. At 1/3s shutter speed , i can still get a reasonable percentage of sharp/ok photos. If i use something to support my body/hand, my shutter speed can probably go even lowerDistortion: So far I think this is probably the weakest area of this lens. Distortion exists throughout the whole focal range. It's quite obvious but if you ask me i think it's acceptable since distortion is really common for the superzooms. The Canon 28-300 has this problem, the Tamron 28-300 also has this problem, even the not so "super" zoom lenses like the Nikon 18-105 has similar problems. So if you like shooting brick walls, this is probably not the best lens for you. But if you like to shoot something else, then this is probably not a serious problem.Vignetting: On my D700, it is noticable at wide open but much better than my 50 1.4G or 70-200 f/2.8 VRMy thoughts:It's not a perfect lens (the distortion throughout the whole focal range, slightly soft at wide open..etc), but I think Nikon did a great job in creating a lens which has a very good balance between the size/weight/price/IQ. When Nikon first announced this lens, a lot of people questioned if any FX user really want this kind of superzoom. But i've a feeling Nikon got it right and it will become very popular lens among the Nikon FX or even some DX DSLR users. You can find some sample photo i took with this lens:[@]
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Most Liked Negative Review
All-in-one bliss, but with compromises
Title says it all. If you are looking for one lens to cover just about the full gamut of common focal lengths, this is the lens. Sounds great right? Read on.
Title says it all. If you are looking for one lens to cover just about the full gamut of common focal lengths, this is the lens. Sounds great right? Read on.
First off, the lens is built like a tank. It is on par with the construction quality of Nikon pro glass, not sure about the seals, but you could defend yourself with this lens if you needed to! As a consequence of the build quality is the added weight. This is a heavy sucker and when you use 200-300mm it gets LONG and throws off the balance of your camera. Not a deal breaker, but also consider you will get funny looks with the obscene appearance of the lens when at 300mm!
This lens is slow, but in theory this is compensated for by the VR. If low light is your thing, you may want to look somewhere else. Additionally, you will not get those creamy soft out of focus areas like faster primes. Don't forget that the widest aperture is variable too depending on focal length. Image sharpness is pretty good, but not on par with pro level zooms or even a less costly set of primes. Comparing this lens to the fantastic 70-200mm F2.8 VRII is an eye opener. If sports is your thing, save your money and get the latter lens it is that much better. Autofocus while good, may not be fast enough for some sports. I shot soccer at it was good, but not as fast as the 70-200.
Here is the big downside, distortion. Gobs of it. If you use it creatively you might get results you want, but be mindful how you use the lens especially at the wide end or you may be rather dissappointed.
Overall, the lens is best for someone who wants only ONE lens and isn't too overly concerned about IQ, distortion etc. This is not a pro level lens nor one I'd use for critical shoots, but to travel with this may be ideal, but again, don't forget how heavy this sucker is!
Reviewed by 338 customers
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Pros
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Comments about Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Zoom Lens:
Very reliable and fast lens
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Comments about Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Zoom Lens:
Awesome do it all lens for those times when taking a bag of lenses isn't an option.
It does everything quiet well under fair conditions.
This is a do it all lens in one tight package. It would be unfair to compare this lens to Pro 24-70 2.8, 70-200 2.8, or any fast primes. For its purposes, it is sharp enough, fast enough, small enough, light enough.
I think this is all around great one solution travel lens for FX shooters. If your a DX shooter I would go with 18-200vr.
As stated before it's not as sharp as pro lenses but it is quiet sharp.
Lens is not exactly small or light but still smaller and lighter than any combination of lenses to cover the same range.
AF can be slow in the low light but not a deal breaker.
There is a little bit of lens creep... (not as bad as in 18-200vr) but lock on the lens can prevent that.
I'd highly recommend it to those who can compromise some quality for convenience.
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Comments about Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Zoom Lens:
Easy to use, no problems at all.
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Comments about Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Zoom Lens:
This lens as excellent image quality. I use it with my D3 as a walk around and as a general purpose lens. It is rather heavy, but I don't mind it too much. I use this with the Black Rapid strap, so it is easier on the shoulders.
I liked the range of the 18-200 on the DX camera, and chose this to give me the same range with the FX camera.
The only downside is the bokeh. I would not expect much from this type of lens, but if you zoom in and move in close to your subject, the bokeh is splotchy (rather than smooth like most f/2.8 lenses).
There is a little creep in the zoom when carrying it on my side/walking, but it is minimal - especially for a large range zoom like this one.
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Comments about Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Zoom Lens:
Got exactly what I was looking for for my amazing camera.
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Comments about Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Zoom Lens:
Love the way the lens works in low lighting.
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Comments about Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Zoom Lens:
This is a great FX travel lens, very durable and great focal length.
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Comments about Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Zoom Lens:
After using this lens for a couple of weeks I'm impressed with how the quality of zoom lenses has improved so dramatically compared to older zooms. The zoom range of this lens is amazing enough but I'm floored by the quality of the images I get when hand-holding and shooting at 300mm. Pixel peeking leaves no doubt that the optics are superb and that the image stabilization works well.
Weighing only half the amount of my old long zoom lens and replacing two lenses has resulted in a much lighter camera bag for me to carry.
In very low contrast situations the lens would sometimes have problems focusing but in all other situations it was fast and quiet. It is easy to over-ride the auto focus and use manual focus which I found to be very easy and effective. I'm tempted to use manual focus more often than I have in the past to ensure I get focus in the correct spot in tricky situations because of the degree of control it gives and excellent gearing.
Using 77mm filters with the zoom at 28mm results in vignetting so unless you are prepared to crop your images you are better off with larger filters and a step-up ring.
The plastic lens hood is a bit flimsy. It does the job but it can come off if it is knocked.
Due to the relatively large minimum apetures I thought that throwing backgrounds out of focus might have been an issue, but it wasn't. I'm very happy with the bokeh.
Despite the minor problems I'm very impressed with this zoom lens. The proof is in the pudding as they say and I'm finding it easier than ever to get beautifully sharp images with good contrast and color at all focal lengths.
So far I've used this lens for wildlife photography, portraits, and landscapes.
The reach of the 300mm has allowed me to get much better images of birds and small animals than I was able to obtain previously. Camera shake is much, much less of a problem than it was with my 200mm zoom and of course the subjects take up more of the image. I'm staggered by the success rate I have with slow shutter speeds.
The only problem I have had with portraits is very shallow depth of field. I have to be very careful with focusing when shooting wide open. I wasn't expecting this to be a problem due the the large minimum apetures. Otherwise I'm very happy using this lens for portraiture where the zoom function makes varying and framing shots easy.
Most of my landscape images have been shot at small f-stops with the aid of a tripod and I'm more than happy with the lens performance. There is some distortion at 28mm but it's wonderful to see how sharp the images are when I view them at full size on my computer.
For me, buying this lens has been a win-win. A much lighter camera load and sharper images. It sure beats carrying around a bunch of prime lenses or shorter range zooms. This is now my primary lens due to its versatility.
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Comments about Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Zoom Lens:
Awesome lens - quiet, fast, versatile.
Arrived as promised.
Thanks B&H Photo, I love your products and service
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Comments about Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Zoom Lens:
My main all around lense
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Comments about Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Zoom Lens:
If weight is an issue or you don't like carrying around multiple lenses, this is a perfect lens.
Also, B&H has one of the best prices around for this lens.
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Comments about Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Zoom Lens:
I had the 18-55 and also a 70-300 zoom for my photography needs, but I sure missed some moments while changing lenses to adapt to different situations. With the 28-300, although heavy, I don't have to worry about changing lenses or missing great photo moments !
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Comments about Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Zoom Lens:
In traveling I think this will be one of the few lens that I will need to take on a flight. Weight has become a problem with me due to physical problems so my bag must become lighter.
Although the lens is not as fast as my other ones, it is working out just fine.
I will test it more later.
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Comments about Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Zoom Lens:
I am an on-the-go shooter and never know what focal length I'll need at any given moment. Changing lenses is not usually an option. This lens is quick, clear and the ability to focus at 18" is a big help when shooting details at weddings. The only draw back is the weight, it would be nice if it were lighter but it does balance out on my 700. I highly recommend this lens.
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Comments about Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Zoom Lens:
I use this lens exclusively for travel.
The lenses not too heavy which makes it easy to carry.
the lens would be better if it was F4
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Comments about Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Zoom Lens:
I am a photo enthusiast and I bought it to use at my vacation trip together with some other lenses. This one is great, nice zoom range, fast focus, ok for taking pictures at low light. At long distance it is better to use a tripod otherwise you will get some blur... To carry it on during a long period could be exhausting due its weight.
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Comments about Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Zoom Lens:
I've had the 28-300mm now for about 7 months and it is my go to lens for just about everything (outside of when I need to use my fast shooting 1.4G lens). It just about covers the whole spectrum from modeling shoots to nature and architecture shots. If you're looking for one lens to help reduce the amount of equipment you carry, this is the lens I would recommend.
It is a bit on the heavier side, but you expect that with larger lenses, so that's not really a drawback.
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Comments about Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Zoom Lens:
One of the best multipurpose lens
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Comments about Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Zoom Lens:
I sold four lenses on [@] used in less than a month. I did not have to wait long for my replacement lens. It is everything that all of the reviews indicated. All pros, no cons.
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Comments about Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Zoom Lens:
This is the only lens used on my recent trip to East Africa. Great animal shots both close up and long range.
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