Nikon AF-S 70-300mm VR

Nikon AF-S 70-300mm

The Nikon AF-S 70-300 f/4.5-5.6G VR was a lens that was eagerly anticipated by Nikon prosumers. I have to admit that when the lens was announced, I barely paid any notice as it wasn’t a focal length I was looking to buy into.

I was going to America on a vacation and decided that I really didn’t want to take the 70-200mm VR as there was no need, but I wanted something to cover me for the longer focal lengths and since this lens had come out a few months before I was to go, I decided I would buy it while I was there. Well, its now a year later and I still have the lens and have no plans to get rid of it.

It isn’t a very sexy lens as its not a fast f/2.8 zoom, but it has so much going for it. First off, there is the build quality which is actually very good for a lens in this price class. Then there is the fact it is an AF-S lens, so the 70-300 VR focuses quite fast and near enough silently. It also has the latest version of Vibration Reduction which considering the slower aperture of this lens, is very helpful indeed for some subjects.

What really cinches it for the AF-S 70-300 VR though is its excellent optical performance. If you stop the lens down by just one stop, you’ll get excellent sharpness. This is not a DX lens, and perhaps with the help of the sweet spot or perhaps its just great engineering, the lens doesn’t have much of an issue with vignetting. Whilst its not entirely free from CA, its not plagued by it either and I wouldn’t give it much thought, as any that does rear its head can be easily taken care of in the digital darkroom.

It can’t be all good surely? Well no, not quite as the sharpness does begin to suffer the closer you get to 300mm. Up to about 250mm though, there aren’t any issues and even at 300mm, you’d have to be particularly picky to think it was a bad performance. For its intended audience, it probably wont matter much, but the focus ring is a little bit of an after thought. It is serviceable though, but at least on my copy isn’t completely smooth and of course its in the wrong place.

When you consider the price, the AF-S 70-300 VR is a wonderful lens and since it's so light, its easy to add to the bag to bring just in case you need it. The images it produces are sharp and vivid, plus it offers the technological wizardry of VR and AF-S and doesn’t require a huge outlay of money. All things considered, the AF-S 70-300 VR is a very good buy