If you own or have used this lens, let us know what you think! Leave your comments and thoughts below. Get information and user reviews for this lens at Amazon: Nikon 70-300mm f/4-5.6D ED AF Nikkor SLR Camera Lens
Photo Zone
The Nikkor AF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 D ED is a very affordable tele zoom lens with a quite ambitious 300mm setting. It is capable to deliver very good results between 70mm and 200mm but the results are quite soft at 300mm. Lateral CAs are on the high side but distortions and vignetting are very well controlled. Mechanically it is about in line to other consumer grade zoom lenses in this class. The lens is very affordable by now and if your budget is limited it may still worth a look. However, the new AF-S 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED VR is clearly the better lens and choice (at a higher price naturally). … READ FULL REVIEW
Other Nikon 70-300mm f/4-5.6D ED AF Nikkor Reviews
SLR Gear
It’s reasonably priced and reasonably well-constructed lens, but the Nikon 70-300mm f/4-5.6D really doesn’t make the grade optically, at least not at its longest focal lengths. It’s OK at shorter focal lengths, but if you don’t need a 300mm zoom, you’d probably be better served by looking at 70-200mm models in the first place. If you do want the full 70-300mm range, you can get (slightly) better performance from the Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di LD for less money, or dramatically better optical performance from the Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 ED-IF AF-S VR for about half again the cost, and with the added benefit of Vibration Reduction built in. “¦ READ FULL REVIEW
Thom Hogan
Overall, I am quite pleased with the lens, especially on a D1. I’d rank this zoom by itself midway between the other consumer telephoto zooms and the top-of-the-line AF-S 80-200mm f/2.8. No depth of field scale. In fact, it’s hard to figure out the exact focus distance due to the way markings are done. No tripod mount. Not a big problem unless you shoot at 300mm at slower shutter speeds on a tripod. Actually, when mounted on an F5, I wouldn’t want a tripod mount at all, since this lens is so light the weight of the camera body would be a problem. But with light camera bodies, such as the N65/F65 or N80/F80, be careful at 300mm and shutter speeds under 1/125. Softness at 300mm. … Still, in a pinch, the 300mm this lens produces is quite usable, especially at f/8 and f/11. “¦ READ FULL REVIEW
Ken Rockwell
I’ve tried this lens twice. It is a popular lens today because of it’s huge zoom range, light weight and low price. I didn’t like it because of the circus-mirror like distortions at the long end and the focus errors I saw on one sample at 70mm on my F100. There are better choices. “¦ READ FULL REVIEW