Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G VR Lens

Product Information

The 55-300mm isn't a ''constant'' lens, in that as you increase the focal length, both the maximum and minimum aperture sizes decrease. The following table reflects the change in aperture with focal length: Focal Length The build quality of this optic is typical of Nikon's mid to higher end consumer lenses, with the lens barrel constructed from high quality plastics sporting a textured finish. It is put together to fine tolerances and there are no rattles or wobbles anywhere on the lens and the mount is constructed from metal. Reduction (VR) give substantially sharper images under most conditions (other than direct sunlight) compared to

Weighing in at approximately 580 grams, the AF-S DX Nikkor 55-300mm f4.5-5.6G is fairly lightweight for a 5.5x telezoom lens, and as seen in the photo above, complements the Nikon D7000 well. It may look a little out of proportion on the smaller D5100 or D3100, though. VR is the second version like my 16-85mm and works very well at 300mm. The only thing I noticed about the VR is that it takes a half-second or so to stabilize, so you have to be a bit patient before you press the shutter. At 135mm at infinity, they were the same in the center, with the 75-300mm AF and 28-300 VR only a little softer on the sides wide-open. To get to and from manual focus mode, you must move a switch on this 55-300mm. There is no instant override as there is on the 70-300mm VR. Manual focus doesn't work very well on this 55-300mm anyway, so if you want easy access to manual focus (I do), opt for the 70-300mm VR instead. Without VR, it's usually impossible to get sharp hand-held shots with lenses this small and light, and with this much magnification.

For the money, this is a very good lens. It hasn't yet made me smile as much as some of my other lenses (e.g. the Nikon 10-24 or the 18-140) but it seems generally competent. I bought it to give me a long telephoto with vibration reduction capability (I also have the 70-300G, but this is only usable on the more upmarket Nikon bodies, and has no VR, which means it can only be used in reasonably bright light). I've mainly used this on a D7000 but also tested it on a D40. The 55mm wide end does seem more useful than the 70mm on my other telephoto. I took this plus the 10-24 (which is great for landscapes) on a short country walk last weekend and not missed the mid range. I don't think I could have done that with the 70-300. It takes 58mm filters, which is an odd size. I've bought a cheap step up ring so I don't go mad with too many different filter sizes! I'm standardising on 52mm, 67mm and 77mm, and using a dedicated 58mm UV filter to protect the lens. On filters, the front element rotates when focusing, so you will need to readjust a polarising filter after focusing, but UV and other uniform filters work perfectly well, of course.

Don't grab your camera by the lens: you might break off the mount! Grab the camera by the camera body, not this 55-200mm's big fat grab ring.Diffraction limiting sets in at at ƒ/16; fully stopped-down performance is acceptable at wider focal lengths, but at 135mm and longer, it becomes quite soft; at 300mm and ƒ/29, we note around 6 blur units across the frame. Everything works perfectly on every DX digital Nikon, and especially on Nikon's cheapest digital D40, D40x, D60 and D5000. Again, the center looks very similar to 200mm, with slightly softer image at f/5.6 that gets sharper at f/8.0 and f/11.0. Sharpness Test – Nikon 55-300mm @ 300mm Corner Frame

Due to differences in field of view between the Nikon 55-300mm and Nikon 28-300mm, I had to adjust the focal length of the Nikon 55-300mm to match around 70mm of 28-300mm. Here are 100% crops from both lenses wide open and f/5.6 (Left: Nikon 55-300mm, Right: Nikon 28-300mm): Of course it gets softer due to diffraction as every lens does if you stop down to more than f/8; but otherwise, this dinky 55-200mm VR puts many of Nikon's older and more expensive lenses to shame. The lens shows good resistance to chromatic aberration. Chromatic aberration is present at the wide angle (55mm) when the lens is stopped down considerably, but is very low indeed until around 135mm. At 200-300mm, chromatic aberration begins to become problematic, especially in the corners. Fitting the lens to the camera is a doddle and within minutes I was taking photos of deer and squirrels away in the distance. This lens really does open up a whole new world of photo opportunities. See the video for a real demonstration of the telephoto lens in use at several focal lengths. It is possible to take good close up images, not quite macro, but still close up.

Ease of Use

See Nikon Lens Compatibility for details with your camera. Read down the "AF-S, AF-I,""G" and "VR" columns for this lens. You'll get the least of all the features displayed in all columns, since "G" ( gelding) is a handicap which removes features. Although not terribly compact, this optic only weighs 530g. It's light weight should make the lens balance well on Nikon's entry level bodies such as the D40, D60, D3000 or D5000 as well as more advanced bodies such as the D90 or D300 used for testing. Even though Nikon cautions that the effective focal length shortens as one focuses more closely, I don't see any shrinkage. 300mm looks like 300mm, even at 4.6 feet (1.4 meters). If I was working in nasty, dirty areas, I'd forget the cap, and use an uncoated 58mm Tiffen UV filter instead. Uncoated filters are much easier to clean, but more prone to ghosting. This is by no means an over-exaggeration – this is how small the new 300mm f/4E VR really is when compared to its predecessor!

The Nikon 55-300mm VR DX feels almost as nice as Nikon's serious amateur lenses like the 28-300mm VR and 16-35mm VR. Except for the dinky manual focus and plasticy extending barrels, it feels pretty nice. It does not work well on FX or film cameras. It usually cuts off the far corners of the image. It appears to work at most focal lengths on film and FX, although at 80mm all the corners are dark. At most other focal lengths the darkening isn't that bad, so long as you know you're not really supposed to use the 55-200mm VR on anything other than a DX digital camera.Thanks to the use of ED low dispersion glass in the the design, the 55-300mm doesn't suffer much with the dreaded effects of chromatic aberrations. Throughout the zoom range colour fringing barely exceeds 0.5 pixel widths and should not pose too many problems in normal shooting conditions. Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more. A great addition to my D3400 kit, as someone new to photography, this lens has opened up so many more opportunities! There are no distance markings on the lens and the focusing ring is also very narrow and awkward to reach, on account of it being so far forward. There is a positive side to this, however, in that fingers are kept clear of the ring in AF mode.