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I've had this lens for about 10 days now and been out shooting with it at least 7 of the 10 on hours long shoots.

Camera bodies used with this lens are the Nikon D5500 and D500.

Build quality is... acceptable for what the lens is but the plastic flange mount is a serious turn off. I understand an all plastic construction cuts down on weight, which is a fairly decent pro for this lens by the way, but skimping on the mount is just asking for trouble down the road.

The Vibration Reduction (VR) feature of this lens wonderfully smooths out shaky hands but seems to add a slight blur to images if left on when mounted on a tripod. A big downside is that no VR "on/off" switch is present on the lens which becomes a problem when trying to track birds in flight at high shutter speed on the fly. This is a problem because the VR does not seem to be tuned for panning stabilization which adds a degree of blur when taking shots while tracking a target. VR controls are located inside the Menu on your Nikon camera but a firmware update may be required and even then not all cameras are compatible with the lens. It is assumed when using this lens with a non-compatible Nikon body that the VR will remain ON at all times.

Auto Focus (AF) speed/accuracy is a mixed bag... on the one hand it will focus fast and lock on target very quickly, and it hunts far less than other DX telephoto lenses I've used. In fact, I've only ever caught it hunting in near night time conditions and even then it still manages to find focus a majority of the time.

On the other hand, the AF does not seem to be particularly accurate. AF will get you most of the way to your target in focus, but when shooting fairly distant targets at 300mm I find it slightly misses the mark.

AF in video mode is a completely different story though. In Live View the AF is a slight bit slower but it focus pulls so smoothly you'd almost swear you were using a Canon camera instead of a Nikon. Very rarely does it hunt, usually locking focus on near and distant targets without the typical Nikon back and forth "waffling" focus Nikon seems to be known for in Live View mode. The stepping motors are definitely doing their job here, doing it well and I absolutely love it for organic looking video focus. I also forgot to mention early on that it is far more accurate in Live View mode for pictures, even if it is a might bit slower on the focus.

Honestly, I could see myself giving this lens a solid 4.5 out of 5 stars if but for 2 glaring issues...

First chromatic aberration; the purple fringe wide open at 4.5 or 6.3 at 300mm is EXTREMELY noticeable, especially in bright scenes and absolutely requires post processing in Lightroom to be rid of it. Even after applying the Nikon lens correction profile you will still need to spot fix the purple fringe a majority of the time.

Second vignetting; Originally I noticed the vignetting in my pictures and didn't think it was that bad until I applied the Nikon lens correction profile in Lightroom and watched the corners brighten up considerably. Normally this wouldn't be such a huge thing as it is far less bothersome than chromatic aberration except for the fact that this lens is designed for VIDEO.

Which brings me to why I rate it 3 out of 5 stars. And please make no mistake, my 3 out of 5 means I actually LIKE the lens, but that I also acknowledge its issues.

Post production for video to solve this lens's issues is all done manually in video editing programs and it quickly becomes tedious trying to remove the purple fringe and vignetting every single time you shoot something.

The lens is also slightly less sharp than the same priced AF-S DX Nikkor 55-300mm 1:4.5-5.6G ED VR which means you won't be able to crop in as much on a photo while at peak image quality.

So, tl:dr time, what I like about the lens:

Fast focus, live view focus looks/feels organic, you can manually focus the lens while it is auto focusing (giant plus), the focus ring is smooth as butter, and the VR makes hand holding shots/videos a joy.

What I don't like about the lens:

Plastic flange mount, no VR switch or easily accessible on/off toggle, Auto Focus doesn't seem to be as accurate as it is fast at longer focal lengths, extreme chromatic aberration in bright scenes (especially at 300mm wide open), vignetting on a DX lens (first one I've used that has it), and it's not as sharp as a lens that, while inferior in auto focus, costs the same (The 55-300mm 1:4.5-5.6G ED VR also doesn't have chromatic aberration or vignetting AND it has a metal flange mount...).

Honestly, if they slapped the focus ring, stepping motors and VR from the AF-P 70-300mm into the DX 55-300mm 1:4.5-5.6G ED VR it would be a nearly perfect lens.

A nice, smaller zoom lens with considerable reach. It auto focuses fast and can track wildlife such as birds in average light. Super quite too. I feel this is a definite upgrade to the AF-S version for crop sensor cameras such as the D5xxx and D7xxx. It's a good lens to start with when one can't afford the Nikon 200-500. It can work good for sports outdoors in sunlight. Get it. You won't be disappointed.
I took these pics the same day I posted this review. These are handheld and at 300mm. No post processing was done outside of some major cropping and slight sharpeners added.

Great lens. However, it does not work on a D90, even though Amazon's tool for checking compatibility
says it would. However, it does not, and the lens manual itself lists the D90 as a body it is not compatible with.

I had been looking for a telephoto lens for my Nikon that was longer than the current 70-200 mm that I have now. I received an e-mail for a sale on the non-VR (Vibration Reduction image stabilization) version of this lens. I like the VR feature, which sealed my decision to purchase this VR version of the lens.

You do need to check the compatibility to see if this lens will work with your camera. The VR feature is turned on and off based upon a setting as the external switch on the lens itself not is there. Your camera may need a firmware update. Mine did. I found the update and how to install it on the Nikon website. It was a very simple process that was completed in a few minutes.

What I purchased was not a kit, so there was not any lens hood or pouch in which to carry the lens. Additionally, the filter thread size is 58mm, so I did need to purchase a circular polarizing filter to protect the lens and because I like the filter’s effect on my pictures.

Lastly, on the page for this lens under the Product Information sections under the Batteries sections, the following appears, “1 Lithium ion batteries [sic] required.” I did not notice this until I was writing this review. I did not install any battery, and the lens has been working. I could not find any reference to a battery in the manual. On searching other listings for this lens, I found a reference to the battery being required in the cached pages but not on the current pages. The battery was specified was the battery used in the camera. I believe that this is a typographical error that has been caught on the other pages but not this one yet. If I am wrong, please, someone tell me where it is in the lens and what the battery designation is.

Overall, the lens operates exactly as expected. I am quite happy with it. I recommend it to all. I rate it with 5 stars.

This lens was bought "used: like-new" on Amazon from "renew_electronics3" for my brand new Nikon D3500 and I guess I got what I paid for. I returned it the next day. The lens was described as new, never used, just an open box. I am skeptical.

The lens would not take a single clear image, no matter the zoom distance I was shooting, 70mm 200mm or 300mm, the images all came out the same - a blurry mess.. I was using the lens with auto focus, manual focus and VR turned on and off. I used this lens to take sample photo's, then switched to my 55-200mm AF-S VR lens and took the exact same pictures and no matter what I tried the 70-300mm did not take a single clear picture. Not one.

I am very disappointed with the lens that I received and I'm not sure if it was just a defective lens or if I was being scammed but either way this was a bad purchase.

So this lense is amazing. Some features like fast auto focus which is silent, clarity and sharpness make this lense best zoom lense for the beginners. Even Images produced at 300 mm remain sharp enough and you gonna love this lense. My advise for you is go for this lense if you are confused between this and other zoom+macro lense which are cheaper than this one. This lense is really sharp and you will love the pictures produced by this lense. I got this lense in the sale at very awesome price including the instant 10% sbi discount with timely delivery. Thankyou amazon for such a great deal. And yes this lense is original and doesn't comes in blank box. It comes in nikon box. Somehow i am not able to attach more pictures as i am interested in posting more pictures to show you the picture quality.

They advertise it as new, but what I received is not a genuine new Nikon product:

- The box was completely crushed
- The box had already been opened before
- The protection bag was missing
- The hood was missing
- The instruction booklet was missing
- The certificate of authenticity and warranty was missing
- The original protective padding was missing

The only thing in the box was a photocopied set of instructions which I don’t know where it comes from, and the lens poorly wrapped.

I bought many lenses for my Nikon and it is the worst I have ever seen. Really not recommend.

I have not used this lens too much yet, but the pictures I have taken, mainly of wildlife and the nights sky, are wonderful. I have a nikon d7200 with its only lens before this being a 18-105 mm. While I love that lens and for it is very good for close up and longer range pictures the 70-300 blows it out of the water when it comes to taking shots at things you are not able to get close to, such as wild life. The zoom is very good, however I would say that for serious night photography this lens will not be quite enough for galaxies or planets, but for nice photos of the moon (example attached at 50% zoom to actual size) it is very nice.
I would recommend this lens for beginner to intermediate photographers.

I have the tamron SP AF 70-300 F/4-5.6 Di VC USD which i've used for the past 18 month's and I found that up to 200mm it was clear and crisp but above that it became very soft and stopping down to f10 was the only way of getting a crisp shot, I read all the articles I could find on this lens and all seemed very happy with the lens, it arrived today but by the time I got home the light was starting to go so I took a few shots of specific areas on the mountain behind my house as it's somewhere i'd photographed in all conditions with the tamron, f6.3 at 300mm gave me a shot way better than the tamron at f10, in fact it's the sharpest shot i've ever got with any lens on the mountain, it does have a plastic mount but that shouldn't be a problem, it is as light as a feather compared to the tamron, it focuses so fast and the motor is so quiet I thought the VR wasn't working, the VR works well allthough you don't notice to start with, it doesn't grab hold and lock on like the tamron but it's good enough to shoot birds flying without any jerkiness or blurring, static objects are crystal clear, i've photographed buzzards here hundreds of times with marginal results but focused on a crow this evening as he was coming in to land and there's not even a trace of blur in any of the shot's, if you don't have a hangup about plastic mounts and have a compatable camera then you won't be wasting your money, it might be a budget telephoto lens but the images speak for themselves

Amazing lens. I own a couple of small primes and a 16-80mm but this has recently been my go to lens for the D5600. It is fast to focus and sharp. Recently used on holiday in Cornwall and could not have been happier with shots of local wildlife a s the kids. Don't let the f/4.5-6.3 aperture range put you off using for portraits as distance from subject to background is more important than wide aperture if you want blurry backgrounds. I chose this over the 55-200mm on the basis of having lots of choices under 70mm already.

At 300mm it is not the sharpest (this is a common feature at the ends of zoom range) but taking your photo at 270mm and zooming/cropping in post production will give you sharper images there.

Je me suis servi de cette optique particulièrement lors d'un meeting aérien, à défaut de posséder des optiques pro.

Je dois dire que c'est une optique incroyable pour sa gamme et pour son prix. Le piquet est très bon, l'objectif n'est pas très encombrant par rapport à des optiques pro (70-200 2.8) et assez léger. Il manque très légèrement de piqué et de netteté (entrée de gamme oblige) par rapport à une optique pro, mais c'est une vraie merveille pour une optique a usage d'appoint, à mi chemin d'un objectif pro pour 4 à 5 fois moins cher.

Je le recommande à n'importe quel amateur et n'importe quel semi-pro souhaitant un objectif intermédiaire de bonne qualité moins encombrant qu'un téléobjectif 2.8.

Avec de bons réglage et une bonne maîtrise, il est possible de tirer des photos magnifiques à un rapport qualité/prix redoutable.

Voici quelques exemples lors d'un meeting, avec un D5300, boitier déjà plus ou moins limité par rapport à un boitier plus professionnel, c'est dire...

Agree with others who speak of its sharpness. Even at the full 300 I was very impressed.

It does indeed focus incredibly quickly and quietly too.

Plenty of pro reviews out there that I am sure interested parties will Google so not much point me going into more detail.

I knock a star off for not coming with the LH-77 hood. A cheap piece of plastic that you will annoyingly have to buy separately. I refused to use my lens until that had turned up as I worry about the lens taking a knock without a hood protecting it. So I couldn't use my lens properly for a few days after it arrived. Lucky I didn't need to use the lens for an urgent task during that period.

I upgraded from a 55-200 and the hood from that doesn't fit.

I love this lens, the auto focus is so fast, and silent, and gets you really close to the action, the vibration control is incredible even at 300mm and hand held photos are pin sharp, turn the VR off and put your camera on a tripod, mine is the Nikon D5500, and you get stunning images, Its the best thing I have bought.

So I bought this lens after I had been using my Nikon D3400 for a while with the 18-55mm lens that came with it after I had been thinking..I need more zoom. So, this came in its wonderful packaging (and arrived on time) and I was very impressed with it at first glance. I have been using this lens for about 2 months now, taking and testing it to different situations. Its fair to say, it does the job very well! The quality at 300mm is amazing and I also agree with others on here that the autofocus is quick and very silent. Even for an entry level DSLR like mine, the photos are always crisp and sharp when I use this lens. It is 100% good value for money and it is light as well.

What is flawed though is the minimum aperture imposed to the lens at 300mm (which is f/6.3) so it is not good in the low light situations. I have also noticed the ever so little amount of chromatic aberration in some of my photos (contrasting black on white) which produces a blue hue. I'm not sure if this is down to my camera or the lens but it does appear frequently. But don't let this distract you from the fact that it is a good lens for the money. Overall I am very pleased and would recommend to anyone who either is just a beginner or a real enthusiast.

This lens was bought, based on the excellent reviews its received. It certainly has not disappointed, as its performance optically, is very good as is the image stabilisation. I have compared it with my Nikkor AF-S VR 70-300mm and would say it’s probably slightly sharper, while being very much lighter and more compact – and half the price.

It is light and compact, though not flimsy and very pleasant to use – almost instantaneous focussing and completely silent. I use it on a Nikon D7100, firmware upgraded to ver 1.04 and have had no problems at all with compatibility or manual focus over-ride.

Having spent a day out with this lens, I'm really impressed with the sharpness and colours. More so than the 18-55 kit lens. The lens is really lightweight. Like paper light. But it is quite long and extends even further so be prepared for that. Also, I would describe it as a medium zoom. It's better than the 18-55. But you won't be taking pictures of small birds or shy squirrels with it. If you want it for less shy / medium size animals, it's great. Just keep in mind the great the zoom, the narrower the field of view. I tried some landscape pictures with this and really struggled to get everything in even at 70mm. Overall, worth it if your into wildlife, especially medium or large animals and to some extent insects (as long as they are close - min focus length is about 1m).

Works very well with the D3400, compliments the kit lens nicely. The combination of electronics on the camera and good quality optics give a lens that is clear at high zoom, with very little chromatic impact and barely perceptable vignetting. The anti shake feature works well, you can get good images without a tripod. AF is pretty much instant and silent.
One critique is the aperature - the most open @ 4.5 means the lens is not much use in poor light.

Bought this to go with my D7200, I only want original Nikon lenses in my setup because I think the quality of Nikon parts are superb. This 70-300mm lens is fantastic at those long shots and the quality of the image is excellent. The VR does a great job and the autofocus is so quiet, for anyone that loves taking wildlife shots this is a great lens at a great price.

This prosumer grade lens is judged to be an example of great design, very high build and optical quality and of exceptional value on numerous review websites. This I can confirm. One of the very best tele-zooms dedicated for the Nikon DX platform regardless of price. However, it’s compatibility with older DX bodies must be confirmed by the potential buyer. My concern is that the Nikkor lens that I purchased was from a camera kit, not to be sold separately and destined for the Polish market. Grey imports are viewed very dimly by Nikon UK. Cheeky!

This lens is sharp.
Autofocus is fast.
The VR is also good, it's quite.

Sample photos taken @300mm, you can see the images still sharp at 300mm.
Well done Nikon for making this lens.