AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR

Bought this refurbished from Nikon in November. So far it has proven to be a wise investment. I am satisfied with the decision to stick with the fixed aperture vs the variable one throughout the focal lengths. Not saying that's a terrible thing but I prefer the fixed. I bought this for wildlife, primarily birds. It will be going onto a Gimbal as it is quite heavy, especially attached to my D750...The VR helps tremendously when hand holding. All in all, if you're looking for a lens that is not going to break the bank or take half of your life savings to buy for birding, wildlife, etc this will suffice. Pictures I have been taking are sharp and clear with no Chromatic aberration, purple fringing, etc that I am seeing in them. AF is decent and keeps up with subject. The cons I would guess is the lens is not fully weatherproof, it is quite heavy and the zoom adjustment from 200-500 seems to take forever to get there, it takes me almost 2 full turns. Other than that, it's a great lens at a great price and I would highly recommend it.

I primarily use this lens on my D780 for wildlife and sports photography. I'm amazed at the contrast and sharpest at all focal points and aperture settings including low light conditions. The materials of construction are top notch and have no issues with the lens. I'm considering a prime telephoto however with the performance of this lens, it's difficult to justify. I've uploaded a recent photo of a Bull Elk in the Chequamegon National Forest taken on a cloudy and rainy evening in very low light conditions at a distance of ~60 yards.

Since I did my last review of this lens, it has become my go-to for shooting a variety of images including wildlife, nature and sports. The photos of the kayaker, Sandhill Crane and Water Lilly show the versatility and perfect image quality this lens can provide. Recently, i have moved to using it on both my Nikon Z 7ii and Z 6ii. The lens works great on both, with no loss of sharpness and image quality. The photo of the two eagles was one of the first photos taken using the Z 7ii. The photo was shot hand-held, a testament to how well the VR works with this lens. Mounted on this camera, the lens while still on the heavy side is well balanced. Not being tethered to either a tripod or monopod allows for smooth panning with this camera-lens combination which is a big plus.Bottom line is that i have a high-quality super zoom telephoto lens which works equally well on both DSLR and mirrorless cameras.

I have been banging my head against the wall trying to get a third party lens to work on my D850... Thousands of tries and I was only getting focused images 10/100 of the time. I don't want to talk about my mistake with the 150-600mm lens. I want to say if you're still undecided about this lens with the D850 full frame body, be undecided no more! I'm a pixel peeper people. This lens will blow your mind! The consistent sharp focusing up close and far away is heaven sent. Thank you Nikon!

EXCELLENT lens... if you find one used scoop that baby up!

I have been very impressed with this lens. This pretty much goes with me on every birding trip. I use it with a D500 body and a Monopod. I am really impressed with the ability of this camera to auto-focus quickly, sometimes on some very small birds that don't seem to want to cooperate with the camera. I would consider myself to be an amateur photographer and this lens with the D500 body is not intimidating at all. I sometimes am genuinely shocked about how good these photos come out. Even my bad shots are clearly user error versus camera capacity. I have attached a few photos below of a Prothonotary Warbler and a female Orchard Oriole. if you like nature photography, you can not go wrong with the lens!

I photograph SpaceX launches in Florida on the side for a news outlet and this lens allows me to get close up, detailed shots of the rocket ahead of liftoff at perspectives that the general public don't get to see! This lens is extremely sharp, very fast at focusing and can take a beating! Highly recommend!

Photography is a hobby. This lens is my 'big' zoom, and I couldn't be happier. For my purposes, the photos taken with lens couldn't be better. Unless I begin selling images, there is no need for me to upgrade. I am currently using the lens with the FTZ adapter on either my Z50 or Z7. The attached photos were taken with the FTZ on the Z7 in DX mode for an effective focal length of 750mm.

After receiving this lens, I mounted it on my Nikon D7500 and headed out to my backyard to try it out. I was surprised how sharp the images are, and how effective the image stabilization is! This lens is everything I hoped it would be, for a lens in this price range.