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

I have used this lens now for three months. I tried lots of other super telephotos. This was the highest rated. I have owned a fortune in lens and for that matter cameras. This lens though is so incredibly good it is hard to believe. I have owned lens that cost many times what this one does. I met guys who were renting the lens and deciding to sell their bigger lens! Even in fairly low light it is exceptional. I have used it with D7500, D500, and D7200. Great on all of them. Since the D7500 was fastest to do stills and video with that is what I used most. The tripod base is ideal, coupled with a Kirk Plate it is Arca Swiss compatible. Super either handheld or on a tripod. The build quality is amazing. It is a rugged and perfectly built and balanced lens. At any F stop great. I did use it a LOT at f9-11. The cinematic quality of the stills and video were amazing. I used a Black Rapid strap to use in the field and it was so comfortable and swift to bring up to the eye and shoot! The longer lens will,give a different look to your work. With the 16-80 lens on a D7200 I could capture any subject rapidly. From the Adirondacks to Yellowstone, this lens proved fast and precise! Really need a time machine to go back to other years past since this lens is as good as photography ever gets!

I upgraded my Nikon kit to include the 200-500 on the D500 to ´´try´´ for the eclipse. It worked! With only 2 minutes of totality to be awe struck AND capture images you need good equipment, some expertise and a fair amount of luck (clear sky in eastern Oregon). With advice from Stan Honda at AdoramaTV (youtube), I dialed in the necessary manual exposure bracketing, manual focus and chose timer delay to avoid shake. These were taken at 410mm f8 and minimally cropped. The flair in the second image was very minor out of the camera; tweaked with Lightroom to pump up the effect. I look forward to using this lens with VR to make many terrestrial photos of birds .... thank you Nikon!

Purchased this last week from BandH and tried it out over the weekend on a D7200. This lens focuses very quickly, I was pleasantly surprised with the speed. The VR was great! I shot several handheld shots and again was impressed with the performance of the VR feature. I didn´t get an opportunity to use the ´´sport´´ mode of the VR and look forward to trying it with flying herons. I shot several very long distance frames (1000ft) and had enough detail and clarity to allow for quite a bit of cropping. I love the tripod bracket, it´s rock solid and makes a great handle when carrying the camera. It is a heavy lens but that´s expected in a zoom of this focal range. All in all, I am very pleased with my purchase and know it will allow me to expand my nature photography opportunities.

I have had this lens for a year now and it has produced some great images when used on my D7200 and/or D600. I use it mostly hand held and it has really surprised me on some of the pictures I have pulled off. Birds coming straight at me from out of nowhere and I it get tack sharp head shots. Wow! I could never pull off these shots with the Tamron 150-600 lens. I shoot in manual with ISO at 400, Shutter at 1/2000 with F-stop at 6.3 on a good sunny day with great results. This is the first lens I reach for when I go shooting. If Nikon upgrades this lens with better glass or coatings I will buy it!

Sharpness is not everything in a lens, but for wildlife it becomes more important as you want to show the little details in your subject. I bought this lens for my recent trip to photograph tigers in India, and I was blown away with its sharpness even at 500mm. The VR works extremely well, and I was able to shoot at a very low shutter speed and get very sharp results. I like the color saturation of this lens as well.
This lens has the best F5.6 bokeh I have ever seen which makes it very usable for portraits as well.
The autofocus works well, and I appreciate the extreme accuracy.
Without a shadow of a doubt, this is the best value for money wildlife lens in the market right now.
Nikon, you did it again and you mad another amazing lens. Thank you for making my life easier.

By visiting this page and reading the reviews you already know that buying this lens is a decision that you´ve already made. Just do it.

It really is that good.

I´ve own this for a year now and the more a use it the more I like it. Clear, clean details.

I was a bit skeptical of how good this lens could be for the advertised price having seen other long lenses with astronomical pricetags. I took a chance buying it in hopes of catching the rare ´´super moon´´ visible from my home is So California. I decided to freehand the shot since it was a VR lens and only used my house to lean on as I lined up my shots. I was more than pleased with the first captures of a supermoon without use of a tripod. Spend a little moon dust on this lens! You won´t be disappointed.

I purchased the 200 - 500 mm lens from Best Buy. I have the 1.7x teleconverter on the way, to boost the range. So far, the pictures I have taken are quite pleasing. I use this lens on a D7100 and a D500. I am still learning my way around the lens. I really love using it on the D500, and will post a review about that camera separately.