AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR

The worst thing one can say about this lens is that it is heavy for a carry-around lens. On the other hand, one virtually always has a great lens on the camera to take almost any picture without throwing any others in the bag. I had a D200 with an 18-200 zoom lens for many years. I took it all over the world, and have some wonderful memories recorded because I had this lens. The 28-300 full frame is a little short on wide angle, but long on telephoto. It is perfect for my D810. There are circumstances where I change lenses, but not when ´´out walking around.´´ This is a great lens for the casual photographer, and would meet the needs of one who is pretty discriminating. Except for a few specialized applications, this is my go to lens. I wish it had more wide angle, and, for that matter, more telephoto, but it does a great job 90% of the time-and I don´t want it to be any larger or heavier. Love the lens.

This lens is truly impressive. It has become my go-to lens for nearly all shooting conditions where a specialized lens is not needed. Images are sharp, focus speed is good, it can create a respectable bokeh, and even macros are doable. It does suffer from distortions but that can be corrected in Lightroom so easily it´s not really a problem.

Unless you need a fast lens or a fixed aperture then do yourself and your back a favor. Give this lens some serious consideration.

I use this as my go-to lens for almost everything. I have quite a few (too many my wife says) f2.8 Nikkors, but go to this one most of the time just because I can count on it for a full zoom range and great sharpness. It´s the first lens to go in the bag, and I have to say used the most! I´ve used Nikon for 35mm photos since 1968 - my first Nikon F - continuing all the way now to all digital.

Everyone has a lens that seems to always be on the camera. This is mine. Fantastic lens. Sharp and oh so flexible. It is a great travel lens. Covers a great deal of applications from close up to landscape. Just love this thing.

I use the Nikon 28-300 primarily on my D-750.
The quality is nothing short of amazing for the money.
The major reason that I use the Nikon 28-300 is to eliminate lens changes under challenging situations, like when its raining on the beach and you have to get the shot. Or when its dusty.
I would rather get the shot with this lens then take a chance at getting dust or water in my D-750.
In the studio thats one thing but under challenging situations Its the Nikon 28-300 for me.

My review of this lens is mixed. It is a good lens. Perhaps I did not have a good version of this lens. I have read other reviews that this lens can vary. Under optimal conditions this lens is sharp, but it is slow to focus. Due to its variable aperature its is fair when shooting inside. When taking photos with blue skies there is a lot of vignetting at the 28 and 300 lengths. Especially when aiming up at the sky. There is some flare too. A lot of this can be fixed in Light room. Cropping gets rid of all, but you lose some of your image. Therefore you lose some of the image on landscapes. I got this lens because it was what I could afford at the time and it did everything. It served me well. I traded it in and bought a 24-70 F/2.8 and a 70-200 F/4. My kit is now heavier but my lenses are faster to focus and much sharper. If you are printing photos and enlarging them, then you should buy this lens with caution. If you are strictly using it for digital frames, online purposes, photo journalism or you are a hobbyist then this lens is great. Its ok for portraits. The higher F-stops 11-22 are much sharper than the lower ones. 3.5 and 5.6 are soft (at least on my version) For travel its really good. It does everything. But I wouldn´t take it on a safari for that great Gazelle shot. Like I said its a mixed review. Good at everything but not great. If you are on a budget I´d get a Tamron 28-75 F2.8 and the 70-300 3.6-5.6. Like I said this lens served me well, but when I printed, my images didn´t seem as clear as they did on screen. And yes I used a highly reputable printer. I would recommend it with reservations. Ken Rockwell loves this lens, but his review on the 24-70 2.8 is moderate, which is a great lens. I have a love/dislike relationship with this lens. But yet I would still recommend it for its all around usefulness. I´d give it 3.75 stars.

I leave this zoom on my Nikon D610 for most purposes, even though I have several other lenses. The accompanying shots were taken from RAW files that were adjusted and cropped in post using DXO Optics Pro. I love this combination of camera, lens, and software. I use this combination frequently in my role as contributing photo journalist for an online publication.

I want to echo the April 2015 review regarding the utility of this lens for a wide variety of travel related photography. Remarkably fast focus, superb clarity - extremely small amount of vignetting on periphery at 200 mm a bit more noticeable at 300 but over the wide mm range of this lens is very very small. Small aperture is no problem in low light with the D810. I have 9 lenses for my D810 and this lens is my favorite companion and has stood the test of time in subzero to desert environments and ultimately Lightroom since this lens was manufactured.

i have owned this lens for two years, and have literally traveled the world using it as my solo lens. I recently went to SE Asia, and took a variety of lenses with me but never took any of them out of my bag since my 28-300 covered all situations I encountered. The VR works very well, and the image quality is outstanding. I honestly cannot recommend this lens highly enough.