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

There is little to say about this lens that others have not said however, It is simply great. As a traveling senior I know I am a target for thieves when I travel, that is just the way the world is now. So when I travel this lens is not only a great lens for photos but I do not have to change lenses often which means..... I keep my concentration on my surroundings as well as my shot. It does macro very well and even night shots it works well, it simply does everything that I want it to do. You couple this with Nikon Capture NX2 and it is about as good as it gets.

I purchased this lens to match my new D610 body, having used my D7000 for several years and wishing to have a full-frame system as well. It really exceeds expectations - I have a Nikkor AF-S 300 1:4 mm prime with a TC-14II for bird photography (unbelievably sharp combo) and the great Nikkor 80-400 mm VR for wildlife, and find that this lens essentially replaces them both, specially if I fit it onto the D7000 body to get that extra 30% focal length in the DX world. The VR seems to be excellent, though normally I am not shooting at low shutter speeds with this lens so not really much of an issue.

It is really heavy to carry around, so be aware that you may wish to have a couple of small primes for when you do not need a zoom. I have one of the older 50 mm f/1.8 prime and just purchased the 35 mm f/1.8 so that if I am obviously going to be somewhere where the longer tele is not needed, and specially if I need a wider aperture for low light, I ave a couple of relatively low cost alternatives.

I had so many mixed feeling on this lens when I recieved it. I took it out of the box and mounted it on my D800 and the first thing I noticed is the zoom has a very stiff spot on the way to telephoto. nice and smooth then very stiff then smooth again. That seems to have worn in or worn out. The image quality was a little disappointing with the first set of images I took. early morning nature shots. my rejects seemed noticablely higher. I thought it might have had a focusing problem. the focus did seem to search more than my other Nikkor lenses. I did a test with a tape measure and focused on every six inches. camera was on the tripod and although manual shutter release I had a 2 second delay on the shutter. Some of the shots looked like they might have been 1/8 off but not all the shots. It was not a scientific test so that could have been movement when triggered. (i´m trying for the benefit of doubt) most of the shots were accurate and in focus where they should have been. that means the first set of poor images returned was probably me not the lens. Turn out one of the factors was i was used to working with a fixed f2.8 lens and as this lens would go from 3.5 to 5.6 the shutter would change - slower shutter more movement. However, knowing that I still thought the sharpness could have been better for a $1000 dollar lens. So my not taking into account the shutter speed changing as the zoom was adjusted was an amature mistake. I do suggest to stop it down to 5.6 or 8 and the results will be more consistant and sharper. it also seems to be the sweet spot. It was also early morning lower light and lot of shadows. So it didn´t perform as well as the Pro f2.8 80 - 200 that I was used to. Now, WRT the VR. I saw no advantage to having this on or off during daylight shooting with shutter speeds greater than 1/125 or faster. especially at the 1/1000 or faster and i tried it on and off. So leaving it on can´t hurt the shot - although I think it helps drain the battery a little faster. NOW, testing it handheld in low light conditions in the 1/15 to 1/2 sec range it is the difference between bad shot and sharp. It excels in the 1/4 to 1/2 shutter speed range. It must be designed for that. ( keep in mind it is lens stablization so it does not do anything for subject movement). It also does very little if you are hand holding beyond 1 sec. If you are using it at close distances or minimum focus distance and need a flash you can get lens shadow in the shot so use something other than the Pop up on the camera. Distoration was obvious to me at both ends but I expected that with a 10X lens. If it is something you notice and it bothers you, it is easily fixed with one click in post if you are using CNX, LR or PS. So these were my frustrations as I adapted from a professional lens to a not so professional lens. I still think the sharpness could have been better but everyone that I have shown the photos to or given photos to love them. All that being said, It is not a pro lens but it offers a wonderful flexibility in a one size fits all with and overall very good image quality. Color is excellent, VR in the slow shutter speeds is excellent. For travel and walk about it can sere you well but here are a few tips I have found for the copy I have. Keep it in the f5.6 to f 8 area for sweet spot. Put the camera in an auto ISO mode for walk around and travel. I have taken shots with ISO 3200 and they are fine and I´ve taken some at 6400 and higher that needed a little noise reduction (that is not the lens except you may not need to go that high if you had a 2.8 instead of a 5.6 setting) beside only other photographers see the noise. It´s a good lens that will produce some great images for all your general purpose usage and I´ll use it a lot. However, for those important portraits or dedicated landscapes it could work but I´ll be putting the pro lenses back on.

I use well constructed camera travel gear. I purchased this lens in June 2013 and within 10 months it had dust spots inside the lens where the only removal option was for Nikon to fix it. I was on vacation in June/July and sent it in upon returning in August. They won´t repair it without charging me $300 for the repair. The D600 also had spot issues but since a lot of people complained about that issue, it did not cost to repair the body. This is the THIRD issue I have had with Nikon cameras/lenses and spots. I am inclined to spend my money elsewhere. One in three times they stand behind their product - not good enough odds for the money I spend on camera gear.

The previous scenario was D7100 with 18-200 DX VR. That was an excellent setup and we have no complaints about the many great memories on the walls and hard drives -- except it fell short focal length wise a few times when planning ahead was not an option. The move up to FX (D610 and now D750) along with this 28-300 FX VR as the ´´always within reach camera´´ is a real game changer. Not hype. Been doing this a few decades. Wow. Why? Because if the lighting is there (and even when it´s not...), within reasonable distances, you can shoot anything from the hip, fast or slow, near or far, with 95% results in most peoples eyes -- and the moment would have passed anyway if going for a lens was the only option. (The new low light FX sensors Photoshop can make up for quite a bit in the lighting department the other 5% of the time for us type A´s). We have 2 kids playing most indoor and outdoor sports. And lot´s of family. Awesome impromptu portraits (which always come from 15 feet away, the way our minds store faces...) are seconds away, all the time. So is daylight stop action at any reasonable distance for available focal lengths with amazing clarity -- and always much better than my impromptu photos from 2 years ago using identical techniques. You still have to pay attention to depth of field to get what you want. I shoot in aperture priority mode most of the time with auto iso compensation on so I can get everything I want, all the time. I´m greedy that way!. This has proven to be as much of a step up as the DX to FX step. Both are very highly recommended. Can´t say enough about the quality of the photos. I don´t believe there will be another leap like D750 and this 28-300 FX VR lens for years to come.

I bought this lens when I upgraded from a D90 to the D800 a few months ago. I had been using the 70-300 lens on my D90, and loved it. I researched a lot before buying this lens, and had some concerns about distortion, but decided to buy it for the versatility -- and at the time I did not have a macro lens, so I thought this would be a good substitute.
I have not been disappointed. I´ve taken several thousand shots with this lens, and have since acquired a macro (the 105mm micro Nikkor). Surprisingly, I actually prefer this lens for some macro shots -- particularly moving insects that will not stand still for me to get close with the 105mm lens.
There was some adjustment with the FX camera, since the DX D90 multiplies the magnification by 1.5,and I was used to getting more magnification. However, with the D800´s 36MP, I can crop and magnify much more than the DX multiplication factor with no loss of resolution at all.
There is no more distortion at 28mm than I had at 18 mm on my D90´s 18-105 kit lens (which is very little), and I find the pictures at 300 mm to be as sharp as I was getting at 300mm with the 70-300 zoom.
The really great thing about this lens is its versatility. When I travel, I no longer have to carry a macro, a close zoom, and a long-range zoom. And I no longer have to change lenses, which reduces sensor dust and saves a tremendous amount of time (and risk of breaking or damaging a lens) changing lenses.
I do like the 105mm macro, and it is fantastic for things that I can get close to; but its depth of field is not as good as the 28-300mm lens at the same aperture, and the 6x 300mm advantage is worth having when I don´t want to, or can´t, get close to the subject. I am sure that the 105mm lens is sharper, but I really cannot tell the difference in practice. It´s actually easier to hand-hold the 28-300 up close than the 105, and it focuses a little easier.
Since Nikon no longer makes a micro zoom, this is the best alternative. And it is also great at long range at full zoom.
I´ve read several pros who do not like zoom lenses and who talk about framing by walking. That´s fine for some situations, but the zoom is by far my preference. Being able to go from wide angle to telephoto with a quality lens on a quality camera means a lot to me. I have hundreds of pictures that are pro quality though I am not a pro, and even though it´s the photographer who makes good pictures, the equipment certainly helps!
Last but certainly not least, the price is great considering the versatility and range of the lens. Great going, Nikon!

Tout simplement,moi je l´adore je ne peut pas en dire plus c´est vraiment un tout-en-un comme objectif.

I have just returned my new 28-300mm f3.5-5.6G ED VR for a refund. My experience was so disappointing I asked for a refund rather than a replacement while I reconsider any further investment in Nikon.

When the lens arrived I very carefully attempted to attach it to my D700. There was resistance and I thought I must have the threads misaligned, and was concerned I might be cross threading my equipment. I even more carefully removed the lens from the camera – examined both pieces very carefully - and even more carefully reattached them – it was not a smooth attachment as with my other 4 premium Nikon lenses, (count 1).

Once attached, I decided to try it out. I was most disappointed on three additional counts:
1. Auto focus was hit or miss. By this I mean auto focus did not work on a high percentage of attempts.
2. I could achieve focus manually, but on occasions the camera would not fire even when focused manually.
3. My images were not sharp – they were fuzzy.

When I removed the lens from the camera I had the same uneasy, noisy experience – the action was very rough as if the threads were not aligned correctly. The Nikon lens sent to me was a dud in every regard – and whether Nikon has a QA problem is for them to determine, but this defective piece of expensive, precision equipment is unacceptable and very disappointing.

The photos are not as sharp as I expected with a $1,000 lens - at any focal length with the zoom. I am disappointed in this lens. The construction also makes the zoom ring difficult to turn with a ´´sandy´´ noise. My D800e Nikon camera has the notorious focusing problems (that Nikon will not address properly) so the left most focus points are always out of focus. Not sure if it is the lens or the camera causing that specific problem. Focus is quick, but sometimes inaccurate. Vibration reduction works fine. Sub par lens for the money.