AF-S NIKKOR 300mm f/4E PF ED VR

Photography has been in my life for many years and as photographers we desire excellence in our products. All too often the hype draws us in and we make the purchase then find out the product is not what was expected or conveyed. This new 300mm f/4 pf lens upgrade if you can call it that is a hugh improvement on every front for a prime lens incorporating most of Nikon´s latest lens technology, the results is simply spectacular.

Half the size and weight of the older 300mm - This lens is less than 32 oz, it is under 2 pounds!
Vibration Reduction - Works, and works well, see my photos
SWM - the lens focus motors are quite and fast, no more chatter.
Electromagnetic Aperture Control - Removes the ´´mechanical´´ coupler of the aperture control - this is the future - you will need this when your new camera is shooting 20fps or changing apeture while doing live video.
Plus the extreme joy of using the lens in the field - you actually want to carry it with you because it works so darn well.

I like outdoor nature and wildlife, so I am biased to that aspect. The moment I rotated this lens onto my camera body I was hooked, like driving a sports car! Fast and Nimble.

Sharpness - Very Sharp, well above my expectations (i also shoot a Nikon 400mm FL 2.8), this lens rocks sharpness.
Contrast and clarity for this lens is very good, makes your photos pop not to mention the Bokeh, which is excellent.
Focus is fast and accurate; birds in flight are easy pickings.

Durability and weather protection, I had mine out in the rain (with a cover) without issues, this lens has a rear rubber seal just like all Nikon professional lens do.

Phase Frensel Element - in some very odd shooting arrangements I experience minor ring flaring, Nikon updated the NX-D software with a 300mm pf profile to reduce the effect in post This ring flare can occur if your shooting into specular lighting situations which most of us will never do. Most lens don´t handle it well so its not a big deal, only if your trying to include a bright beam or sun in your photo.

If your in the market for a Telephoto around the 300mm range this lens will not disappoint on any aspect of lens technology to date. This is a lens everyone will try to copy because it increases the number of images you keep - because it works. This lens is everything you been asking for and Nikon Delivered It!

Over the last five years I have bought just about all of Nikkor´s high end lenses for use with my D4S and D810. I have come to rely on the company´s quality standards and excellent optics. It concerns me greatly however Nikon is manufacturing this new lens in China. I do not trust any product coming from China. The quality standards of that country are sketchy at best. This lens is very good and I am happy with its performance. But I am unhappy that a $2000 Nikkor lens is not made in Japan where quality standards are consistent and superb. I am not happy Nikon.

I just received my copy of the new Nikon 300mm f/4 PF and I have to say I´m extremely disappointed. After hearing so much about the VR issues with this lens I decided to go straight to testing the lens at those critical shutter speeds that result in blurry images (1/60-1/200 Sec.). Right away there was a noticeable difference when hand holding the camera (I could not get a single usable image, by far the worst shutter speed was 1/160 sec, followed by 1/125 sec. Even tripod mounted images showed this flaw, the worse again being 1/160 sec. With the VR turned OFF I was able to get sharp results at that same shutter speed when mounted on a sturdy tripod. I was also able to get usable images hand holding at much slower shutter speeds (1/30 Sec-1/40 sec) with VR turned on, than I was at 1/160 sec. I was using a D300s for these tests, and this was an issue that could be easily repeated. Nikon is claiming that this problem is only evident on the D800, D800E, D810, and D800A cameras, which is obviously NOT true. Furthermore, they claim that all lenses beyond the serial # 205101 have been ´´fixed´´ with updated firmware, again not true as my serial # is in the 208XXX range. Come on Nikon, admit to this problem and fix the lenses. As for me, I will be returning the lens. Being a professional photographer, I really need my equipment to perform correctly. This is a serious flaw and it needs to be addressed more thoroughly and adequately by Nikon. It really is unfortunate because the lens is a dream to shoot with, so light and compact, and at other shutter speeds the lens is tack sharp and rivals my old trusted Nikon 300 f4 AF-S. It´s also tack sharp wide open. I would purchase this lens again in a heartbeat if Nikon truly fixes the problem.

I´ve uploaded a 100% crop showing the problem at 1/160 sec, tripod mounted. NOTE: These are RAW files, no processing was done on either image except for web sharpening, and both images were sharpened for web using the exact same settings.

Nikon 300 pf 1.4x III D5200 incredible. The whole combination weights about 3 lbs. Super compact, super light, super sharp. This lens deliverers! You will not be disappointed. On the D5200 body, there are no problems with 80-160 shutter speeds and VR. Works great!

very light weight and very Sharp
i use the lens with extender 1.4ii on D7100 amazing sharp and speed focus

Incredible lens. Sharper than the older model, but with a significant VR as noted elsewhere. Nikon has now issued a firmware fix, which for some reason isn´t downloadable and requires the lens be shipped back (at the buyers cost). Also, in the service bulletin, the claim is made that it only affects the D8xx series. That is definitely not true. It is clearly an issue with my D7100 and D750.

I used a friends copy for just half an hour and I fell in love with it. It´s so well balanced and sharp as a tack. Been waiting months now and I still can´t get hold of one. Very very very frustrating. Been through a terrible winter in NB and now wildlife is waking up and I´m missing out because the lens is forever out of stock. Please please get this lens moving nikon

I have purchased two copies of this lens. Both have the same problem which is reported in another review on this site, as well as on other websites. I am a long-time Nikon user and have purchased more Nikon cameras and lenses over the decades than I can remember. I have never encountered a problem like this, or been motivated to write a negative review. These lenses produce double images when VR is engaged on a D810 at medium shutter speeds such as 1/125. Images at slower shutter speeds, e.g. 1/30, are sharp. Images at faster shutter speeds, e.g. 1/250 and above, are sharp. But at the medium speeds, the images appear doubled or severely shaken, and are clearly worse than if no VR was engaged. (See Ming Thein´s March 30 entry on his website for images that show the problem.) In my opinion, this lens is unusable at medium shutter speeds with VR on (which of course is when one would particularly want VR on). I received my first copy of this lens in mid February. I returned it due to the defect. I purchased and received a second copy a few days ago, and to my shock, it has the same problem. This is otherwise an excellent, even groundbreaking lens. But Nikon must fix this problem. I would hope that Nikon would commit to buyers like me that the lens will either be fixed or replaced with a non-defective one as soon as possible.

I´ve been proud to be shooting Nikon for 50 years now (since 15 years old). Sadly, however, over the past few years I´ve become increasingly disappointed in Nikon´s Quality Control. I´ve experienced maddening focusing problems with a D800, spewing of oil/dirt spots on the sensor with a D600, light leakage with a D750 (which, however, Nikon quickly acknowledged and responsibly responded to), and now profound VR problems with the new 300mm F4E PF ED VR (that should be a game changing, industry leading advance in telephoto lenses).

I have a lot of Nikon gear: Bodies: D810 (a distinct improvement on the D800), D750 (probably the best general use body I´ve owned); Wonderful lenses - Zooms: 14-24mm F/2.8G ED, 24-70mm F/2.8G, 24-105mm F4G ED VR, 70-200mm F/2.8G ED VRll, 70-200mm F/4G VR; Primes: 24mm F/1.4G ED, 28mm F/1.8G, 35mm F1.4G, 50mm F/1.4G, 50mm F/1.8G, 85mm F1.4G, 85mm F/1.8G, 105mm F/2.8G IF-ED VR Micro, 135mm F/2.0D AF DC, 200mm f4D IF-ED Micro, 300mm F/2.8G ED VRll - plus others. So you get the idea ... I´m pretty familiar with Nikon bodies and lenses - and how Nikon VR should function.

Reports about the malfunctioning VR on this lens began surfacing on the internet shortly after it was launched. Gordon Laing´s thorough review (testing two separate samples) reports on these VR problems. Mr. Lang also stated in the review that he reported this problem to Nikon.

So I was actually relieved that although I had placed one of the first orders for the 300mm F/4E PF ED VR, I did NOT receive my lens with the first traunch of inventory that Nikon shipped to BandH. Further, I suspected that the lengthy out of stock status for this lens that followed the first shipments to ALL Nikon dealers was an indication that Nikon was making a deliberate and noble attempt to remove the faulty inventory, fix the problem, and then return good VR functioning inventory to the shelves of their dealers ASAP.

Well, regrettably I was wrong! I finally received my lens yesterday and immediately mounted it first to my D810 and then to my D750. I was astonished to find the very same VR problem that has been reported since this lens´ first day of release! At medium shutter speeds (1/80 sec., 1/160 sec., 1/200 sec.) my handheld shots with the VR OFF were much sharper than the shots taken with the VR ON! The VR actually introduced significant blur and ruined EVERY shot at these shutter speeds. This was not just an occasional fluke ... this was a very repeatable and startling condition!

I took shots of many subjects at these medium shutter speeds ... taking a series of 4 shots with VR off and then 4 shots with the VR on (and vice versa) then viewed the results at 100% using both Nikon View NX2 and Lightroom 5. In every series the VR ON shots were very noticeably blurred (unusable) and the VR OFF shots were, without exception, very noticeably much sharper. Incidentally, most of the shots taken handheld with the VR OFF at 1/200 sec (and some even at 1/160 sec.) were tack sharp! The lens is so short, light, well balanced and comfortable on both bodies that (even with my not so great technique) I was able to capture tack sharp images handheld with the VR OFF at these shutter speeds. I can´t say that I could do that with my 300mm F2.8G ED VRll!

I really wanted to love this lens and had the day planned to test it out at a local wildlife preserve - but instead I sadly packed it up and returned it to BandH (who were very professional and accommodating). Should Nikon find a cure for this problem I would happily buy this lens again.

Unfortunately the files are too large for the 5mb limitation here. If possible I will down-sample them and upload them later.