AF-S NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR

Been using this lens for over 1 year now. Can´t say enough about it. It´s been fantastic with D7100, D610 and D750. It´s become the goto portrait and pet around the house lens, too. Didn´t expect that. It started as a 2 kids in soccer lens. We have a 28-300 FX VR lens on the camera all the time. And a quick swap to this lens for games was the plan, and works very well for that. As I said, portraits and pet shots (handheld or tripod from 15 feet) are AWESOME. It was a big purchase but FX glass holds its value much better than camera bodies. I can freeze action and see my sons faces clearly from the other corner of the field in daylight game shots with an FX body. I´d do it again in a second.

Still amazed at its performance on my D800 and D810, I´ve had it for 7 months.

Just love this lens. Easy to use, sharp and crisp. You can spend the money for big glass but why?

As the owner of a great Nikon fx and also a vintage Nikkormat ftn, I really miss the aperture control ring. The less expensive 80-400 has it and I bought this one thinking that it was an upgrade over the previous zoom. Shame on me for not paying attention. I can´t use it with my old film camera, the results on my new fx are excellent.

Very well constructed sharp at close to 400 mm. I consider this a must have lens for wildlife and day light sports. It focuses fairly quickly on my D 700 and I don´t consider it a soft focus. At 46 oz it requires a monopod or a tripod to keep it steady. When possible I shoot at higher shutter speeds 500 and above. If your wondering should I buy this lens or should I spend the really big money for the F2.8 200-400 if you have 6000.00 by all means get the F 2.8. But this lens does a great job I feel like with a little care it should hold up just fine.

I bought this lens for wildlife and landscape photography. Before I had a chance to really test the lens a Coopers Hawk presented itself. The photo is taken THRU a window with a D7000 at a distance of about 30 feet. ISO 1250, f6.3 at 1/320. HANDHELD! I am impressed. The only complaint is the tripod foot.

I have owned the previous first generation Nikon 80-400mm VR zoom for about ten years and was pleased to find needed improvements in the areas of focus and tracking speeds, focusing ease and function, camera/lens hand-held balance, and especially better resolution at 400/600mm. My primary use has been in shooting San Francisco´s ´´Fleet Week´´ with the Blue Angles flight team show, the America´s Cup races over the past two years, Maritime subjects, and abstract landscape elements. Due to the weight factor I also use the Nikon 70-300MM VR, and/or the Nikon 70-200mm F4 VR for travel to Japan, Greece, along with Nikon´s excellent DX 10-24mm, DX 16-85mm, 50mm 1.8 G with a Nikon D7000 and a D7100 with excellent results. I really enjoy getting the equivalent of a 120-600mm range on the DX bodies. I also use this lens on a Nikon D300´s; and a Nikon D600 where I need the full range of 400mm to have high resolution, sharpness, and great contrast for shooting demanding maritime subjects and yacht races. I am really looking forward to many years of quality shooting with this new improved lens. I would have hoped that the new version might have been designed lighter and smaller using high-tech carbon fiber or titanium materials but then its a lot less in cost and weight than an $8,000 Nikon 600mm or the Nikon 200-400mm. I see this as an improved photographic tool for extending my creativity and the end results of a higher percentage of sharp and focused hand-held shots.

Have had this lens for several months and am very impressed with its sharpness, focus abilty and structure. Have shot birds, animals and stll life with much success. Also, works well with a 1.4 TC.

I bought this lens with a D7100 to replace the older model and a D300. Although the new combination is far superior to the previous one, I realized that it is mainly due to the camera and not to the new lens. On a DX format, I could not find any noticeable difference in image quality between the new and the older model. That does not mean that the new model is bad, just that the older one appears to be as good at the center of the field. Nevertheless, the new model has important advantages : it focuses much faster and the VR is far more efficient at all speeds. As the lens is relatively chunky and heavy and I use it handheld, a nice carrying option is a double shoulder strap connected to the lens and to the bottom of the camera/grip.