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

My wife surprised me with this lens for Xmas. Shooting the first day after was a pleasure. This lens is amazing re speed and sharpness, and with terrific VR.
Thank you.

I already owned the 70-200mm and bought the 20E III to give me a reach of 400mm. Pictures came out soft and not what I wanted. So I bit the bullet and bought the 80-400mm. And am I glad I did. Clear concise shots with a great VR. A little slow on moving objects but that is to be expected. I still get fantastic pictures, you just have to be precise and work your shot. Its heavy but so is the 70-200mm or any other long lense with Nikkor´s better glass.

overall great lens, very sharp images once you understand how to work with it. It does have a very distracting feature when using continuous focus, which is my primary mode in shooting sports. As the lens set moves around as it focus on moving objects, either with or without VR on, the movement of the lens groups causes the image you see in the view finder to jump around as well. I´ve tested this with three camera bodies - D300, D40, and a new D7100, and also tested a second copy of the lens at the store, and it is very evident in all combinations of equipment. If I was ok with using the 70-200/2.8 and a 2x converter, this may have been the better way to go. Working with Nikon support to describe and check out the issue, so we will see if this is just the way the lens works or if I have a problem. Build quality is great, images are great, a blast to shoot with, but the jumping around is annoying for sure.

I´ve had several of the low cost Nikon kit lens long zooms, and got excellent results for what I had invested in them. This new 80-400 mm FX format zoom lens; is a quite different animal; and for me it is a lens to die for.
For starters, I am a strictly DX format shooter; with no plans to go to FX, so for me, this is a 120-600 mm f/4.5-5.6 zoom. It´s even better than that; because my three Nikon bodies, are the D3200, D7000, and now the D7100. So in the D7100 crop mode, I have a 160-800 mm f/4.5-5.6 lens.
As good as this lens is wide open in the FX format, it is quite fantastic, in the DX and DX crop modes of the D7100 body. The expected performance from the published MTF curves, is fully realized, with the D7100 in crop mode, using the central sweet area of the lens field of view. I know how to take fuzzy pictures; this lens lets me take razor sharp pictures, and I don´t hesitate to hand hold it for those bird shots. I also have the 1.4x telextender lens, for when I really want to get out there.

It´s a little heavy; that comes from being full of fancy optical glasses. I recently packed it plus two bodies, and three other lenses, on a four mile round trip hike to photograph the juvenile elephant seals at Anno Nuevo Preserve, in California. That also included toting a robust tripod as well. By the end of the hike, I had figured out how to carry it all. The total weight was not a problem, and I have already burned up more than my allotted time , on this planet. Cost wise, this lens was a stretch for me; but actually it is about the most Top Tier Nikon Optics you can buy for this amount of money. You pay double to get a better, but less versatile lens.
I´m still learning some of the tricks of using this lens, but it has far exceeded my expectations, and I wouldn´t hesitate to recommend this lens to any Nikon enthusiast, and especially to DX afficianados.

Great product in extreme situations, including in nature with very moist and warm climate. Lightweight and fast lens. Precision and excellent sharpness.

It feels like I waited ten years for this lens to be released. It was worth the wait! Photos have been extremely sharp and even though the lens is a bit heavy, with the VR it can be hand held with good results. Used the 28-300 prior to this lens and while it was ´´good enough´´ at the time, it´s no contest now. Tested both just prior to a trip to Hawaii and there was no question which one was making the trip. Took one hand held shot from a lookout high above a rocky beach and you could see the grains of sand and extremely clear and sharp gradations in the rocks surrounding the swimming area. This lens completes the set of lenses I need for almost any situation. Worth every dollar.

I have had one of the original 80-400mm lenses almost since it was introduced, and it has been my mainstay lens for hiking and finding wildlife. It performed quite well, and while it had its issues, the versatility and weight more than made up for them.

This lens takes that concept and upgrades it to amazing levels. There are very few things to be snarky about on this lens.

* Takes teleconverters. And still has great AF and sharpness with the 1.4x TC. The old lens doesn´t work with TCs.

* Much sharper and better contrast. Wow. There is a quite noticeable improvement in optical quality even at normal viewing. The old lens took great photos but was a little mushy. My 600mm prime is sharper, but this is pretty darn good, and I would probably not see the difference except that I was looking at similar bird shots with the 600mm and this lens with the 1.4xTC right next to each other. Without the TC, it´s sharp enough that it would be very difficult to see anything to complain about except under lab conditions.

* Autofocus is faster. Honestly it´s not so much faster than the original 80-400 that you would get many, if any more shots because of it. Continuous tracking autofocus is noisy but is better than the original. For birds, it´s pretty good. You lose focus sites with a teleconverter attached because of the minimum f/stop, but it´s still pretty darn good. It locked and tracked the airplane for my daughter´s first solo flight perfectly. This is a superb airplane/airshow lens.

* Close-focus. Still darn good and fast. Good for critters you can get close to. Great for birds at a feeder.

* Improved VR. VR will help dramatically for some subjects when handholding, but is pretty useless for fast-moving subjects. VR can help with some nice bird effects, allowing for wingtip motion blur while holding the scene solid. You´ll still probably find yourself bumping up the ISO unless you´re in full sun with this lens, especially if you are using a TC.

Downsides

* Really expensive.

* Tripod collar is even more lame than the original 80-400mm. You can not release the foot from the tripod collar, which is annoying for handheld use. I´ve already replaced mine with a third-party unit.

This is is still a heavy lens, and you will get tired handholding it unless you´re in reasonably good shape. If you´re going to use it a lot, get some exercise! Taking pictures is a good method :) If you have the luxury of being able to use a tripod, then do so. It will help. Get a gimbal head if you can.. Ball heads are lousy for tracking subjects but are quick and easy to set up, smaller and lighter. This lens is heavy enough that a ball head will want to flop over or creep.

This lens the 1.4X teleconverter is an amazing kit for nature/wildlife/airshows/car racing/motorcycle racing etc. I don´t have a 1.7X, but the 2.0X is too much of a compromise on finder brightness, f/stop and focus capability for me. This combo is easily transportable and easily handled. Much of the time the 80-400 is enough, and when it isn´t, the TC works great. If you can justify the expense, this kit will make you very happy.

I purchased the first version of this lens second hand and was pleased with the results. The down side was the speed of focus, so I took the plunge, paid the extra money and purchased this lens. Buyers remorse has yet to kick in, which I take as a good sign.

While this lens may be heavier and larger than the original it feels more balanced in my hands, reducing the need for a mono/tripod. I should point out I have large hands, so others may not agree with me.

The speed and precision of the auto-focus is in a different league to the old lens. No more hunting around trying to focus. This alone is a great reason to upgrade. I have yet to use the lens with fast moving subjects, in particular sports events under artificial lights, and the relatively slow F stop may be an issue. That said, the newer cameras and their improved high ISO performance help.

This is a great lens, but it is not for everyone. If you don´t need a 400mm lens on a regular basis, your money may be better spent on a 70-200mm 2.8 lens with a tele-converter. If like me, you use long focal lengths on a regular basis, this lens is justified. If you use the old version of this lens, trade it in, pay the extra money and you will be a happy photographer.

I bought the first version of this lens back in 2000, but I had issues with its VR system and the D100. So I went for the 200-400. Unfortunately, that lens is huge. So when I have to hike way back in the field, I again got the original version of this lens. It was too slow to focus on quickly moving wildlife.

Well, when this came out, I pounced on it. It focuses fast, still has a similar compact size. I have found that while it can work well with wildlife, it focuses relatively close, so it works on flowers and small objects, where a narrow field and focus works well to isolate it from the background. The bokeh with a lineated background is pleasing.

So all in all I am very pleased with this lens and am contemplating a little sell off of some of my other lenses this overlays. It is heavier than the original, but not overly so. I look forward to spending a great deal of time in the field with this one.