Af-p Dx Nikkor 70-300mm F/45-63g Ed Lens Review

It's easy to get a not bad telezoom if you have a lot of money to spend, and don't mind a large, heavy hunk of glass hanging off of your SLR. Just quality performance isn't always piece of cake to become when you want a lightweight lens that doesn't price an arm and a leg. Enter the Nikon AF-P DX Nikkor seventy-300mm f/4.5-6.3G ED VR ($399.95), which cuts cost, size, and weight with a narrow discontinuity design and an image circle that only covers the DX (APS-C) sensor format. Information technology delivers sharp images at every focal length, although it does lose a scrap of resolution when pushed to 300mm. Still, it'due south a strong option for photographers who don't use a full-frame camera, peculiarly given its cost.

Design: Small and Light, With VR

The DX Nikkor 70-300mm ($269.00 at Amazon Britain) isn't a big lens, despite being a telezoom. It measures 4.9 by 2.8 inches (HW) when fix to the 70mm position and weighs 14.half dozen ounces. The barrel does telescope when zoomed in, extending an boosted 3 inches or so when set to the 300mm position. Nikon doesn't include a dedicated hood, but yous can spend another $30 on the HB-77 hood if you adopt having one. The front element supports the 58mm filter size.

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The lens is finished in black, with gold accents, and housed in a polycarbonate barrel. It lacks the fit and finish or pricier options—the mount itself is plastic, and the badge that identifies it is a sticker rather than raised and painted text you get on more premium Nikkors.

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The zoom ring has a tough, rubber finish with a raised rectangular texture and then it's comfy to grip and plough. It requires near a 90-degree throw to move from 70mm to 300mm, and has markings to let you know where information technology's set—70mm, 100mm, 135mm, 200mm, and 300mm are marked.

In that location'south a very narrow manual focus ring at the frontmost part of the outer barrel—it remains in its position fifty-fifty as you accommodate the zoom. It's bare plastic, with a ridged texture, and is not coupled mechanically. Instead it activates the internal focus motor to adjust focus, and at that place'south very little throw to move from the close focus distance to infinity.

The result is a manual focus experience that isn't groovy, especially if you're a videographer looking to comprise slow, polish focus racks in your footage. The speed of adjustments is controlled by how fast you plow the ring, and there's absolutely not tactile feedback. For photographers who adopt the convenience of autofocus information technology isn't a concern.

There are no other controls or toggle switches on the lens. This version supports VR—Vibration Reduction—which is Nikon's term for optical image stabilization. I found it to be quite effective, netting consistently crisp results at 300mm at shutter speeds every bit long as one/15-second—about 4 stops of correction. That'due south especially important every bit the 70-300mm doesn't capture a ton of low-cal, especially when zoomed in, so you lot may need to shoot at a longer shutter speed to keep the ISO low on your camera and the image quality at its all-time.

Nikon sells another version of the lens, the Nikon AF-P DX Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-half dozen.3G ED, for $349.95. It doesn't support image stabilization, and given the pocket-size cost departure, we recommend picking up the VR version of the lens instead. You lot tin can always turn VR off in the photographic camera menu if you don't want to use it for a item scenario.

Focus is available as shut as iii.6 feet (1.1 meter) from the prototype sensor. You won't get truthful macro results from the 70-300mm—when zoomed all the way in and focused as close as possible it projects subjects at 1:4.6 life-size onto the image sensor. But information technology'south pretty decent close focus for a telezoom. There's no focus limiter function, but the lightweight lens elements move quickly, then there's little delay in racking from the shut focus to infinity.

Image Quality: Resolution Dips at 300mm

I tested the lxx-300mm with the 20.9MP Nikon D500. At 70mm f/4.5 information technology scores 1,939 lines on the center-weighted Imatest sharpness evaluation. That'south a bit amend than the 1,800 lines we want to see at a bare minimum, merely not as much resolution equally nosotros can expect to see from the D500's sensor at its all-time. There'south a bit of softness at the edges of the frame, but the 1,780 lines the periphery scores isn't annihilation to worry almost for most shots.

Stopping down to f/5.six moves the resolution from the acceptable to the very good range. The lens shows 2,330 lines at that place, with edges that sharpen up nicely to two,104 lines. You get the best results at f/8 (two,453 lines) and f/11 (2,462 lines). Diffraction starts to rear its ugly head at f/16, cutting resolution to a nevertheless-good ii,250 lines, but you don't want to narrow the iris anymore—we get just 1,870 lines at f/22.

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Zooming to the crude midpoint of the coverage range, we see an splendid 2,422 lines at 170mm f/5, with even functioning from eye to border. There's a nominal comeback at f/viii (ii,521 lines). You tin can feel free to make images at f/xi (2,447 lines), and results remain decent at f/sixteen (2,322 lines), merely avoid using f/22 as the score drops to 1,875 lines.

Prototype quality takes a step back at 300mm, but it remains in the very good range—ii,089 lines at f/6.3, with solid performance correct upwardly to the edges of the frame. There's pocket-sized improvement at f/eight (two,131 lines) and f/eleven (2,138 lines), but information technology never gets as sharp every bit we meet at 170mm. The zoom resolves ii,046 lines at f/16 and but 1,683 lines at f/22.

There's no distortion visible at 70mm, but we exercise run into the pincushion upshot when zooming in. At 170mm at that place is one.iv percent, and about 1 percent at 300mm. Pincushion distortion causes straight lines to exist drawn with a slight in curve. You won't observe it for virtually photos, simply if it does distract from the make clean lines of an architectural shot, information technology can exist corrected using software—Adobe Lightroom includes a profile to remove it from Raw images. You lot tin enable in-camera correction when shooting JPGs if desired.

At that place is some concealment at the corners of the epitome. We see -1.3EV at 70mm f/four.5, -ii.1EV at 170mm f/5 and f/5.6, and -1.6EV at 300mm f/half-dozen.iii. It's not a heavy vignette, and information technology'southward gone by the fourth dimension you narrow the discontinuity to the next full f-stop. If you shoot JPGs and go out the default corporeality of vignette correction enabled y'all'll likely never notice it. If you lot shoot Raw, the same Lightroom profile that corrects for the modest amount of baloney also compensates for the vignette.

Remember that the 70-300mm is a DX lens, covering only the paradigm circle of models like the D3400 and D500. If you own a full-frame Nikon, or program on upgrading to ane in the futurity, and want a lens of this blazon, consider instead the AF-P Nikkor seventy-300mm f/4.5-5.6E ED VR. Information technology'south a bit more than expensive at $600, only won't display a large black circumvolve around your images if you use it with a full-frame Nikon. The image above shows what happens when you shoot with the DX Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-half-dozen.3G ED VR on the full-frame D850.

A Expert Lens for DX Shutterbugs

The Nikon AF-P DX Nikkor seventy-300mm f/iv.5-6.3G ED VR hits a lot of adept notes for more coincidental use. It'south lite, modest, and affordably priced. Information technology includes prototype stabilization, which isn't available in its less expensive twin sibling, which is a feature that's more than than worth the $l premium it enjoys over the AF-P DX Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3G ED ($269.00 at Amazon Uk) —the two extra letters, VR, are important to have.

If you don't see yourself upgrading to a total-frame camera, and don't need to shoot telephoto images in dim lighting, the 70-300mm is a expert buy. If you practise want to future-proof yourself for an eventual upgrade to a full-frame system, consider instead the AF-P Nikkor seventy-300mm f/4.5-5.6E ED VR ($269.00 at Amazon UK) , priced effectually $600.

If your budget is more flexible you can nab a telezoom with a bit more accomplish. We similar the Sigma 100-400mm F5-six.3 DG Bone HSM Contemporary as a calorie-free zoom with compatibility for both DX and full-frame (FX) cameras. And if low-light shooting is a priority, consider giving up some zoom range and opting for the ultra-vivid Sigma fifty-100mm F1.8 DC HSM Art, only remember that it's only for DX sensors and is priced at a premium, around $ane,100. But budget shoppers will be happier with the AF-P DX Nikkor 70-300mm. Specially if you're able to get a factory refurbished copy, which sells for around $180.

Nikon AF-P DX Nikkor lxx-300mm f/4.5-six.3G ED VR

The Bottom Line

The Nikon AF-P DX Nikkor seventy-300mm f/4.v-6.3G ED VR is a depression-cost telezoom lens for DX format SLRs. Information technology's light, meaty, and delivers quality images as long equally you don't zoom in all the way.

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Source: https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/nikon-af-p-dx-nikkor-70-300mm-f45-63g-ed-vr