Looking for info on the 70-300 VR

[emh]

Another review from a Nikon expert...

Sample variation could be an issue here... I guess. Anyway, Brad Hill's review:

Recently Abandoned Products - Lenses

(Updated 08 December 2009). Here's what I've recently jettisoned, and why I decided to jettison it...


AFS-Nikkor 70-300 mm f/4.5-5.6 IF ED VR G Zoom. I acquired this lens in December of 2008 as a "stop gap"/temporary solution to fill the focal length hole in my lens collection that was created when I sold my 70-200 mm f2.8 VR (reasons for the sale of the 70-200 are given a few paragraphs below in the section entitled "Lenses - Recently Abandoned Products"). Although this lens ranks fairly low for me in value, I know it's a lens that many Nikon users will be considering, so I'll give a few more details here than some of the other (and more valuable to me) lenses have received. In late November of 2009 I acquired my 70-200mm f2.8 VR zoom lens and my reason for owning this lens disappeared. So, I sold it.


General comments and caveats: If you search the web you will find many very good to excellent reviews of this lens. Which is NOT what you'll find here. I think the main reason for this is that this lens will be viewed very differently by different photographers depending on whether they are "upgrading" to this lens (usually from a kit lens) or are using it after spending a lot of time shooting with Nikon's pro glass. To be fair, I started using this lens after using some of Nikon's best professional lenses for a number of years. Does it stack up well against them? No. But it costs about 1/10th to 1/20th of what some of my other lenses cost. If it performed as well as them (or even close) I'd be a total idiot for buying the pro glass! However, when you combine this lens's focal range with its small size, light weight, and its effective VR function, you have an extremely versatile lens. Add in the very low price compared to pro glass, and you really do have tremendous value. But, in day-to-day use you do have to make a lot of compromises to squeeze the best out of this lens - read on to see what I mean...

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Very informative... once you get over the fact that this is like comparing an Aston Martin DB9 to a Ford Focus :mrgreen: