|
Nikkor 70-300mm VR
The Nikkor 70-300mm VR is a high performance telephoto zoom designed for use on all Nikon’s SLRs, be they digital or film models. Launched alongside the Nikon D80 in August 2006, it perfectly complements the DX 18-70mm, matching the superior build and optical quality of this up-market kit lens, and extending its focal range without interruption.
Delivering an equivalent focal range of 105-450mm on a DX-format body such as the D80, it offers a powerful reach which is invaluable for wildlife and sports photography, while also providing an ideal set of focal lengths for portrait work. Crucially for anyone thinking of upgrading their body in the future, it’s also compatible with full-frame Nikon DSLRs like the D3.
The 70-300mm VR additionally features vibration reduction to combat camera-shake with Nikon claiming up to four stops of compensation. It’s also an AF-S model which means quick and quiet auto-focusing, along with full compatibility with both the D40 and D40x DSLRs.
Nikkor 70-300mm VR design and build
Measuring 80mm in diameter and 144mm in length when zoomed-out, the 70-300mm VR is wider and almost half as long again as either the DX 18-135mm or DX 55-200mm VR lenses when all are zoomed-out, and this makes a big difference when carrying it around.
At 745g it’s almost exactly twice the weight of the DX 18-135mm kit lens and over twice the weight of the DX 55-200mm VR. It’s also comfortably heavier than the 560g of the DX 18-200mm VR. Held in isolation the 70-300mm VR doesn’t feel particularly heavy – instead you get the impression of a product that’s confident and well-built. Indeed, the build quality of the 70-300mm VR is far superior to the DX 55-200mm VR with sturdier construction, a metal lens mount and a proper manual focusing ring with a window showing distance marks.
Interestingly though, the budget DX 55-200mm VR has a slight edge when it comes its maximum aperture of f4 when zoomed-out, although it is at a shorter focal length. The 70-300mm VR has a maximum aperture of f4.5 at 70mm and f5.6 at 300mm.
In terms of focusing, the 70-300mm VR is equipped with one of Nikkor’s SWM Silent Wave Motors, built into the lens itself. This makes it an AF-S model, and as such will auto-focus on the D40 and D40x, along with every other Nikon SLR, film or digital. It takes just under one second to focus from one extreme to the other when fully-zoomed-in, which makes it fractionally quicker than the budget DX 55-200mm VR.
Nikkor 70-300mm VR coverage
The Nikkor 70-300mm VR is designed to perfectly complement the range of the DX 18-70mm kit lens. It literally starts where the other stops, giving you a total range of 18-300mm on a full-frame film or digital body – or an equivalent of 27-450mm on a DX-format body like the D80. This reach makes a big difference if you’re into photographing small or distant subjects, such as wildlife or sports, and can really isolate people (or indeed anything else) against their backgrounds in portraits.
Nikkor DX 70-300mm VR with D80 |
|
Nikkor DX 70-300mm VR with D80 |
|
|
|
| 70-300mm at 70mm f8 (105mm equivalent) |
|
70-300mm at 300mm f8 (450mm equivalent) |
The Nikkor 70-300mm VR is equipped with Vibration Reduction to counteract camera-shake. It’s an optical system, which means you see the benefit through the viewfinder – and it’s very reassuring to see your composition steady itself as you half-press the shutter release. It also makes framing the shot at the 70-300mm VR’s longer focal lengths much easier
Nikon claims up to four stops of compensation for the 70-300mm VR – a whole extra stop beyond the DX 55-200mm VR – and to put it to the test we took a series of photos of a distant house zoomed-into 300mm (450mm equivalent on the D80) with and without VR enabled.
Nikkor 70-300mm VR without VR |
|
Nikkor 70-300mm VR with VR |
|
|
|
Nikkor 70-300mm at 300mm (450mm equivalent using D80), VR disabled.
50% crop, 100 ISO, 1/25th second
|
|
Nikkor 70-300mm at 300mm (450mm equivalent using D80), VR enabled.
50% crop, 100 ISO, 1/25th second |
Without VR, we required a shutter speed of at least 1/400 for a perfectly steady result, whereas with VR (in Normal mode) we achieved the same result at shutter speeds as slow as 1/25. This corresponds to four stops of compensation, confirming Nikon’s claims and also the effectiveness of the system in practice.
|
