23: *70-300mm f/4-5.6G AF Zoom-Nikkor

*70-300mm f/4-5.6G AF Zoom-Nikkor

7 comments so far...

Th Clvr Mnky April 24, 2007, 03:55 AM

Nice cheap-and-cheerful high-power zoom. Not particularly bright or fast, but pretty clear edge-to-edge.

I'm looking forward to properly testing this out capturing images of critters this summer.

Gergana Vasileva plus April 24, 2007, 08:27 AM

and we're looking forward to see your summer masterpieces made with this beauty :)

PimpDaddy April 25, 2007, 09:21 PM

Nice :). I hope you'll like it. It so nice to get proper gear that work like it should :)

Th Clvr Mnky May 03, 2007, 02:07 PM

Mini-review: Focuses faster than I would have expected (this is not an "SWM" model) and really feels like a 450mm lens on the D80 with its smaller sensor.

Noticed some artefacts that looked like purple fringing that occurred when stopped down and at short zooms, with the lens hood on. Since this is nearly opposite from the conditions that should cause this sort of chromatic aberration it might not be the lens, or is some interesting interplay between the sensor and the lens. However, since this glass is the cheap non-ED version, some CA is to be expected in high-contrast and bright conditions.

I can live with this for the price.

Th Clvr Mnky March 30, 2008, 11:25 PM

Purple fringing! At any aperture, and shutter speed! Luckily this sort of thing can be addressed in post-production, bit it is not subtle. I'm thinking I might have a bad version of this lens. The unfortunate thing is that this lens is pretty sharp for a cheap tele, but the purple fringing can make details look blurry.

If you buy this used, demand to test it out wide-open and at either end of the zoom ranges.

PimpDaddy March 31, 2008, 07:20 AM

Bummer... Good thing I'm on Canon then :-)

Th Clvr Mnky March 31, 2008, 02:10 PM

I might rent the "ED" version of this to see if it is the glass and not my camera.