Nikon Nikkor AF-S 55 mm-300 mm F/4.5-5.6 ED VR DX G Lens

I had just bought myself the Nikon D5100 with the lens kit;18mm-55mm + 55mm-200mm. I wanted a longer focal length and couldn't get a decent trade in value from a brand new lense so I searched Ebay for this deal and found this lense for the right price with shipping in mind. The lense works great! Just what I expected from Nikon, I was replacing my old SLR camera which had a 300mm zoom lense, this exceeds it in every way! Smooth motion, quick focus, clear pictures, fairly light weight, and still kept my cost under about $100 from buying through a store. It doesn"t handle the real fast shots you may try and get if shooting wildlife or sports but handles just about anything else you throw at it, it has it's limits but performs well where I need it, compared to the old olympus I used for years it's leaps and bounds ahead! Doesn't even compare with my point and shoot digitals, this is a whole other class itself. No complaints here!

This lens is a great starter lens in addition to the 18-55 kit lens however it has its limitations, with a maximum aperture of 4.5 and relatively slow autofocus, its not suited for sports photography and will not perform well in low light. That being said, it is still a Nikon DSLR lens and will take amazing pictures in proper lighting. Bottom line: If you are into sports, spend the extra for the 70-300 lens because it has faster autofocus but if your not photographing sports all the time or are just a recreational photographer, this lens is a great asset.

This is a good zoom lens. I have taken some nice pictures with it. It is sharp and focus well, though the focusing is a bit slow.

I bought this as a cheap replacement for a AF-S VR-Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G I have as a loan. By and large, the zoom I got on eBay suits this purpose. However, I miss at times the VR function of the more recent Nikkors.

Ken Rockwell has a thorough review of this lens here:
http://www.kenrockwell.co​m/nikon/75300.htm

Very well built lens (Metal not plastic). Older push-pull zoom style has appeal to me. Its autofocus is fast and accurate. It works beautifully with both a DSLR (D300) and an older film cameras (N90s). While it lacks some modern features such as VR and distance communication to the camera, it's used price along with a $117.00 film camera body allows me to safely use a bird lens in a canoe. If it drowns I'm not out big bucks. With an aperture ring I can use it with extension tubes for close focusing. And the aperture ring also allows me to use older tele-converters. Its tripod mounting ring has never gotten in my way and is very helpful in balancing my outfit on a mount. This tripod mount is much easier to use while switching from horizontal to vertical formats and leveling the horizon when using a ball head on a tripod. It also works well with D-TTL and i-TTL flashes. In short, I love this lens!!

I baught this as an upgrade to the 55 to 200 kit lens that came with the D5100, and it certainly is that. It really does deliver the super sharp picture quality that you expect from Nikon. I did not give it 5 stars, because you do see a drop off at the longest focal lenth, but then again, that seems to be typical for a lens in this price range. I have gotten some fantastic sports shots with it in shutter priority mode, which can be made even better with minimal enhancements. Portraits and landscapes in A-Priority have turned a out consistently excellent as well. This lens excells when you have enourh light, but is not fast enough for action shots in less than ideal lighting conditions. I use a Quantary Circular Polorizer in bright sunlight conditions and have manaaged some 'framable' shots looking almost directly into the sun. All in all a great value