Nikon Af-s Dx Nikkor 55-300mm F/45-56g Ed Vr Lens Review
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Nikon 55-300mm VR
DX only, $399 (2010-)
© 2010-2013 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved.
Intro Spec s Performance Usage Compared Recommendations
Nikon 55-300mm f/4.v-5.6 VR DX (DX cameras but, 58mm filters, eighteen.6 oz. (529g), 4.vi'/1.4m close-focus). enlarge. If you find this page useful and would like to aid support my work here, the biggest help is when you lot apply these links, especially this link direct to this 55-300mm lens at Adorama and at Amazon when you lot get anything, regardless of the country in which you alive. Cheers! Ken.
Deal: Sometimes these are available refurbished, which are always a bully buy.
May 2013 Nikon Reviews Nikon Lenses All Reviews
Platonic for: Perfect normal and long-telephoto lens for full general photography, just simply on DX digital cameras.
Not for: Film or FX digital cameras. Ho-hum autofocus and needing to move a switch to get to and from manual focus makes the 55-300mm poor for moving subjects; use the 70-300mm VR instead for fast action, likewise as for flick and FX.
Sample epitome at 58mm and f/viii. original file.
Sample image at 300mm and f/eight. original file (subject is tilted, watch focus).
Introduction summit
Intro Spec s Performance Usage Compared Recommendations
This Nikon 55-300mm VR lens is a reasonably priced, small, lightweight and very loftier-powered telephoto zoom for any DX camera.
Information technology'south an ideal lens for anyone not expecting to upgrade to FX, and who needs a piffling more than reach than the excellent 55-200mm VR.
The optical performance of this 55-300mm lens is fantabulous.
Autofocus is wearisome. If y'all want to shoot activeness, pay a little more than for the larger and more expensive semi-professional FX 70-300mm VR instead.
To get to and from manual focus fashion, you must move a switch on this 55-300mm. There is no instant override as there is on the 70-300mm VR. Transmission focus doesn't work very well on this 55-300mm anyway, and then if you want easy access to manual focus (I exercise), opt for the 70-300mm VR instead.
If you don't really need 300mm, the 55-200mm VR is the same as this 55-300mm lens, except for the plastic mount and 200mm maximum, for half the toll.
This 55-300mm excels for employ as an ultra-compact, reasonably-priced supertelephoto, so long as y'all're not getting it for sports. For sports, you want the 70-300mm VR, merely for full general apply, heck, I can read a licence plate at a quarter-mile (400 meters) in my images!
Compatibility intro height
This Nikon 55-300mm lens works simply with Nikon's DX digital cameras.
It will attach to FX and film cameras, just will not fill the complete FX image.
See Nikon Lens Compatibility for details with your photographic camera. Read down the ", AF-I," "Chiliad" and "VR" columns for this lens. You'll get the least of all the features displayed in all columns, since "G" (gelding) is a handicap which removes features.
Nikon 55-300mm. enlarge.
Specifications superlative
Intro Spec southward Performance Usage Compared Recommendations
Name elevation
Nikon calls this the Nikon DX AF-S NIKKOR 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR. Whew!
DX: Won't work on film or FX cameras.
AF-S and SWM: Silent Moving ridge Autofocus Motor.
Yard: Gelded for cost-reduction and removing compatibility with older cameras.
ED: Magic Extra-low Dispersion Glass.
VR: Vibration Reduction.
Optics peak
Internal diagram, Nikon 55-300mm. overstate.
17 elements in 11 groups.
Two of these are ED, and ane is called "HRI," high refractive index.
HRI glass has an index of refraction even greater and so two. ED glass has always had low refractive indices, and glass with college indices of refraction has been what'south been letting lens makers shrink lenses for decades ad college and higher indices of refraction are created.
Maximum Aperture top
f/4.five-v.half-dozen. details.
Diaphragm acme
ix rounded blades.
Stops down to f/22-29.
Reasonably circular opening at all apertures, except the very smallest.
Coverage pinnacle
DX only; cannot embrace film or FX.
Focal Length peak
55-300mm, which on a DX camera gives angles of view similar to what an 80-450mm lens sees when used on an FX or 35mm camera.
Bending of View summit
28° 50' ~ five° xx' on DX.
Close Focus top
4.6 anxiety (1.4m).
Maximum Reproduction Ratio top
1:3.6.
Focus Scale height
No.
Depth-of-Field Scale peak
No.
Infra-Ruddy Focus Alphabetize top
No.
Discontinuity Band top
No.
Tripod Collar acme
No.
Filter Thread summit
58mm, plastic.
Rotates with focus, but not with zoom.
Vibration Reduction (VR) top
VR Two system.
Claims "upwards to iv stops" improvement.
Nikon's sales literature claims it recognizes when it's fastened to a tripod, yet the instructions suggest turning off VR when on a tripod. I don't worry about it either way.
Size top
Nikon specifies 4.viii" (123mm) extension from flange by iii.0 " (76.5mm) diameter.
Weight top
18.647 oz. (528.6g), measured.
Nikon specifies 18.7 oz. (530g).
Hood top
Plastic bayonet hood HB-57, included.
Example top
CL-1020 pouch, included.
Included peak
58mm LC-58 snap-on front cap.
Plastic bayonet hood HB-57.
CL-1020 pouch.
LF-iv rear cap, which is a new part number.
New LF-4 Rear Cap. enlarge.
Appear elevation
19 August 2010.
Available pinnacle
Shipping since September 2010.
Nikon Production Number top
2197.
Quality superlative
Lens: Made in People's Democracy of China.
LR-4 rear cap: Made in Thailand.
LC-58 forepart cap: Made in Thailand.
Warranty top
5 years, USA.
Toll, United states elevation
2012 June: $399; $299 refurbished.
2010 October: $389.
2010 August: $399.95.
Box, Nikon 55-300 DX VR.
Performance top
Intro Spec s Performance Usage Compared Recommendations
Overall Focus Bokeh Color Distortion Ergonomics
Eyeblow Falloff Filters Focal Lengths, effective
Lateral Color Fringes Macro Maximum Aperture
Mechanics Sharpness Sunstars Survivability VR Zooming
Overall performance pinnacle
The Nikon 55-300mm VR DX is a perfectly competent, light-weight, wide-range telephoto for DX cameras.
Information technology'south meliorate than the smaller and lighter 55-200mm VR, with which this 55-300mm VR has much in mutual. The lxx-300mm VR is a much bigger, better and non that much more than expensive FX lens.
Focus operation elevation
AF Speed
Autofocus is slow.
At 300mm, if y'all're way out of focus, y'all may have to endeavour a couple of times to get the photographic camera to wake upwardly and focus. This is because you lot tin can get so far out of focus at 300mm that the camera has no idea what's going on, since the image becomes just one big blur. If this is a problem, focus on something else halfway to your intended subject to get the camera sort of in focus, then it ought to focus the rest of the mode to the subject side by side time you hit the shutter. This isn't a lens upshot as much as an issue with all supertelephoto AF lenses.
AF Accurateness
AF always seems to be correct-on, which is easy for a lens this slow.
Manual Focus
Transmission focus is crummy.
First, you have to motility a switch on the lens, and then the manual focus is sort of a joke. It moves too fast for precise focus at the longer focal lengths where you lot need information technology, and nigh OK at the short terminate, where you don't.
For fantabulous transmission focus, forget this lens and step upwards to the 70-300mm VR instead.
Bokeh performance meridian
Tree at 10 meters (30'); 55-300mm VR DX at 300mm and f/5.vi. bigger.
Bokeh, the graphic symbol of out of focus backgrounds, not only how far out of focus they are, is beautiful. Backgrounds stay soft, and not bothersome.
If you demand a narrow depth-of-field, recall that information technology is narrowest at 300mm.
Color Rendition performance superlative
The color rendition of this 55-300mm matches all my other modern NIKKOR lenses.
Distortion performance top
The Nikon 55-300mm VR DX has picayune distortion on the ends of the zoom range, merely stiff pincushion around 135-200mm
This can be corrected easily by plugging these figures into Photoshop's lens distortion filter. These aren't facts or specifications, they are the results of my research that requires hours of photography and calculations on the resulting information.
| Visible Effects on DX at 10' (3m) | Correction factor | |
| 55mm | very mild barrel baloney | +i.5 |
| 70mm | none | -1.0 |
| 100mm | moderate pincushion distortion | -two.3 |
| 135mm | strong pincushion distortion | -3.0 |
| 200mm | strong pincushion baloney | -3.0 |
| 300mm | moderate pincushion distortion | -ii.0 |
© 2010 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved.
Ergonomics (handling and ease-of-use) operation top
Nikon 55-300mm VR DX . overstate.
Ergonomics are nifty, if all you want to practice is zoom in and out. The zoom ring is big and easy to handle.
If you want manual focus, information technology'southward awful.
It's a pain to have to slide the A - M switch back and forth to go to and from transmission mode, and one time you're at that place, manual focus is geared entirely too fast. It focuses from one extreme to the side by side in a quick 60º of rotation, making it almost impossible to focus precisely manually.
Eyeblow operation elevation
As the 55-300mm VR DX is zoomed in and out, air pumps in and out, and you may take some air accident out of the eyepiece into your eye.
You won't usually care, but the design of the 55-300 VR is such that air, and thus clay, are pumped in and out all the time into both your lens and your photographic camera.
Falloff (darkened corners) performance top
Falloff isn't visible.
I've exaggerated this by shooting a gray field and placing these on a gray background.
Nikon 55-300mm VR DX falloff at infinity, no correction.
| Wide | f/5.6 | f/8 | |
| 55mm |  |  |  |
| 135mm |  |  |  |
| 300mm | Maximum is f/5.six -> |  |  |
© 2010 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved.
Filters, use with performance top
Like well-nigh telephotos, there is no problem with vignetting.
Except at 300mm, experience free to stack as many filters as you similar.
The plastic filter threads rotate with focus, simply not with zooming.
Focal Lengths, effective performance top
Even though Nikon cautions that the effective focal length shortens as 1 focuses more closely, I don't see any shrinkage. 300mm looks like 300mm, even at 4.6 feet (i.4 meters).
By comparing, the 28-300mm VR is nowhere near 300mm at its 300mm setting at 5 feet.
This 55-300mm lens shows the same tight image at four.half-dozen feet as the 28-300mm shows at 1.5 feet!
Lateral Color Fringes performance pinnacle
A D300 corrects for these automatically, thus I see none on a D300, except at 300mm on the sides, where at that place can be a tiny flake of lateral color.
Macro operation top
With a rated maximum reproduction ratio of one:3.6, that ways you tin fill the frame with something equally small equally 2-1/four x three-1/3 inches (55 10 85mm), from 4.half-dozen feet (1.iv meters) away!
Maximum and Minimum Apertures Performance top
| Maximum | Minimum | |
| 55mm | f/4.5 | f/22 |
| 70mm | f/4.five | f/22 |
| 100mm | f/4.8 | f/23 |
| 135mm | f/four.8 | f/25 |
| 200mm | f/5 | f/25 |
| 300mm | f/five.6 | f/29 |
Mechanics and Structure performance top
Nikon 55-300mm VR DX . enlarge.
The Nikon 55-300mm VR DX feels almost equally nice as Nikon's serious amateur lenses similar the 28-300mm VR and xvi-35mm VR. Except for the dinky manual focus and plasticy extending barrels, it feels pretty nice.
Filter Threads
Plastic.
Hood
Plastic bayonet.
Hood Mountain
Plastic.
Barrel Outside
Plastic.
Focus Ring
Rubber covered plastic.
Zoom Ring
Rubber covered plastic.
Depth-of-Field Scale
None.
Internals
Plastic.
Discontinuity Ring
None.
Mount
Dull-chromed brass.
Markings
Paint.
Identity Plate
Debossed plastic plate that looks similar metal.
Serial Number
Sticker glued into a recess in the bottom rear of barrel, near mount.
Ass-Gasket (grit seal at mount)
Yeah.
Noises When Shaken
Balmy clicking.
Made in
Ruddy Communist china.
Sharpness performance top
Warning 1: Image sharpness depends more on you than your lens.
Warning 2: Lens sharpness doesn't hateful much to good photographers.
With those caveats, the Nikon 55-300mm VR DX is sharp!
Except for the sides at 300mm at f/5.6, everything is sharp everywhere.
More under Comparisons.
Nikon's claimed MTF curves.
MTF , 55mm.
MTF , 300mm.
Sunstars performance top
With its almost always circular diaphragm, I couldn't get whatever sunstars on bright points of light.
Survivability performance elevation
As with all consumer zooms that pump in and out, never bang the front of the lens because it volition be like shooting fish in a barrel to suspension the internal plastic zoom machinery.
VR performance height
I didn't test information technology numerically, merely vibration reduction (VR) appears to piece of work cracking.
Information technology's like shooting fish in a barrel to become precipitous mitt-held shots at 300mm.
Without VR, it's usually impossible to go abrupt paw-held shots with lenses this small and low-cal, and with this much magnification.
VR is critical in a lens like this, and information technology works bully.
Zooming performance height
Nikon 55-300mm at 300mm. enlarge.
Zooming is well spaced. Its easy to set precise compositions, and to zoom rapidly.
It'southward a niggling tighter between 200mm and 300mm, but not enough to worry about.
Zooming is a bit on the firm side. Information technology never flops or creeps.
Usage top
Intro Spec s Performance Usage Compared Recommendations
Turn off VR when on a tripod.
When using VR, it may accept a second for the image to stop wiggling when you first tap the shutter. Be certain to look that second if you're at the 300mm end to ensure the sharpest images.
Compared performance meridian
Intro Spec s Operation Usage Compared Recommendations
Sharpness
I shot the 55-300mm VR confronting the 70-300mm VR, 75-300mm AF and 28-300mm VR, on a 12 MP DX D300.
At 70mm at infinity, all were as sharp in the middle, just the 28-300mm was softest on the sides of DX wide-open at 70mm. The differences were gone past f/8.
At 135mm at infinity, they were the same in the center, with the 75-300mm AF and 28-300 VR only a little softer on the sides wide-open up.
All were nigh the same in the heart at 300mm at infinity. At 300mm on the left of the prototype, the 55-300mm DX VR and 75-300mm AF were the softest. On the right side, the 28-300mm VR was the softest. Thus, since the 70-300mm VR never got soft of either side, information technology wins.
In the existent globe, even professional person zooms like the 200-400mm f/four are often sharper or softer on one side or the other.
Don't worry about it; this is a sharp lens, as sharp as the residue. You accept to pay more for mechanical longevity and instant access to manual focus, not for optical quality today.
AF Speed
AF is slow on the 55-300mm VR DX and 75-300mm AF, and fast on the seventy-300mm VR and 28-300mm VR.
| 55-300mm VR | 55-200mm VR | 70-300mm VR | |
| Works on FX or flick? | no | no | Yes |
| Instant transmission-focus override? | no | no | Yeah |
| Diaphragm | ix | vii | nine |
| FIlter | 58mm | 52mm | 67mm |
| Weight | 530g | 335g | 745g |
| Price, 8/2010 | $390 | $220 | $520 |
Recommendations top
Intro Spec s Performance Usage Compared Recommendations
I covered this in the Introduction.
This is a swell lens, just actually not much tougher or more useful than the much less expensive 55-200mm VR. Autofocus is slow in both these Chinese lenses, and will be frustrating for action shots.
Equally of October 2010, Nikon'due south 70-300mm VR isn't much more than expensive, and is a far superior lens which focuses almost instantly, and offers almost instant manual focus override.
If y'all desire this 55-300mm VR and don't listen slower AF and impuissant manual focus, its optics and VR organisation are superb.
Deployment
I'd leave either a 58mm Nikon Clear (NC - UV) filter, or a 58mm Hoya Super HMC UV on the lens at all times. I would leave the hood at home.
If I was working in nasty, muddy areas, I'd forget the cap, and utilise an uncoated 58mm Tiffen UV filter instead. Uncoated filters are much easier to clean, but more than prone to ghosting.
More Information
Nikon's data
Nikon's press release
Nikon United states'south data
Nikon USA'southward slick canvass
Nikon, Commonwealth of australia'southward press release
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