Outstanding image quality, specially if you consider its price.
Good tripod collar.
Close focusing.
Good MF grip.
Focus limiter.
Despite other opinions, for a 400, it's light. It weights the same as my 80-200 f/2.8

Slow AF

In short: amazing value. This lens delivers outstanding image quality with no objectionable aberrations, lots of detail and very good contrast and is physically light enough for handholding (and carrying).
Construction is good for the money. Actually very good for the money. It features an AF/MF ring, a focus limiter switch and a detachable tripod collar. You probably have already read all this stuff :-)
Manual focusing is a breeze, it's very comfortable, the lens shade helps keep stray light at bay and provides protection to the front element.
AF is plain bad. You don need to prefocus if you plan on shooting birds in flight, and even then it may hunt and you may lose the shot, but once it adquires focus on my D200, it works. It takes a little getting used to, but once you do, you can make it work. I get more in focus bird shots than I do with my MF Nikkor, so for me it's great. For non action subjects it's OK.
The Macro thing refers to its close focusing ability, which is great for lots of uses, including confident birds.
I sure forget something, probably someone already mentioned it!

Customer Service

Can't comment on this.

Similar Products Used:

My other long tele, an AI Nikkor 400 mm f/3.5 ED-IF (amazing quality if you can live with MF)
Played with these lenses from friends:
Sigma 170-500 f/5.6-6.3
Canon 100-400 L
Canon 500mm f/4.5 L (just amazing)
Canon 400mm f/5.6

Sharp detail throughout aperature range. A solid tripod is a must.
Minimal Bokeh and no obvious images or chromatic aberations.
Macro
Built like a ... Jeep. Sturdy body, trim may be so-so, and it does the job.

Weight -- this is not the best lens for trekking the Sierra Nevada Range,
Slow aperature -- may necessitate mirror lock up for best outcome.

The 400mm APO tele macro is a value-oriented, yet powerful prime telephoto lens. The housing has a substantive feel to it, the finish is of high quality, and the optics are superb for a sub $1500 lens. I'm inclined to diss the clumbsy layout of the aperature ring and switches, but that's a matter of preference.

My subjects tend to be flowering plants and the occasional wildlife shot, and this lens is very well suited to the task. Macro support affords close takes of flowers with crisp, detailed images on a D300 or N90s. 60% of shots are set up manually with the remainder taken using AF; its my perception that manual shots seem to be sharper than AF shots.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 300mm f/4 AF.

Price, built, quality of the pictures, less distortions as new zooms.

Weight, not fast

Works very well on my Nikon D80, aperture controlled, and also works good with a Kenko 1,4 teleconverter. No CA, no periscopic view, really good quality pictures. Only wish it was a little bit faster (5.6). At F8 absolutely 100% quality !!

Customer Service

no

Similar Products Used:

non

Optical quality Build quality. Balance Built-in shade Tripod collar.

rear cap (at least in the Pentax-mount model) is a bad joke, you have to replace it immediately or risk sompromizing te rear lens.

The lens is very sharp, well balanced, easy and convenient to use, mechanics works smoothly. When shhoting a 6MP camera, the limiting factor is clearly the sensor, not the lens. It handles so well, even many of hand-held shots are very sharp. Flare is seemingly well controlled - I did a couple of sunset shots and did not see any problems. For this price, there are simply no competitors on the market. Sorry, they discontinued it.

Optical quality Build quality. Balance Built-in shade Tripod collar.

rear cap (at least in the Pentax-mount model) is a bad joke, you have to replace it immediately or risk sompromizing te rear lens.

The lens is very sharp, well balanced, easy and convenient to use, mechanics works smoothly. When shhoting a 6MP camera, the limiting factor is clearly the sensor, not the lens. It handles so well, even many of hand-held shots are very sharp. Flare is seemingly well controlled - I did a couple of sunset shots and did not see any problems. For this price, there are simply no competitors on the market. Sorry, they discontinued it.

Probably a good lens if you get one that doesn't have a bad chip and works better wide open.

Very soft/blurry wide open. "Front focus" problem Lens cannot be repaired if the chip goes bad.

I bought this lens used from KEH to use on my new Nikon D70. At first I thought my pictures were blurry because my tripod wasn't solid enough. After a lot of tests I found two problems. First, it was horrible wide open at f/5.6. It got better at f/8, but that was too slow for what I needed. Second, it had a very bad "front focus" problem. Which meant that, when the lens was set to auto focus, it would actually focus a little in front of the subject it should focus on. This caused serious blur. I spent a lot of time trying to make sure it was a problem with the lens and not the camera. I finally got my hands on another D70 and reproduced the problem with it. Manual focus worked fine. But, it still was horrible at f/5.6. I have the 300mm f/4 Sigma APO Macro lens and it works great, even wide open. I sent this lens back to KEH for repair (under the 60-day warranty) and was told that it is not repairable because the chip in the lens is no longer available. I'm waiting for a refund at this time. I'm now using the Sigma 300mm APO Macro lens with a Kenko Pro 300 1.4x converter. That combination works very well and was much cheaper than having both the 300mm and 400mm. I'm giving this lens a low rating to serve as a warning to those interested in buying one. Since there probably is no repair available make sure you get some kind of return policy in case you get a deffective one like I did.

Customer Service

Sigma customer service called me to tell me the lens was not repairable, even though KEH sent it to them. The Sigma rep was nice, but there was a serious language barrier. I could not get him to understand that he needs to send the lens back to KEH because they are the one's who sent it to Sigma. I called KEH to warn them that I would probably get the lens from Sigma. They told me just to send it to them if that happens and they would take care of it. KEH customer service is great.

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 300mm f/4 APO Macro

Price. Glassware quality. Can just about hand-hold in good light. Price.

Heavy. slow f number

This lens is inevitably a compromise. I wanted a long lens for nature shots, so I'd have liked 500mm. Whatever you're doing you'd like something a little faster than f5.6. BUT at this price point it seems peerless. In fact it's hard to see a rival below GBP1000. Long (and inexpensive) zooms have focussing/clarity issues, f2.8 primes are great but cost you four figures and then some. This is a lens that just does enough and does it well. Good choice for the keen amateur.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 70-300 APO (fantastic)

Image quality is excellent. Portability and handling are first rate.

Slow or hunting AF. But what do you expect for the price!

Bought the lens on a whim just as a stand by. Wow what a mistake; I left it in the filing cabinet and didn't use it for ages, then when I did I was blown away by the quality of the images. Used on birds and other animals with excellent (published) results. Bit slow on AF but pre-focussed or manual focus simply stunning.

Customer Service

Not needed

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 300 2.8, 400 2.8

Relative light weight for a long lens makes for hand holding. Very good sharpness and color rendition. Affordable quality long lens for the beginning nature shooter.

Min. aperutre of f5.6 makes for slow AF and hunting in low light. Wish they made a HSM version for Nikon

Have used this lens for several years with excellent results. Min. aperture of f5.6 causes it to hunt in low light. Weight makes it easy to handhold for birds in flight photography. Sharpness and color rendition are quite good. AF is slightly faster on my N80 than was on my N70. Tripod collar is well designed and locks down well on a tripod. For those who can't afford a 400mm f2.8 or larger lens, this makes a great compromise. Haven't really tried the macro capabilities much.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

None

Sharp Warm color Close-focus Light for a 400mm Nice, durable, rubberized lens finish

None

I have the non-AF version but its photographic performance should be identical. I like my 400! It should be wonderful for shooting elk, buffalo etc... in Yellowstone for example. It is much sharper than the non-'macro' lenses I've shot with over the years. I agree with an earlier reviewer who said that the color rendition is a little warm. I like "warm" better than cool (my Nikkors are cool in color). It is sharp and the close focus is great! I bought it to take flowers shots w/diffuse backgrounds and for close-in animal shots. Any time I get a new lens I try to get one that focuses close. This lens goes down to 1:3 and is useful when other lenses can't get the shot. I have been on a single focal length lens 'quality' jag lately. (admittedly zooms are very handy.) Picked up a close focus (1/2 life-size) Vivitar 135mm f2.8 that's very good! I want my wide angles, normals, zooms and telephotos to focus close-period. I remember when macros like the 105mm f4 Nikkor were thought to be poor portrait lenses! Who thought that one up? Give me a macro/close-focus lens anytime. If a lens is sharp, has good color, is light for its focal length and focuses close it will end up in my over-sized camera bag eventually!

Customer Service

not needed

Similar Products Used:

Leica 250 f4 Telyt various mirror lenses 70-300mm Super Macro Sigma (very good lens when used w/tripod especially in the 70-200 range-still good in 300 and very useful in macro 1/2 life-size range) 400mm Tokina SD 400 Sigma (non close-focus)