Affordable, Lightweight, Broad range of focal lengths.

Slow to focus, does not deliver the kind of sharpness you would expect from a Nikon.

An interesting lense, light weight, great focal lengths, but slow on the draw . I did a direct comparison using the 80-200 AFS and the 300 2.8 AFS. Identical subject, time of day and conditions, all on a monopod with identical film. This lense does not compare with the other two, on it's own it is a good lens but if you are serious at all about detail, clarity or if your subject has any kind of movement, move on.

Similar Products Used:

NIKON 80 - 200MM 2.8 ED IF AFS NIKON 300MM 2.8D II IF AFS

Great range @ 80-400; Vibration Reduction works as claimed; Relatively compact for the large range; Great sharpness, color and contrast; Large lense hood.

Slow focusing; Large lense hood.

After reading reviews of this lense I purchased it with some apprehension. However, after using it for one year, I have nothing but good things to say about (except for the slow focusing). Sharpness, contrast, and color are all great. VR works as it is claimed. Although not of metal construction, it is a high grade composite and has proved very durable. Great portability with the 80-400 range. When I want fast focusing, I use my 80-200 2.8 AFS. For just about everything else, I use the 80-400 VR.

Customer Service

None needed!

Similar Products Used:

Canon 70-200 2.8L Leica 80-200 4.0

-VR is awesome. -Broad range of focal lengths render the lense extremely versitile. -VR is REALLY awesome -Extremely easy to zoom -Circular polarizer stays fixed during use

-Tripod mount does not work well when shifting from landscape to portrait, but if you intended to use a tripod, you should save your money and skip the VR anyway. -It's heavy, especially on a D1; maybe that's the only reason you would ever want a tripod, anyway. But after several rolls, your forearms will thicken, and you'll never complain about the weight again. -Slight "wobble" on both the D1h and N80 lense mounts. Does not seem to affect image quality.

Camera bodies used with this lense: D1h and N80. This is the first expensive lense I ever purchased for non-clinical photography and I have absolutely no regrets. My main application for this lense is high school sports and bicycle racing. I knew, going into this purchase, that this lense was not really designed for sports, due to its relatively slow AF and arpeture. But because of the VR (see below), I found that it works great for outdoor sports, and good for indoor; you just have to anticipate the players' positions and definitely have the limit switch on. All the images have been sharp with excellant contrast. I have had no problem shooting at tight angles to the sun. Since the lense works so well with sports, it's a slam-dunk to buy it for outdoor / wildlife photography, which is it's original intended market. About the VR . . . absolutely magic! When you purchase your lense, immediatly take the tripod mount off! The VR truly allows you to shoot at long focal lengths without a tripod; and should be the reason why you're laying out the extra bucks to buy it, anyway. The automatic panning detection is awesome, and separates this lense from it's sports-minded Cannon competition. In conclusion, if you want great pictures of your kids in sports, this is the perfect lense. If you are a wildlife photographer, I dont see how you would ever be disappointed with it.

Customer Service

Not needed so far

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor AF 75-300 4.5-5.6

ED Optics(sharp and contrasty!); VR; Range; magnification ratio

Full VR eats batteries.

Very sharp and contrasty images. I have owned this lens for 1 1/2 years and I use it more frequently than my 80-200 AFS and 300 f4. (I will finally sell the 300 f4.) To save batteries, I don't use viewfinder VR. Although this lens is more 'plasticy' than 80-200 AFS lens, it is very solid and shows absolutely no looseness in the zoom or manual focus mechanisms, despite weekly travel and use. If I need the wider aperture or AFS speed, I'll use the 80-200.

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor 80-200 AFS Nikkor 300 f4

Excellent optical performance. VR feature. 5X zooom range. Compact and light-weight for a 5x telephoto zoom lens.

Relatively slow AF speed

I hve shot more than 20 rolls of films with this lens. The more I use it, the more I like it. This is a great lens. It is sharp, very sharp, over the whole zoom range, even at the maximum apertures. It is compact and light-weight and well balanced on my F100. The VR feature works wonder enabling sharp pictures at low shutter speeds when hand-held. The 5X zoom range makes it more versitile than a 80-200mm lens. It is not a lens designed for shooting rapid movements in dim light condition due to its relatively small maximum apertures and relatively slow AF speed. However, it is a perfect lens for hand-held shooting of relatively stable subjects. If you are not specialized in shooting rapidly moving subjects and often in need of a zoon range greater than 80-200mm, this is the lens for you.

Customer Service

None

Well built, great glass, great photo The tripod mount works good for me.

Lens shade is a little trouble some times mounting.

I''ve used this lens on my F5 for about a year now and it is a Fantastic lens. When first I got this lens, for about the first month I was very unsure about it. Found out after using it while the lens was great, it was an operator problem. Now I have hard time try to deside when leaving home which lens I want mounted, my 28-70AFS or my 80-400AF-VR And 80% of the time it''s the 80-400 VR. If you really learn this lens it''s hard to beat !!!

Customer Service

Never Used

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 28-70AFS 2.8, 17-35 AFS 2.8, 70-200AFS 2.8

Great VR system. Sharp, Sharp. Great zoom range.

A little heavy to hand hold. But using with a monopod it''s fine

Don''t believe all the negative stuff you read about this lens. It''s probably written by beople who don''t read the instruction manual or don''t know what they are doing. I''TS A GREAT LENS. I just ran two rolls through it to see what it could do. I to was conserned about it being sharp and if the VR really works. Let me tell you IT WORKS GREAT. I took shots where I said to myself nah this will never come out, but to my amazement everything was sharp. The lens is a bit heavy, but after all it goes to 400mm. I took shots hand held at 400mm weaving and bobing but staying as steady as I could. Guess what---SHARP. The tripod mount is fine it doesn''t fall off and it''s sturdy enough. The lens is a natural for a monopod and the VR works great. if your hesitating like I was don''t Get It.

Customer Service

Used once for my f100 and they were fine

Similar Products Used:

Nikon system since 1971, Nikon lenses, Sigma lenses.

A super sharp lens for long distance hand held shots. Excellent contrast

Somewhat plastic feel..The autofocus should be set to limited mode to prevent it from "seeking" to much.

I''ve used this lens for more than a year. The first thing I did with the lens was to remove the Tripod Collar and I never missed it. Just as with any new equipment it takes a little getting used too to get the best results. I used Nikon and other lenses for over 40 years and today still own a dozen or so. Other than my 24mm Nikkor or micro lenses this lens is one of the sharpest I''ve encountered. Even "closeups" of flowers at 400mm at about 10 feet were excellent. The proof of the quality is in the picture. Some people out there must be buying the reject lenses.

Customer Service

Not used here but good for other issues.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 70-210, 70-300, 24-120, etc. etc. Tokina lenses and Tamron 28-200 and other lenses

Versitile, sharp VR does the job makes low light pix work. Sharp and contrasty images.

AF hunts a lot more than the AF-S lenses. Tripod collar is a nightmare that falls off and hangs up an jams a lot when used heavily.

Took the 80-400 to Africa for 3 weeks. Unlike some, I found the image quality to be excellent, good contrast, very good quality. The AF hunts but the VR really works, you will not mistake this for an AF-S lens but it is accepatable. The only minus was the tripod collar. It hangs up (used on tripod in an open lorry a lot). You align the collar with a dot and it slides off 3 pins, unfortunately, it does this all the time when shifting from horizontal to vertical. Lost a lot of good images screwing with a collar that jammed, hung up, was about as smooth as sandpaper. I hope someone comes out with a usable tripod collar for this thing... In summary, you will like it and makes a lot of sense for what I used it for (shot anout 90% of my images with this lens) if I could carry only one lens, this would be it. I was so frustrated with the tripod collar I was tempted to toss the whole thing!

Customer Service

Had to send it out to get fixed and, as always, Nikon repair was very good, very fast.

Similar Products Used:

80-200 EDIF AF-S 500MM EDIF AF-S

VR - sharpness -- size -- focal lengths

slower to focus than my 80-200

I have now used this lens for more than 9 months. It has lived up to its billing. It is very sharp and the vr works. As a lens for wildlife photography when tripods are not easily used, this is an excellent lens. Its size makes it easy to carry in the field or on a trip.

Customer Service

Not needed.

Similar Products Used:

300 f4, 80-200 2.8.