Zero32
Ive had this lens for about 10 days now and been out shooting with it at least 7 of the 10 on hours long shoots. Camera bodies used with this lens are the Nikon D5500 and D500. Build quality is... acceptable for what the lens is but the plastic flange mount is a serious turn off. I understand an all plastic construction cuts down on weight, which is a fairly decent pro for this lens by the way, but skimping on the mount is just asking for trouble down the road. The Vibration Reduction (VR) feature of this lens wonderfully smooths out shaky hands but seems to add a slight blur to images if left on when mounted on a tripod. A big downside is that no VR "on/off" switch is present on the lens which becomes a problem when trying to track birds in flight at high shutter speed on the fly. This is a problem because the VR does not seem to be tuned for panning stabilization which adds a degree of blur when taking shots while tracking a target. VR controls are located inside the Menu on your Nikon camera but a firmware update may be required and even then not all cameras are compatible with the lens. It is assumed when using this lens with a non-compatible Nikon body that the VR will remain ON at all times. Auto Focus (AF) speed/accuracy is a mixed bag... on the one hand it will focus fast and lock on target very quickly, and it hunts far less than other DX telephoto lenses Ive used. In fact, Ive only ever caught it hunting in near night time conditions and even then it still manages to find focus a majority of the time. On the other hand, the AF does not seem to be particularly accurate. AF will get you most of the way to your target in focus, but when shooting fairly distant targets at 300mm I find it slightly misses the mark. AF in video mode is a completely different story though. In Live View the AF is a slight bit slower but it focus pulls so smoothly youd almost swear you were using a Canon camera instead of a Nikon. Very rarely does it hunt, usually locking focus on near and distant targets without the typical Nikon back and forth "waffling" focus Nikon seems to be known for in Live View mode. The stepping motors are definitely doing their job here, doing it well and I absolutely love it for organic looking video focus. I also forgot to mention early on that it is far more accurate in Live View mode for pictures, even if it is a might bit slower on the focus. Honestly, I could see myself giving this lens a solid 4.5 out of 5 stars if but for 2 glaring issues... First chromatic aberration; the purple fringe wide open at 4.5 or 6.3 at 300mm is EXTREMELY noticeable, especially in bright scenes and absolutely requires post processing in Lightroom to be rid of it. Even after applying the Nikon lens correction profile you will still need to spot fix the purple fringe a majority of the time. Second vignetting; Originally I noticed the vignetting in my pictures and didnt think it was that bad until I applied the Nikon lens correction profile in Lightroom and watched the corners brighten up considerably. Normally this wouldnt be such a huge thing as it is far less bothersome than chromatic aberration except for the fact that this lens is designed for VIDEO. Which brings me to why I rate it 3 out of 5 stars. And please make no mistake, my 3 out of 5 means I actually LIKE the lens, but that I also acknowledge its issues. Post production for video to solve this lenss issues is all done manually in video editing programs and it quickly becomes tedious trying to remove the purple fringe and vignetting every single time you shoot something. The lens is also slightly less sharp than the same priced AF-S DX Nikkor 55-300mm 1:4.5-5.6G ED VR which means you wont be able to crop in as much on a photo while at peak image quality. So, tl:dr time, what I like about the lens: Fast focus, live view focus looks/feels organic, you can manually focus the lens while it is auto focusing (giant plus), the focus ring is smooth as butter, and the VR makes hand holding shots/videos a joy. What I dont like about the lens: Plastic flange mount, no VR switch or easily accessible on/off toggle, Auto Focus doesnt seem to be as accurate as it is fast at longer focal lengths, extreme chromatic aberration in bright scenes (especially at 300mm wide open), vignetting on a DX lens (first one Ive used that has it), and its not as sharp as a lens that, while inferior in auto focus, costs the same (The 55-300mm 1:4.5-5.6G ED VR also doesnt have chromatic aberration or vignetting AND it has a metal flange mount...). Honestly, if they slapped the focus ring, stepping motors and VR from the AF-P 70-300mm into the DX 55-300mm 1:4.5-5.6G ED VR it would be a nearly perfect lens.