Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3G ED Vibration Reduction Zoom Lens with Auto Focus for Nikon DSLR Cameras

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First of all, this lens makes life so much easier. I love not having to carry around two lenses, and swapping between them for various shots. Also, the reviews on here complaining about the quality of the pictures it takes need to consider a few things: First of all, you are using a zoom lens. You will not get fixed lens quality from a zoom lens. Also, the quality of the shots this lens is capable of is just as good as the 55-300mm Nikkor lens. The ghosting that is described occurs in all lenses if you zoom in all the way and then blow up the picture beyond what it should be. I love this lens! It is simple to use, works great and even works as a Macro lens. I am no professional, but for the average daily hobbyist, this lens is perfect. If you want to go spend thousands of dollars to get a better quality zoom so you can magnify the pictures, then do that, and dont write negative reviews about a lens that you tried to make do more than you knew it was capable of when you bought it. Update** I have now had this lens for a few months, and I am still more and more impressed with it. I have managed to take a few pictures that have now been rated in the top 50 trending on the National Geographic User Submitted Photos page. The capability and portability of this lens are just getting better and better. I am including some more photographs, now that I have had a chance to expand on it some.

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Outstanding lens! Super sharp, fast accurate focusing (even in low-light) and lightweight! I initially bought this lens specifically for walking around street photography use. But after just coming off a three day nature and landscape shoot with the 18-300, Im thoroughly impressed. What stood out to me (other than obviously not having to keep changing lenses), was the fast accurate focusing, especially in low-light situations. The 18-300 was amazing in this category! There were many times I was sure the focusing would be off, but I was wrong. I was pleasantly surprised to see that all my images were (at the responsibility of the lens) razor-sharp. Then theres the convenience. Concentrating on getting the shot, and not having to constantly change lenses IS everything its cracked up to be. Although not my intentions, during the entire three days I never brought my 16-85 or 70-300 out of the bag. Didnt need to. The only other lens I used was my Nikon 10-24. Yes, the 18-300 is a tad slower at the longer length than my 70-300, but I never missed the small difference. And did I mention the light weight of the 18-300? The only slight negative was a little lens creep. But the 18-300 has a lock for this if needed. I have eight other Nikon lenses, and this lens is so good, this is the first time Ive felt compelled to write a review. So, my recommendation: Dont listen to all the "holier-than-thou" critics on the Nikon forums that claim this lens is a waste of Nikon time. No, its not a "professional lens" not a 2.8 and it doesnt cost thousands of dollars. But its a damn great lens. You wont be disappointed. Needless to say, I certainly wasnt.

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I ordered this on 4/24/14 and received it on 4/26. I used it that day and the next and so far I am very impressed. Im using it on a D300. There are purists that will say that all super zooms are garbage, but Ive been shooting as a hobbyist since the 60s and this is the best zoom lens Ive ever had. Very sharp, with fast and accurate focusing. I was trying to decide between the previous (heavier) Nikkor 18-300 and the forthcoming Tamron 16-300, then this lens came along. I think I made the right decision.

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First thing you notice when you open the Amazon box is the small size of the Nikon product box. It just doesnt look like it would house a telephoto lens - especially an 18-300mm lens. Upon opening the box, it is indeed a small lens for what it is. Its weight is 550 grams compared to the hefty 828 grams of the original 18-300mm lens it replaces. 550 grams is also about the same weight of the 18-200mm lens. This newer lens is lighter, smaller and less expensive than the lens it replaces. I replaced and sold my 18-200mm, and my 55-300mm for this one. It is true, and I was a bit mystified, that this lens does not come with a lens bag or a lens hood. But on the other hand, the Nikon lens bags do nothing to protect the lens in any way. So I always buy my own. And as far as the lens hood goes, ken Rockwell recommends you leave it home anyways when using this lens. Ive taken a few shots and the images are impressive to my non-technical eyes. I believe, as my research concludes, that this lens is just as good if not better than the lens it replaces, If my review was helpful, and I hope it was, please choose the yes option in the comments section below. Thank you. Richard

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*Edit__ MY WORKFLOW: I shoot in RAW using my Nikon D5500 and 18-300. I use in Camera Edit if necessary, and next use WiFi to transfer to my iPhone in high quality jpeg for printing or lesser quality for sharing. I do a "minimal edit" to the jpeg in my iPhone before sharing or printing. I share by iPhone or submit for printing to COSTCO or WALMART or Walgreens via WiFi. The RAW files I transfer from my Memory Card using my MacBook to an External Drive for storage in the RAW Format and "delete my Raw Files by reformatting with my D5500". >>>>>This should help those having difficulty, and instead, try using a proven workflow or improving my workflow version to satisfy your end product.<<<< Hopefully this will eliminate frustration and dissatisfaction and a feeling of failure ..... Good Luck! I have this lens on my DSLR and got rid of three other lenses plus my bag. I took my first test shot at 7:00pm shortly after delivery and all looks great. Happy with my lens and happy with AMAZON.com for the shopping convenience and speedy delivery. This lens is highly recommended and get yours at Amazon.com. More sample pictures: Arnold Serrata @ Flickr

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I looked at a lot of lenses before settling on this new Nikkor 18-300, and I must say Im very pleased with the choice. The lens is compact but has a great zoom range. I shoot pictures for a local sports team, and the versatility of this lens is just great. Ive also done nature photograph with it as well. Im pushing 800 pictures since I got the lens, and Im very satisfied with it. There is some distortion at either end of the lens (barrel and pincushion), and there can be some vignetting, depending on aperture and zoom, but these are easily correct in a photo editing program and/or RAW editor. Overall, Im very satisfied with this lens.

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I purchased this lens for use with a Nikon D3300 camera. I wanted a wide-ranging zoom lens to cover as much "territory" as possible without having to change (and carry) extra lenses. I read a number of online reviews before purchasing and I would encourage others to do the same. The chief competitor for this lens is the Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR (product 2196). Product 2196 differs from the lens being reviewed here (product 2216) in three significant ways: 1) it goes one f-stop faster (f/5.6 vs. f/6.3) at 300 mm focal length, 2) it weighs 9.9 oz. more, and 3) it costs about $100 more (as of this writing). Most reviews Ive read indicated the sharpness and clarity of the two lenses are comparable. For me, the weight savings (and price) trumped the 1 f-stop. Saving a half-pound around my neck all day was more important to me. The $100 savings wasnt bad either. One real bonus feature of this lens is its great macro capability. At 300mm it will focus amazingly close and the image quality is superb. It is now my go-to macro lens. A minor downside is that as of this writing, there is no firmware (yet) for auto-correcting lens distortion for this lens. For me, this is not an issue, but just be aware. As others have pointed out, this does not come with either a case or a lens hood. Again, be aware. Bottom line: this is a great "cover lots of bases" lens. I am very happy with it. UPDATE: As of 12 September 2014, lens distortion correction firmware is available for this lens (firmware L 2.005). See the Nikon website for details and installation instructions. I installed this on my D3300 and distortion corrections worked properly. One other comment. After upgrading to the new firmware, my older version of ViewNX 2 (free Nikon software) would not work with RAW files on which the corrections were applied. After upgrading to the newest version of ViewNX2 (free), everything worked fine.

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I own a variety of amateur glass for my Nikons. Bodys; I use a D5100 and D5500. This is by far my most commonly used lense. During family outings, parks, zoo days, this is my go to lense. It allows me to capture near and far without carrying two cameras or swapping lenses. However, compared to my 18-55 and 55-300, the pic quality does suffer ever so slightly at different ranges. When out at 300, this lense falls about 10% short of where the 55-300 can reach. and the pic quality at that range is arguably better on the 55-300. I say arguably because ive never went 1:1 on these shots to compare. The real 1:1 testing I have done has been in shorter range, and while the zoom reach is definitely shorter, the quality is so similar at close range its hard to decipher.. Ive taken shots at the local zoo with both and taken very similar shots on different days, and i do prefer the 55-300 for quality, but still use the 18-300 for its versatility. What this has allowed, which is awesome.. is for me to carry my second camera with a prime lense instead of having the 18-55 on it. Now i carry either a 35 or 50 on the d5100 to grab great portraits. Sometimes i like to pull in really far, and get a close up of an animal, then come back out and grab a pic of the boy with the animal in frame in the background. Having this 18-300 allows all of that in one package. I attached some pics i caught with this lense. Pros *) 18-300 in one lense, that in it self is a HUGE pro **) Extremely small and light weight. Its lighter and smaller than the 55-300. Is that a pro however? ive read and found personally, when a lense with similar or more attributes is smaller than a comparable model with less.. The image quality is usually what pays the price. Cons *) 18-200 moves very freely, and nice. 200-300 meets some opposition and stiffness. **) 300 on this lense and 300 on my 55-300 are not the same 300. Sadly i noticed this with my tamron 16-300 as well, i had hoped the nikon wouldnt do that to me; but it has. Would i recommend this to others, absolutely. Would i recommend it over the 55-300; that depends on situation. I personally feel I will have a use for both. I just need to figure out how thats going to work for me. All of this is on DX bodies only, as this is a DX lense I feel its fair to only bring those up. On an FX body you need to enable a DX crop mode and loose a chunk of the resolution only using the center of the image sensor. No point in doing that :P I personally dont own an FX body yet, but the plans are there to add one to the mix sooner than later :) Pics and what lense was used - 55-300 jaguar snow leopard red panda boy in green shirt 18-300 lions boy in blue

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I would describe myself as an advanced amateur photographer; around home I shoot with a D800 and the 24-70 f2.8 lens, but I travel a lot and dont like to carry the D800 and lenses. I use a 5300 when I travel and depending on where I go, I carry a variety of lenses. I finally bought the 18-300 specifically as a travel lens. To my surprise,after several months of use, I really like this lens. It is not as heavy as I expected and is a good all round tourist lens, particularly outside in good light. I enjoy taking candid available light photos, and where this lens fails me is at the longer focal lengths in anything but great lighting. One quickly feels the f6.3 aperture in low light. Outside when you see a shot that requires a long lens, it is nice not to have to stop and change lenses. With other similar lenses, friends have complained about the lens extending itself to the longest focal length when carried, but this lens does not do that. I have not tested this lens with any formal test of accuracy or fidelity, but I am happy with the focus of the entire field of view on the pictures I shoot, and I typically view on a 23 inch screen and print at 5X7 to 16X20.

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This is a great lens when you have limited space/weight for travel. I used this in place of an 18-55mm and 70-300mm lens while traveling and climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. It is versatile and works like a champ for close work and wide field. Got my vote!

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