Nikon 70-300mm G lens only costs about £109 brand new. We’ve used this lens and it works just great. We will suggest Nikon 70-300G lens as the best inexpensive addition to a standard lens like the 18 - 55 or 18 - 70 mm lenses. We recon this G lens to the more expensive 55 - 200 AFS for it's longer range and lower price.
Nikon 70-300mm G lens is very lightweight and has a broad zoom range. At 200 mm - 300 mm it's soft at large apertures, which may be great for portraits but bad for landscapes. If using it for landscapes just put it on a tripod and stop down to f/11 at 300mm.
If you want complete sharpness wide open at 200 mm and beyond you have to spend at least five times as much on a huge 80-200mm f/2.8 or ten times as much on the 80-400mm VR.
It seems identical to the £310 AF 70-300mm f/4-5.6D ED with the exception of being half the price and having a plastic lens mount bayonet instead of metal. The ED version is also mostly plastic. Even the hoods and AF gearing are the same.
The only obvious differences between the G and ED are:
1. ED lens has metal mount, G has plastic.
2. ED has aperture ring, G does not. The G is easier to use for cameras made in the past ten years, and the ED can work even on ancient and manual focus film cameras.
The similarities between Nikon 70-300mm G lens and Nikon 70-300mm ED Nikkor zoom lens are:
1. Same specs for number of lens groups and elements
2. Same size
3. Same AF speed and gearing
4. Same close focus distance
5. Same nice 9-blade diaphragm
6. Looks like the same optics inside and identical movement of the lens groups while zooming and focusing
Specifications of Nikon 70-300mm G Lens
Nikon 70-300mm G lens has thirteen elements in nine groups.
Nikon 70-300mm G lens takes 62mm filters.
Nikon 70-300mm G lens is 4.6" (117mm) long by 2.9" (74mm) around and weighs 17 oz (480g).
Nikon 70-300mm G lens focuses as close as 4.9 feet (1.5m), which is pretty good at 300mm.
Nikon 70-300mm G lens takes the HB-26 hood which seems identical to the HB-15 hood of the 70-300 ED lens.
Nikon 70-300mm G lens is also D compatible.
Nikon 70-300mm G lens has a great nine-bladed diaphragm.
Performance of Nikon 70-300mm G lens
Nikon 70-300mm G lens is fine at most focal lengths, soft at 200 to 300 mm wide open.
Nikon 70-300mm G lens has to be similar to the 70-300mm f/4-5.6D ED AF since . Nikon 70-300mm G lens has sloppier mechanics and a plastic mount; the three times as expensive ED version has a metal mount. But the glass is the same on both lenses.
Nikon 70-300mm G lens’ AF speed is identical to the 70-300mm f/4-5.6D ED AF, which is slow. One full turn of the AF screw brings one from infinity to 40 feet. The 70-210mm f/4-5.6D AF is much, much faster.
Maximum Aperture of Nikon 70-300mm G lens
70 mm: f/4
100 mm: f/4.2
135 mm: f/4.2
200 mm : f/5
240 mm: f/5.3
300 mm: f/5.6
Recommendations for Nikon 70-300mm G lens
If you are looking for a cheap, lightweight zoom this is excellent for the price. We can't suggest any reason to buy the so-called ED version over this except for the metal mount and compatibility with manual focus cameras.
For £109 how can you go wrong?
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