Bargain price, bargain results

I purchased this lens, the Nikkor 70-300G (not D), thinking it would be a reasonable addition to my arsenal, for pictures requiring a longer lens. I used it for about 4 months. When I received it, I was more than a little disappointed at the toy-like build quality, which you can't really tell by the pictures. Basically, if you're familiar with the cheap Nikkor 28-80G zoom kit lens that Nikon provides with its consumer-level SLRs, then you already know what the 70-300G looks and feels like. It's virtually built and finished exactly the same, only bigger. The zoom ring is hefty, with a good wide, rubberized grip, but the manual focus ring is just the end of the lens with the plastic molded into a grip - not like other Nikon lenses that have a rubberized surface for the focus ring, but identical to the 28-80G. Manual focus with this lens is certainly possible, but there is virtually no damping whatsoever, unlike better quality autofocus lenses. In actual autofocus use, with the lens mounted on a Nikon F80, I found that the focus was loud, and it had a tendency to hunt back and forth for focus quite a bit. To avoid this, you have to be fairly precise and deliberate about what you are trying to focus on (something with a lot of contrast). It especially causes the camera to hunt for focus in lower light, where it wouldn't be a problem with another lens.

With about 3 months use, it became evident that some of the plastic mount rubbed off on my F80 camera's metal lens mount, and it was hard to scrape off, actually interfering with the mounting of better quality lenses with a metal mount (I had to twist harder). I can't say if this affects the long term durability of the lens mount itself, but it seems durable enough for light, occasional use.

In terms of actual optical performance, I found that pictures were reasonably-sharp, with reasonably-good color saturation, but the lens has significant distortion - especially at the long end. So, if you want to take a picture of your cat in a tree, it may be fine, but if there are buildings in the shot, don't expect straight lines near the edges.

If you can't afford better, and you don't mind the barrel distortion, it may be Ok. However, the more expensive 70-300D has a metal mount, a build more like other, better-quality consumer autofocus Nikkors, and an ED glass element for controlled chromatic aberration. But, if you think you need this lens in order to cover all the focal lengths when added to your standard zoom lens, you might want to give this some sober second thought. The lens is light and it can be handheld, but I don't think you will want to take many photographs at the longer end without using a tripod, or some other support. This isn't unique to this lens, but it applies to just about any 300mm lens. Also, this specific zoom is relatively slow (small aperture), and when you zoom out, it gets slower still (since it's a variable-aperture zoom). This means that the aperture will be smaller, and therefore the shutter speed slower for any given lighting. On a long zoom, this is a recipe for blurry shots due to camera shake, which is always more apparent with a long focal length. This isn't a problem if you're aware of it and ensure the camera/lens is supported on something.

In the end, this isn't exactly a lens I would rave about, although I do think it's good of Nikon to provide an affordable Nikkor like this for those of us who don't need a pro-build lens in this range. I'm not sure it provided enough value at its original price. However, with the heavily discounted prices it is available for in 2004, I do think the value for price ratio makes it an attractive choice if you do occasionally need a long telephoto zoom for your autofocus Nikon.