Nikkor AF 75-300mm f/4.5-5.6 - Review / Test Report |
Lens Reviews -
Nikon / Nikkor (APS-C)
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Review by Klaus Schroiff, published July 2006
Lens kindly provided by Michael Baier!
Introduction
The Nikkor AF 75-300mm f/4.5-5.6 was introduced back in 1989 but discontinued
in the late 90s (replaced by the current AF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 ED). Nonetheless it
is still quite popular because good quality tele zoom lenses on a budget are still
rare these days. It is, naturally, a full
format lens but as usual we'll have a look how it performs on a Nikon D200.
Within the APS-C DSLR scope its field-of-view is equivalent to 112.5-450mm.
The build quality of the lens is very good giving you something of the heft
and style of those classic Nikkors which is missing in today's consumer
grade lenses. It is made of a combination of metal and good quality plastics.
As you may notice above it is a push-pull zoom lens which provides fast
but also less precise access to the focal length range. There's no
wobbling whatsoever in the mechanism which is a favorable quality indicator
after so many years. The focus ring operates reasonably smooth but rotates
in AF mode as does the front element of the lens - it's no fun to use
a polarizer with this lens. The Nikkor also features a non-detachable
tripod collar. In theory this is a good idea regarding the rather heavy
weight of the lens but in practice the implementation is very poor because
the support area is way too small. In fact I got better results during
the testing after changing to the tripod mount of the camera despite the
very poor balance with this setup.
The lens has no internal AF motor and relies on a slotted drive screw
operated by the camera. The AF speed is slow so if possible you should
take advantage of the provided focus limiter.
Specifications |
Equiv. focal length | 112.5-450 mm (full format equivalent) |
Equiv. aperture | f/6.8-f/8.4 (full format equivalent, in terms of depth-of-field) |
Optical construction | 13 elements in 11 groups |
Number of aperture blades | 9 |
min. focus distance | 1.5 m (max. magnification ratio 1:3.8) |
Dimensions | 72 x 166 mm |
Weight | 850 g |
Filter size | 62 mm (rotating) |
Hood | Nikon HN-24, screw-in type, barrel-shaped |
Other features | Tripod collar |
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