Nikkor AF 75-300mm f/4.5-5.6 - Review / Test Report
Lens Reviews - Nikon / Nikkor (APS-C)

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 length112.5-450 mm (full format equivalent)
Equiv. aperturef/6.8-f/8.4 (full format equivalent, in terms of depth-of-field)
Optical construction13 elements in 11 groups
Number of aperture blades9
min. focus distance1.5 m (max. magnification ratio 1:3.8)
Dimensions72 x 166 mm
Weight850 g
Filter size62 mm (rotating)
HoodNikon HN-24, screw-in type, barrel-shaped
Other featuresTripod collar



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