Nikon Af-S 300Mm F4 If Ed

I am merely a hobby photographer and I will not attempt to make any more detailed review of this lens' performance. I leave it to those more qualified. There are several professional reviews available on the internet and I find that they are in good agreement that the lens is very good, except possibly for a somewhat weak tripod support (I use it freehand or on a monopod so I have no problem with that). My main use of the lens is nature photography, preferably animals and birds. After using it some time on my d5000 I have noticed that the success rate for my photos (i.e. the photos I like to save and display) is noticeably higher compared with most other lenses I have. I have learned to appreciate the lens also for portraits of my family members, especially the kids (i.e. fast-moving..). The lens is tack sharp also on f4 (no need to say), but it also makes a very nice and even exposure over the whole object. There is a nice "light" in the whole photo. I don't know why, but with my other lenses there is a stronger difference between bright and dark areas. They look like if subject to harder jpg compression. I would think this should be up to the sensor and the camera settings. It is like if this lens suddenly make use of the "active d lighting" of the camera, or something like that. It also suppresses the background wonderfully, not only by a lovely bokeh, but also through its nice control of the exposure throughout the image (e.g. an even dark or an even bright background fills up behind a perfectly exposed object). I admit my ignorance, but it is like magic how the lens "helps" me to take better photos!
My other telelens is a Nikon 55-200vr that I like very much. However, I found myself too often cropping the photos to a level where I pushed the capacity of the lens too far. Thus, I wanted something with more range. I was not interested in another zoom. I prefer to use my feet or to simply let the lens decide the frame (Is the duck too close.. then, well, I take a photo of its head instead). I also wanted a fast lens for low-light shots. Indeed, I have been out when the sun has dived well below the horizon and still the 300f4 gives me fast shutter speeds without that I have to push the ISO higher than 1000.
To me, the lens is less easy to use for birds in flight: It is not that it is any problem using it hand held during daytime, or any problem with the autofocus, it is fast enough when using the focus lock (>3m), but simply the narrow field of view that comes with the high magnification makes it difficult to locate the bird fast enough. For this my 55-200 is easier. However, with some training I may improve.
I am glad the 300f4 does not replace my 55-200vr, but instead complements it. The 55-200vr is much more portable and is good enough for many purposes. The 300f4 is bulkier, but takes better photos especially when one can be more stationary observing the wild life.
To make the 300f4 more portable I have connected it to a harness: I put a strap tightly around the lens just behind the focus ring where I obtain good balance with the camera attached. On the strap there is a ring. To this ring I connect the carabiners of a harness originally bought for a pair of binoculars (Bushnell). In this way the camera and attached lens hang comfortably across my lower chest. No strain to the back whatsoever. When an object appears the camera is ready in a flash. The elastic straps of the harness, when stretched out while the camera is held in front of the eyes, help to reduce vibrations (i.e. similar to the effect that can be achieved with a hunting rifle when applying the carrying sling in a certain way around the arm before the shot).
I am very satisfied with this lens. It was exactly what I had been looking for. It is a bit heavy, but I feel I solved it with the harness (so no risk it ends up unused at home). And the photos it generates are like.. magic. With this lens I will develop as a photographer and have great fun along the way.

This is the first prime telephoto lens by Nikon that I have owned. I can only say I had no idea how good a lens could be until I tried this one.
The image quality in terms of sharpness and contrast is quite outstanding.
I have used it with a Kenko Pro300 DGX 1.4TC with little degradation in IQ and a Nikon TC20 III which also produced much better IQ than I would have expected.
It is quite a chunk to carry around but having said that I used it while hiking for several hours hooked up to a D700 with no problems.
I recommend this lens with no reservations.

In common with lenses like the 180mm f2.8 and 85mm f1.4 the 300mm f4 is a superb example of the exceptional optical quality of Nikon's prime lenses. Sharpness, saturation and contrast are simply stunning and well above the standard of pretty much any zoom lens available.
Now that it has been updated to AF-S, focusing (internal) is fast and accurate, able to cope with most fast-moving sports and action subjects. The tripod foot, which caused some issues with earlier versions of this lens, seems fine to me and has caused no problems either on a tripod or a monopod. Although a large lens, it is comfortable to use and excellent results can be obtained with the lens handheld.
Perhaps the best way to illustrate the quality of this lens is to compare it with the other routes to 300mm in the Nikon arsenal...

Nikon consumer zoom lenses which go to 300mm
Relatively cheap, flexible in use due to zooming ability and small to carry around. In optical quality though they will disappoint severely compared to the classic Nikon design of the 300mm f4. If the quality of oyur final images matters then don't go there...

Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 + TC-14 = 280mm f4
Although this combo maintains the ability to zoom and has VR, image quality is noticeably lower than the 300mm f4. Hardly surprising when you consider just how many pieces of glass this set-up places in front of the camera! The 300mm f4 will outperform this set-up all day long.

Nikon 200-400mm f4
For several years I owned both these lenses and always ended up with better pictures from the 300mm f4, despite its massively lower price. The quality of the images from the two lenses was highly comparable and I was never disappointed by the 300mm f4's output compared to its much bigger brother. As someone who often walks or mountain bikes to locations, the 300mm f4 was worlds better in terms of portability. The ability to zoom out to 200mm or in to 400mm is misleading as it actually represents a relatively small change to the angle of view. With an FX body the `equivalent' of a 400mm shot is always possible by simply cropping the image slightly. Hats off to the Nikon designers for making a constant f4 aperture, 2x zoom lens which can match the quality of a 300mm prime lens but it was the 300mm f4 for me every time.

Nikon 300mm f2.8
If you require the absolute last word in focusing speed, subject isolation via the f2.8 aperture and will make use of VR then this may be the route for you, although it will cost several times more than the 300mm f4 and will bring with it a great deal more size and weight to lug around. Nevertheless, if you are shooting F1 for a living then this may be necessary to get a lens which may cope better with the very speediest of subjects. Optical performance will be very slightly better than the very high standards of the 300mm f4.

For me this says it all, the 300mm f4 can hold its own in most situations at this focal length with some of Nikon's most expensive lenses. Given its hugely lower price tag, I would thoroughly recommend this lens to anyone who regularly needs to go beyond 200mm. In m y mind you're getting 90% of the quality for less than a fifth of the price of the f2.8 version...