This is an in-depth review of the Nikon 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G VR lens that was released in August of 2010 together with three other lenses – Nikon 85mm f/1.4G, Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G VR and Nikon 24-120mm f/4.0 VR. The Nikon 55-300mm VR lens is a major update to the existing Nikon 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6G ED VR lens that was released in 2007. Just like the 55-200mm VR, it is designed to be used with the Nikon 18-55mm DX VR kit lens to provide expanded focal range for telephoto shots. Nikon 55-300mm is currently the cheapest way to get to true 300mm focal length in Nikon’s current line of lenses, with a little more shorter range to work with than the Nikon 70-300mm VR lens.

A few months ago I decided I was going to try digital photography. Many years ago I had a 35mm SLR camera, but ended up not using it very much because it was so expensive to get the photographs developed. The beauty of a DSLR camera is that you can take as many photographs as you want and it doesn’t cost you any money. I asked a very good friend of mine, who is also a very good photographer, which camera to go for and he suggested the Nikon D3400. I bought the camera and it came with an 18 to 55mm VR lens.When used at its widest apertures, the lens' performance is somewhat uneven; it needs to be stopped down even by one stop to achieve consistently sharp images across the frame. Results when used wide open at 200mm and below are decently sharp if uneven, at around 2 blur units; at 300mm, it's not as uneven, but corner softness moves up to 3 blur units. Due to differences in field of view between the Nikon 55-300mm and Nikon 28-300mm, I had to adjust the focal length of the Nikon 55-300mm to match around 70mm of 28-300mm. Here are 100% crops from both lenses wide open and f/5.6 (Left: Nikon 55-300mm, Right: Nikon 28-300mm): Lab testing revealed negligible chromatic aberration at short and mid-range focal lengths but distinct colour fringing became apparent on the high-contrast test target when the lens was set to 300mm. Similarly, although the MTF curves for 70mm and 135mm both remained above 0.25 cycles-per-pixel from wide-open down to f/16, the curve for 300mm peaked at just 0.2 cycles-per-pixel at f/11. Sample images As expected, the extreme corners at the largest apertures do show some softness at 55mm. Stopping down the lens to f/8.0 does improve the situation considerably though. Sharpness Test – Nikon 55-300mm @ 70mm Center Frame

Distortion is also well controlled, at least at 55mm anyway. At 55mm Imatest could only detect 0.29% barrels distortion, whereas at 300mm 1.3% pincushion distortion has replaced the barrelling, which may become noticeable when straight lines are paramount. Fortunately the distortion pattern is uniform at both ends, making it simple to correct in image editing software afterwards. The filter thread stayed the same at 77mm, which is great news for those who already own 77mm filters, or want to move up to this lens from the “D” version. The lens mount features a rubber gasket to minimize dust and debris from making it into the camera chamber. The single ring on the lens is made out of plastic and has a rubber layer on top of it for a better grip. The ring has the same smooth feel as on other modern AF-S lenses, allowing one to move past infinity or closest focus point with slightly more resistance. There are three switches on the side of the lens. The first switch is used for moving between Auto / Manual (A/M), Manual / Auto (M/A) and Manual (M) focusing operation. Chromatic aberrations, typically seen as purple or blue fringes along contrasty edges, can be detected in shots taken at or near the longer end of the zoom range, but they are not too prominent. At shorter focal lengths, CAs are practically nonexistent.I have now taken many more pictures with this lens on my D7100, specifically looking for difficult subjects and conditions. In most cases, it has been pretty good to about 200 or 210mm, with or without a Kenko 1.4x TC, in or out of crop mode. So up to roughly 400mm DX net it's fine for "normal" subjects. Not for: Film or FX digital cameras. Slow autofocus and needing to move a switch to get to and from manual focus makes the 55-300mm poor for moving subjects; use the 70-300mm VR instead for fast action, as well as for film and FX. If I was working in nasty, dirty areas, I'd forget the cap, and use an uncoated 52mm Tiffen UV filter instead. Uncoated filters are much easier to clean, but more prone to ghosting, and the laminated Tiffens stay together in one piece even after they've been shattered.

lens distortion filter. These aren't facts or specifications, they are the results of my research that requires hours of photography and calculations on the resulting data. At both apertures, the Nikon 28-300mm is clearly taking the lead. When it comes to corners, the Nikon 55-300mm performs a little better at 70mm than the 28-300mm though. Nikon 55-300mm vs Nikon 28-300mm @ 300mm Center Diffraction limiting sets in at at ƒ/16; fully stopped-down performance is acceptable at wider focal lengths, but at 135mm and longer, it becomes quite soft; at 300mm and ƒ/29, we note around 6 blur units across the frame. My first comparison, of course, was with the 70-300. I took dozens of pairs of shots of a distant mountain on a clear day to see where this lens begins to lose resolution relative to the 70-300. At 200mm it's very difficult to see any difference. At 250 the 70-300 is only slightly sharper. At 300, there is a difference, but not really very much. which on a DX camera gives angles of view similar to what an 80-450mm lens sees when used on an FX or 35mm camera.Without VR, it's usually impossible to get sharp hand-held shots with lenses this small and light, and with this much magnification.

Auto focus is not the swiftest and is about the same as the 55-200 and perhaps not as fast as the 70-300 so this may not be a good sports lens. More positively, the VR system proved effective in steadying the viewfinder image and was also, like the AF system, almost silent in use.

At 200mm, the best performance is between f/8.0 and f/11.0, with the wide open and f/5.6 performance getting a little weaker, but still pretty good. This Nikon 55-300mm VR lens is a reasonably priced, small, lightweight and very high-powered telephoto zoom for any DX camera. The corners at 70mm look very similar to the 55mm crops posted above, with softer corners wide open getting pretty good by f/8.0. Sharpness Test – Nikon 55-300mm @ 105mm Center Frame The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution. The taller the column, the better the lens performance. Simple.