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Home โ†’ Reviews โ†’ Cameras and Lenses โ†’ Nikon 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G VR Review

Nikon 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G VR Review

By Nasim Mansurov 179 Comments
Last Updated On July 2, 2020

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Table of Contents

  • Overview and Specifications
  • Focusing and VR
  • Optical Features
  • Lens Comparisons
  • Summary
  • More Image Samples
  • Reader Comments
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179 Comments
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Michael Westdyk
Michael Westdyk
December 11, 2023 6:45 am

I have a 18-140 mm I bought with my D7500 and added the 55-300 mm later on. I went on an evening street walk about and because of VR II I managed to take very impressive low light pictures. I am very pleased with the quality of this lens.

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formerly bruto
formerly bruto
November 12, 2023 8:29 pm

Late to this discussion, for sure. I have had actually three copies of the 55-300 (one broke and was replaced whole by Nikon when they couldn’t get parts, and one belonged to my wife, who upgraded before I did). It’s not bad, especially for the price, but it gets pretty soft at the long end, and is focus is slow and tends to hunt. It also has no ability to fine-tune focus without turning off the AF on the lens, and the front element turns with focus, making it a poor choice if you use a polarizer. The 70-300AFS-VR is a good bit better, and the 70-300 AF-P better yet. I now have the FX version of the latter, and it’s much better. If you can’t afford that one, or have an older camera that can’t use AF-P I’d opt for the AFS-VR which is better all around.

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lou
lou
June 9, 2022 9:47 am

Used this lens a couple of times now. In alaska the auto focus could not focus on a glacier, it kept hunting, i was guessing due to the lack of contrest between glacier and sky. Last summer in Maine while whale watching it worked great,

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Joe
Joe
July 30, 2021 9:55 am

Well… It works perfect EVEN in low light situations. In my room, with the curtains mostly drawn, it takes some amazing shots with huge details. On a Nikon D7000.

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Doug Allchin
Doug Allchin
February 25, 2021 3:19 pm

Of course the focal length does vary as you zoom but I think you meant minimum aperture varies as you zoom?

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arif
arif
September 24, 2018 8:10 am

I have nikon d5200..with kit lens of 18-55mm..now I want to upgrade with a telephoto zoom lens..so I want to know which 1 is better between af-s 55-300 and af-p 70-300 overall for nikon d5200?? please help me out..I m in big confusion to choose..

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Rehan Guha
Rehan Guha
Reply to  arif
September 19, 2020 11:58 pm

I am confused about the same. Which lens did you finally go with ?

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Olli P.
Olli P.
Reply to  arif
July 8, 2022 11:35 am

In terms of image quality, AF speed and precision und VR performance, the AF-P 70-300 mm wins hands down.

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Aktar Shaikh
Aktar Shaikh
January 28, 2018 8:58 am

I have Nikon D3200 is it best to buy Nikon 55-300mm for zoom shot….

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Sagarika
Sagarika
March 9, 2016 3:47 am

Hi, I am an amatuer Phtographer. I want to buy 55-200 mm lens as have very mimited budget , though I wish i coukd buy 70 -300mm after reading reviews here.
If you could please let me know what is a differnce bewteen Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-200MM F/4-5.6G ED VR II and Nikon 55-200mm f/4-5.6G AF-S VR DX IF-ED Telephoto Zoom Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Camera (Black)? Diffrence between AF-S DX and AF-S DX IF-Ed Teleport Zoom lens ?

Thanks for this very very useful blog.

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priyanka
priyanka
September 24, 2015 12:26 pm

hie Nasim,
I want to pursue photography as mah profession. Mah classes going to start in november for it. But am actually confused as to which lens i should go for with nikon d5300 (18-55mm lens). should i go for 55 -300mm or 70-300mm lens. and also suggest me on nikonD5300….as i want to start my photography wid dis cam…would it be better to start with nikon d5300???? i’m really confused as i don’t have much knowledge about it….so please suggest me on cam and lens too..

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Ranjith Kumar A.K
Ranjith Kumar A.K
August 8, 2015 1:59 pm

I want to know whether there is any ratio between lens’s focal length in mm and actual subject’s distance from sensor in meter/feet ?

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