Focus accuracy and repeatability is critical to consistently produce sharp shots, especially with large aperture primes. Consistency of auto-focus (the accuracy of focus on the same subject after repeated focus-acquisition) of this lens is good (96.9% as measured in FoCal) with only slight variations and only one real outlier over a series of 40 shots. The lens focuses in around 0.35-0.5 sec from infinity to 3 m depending on whether the AF hunts beyond infinity at the start. This is very fast. The 300/4.0D does this in 0.5 sec . Both the new and the old lens exhibited a tendency to refuse focusing when the target was too blurred, e.g. when focus was set at 3m and the new target was at 7m. This also depends on the target so you should not worry too much. But occasionally you might find yourself in a situation where you need to nudge the lens manually in the right direction or simply try to trigger AF again. Crop from above image at 100%. If this is 6" (15cm) wide on your screen, the full image would print at 50 x 75" (1.25 x 1.9 meters)! As you can see from this and other samples in this review, the lens does an excellent job in rendering bokeh, even when stopped down. Vignetting Nikon have achieved this compact design by using a ‘Phase Fresnel’ lens element, hence the ‘PF’ designation. A Phase Fresnel lens reduces the need for as many other lens elements to correct chromatic aberration and ghosting effects.

There are many rumors about the internet about a new improved version of this lens(just like in the case of the Canon 400m f/5.6), perhaps with a stabilizer. I cannot judge them, but always there is a possibility that a new version of the lens is coming which can result to better performance on the new lens, or cheaper price of the older version. Compatibility – Nikon 300mm f4 lens update This 300mm lens is designed for those who actually shoot in the field all day, as opposed to sit around at home talking about it. It uses a Fresnel element to use less glass and save even more weight. As you can see from the above chart, the lens provides excellent resolution at its maximum aperture of f/4, with very sharp center / mid-frame performance and slightly worse corners. Stopping down the lens does not do much to improve performance and the sweet spot seems to be at around f/5.6. If you want to compare the lens performance to other lenses like Nikon 80-400mm, see the Lens Comparisons section of this review.Autofocus is powered by a silent wave motor, and autofocus speeds are very fast indeed. Manual adjustments can be applied at any time via the wide rubberised focusing ring, which only takes a light touch to operate, but is smooth and well damped, making applying fine adjustments a pleasure. As expected from a quality telephoto lens, distortion on the Nikon 300mm f/4E VR is practically non-existent (Imatest measured barrel distortion at just -0.6). Adding teleconverters does not change this behavior, so you should be safe from having to correct anything in post-production. Although Lightroom currently does not have a built-in lens profile, you can experiment with photographing straight lines and making corrections – you will see that the changes will be very minimal when fixing distortion. Crescent Moon and Venus E: Electronic diaphragm, just like Canon has been doing since 1987. This means it only works on the newest Nikon cameras. Nikon claims this is the “world’s lightest 300mm lens.” I honestly believe that and with new camera technology on the horizon and this innovative telephoto’s ability to produce sterling images, the days of the hefty 300mm f/2.8 lens may be numbered. When I've used this lens on a tripod, I don't need no stinking collar. It's light enough, like the 24-70/2.8, that I just attach my camera to the tripod.

All telephoto lenses, including the Nikon 300mm f/4 are prone to serious ghosting and flare issues. There is a reason why Nikon supplied the built-in hood with this lens, so I recommend to always use it extended. If you point the lens at a very bright source of light, you will see a lot of color changes, loss of contrast and other issues. Hence, try not to point the lens at the sun – it is not good for your eyes anyway with so much magnification.Stone Face, Yosemite Valley, 15 May 2015. D810, wide-open at f/4 at 1/1,000 at ISO 100. Bigger or full-resolution file. A number of our readers asked me if I experienced any issues with VR when shooting at slow shutter speeds such as 1/80-1/160. I am happy to say that I have not experienced such problems and all three samples seemed to be free of VR problems… Bokeh This Nikon 300mm f/4 AF-S is an extremely sharp 300mm lens designed for those who shoot with tripods and demand the sharpest 300mm lens possible. If you count all your pixels, this lens is sharper than any of Nikon's zoom lenses. I tried it on my Nikon FM3a, and it also works great, of course with manual focus, no VR and only at f/4.