Customer Ratings & Reviews

After much review of lenses on-line from Nikon and others by Tamron and Sigma, this is the best lens over the competition. Only the 200-400mm. f4 at $7,000 is better. At $1,400 this lens is a steel for quite the same quality. On the specs you loose 1 stop and does not have Nano coating, but after all it is $5,600 less. The VR works as expected and is good with hand held sports action. A little heavy, but a 500m lens has to be big. Great bokeh and fast focus is plus on my Nikon D800. It shoots well at f 5.6 thru f 11.0 with razor sharp pictures. A tripod or monopod mounted to the lens clip makes pictures only better. This lens fits nicely with my other zooms selections of 14-24 f2.8, 24-70 f2.8 and 70-200 f 2.8.

I purchased this lens to shoot wildlife and sports. So far, I'm extremely happy with it. I was able to get in time to take on a florida beach vacation and I've shot one middle school football game. It has exceeded expectations. Shooting with a D7100, even in semi low light conditions it gives sharp images without too much noise. I will say it's HEAVY, but most of the time I shoot off a monopod, which I recommend for any duration shooting (sports).

Have owned this lens for several weeks and have been very pleased with it. Even at five pounds I am able to hand hold thanks to an amazing VR. It maintains its 5.6 f/stop throughout the zoom range. Images are sharp throughout the zoom range. I did see a slight drop off of image quality at 500mm with subjects at a distance. Only cons are the weight, but surprisingly comfortable to hand hold, and the f/5.6 in low light condition makes one push the ISO up. Best bang for your buck in super telephoto lens.

Great lens straight out of the box, and half the price of my 80-400mm AFS Nikon zoom (my "go-to" wilfdlife lens). It is a bit heavy, so you'll know it when you've been carrying it in the boonies a while. Also, zooming all the way in takes two twists of the lens - so a drawback if you need to react fast. Not one I use every day - but excellent for performance and price, and the capability to really reach out there.

I love to do wildlife and landscape photography and I love having a lens that allows me to really zoom in and capture some very unique photos. I thought long and hard before purchasing this lens and for the money invested, this lens fits the bill perfectly. One word of caution though, it is a heavy lens, therefore a tripod or a shooting stick is a must for many occasions. However its not impossible to get a good photo thanks to the vibration reduction built into the lens. The 2 photos I have included were both hand held. The bird taking flight I was leaning against a tree so was pretty rock solid, but the bird in flight I was standing, looking almost straight up, a very unstable stance. You can spend much, much more money and get more light gathering capabilities but for a professional amateur, like myself, this one works great.

Excellent lens for wild life photography. Using it with my D5300 and captured amazing pictures. Little heavy if you are intend to use it for longer duration but go for Tripod if you want that will be better. But i captured moon photo (see below) handheld only so its not that you only need tripod always due to its weight. Hood is also good and built quality is awesome. Low light images also appearing sharp due to f5.6 Go nikon.

After doing a lot of research from fellow professional photographers who do wildlife photography, I decided to purchase this lens. It was a great investment in my set of lenses. I've already taken some amazing wildlife images. The lens is fast, the follow focus is almost flawless and the range of 200-500 with a relatively fast aperture of 5.6 makes this a must-have lens for wildlife shooters.

I had been drooling over this lens but just couldn't pull the trigger on buying it. While on a driving trip out to Texas my wife suggested I should pickup the lens and use it on the trip. Looked on Best Buy, found that a store about 1 hour ahead of us on the journey had the lens so I made the purchase. Very glad I did. Several have commented that the lens is heavy. True enough, but any lens of this size is going to be heavy. While I find it heavy, I have been able to handhold every shot I've made with it due to the incredible VR system. Using it with my D7100. In low light focus can be a little hard to achieve. Also, if you focus in very close and then switch to a distant object, the lens has difficulty finding focus. Both of these situations are easy to overcome and have not hindered my enjoyment of the lens. Photos are very sharp and pleasant. I recommend using back focusing (Google it if you don't know what it is), manual shutter and aperture with auto-ISO. This allows you to keep the shutter speed up, depth of field as you want it, and auto-ISO makes up the difference. I wondered if f5.6 maximum aperture would be a problem but I can say I have not given it a consideration while shooting. See the shots I've attached for results. Quite pleased.

This lens is AMAZING! It is sharp and fast, the perfect lens for wildlife.

From fast and silent autofocus, sharp images and it’s a beast of a lens! Very well made.. Superb for birding, wildlife, sports and even aircraft photography. Best bang for the buck lens. I’m glad I purchased this lens.

This is my first long lens and it takes plenty of practice to get nice photos. If you’re not use to using a heavy lens, it can be daunting, specially shooting all day at an airshow or birding... or use a monopod but it’s a bit restrictive. VR greatly helps steady the lens for moving objects. 5.6 works nicely during the day but tends to hunt for a focus point during dusk hours. Bokeh is nice as well... Pricing is very competitive and gives the others a run for the money... plus it has a NIKON badge which for me instills a lot of pride n confidence. Best Buy was also helpful with purchasing this and other lenses. Practice, practice, practice to fully appreciate this telephoto lens. Well worth the cost. Don’t forget the Protective clear filter.

This is the first lens I've ever owned beyond 200mm, and I couldn't be happier. The auto-focus is quick, the images are crispy, and it's not too overbearing in terms of size/weight. I am very happy with my purchase.

This has got to be the best Nikon lens deal ever. It’s sharp, fast, solid and cheap for what you get. Getting a fixed f-stop 500mm lens for what this sells for... with Nikon’s name on it...? I can’t recommend it enough. I have a D7200 and a D500 and it’s beautiful on both bodies. It is pretty big but weighs an appropriate amount for the reach and zoom you’re getting. Both. cameras focus this lens quickly. I’m sure it’s not as fast as the 500 & 600mm primes but I don’t derive income from my photography and could never justify the cost of the primes. The competition lenses have a little more reach on either end but to be honest, I’m so much more comfortable with a Nikon lens on my Nikon bodies. Everything works flawlessly. You will read comments about how heavy it is. It’s not for what you get. Anyone who is seriously interested in wildlife photography expects a lens of this length to have some heft to it. You will read comments about how the zoom ring takes a couple of ‘turns’ to zoom from 200-500. True, but it hasn’t been a bit of an issue. The zoom ring is smooth and solid. Everything about this lens feels perfect. If you’re into birds or wildlife, just buy one.

Kudos to Nikon for making this f/5.6 200-500mm range lens available at a reasonable (though not necessarily cheap) price. I was worried about the weight at first and started out using it exclusively with a mono-pod. Through trial and error, I discovered that I actually get betters results hand holding. This is where the VR feature comes into play. Together with my Nikkor f/2.8 70-200mm, I have all the reach I need to get great quality zoom photography (Of course, the photographer has something to do with that too!)

Was very hesitant due to the f/5.6, already have the 70-200mm f/2.8. But was looking for further reach for wild life photography and it's AMAZING lens. Only downside it's the weight, Overall it's worth every Penny. I highly recommend it.

I have a Nikon D500 and being an avid bird / wildlife photographer this zoom lens complements my dlsr camera so well. This lens is fast on focus and what great details it captures with a focal length of this stature. I dont have to get near my subjects anymore. It is also razor sharp whether taking static or moving subjects. My D500 and this lens is really a match made in heaven. Thanks Nikon!

Love the zoom on this. Took some great pics in my back yard. It is a bit heavy to get use too but love the results. Recommend getting a good tripod.

I used it to shoot wildlife and sports (although the focus isn't as fast you can still get some decent shots). It's very sharp and the price is decent for a super telephoto lens. My only con about this lens is the size and weight, it can get tiring carrying this beast around.

When this lens was first announced, I thought; this is the perfect wildlife lens I have been looking for... but since it was a nikon, I figured it would probably retail for around $4000 or more. When I heard the price was going to be a paltry $1400, I thought; this thing can't be very good then.... To my surprise, I was wrong, and wrong! This lens started coming in with rave reviews on excellent optical performance and stunning VR capability. I finally acquired mine about 3 months ago and it has delivered on every promise! Yes, it is a bit on the heavy and bulky side but if you want to shoot 200~500mm at a constant F5.6, suck it up and get used to it - because you will be richly rewarded with many fine "keeper" images. My only complaint is that the initial acquisition of AF on my D810 is a bit slow with this lens, but once acquisition is made, tracking is not an issue.

I have been very pleased with quality of the images shot with this lens. I did not find it heavy to carry around but it is hard, or at least tiring, to hold it up for long periods of time. However, the arm I have to use to stabilize it was broken last year and is not as strong as it was before. I have only the lens about five times so far, but each time I learn something new about handling it and the shots are stunning.