Customer Ratings & Reviews

I prefer taking pictures of sports at high schools but with the COVID quarantine, I'm now enjoying the opportunity to get familiar with my amazing new lens while focused on backyard visitors. These three pictures were taken from about 80 feet away and still have great clarity!

Weighing in at 4.5 lbs, it's a beast. Love the lense.

Great lens for the price. Reach is truly unbelievable.

This is a great lens! Use it with 1x4 extender on a Nikon Z7 11 camera for nature photography.

incredible telephoto lens. perfect for capturing wildlife! if you are looking for a telephoto, you won’t be disappointed with this one! Just buy it

The lens works great. Costumer service leaves a lot to be desired. I was under the impression I was purchasing a new lens. The lens was opened and used. Best Buy was going to charge me over $200 to return it for a new one. No one would ever return any of my phone calls. As I stated great lens. Buy from somewhere else.

I bought this lens mainly to shoot wildlife. Even though I use it with the older D7100, it works well. Sure, it has faults, but given the price point, I couldn't be happier.

Thus men’s is sharp when calibrated with the camera body you are using. It is not too heavy, and the autofocus speed is very good. I purchased for landscape and wildlife photography.

I'm using this with my Nikon D810. Tack sharp with no adjustment. Smooth operation. Little heavy free handed but use it with monopod and simple lower end metal gimbal head.

Awesome lens which works seamlessly with my D7500. Great choice for close-up photos!

I am still getting use to the lens. So far it seems to be what I expected.

Lens works great, I highly recommend this super zoom

Simply the best value long zoom lens out there. If you are on a budget this is the one for you.

Great service ... Great product !! Having a blast taking pictures !!

Recently picked this up to shoot sports, birds and anything that moves. I just bought a D500 bundle with battery pack and 16-80 2.8 last month from Best Buy (read my review). I have never had a lens this good or this heavy. I have been shooting with it quite a bit and am getting used to the weight. I can now hand hold it comfortably. I did purchase a tripod with ball head that makes it easier to shoot for a while. Thinking about adding a gimbal head. The lens is just fantastic. I recommend using auto-focus fine tune. I made some minor adjustments and it’s very sharp. I am shooting in manual and set the shutter speed and aperture. The camera chooses the ISO. This works very well with the D500. This lens has great range on a DX camera, 300-750 and it’s sharp throughout the entire focal range. The lens stabilization is just outstanding. Just engage the focus (I backfocus and shoot in continuous) and the image freezes. That’s so important with a Long telephoto. Even my hand held shots are sharp. I can also shot at less than 1/500 hand held for stationary targets. There is also a lock out for focus to more than 20 feet. This speeds focus acquisition. The lens also can lock so it doesn’t open in transit. Speaking of storage, the lens sock (cover) is useless. I bought a really nice padded case to protect it. I am not a huge fan of the lens collar as it can’t adjust fore and aft to balance better on a tripod and ball mount. I will buy something to add to it to allow some adjustment. I am nitpicking a bit because it still works well with the ball head and I can rotate the camera and shoot vertically pretty easily. The D500 battery pack has a second shutter, focusing joystick and a second focusing button. The D500 allows you to program different focusing systems for each of these. The lens focuses very quickly and is tack sharp. Any blurred images are my fault, not the lens. I couldn’t be happier with it. Frankly, this lens should cost $2500, so it’s a great deal at $1400. I haven’t shot in low light but expect it will work well for any night sporting event that is well lit. Any other action would be shot in bright light so the lens’ 5.6 continuous aperture is fast enough for me. I posted a couple of photos taken at approximately 700 mm in DX with some minor post production adjustments from the JPEG file. I know that shooting raw will be even better. Nice bokeh at 5.6. If you have need for a big telephoto and don’t have 10k for a prime lens, this is a keeper. The zoom does take a couple of full turns to go from one end to the other but that’s not a problem. I like the lightweight large lens hood but might buy a shorter one. Haven’t decided yet. It does click in place but I would be careful if you walk through the woods as it might pop off if you hit a tree branch. Again, nitpicking a bit. Very pleased with this purchase. Just make sure that you have a camera that has a great focusing system and high frame rate and buffer so you can really see what it can do.

I went back and forth on this for about 6 months before finally purchasing. It's heavy but it's also pretty affordable. It's paired to a D850 and it takes beautiful photos. The VR works as expected and slower shutter speeds aren't an issue. It seems to lock on and track moving objects pretty quickly/consistently. If you are a smaller person, this might be a handful for you. A monopod is a great idea for just about anyone. The reach is great for getting wildlife/bird snaps without getting so close you bother the subject.

Wait almost two weeks to get this lens. When I finally received it, it was damaged. Now wait for a new one to be shipped to me.

This lens is an amazing value. I own both a 500mm f/4 and 300mm f/2.8 lenses. This 200-500mm lens will not focus as fast as those lenses. This lens requires more light than those lenses. However, this lens can give you 500mm of reach for $1400. The 500mm f/4 lens will cost you $8-10K. What this lens gives you, is a fast enough auto focus - not blazing. It gives you a very nice 200-500mm workable zoom range and more flexibility than a prime lens. The photos at 500mm are sharp. I had a Sigma 150-500mm lens in the past and from 400-500mm that lens lost image quality fairly rapidly, especially at 500. At 375mm that lens was decent. This 200-500 from Nikon is solid throughout the zoom range. Overall, I am very impressed with this lens considering the money. Nikon did well with this one!

Excellent value. This lens is great for daylight shooting when you need the long reach but don't want to drag a tripod with you. I have used it hand held for panning for motor sports. I am not saying it is light, but it is at about my weight limit for hand holding a lens. For low light you will need a tripod. I rented the competition (Tamron 150-600 and Sigma 150-600 Contemporary). Both are nice and have a little more reach, but I think the Nikon is sharper. Also the Nikon has a constant aperture. Overall two thumbs up!

Just can't say enough good things about this lens! Nikon you did yourselves proud on this one. Using it with the Nikon D500 which works great with this lens. It is so versatile. I'm currently in Yellowstone and Grand Tetons. Stopped to have lunch and shared it with 3 Gray Jay's, they fly within just a few feet on me. Zoomed out to 200mm and got full Frame pictures, couldn't of done that with my 500mm lens. Also used it for Macrophotography, I could get within 7 feet and at 500mm (750mm) equivalent I got excellent photos. I shoot a lot of wild life and birds in flight works great on both. Images are excellent sharp and crisp. I consider this lens a steal at its current price. I tried this combination out before I bought it and I see no difference in my pictures with this combination than with my Cannon 5diii and my Cannon 500mm f/4.0 version ll. So selling my Cannon 500mm and using this lighter and more versatile lens.