Customer Ratings & Reviews

I purchased this lens for an upcoming trip to Yellowstone. So far I have tested at a zoo and got very satisfactory results. The VR on this lens is outstanding. A tripod or monopod is usually recommended to eliminate hand movements at long telephotos but with this lens you'll get amazing handheld photos. The body has a cheap plastic feeling but there's a reason it is 5-6x cheaper than the pro-level telephotos. It doesn't bother me but keep in mind. With an aperture of f/5.6 it is hungry for light that will force you to use a higher ISO at low-light situations but again an f/4 lens at this zoom range costs a fortune even if you buy a used copy. It is not weather-sealed but I don't plan to use it on rainy/snowy days or at sandy environments. Overall I'm very satisfied with my purchase.

I can't believe Nikon produced such an affordable, high quality lens. I guess the competition they were getting from Sigma and Tamron with their great offerings in similar focal lengths made Nikon step up their game and make a lens that a typical enthusiast can afford. I had the Sigma 150-600mm C lens but sold it and purchased the Nikon. The Sigma was sharp, but I find the Nikon is just as sharp and I find the Nikon has more accurate Auto Focus. I prefer the Nikon Vibration Reduction as well. Overall, I think the Nikon is the best lens in its class and the best value. Highly recommended.

Read several reviews before making purchase and have to agree with all the positive ones. Great reach out to 500mm with my D810, and 750mm equivalent with my D500. Tack sharp, VR is rock solid. A bit heavy but well balanced.

This lens is extremely sharp, very fast at focusing and can take a beating! Highly recommend! I bought the lens for bird photography primarily. I bought Nikon products because of the quality of the optics. With my Nikon D500, makes a great combination for action photography. With an equivalent field of view of 300-750mm and the capability to shoot fast action at up to 10 frames per second on the D500, the Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6E VR is definitely one of my favorite lenses.

This is a great long lens for a very good price. Use it for college sports during day time games. Works really well focus speed is very good. Used it on my Nikon D 500 great reach is nice.

I use this on a D750 mostly to shoot sports. The auto focus is fast. The sport setting works great. I have been very pleased with the images this lense has produced. My only criticism is the weight. It is a heavy lense. I use it on a tripod with a gimbal head and that works well.

Given the cost, I bought this lens on sale. It completes my reach to 500 mm, and although it only goes to F/5.6, matched up with auto-iso on either a D750 or D810, I got some great pictures even at night at a football game. To get the Nikon 500 mm f/4.0 is only about $10,000. That stop may come in handy, but for the price, I am very happy with my new lens. This lens may have a low price, however, it is well-made, and has great vibration reduction. The folks at the Columbiana Mall Best Buy location also deserve a big hand. They are courteous, and well-versed in their equipment. The service was excellent!

Impressive lens performance. The photos taken with this lens on a Nikon D850 are among the best I’ve ever taken. I have a number of Nikon prime and zoom lenses and this one rates near the top, especially factoring the dollar value. It even surpasses the Nikon 80-400 VR that cost nearly twice as much. Yes, it is heavy at 5 lbs but worth the effort and the VR works. Highly recommend this lens ... if you can find it.

Excellent quality lens for the money. I love this lens! It does a really good job for wildlife and birds in flight but is a little on the heavy side. You need strong arms or a good tripod with it. Made well. Would recommend.

There are many choices, even within the Nikon world, for a long telephoto or zoom. I have several of them, but was still looking for something that "worked better" for my primary use - birding. My daily go-to was the 80-400mm (first gen) but, as many have mentioned, it's glacially slow to autofocus. Great optics but a pain to use on birds. Enter the 200-500mm f5.6 telezoom from Nikon, for a rather reasonable price of ~$1400. Quick to focus or re-focus, VR works well, images are sharp. Quick switch to manual focus if needed, certainly more portable than my old school f4 500mm. But ... This is still a beast to carry. I'm not dainty, fairly stout actually, and lugging this around in the field all day is taxing at the very least. It is easy to hand-hold, and the hand falls to the zoom ring easily enough. And, its length, even though IF (internal focus), is considerable, even when set at 200mm. When cranked out to 500mm, you've got about 1.5-2ft poking out in front of you, or dangling down when you bend over to look at something or sit or turn or ... you get the picture. So, you can't have it all: powerful telezoom, fast lens, ease-of-use, cheap price, light weight, a chicken in every pot, world peace. BTW, it comes with a rather superfluous lens hood, and a black cloth drawstring bag by way of "carry case". One thing I didn't appreciate was, upon arriving home and opening the box, it was obvious someone had previously opened it, fiddled with it (the protective cover on the back end was loose in the box. Nikon does not seal their boxes, but Best Buy should make sure that customers aren't buying an expensive lens that someone (customer? employee?) has messed around with while "in stock". But this lens is a very good compromise, and an excellent tool / value.

This lens is a big improvement over my last telephoto, a Tamron 70-200 f2.8. The image is sharp, in all the range, and focus is fast and accurate. Cons: it’s really heavy and bulky (I had to buy a bigger photographer bag)

I’m a novice photographer interested in wildlife and motor sports photography. Based on research and many positive reviews from seasoned amateur and pro photographers I decided to invest in this lens prior to upgrading my camera body. Even though my Nikon 5100 is consider a beginner DSLR the lens produces very nice sharp images even of high speed motor sports. The VR works great even out to 500mm. Very pleased so far.

Considering the price this is one of the best wildlife lensesI for Nikon. Renders great color, contrast and sharpness.

This is an excellent super zoom lens for nature and sports photography. It produces sharp imagery without losing light with zoom. I have been using it to photograph little league games and am slowly getting used to the weight of it (although I do have a tri-pod, but I like to move around too much!).

Best lens for the price, great sharpness. VR does its job. Would recommend a mono pod though it can be handheld.

I am impressed with the quality and performance of this lens! At no time , at any focal length does this lens give anything less than a sharp picture! It is a heavy lens, but when coupled with the camera it balances perfectly. There is a clamp on the mount that allows the whole assembly to rotate. So you can either level out the horizon, or put the camera in portrait view. It is very much Nikon quality and that is about all that needs to be said!

This is a great lens, especially for wildlife photography. It is pretty heavy, so it makes it a little more difficult to use handheld without a monopod or tripod. However, the VR really helps out, and I was able to shoot at about 1/50 without any loss of quality. I used it with my D850 and I loved the results.

This is a wonderful addition to any photographer's arsenal! It is crystal clear, sharp to the outside edges, and very usable handheld. For a very reasonable price it is a great value as well (including Best Buy's price match). While it is heavy, it can be used as a handheld, is usable on a medium weight tripod, and it will fit into a medium size bag or backpack (barely). My professional photographer friends always want to borrow it! I debated almost a year and should not have!

I purchased this lens to take pictures of the eagles perched in trees looking for dinner in the lake. I feel the pictures are turning out great. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars because I feel the pictures could be a little bit more crisp. Since I'm not a professional photographer, this problem could be due to my lack of knowledge. I used a tripod, Nikon D800, and it was not very windy.

This was gotten to complete the range of lens selection. It is heavy and you will need a tripod. But the image quality is good the magnification is surprising.