Nikon 70-300mm 70-300 f/4-5.6G f/4-5.6 Lens question?

SuperWoody101

I bought my first Nikon a few weeks ago (D90) I seen this lens (Nikon 70-300mm 70-300 f/4-5.6G f/4-5.6 Lens) on ebay and wanted to know if this would fit the D90 and does it have AF? I am very new to this and don't have a clue about lenses etc... Thanks for any help.

dakar

Yes and yes.

Grand lens, will give you a lot of extra reach, but it's quite 'slow' (especially at the 300mm end) by which I mean you will need longer exposure times, and a bit soft if you like nitpicking. But for general use on bright days, it's a good value way of expanding your shooting options.

DaireQuinlan

I have the older 75->300 version, and I never ever use it. I think it's actually too slow to use at the long end. At iso 100 you actually need a tripod or really sunny weather to shoot at 300. Not so much of a problem with the advent of digital I suppose given that people can up their isos on the fly.
That said I'm not a fan of long lenses anyhow, so YMMV.

SuperWoody101

Thanks guys.

dakar

Yup, what Daire said.

If you take the rule of thumb that on a 35mm camera you need to shoot at a shutter speed of 1/focal length of the lens, and then take into account that on a D90, that lens functions as a 450mm lens would on a 35mm camera, you are looking at a minimum shutter speed of 1/500 second. Acheiving this at f/5.6 (at best) means you need a 'lot' of light.

But on bright days, if you bump up the ISO, it is usable.

And you know that 70-200mm f/2.8 lens that you look at now and go 'What? 15 times the prices and only zooms to 200mm? What's that all about?' One day, you may have a realisation that suddenly, it all makes sense.

Then you know you are lost forever.... :eek:

ozymandius

There are a few different 70-300 Nikkors.

See http://bythom.com/70300lens.htm and
http://bythom.com/70300VRlens.htm

I have the newer VR and like it and use it more than I thought I would. Sure I'd love a 70-200, but that's never gonna happen (Lotto excepted).