Nikon 300mm f4 - good for what??

[michellemarie]

I was looking at, dreaming and compiling a list of lenses I would like to have in my arsenal. Came across the Nikon 300mm f4 AF. After reading the rave reviews about its surprising lightness compared to other "tank" lenses of this size and quality and the TACK sharpness, I was intrigued.
With the f4, I am assuming this lens would be best for wildlife and outdoor sports, but not necessarily indoor sports, right? Anyone have experience with this lens? Thanks a bunch!

[Rehesan]

Hello,

I have an AF 70-300mm 4-5.6 G lens and in my short experience using it, I can tell you it is a great lens for outdoors shoting. Eventhough this lens has no autofocus built in motor nor vibration reduction function, I could made a good photos. It has a great lightness for daytime shots, all my photos I have made with this lens has been very bright and with a lot of light, that is my favorite feature of this lens.

I enjoy shoting with this lens, I like to focus manually and for daytime shoting I have not missed the VR, I could do some handheld shots.

But this lens is not good for low light conditions or overcast day shoting, in those conditions the lens produces blurry and noisy images, that is when you could really miss the VR feature.

You could see a couple of my shots with this lens in these threads:

This two were taken at f/5.6 with 300mm focal length in a partially cloudy day:

http://digital-photography-school.co...-not-mist.html

http://digital-photography-school.co...agle-eyes.html

This shot was taken indoors using the natural light from my house windows. It was taken at f/4 with 100mm focal length:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2634/...c1a600d82d.jpg

Attached are two pictures of my lens, just for your reference.

Hope the info helps you.

[zona5101]

When I shoot 300 f4 indoors I have to bring light with me. I checked a recent pic of a basketball game and I was iso 800 shutter, 125 (sync) and f4. without flash my shutter was too slow to hand hold. For basketball 125 is pretty darn slow but luckily 7 year olds don't move all that fast