Cheap and long: The Nikon AF-P 70-300mm f4.5-6.3 DX VR G review

A little while ago, I reviewed the other end of Nikon’s discount spectrum: the equally-a-mouthful AF-P 10-20mm f4.5-5.6 DX VR. Together with the equally plastic AF-P 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 DX VR G, these three lenses make up the antithesis of the usual professional ‘holy trinity’. They are not fast, they are not weather sealed, they are not built like tanks, they are not bristling with switches and cutting edge features, and they’re most likely to be the first thing any hobbyist getting ‘serious’ is going to upgrade out of their kit. Hell, they’re the most likely things to be given away as promotional loss leaders in said kit to begin with. Yet – somewhat unexpectedly, I find myself rather liking them. The 10-20 is a solid lens with some caveats, but unbeatable at the price. Today’s post will examine the AF-P 70-300mm f4.5-6.3 DX VR G* – and it has even fewer caveats than the 10-20 and 18-55, making it honestly downright impressive. Read on if you feel like making your other glass uncomfortable.

*Nikon apparently couldn’t decide what to make, so we have in current production:
AF-P 70-300mm f4.5-6.3 DX G (new)
AF-P 70-300mm f4.5-6.3 DX VR G (new, this review)
AF-P 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 E VR G (new, FX version)
AF-S 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 VR G (old, and barely held up on 16MP FX let alone today’s cameras)
AF-S 55-300mm f4.5-5.6 DX VR G (old)
AF-D 70-300mm f4-5.6 G (very old, very bad)

Again, as with the other two lenses in what I think of as the AF-P DX anti-trinity – the 70-300 is clearly built to exploit economy to the maximum possible extent. It has a plastic mount, no external switches, a label instead of a nameplate, ‘MADE IN THAILAND’ moulded into its plastic shell, and does not include a hood or baggie (odd, unlike the 10-20 – at least mine didn’t; it may differ in other markets). Even the rear cap is Nikon’s soft plastic clip on thing instead of the black bayonet type (again, unlike the 10-20, which includes a ‘proper’ rear cap). Yet it has a fairly sophisticated 14/10 design with one ED element, the latest AF-P type motor which is silent, very fast, and focuses swiftly in live view. It even focuses to 1.1m at all focal lengths, albeit with some shortening at the 300mm end; however, the 70mm end focuses even closer than this – down to about 0.75m, by my measurements. This particular version even has VR; there is a slightly cheaper – usually bundled – version sans VR, but given the modest f6.3 maximum aperture at the long end, you’re probably best off buying the VR version. Besides, the difference is no more than a drink or two at a moderately nice bar. This is a lot of lens for just shy of $400.

To be blunt, there’s nothing to complain about at this price, and precious little even if it were more expensive. Sure, build could be more robust, but I quite like the fact that it weighs 400g and together with the D3500, yields 450-equivalent and very sharp millimetres for 750g. The zoom ring is mostly smooth but has a little plastic stickiness when you’re trying to adjust things in fine increments; paradoxically it’s also lowish friction and has a tendency to extend by itself if the camera is pointed downwards. It isn’t as nice to use as the 10-20 or 18-55, but it might have something to do with the mechanism type and this lens’ relatively larger size. On the other hand, the 70-300’s focusing ring is oddly nice – like the other AF-P lenses – very smooth, changes focus in sensible increments, seems to be responsive and well-ratioed – and then you realise it’s fly by wire when you turn it with the camera off to do a test framing and…nothing happens.

On second thoughts, perhaps we should complain. It only decently covers up to 20x30mm (or the 1.2x crop on the D850); you’ll have to buy the equally excellent (but heavier and nearly double the price AF-P 70-300/4.5-5.6 E VR) to cover full frame. It might give you a bit more, but the corners look like smeared mush. There’s no way to turn off VR unless your camera is equipped with that particular menu option. The focus ring only works when the camera is switched on, since it’s fly by wire. What were Nikon thinking? Why doesn’t my $400 DX lens also amaze on FX? I think it’s time to take to our favourite internet forums to bang our keyboards and protest loudly. And while we’re at it, there’s also a tiny bit of longitudinal CA. I tried to find some lateral CA, or flare, but came up with nothing. I also tried to find some bokeh, but at typical subject distances the modest apertures tend to yield almost nothing. Like all telephotos it isn’t bad with a near subject and distant background, of course.

Frankly, I haven’t really investigated that property of the lens much anyway. It’s not why I bought it; I love compressed wimmelbild and architectural detail. Sometimes said details are closer than we’d like; close enough to need more DOF than reasonable apertures provide on larger formats. Yet sensor limitations of smaller formats don’t yield the kind of tonality I want. Fortunately 105-450mm-equivalent is a lot of compression. Those of you who’ve been here for a few years will know I had a similar love for the D5500 and collapsible AF-S 55-200/4.5-5.6 DX VR II; that lens felt a bit more flexible because of the shorter minimum, but didn’t compress as well and got pretty weak optically towards the 200mm end. VR also didn’t seem as effective by comparison. Speaking of which, you might think the cheaper lenses have less effective VR: I suspect this isn’t true simply because the lens elements are so much lighter, meaning equal effectiveness with far less paraphernalia. I see a consistent (more than 50% of images are critically sharp handheld) 1/15s at 70mm, and 1/45s at 300mm on the D3500. This is a good four stops or so.

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The 70-300 doesn’t seem to have a weak spot. Perhaps at near distances and 300mm, at which it shows a bit more longitudinal CA than further away, and the focal length is foreshortened to aid focusing. 70mm seems marginally worse on my D3500, but the Z7 shows me this is an AF-fine tune (which the D3500 sadly does not have) issue and not a lens one. On the mirrorless body and in live view on the D3500, it’s equally good at both ends of the focal length – which is to say very sharp indeed. I’m actually surprised just how good the optics on this lens are – you don’t see any of the usual cheap tele-zoom hallmarks here – no soft long end; no soft corners; no longitudinal CA; no loss of micro contrast. The corners need f8 to be spot on, but I’ll be damned if they’re not already acceptable wide open. Stop down for slightly more bite and a little more DOF, but in reality this lens working aperture is wide open to about f8-f11 – after which diffraction starts softening things on the 24MP DX bodies. Even so, I don’t find it restrictive.

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Take a look at the image above (full size here): low contrast across most of the frame except for a high contrast bright spot as the sun creeps around the dome. You’d expect the mosaic squares to be soft, but they’re not – even into the extreme corners. This was shot somewhere in the middle of the zoom range (230mm, says the EXIF) and at f8; I really can’t see what more you’d want at a pixel or overall level. The D3500-70-300 combination is really quite special – I’d be happy with this kind of perspective and overall rendition (yes, via ACR in this case as the shadows didn’t fall quite where I wanted in the JPEG) at any price, much less the $800 or so it actually cost – together with the 18-55. To put into perspective, that’s cheaper than a 1″ bridge camera with not that much less reach and a much larger sensor. And that’s pretty much all I’ve got to say – an unqualified recommendation for DX shooters**, and the ideal complement to a lightweight, low-concern kit. There is an old engineering saying that there is good, cheap and light – pick any two – in this case, it seems we found a unicorn. And with that, I’ll leave you with a few more images. MT

**Or even high resolution FX shooters on a serious weight budget; 1.2x yields 30MP on a D850, and the DX modes are 20MP on the Z7 and D850 – still pretty good.

The Nikon AFP 70-300/4.5-6.3 DX VR G is available here from B&H or Amazon.

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