My first comparison, of course, was with the 70-300. I took dozens of pairs of shots of a distant mountain on a clear day to see where this lens begins to lose resolution relative to the 70-300. At 200mm it's very difficult to see any difference. At 250 the 70-300 is only slightly sharper. At 300, there is a difference, but not really very much.

Nikon 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR DX AF-S Nikkor Review Nikon 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR DX AF-S Nikkor Review

The corners are very similar to 105mm – consistently good images from f/5.6 to f/11.0. Sharpness Test – Nikon 55-300mm @ 300mm Center Frame In this review, I will go over my thoughts on the Nikon 300mm f/4 AF-S lens, provide sample images and compare it to other telephoto lenses like the new Nikon 80-400mm VR, Nikon 200-400mm f/4G VR and Nikon 70-300mm VR. NIKON D700 @ 420mm, ISO 800, 1/1250, f/6.3 What about the new and versatile Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G VR? Let’s see how it compares against the Nikon 55-300mm. Nikon 55-300mm vs Nikon 28-300mm @ 70mm Center When it comes to AF, the 55-200mm zoom is surprisingly slow for a modern AF Nikkor, and is one of the slowest focusing lens in the AF-S line-up. This isn't particularly bothersome if you're photographing stationary subjects, but can pose difficulties when trying to shoot sports. On the plus side, we did not experience much “hunting”, at least in good light. Low-light focusing can be more problematic, but given the slow maximum apertures on offer, this isn't meant to be a low-light lens anyway. Chromatic Aberrations

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The focus ring feels like a bit of an afterthought, a ribbed rubber ring a quarter-inch wide. The ring offers ninety degrees of focus travel, with hard stops on either end of the spectrum. It's worth noting that there's some slight lens extension during autofocus, with the lens barrel protruding an additional 3/4 inch at 300mm. It's not impossible to achieve accurate manual focus, but it's definitely harder than it needs to be. Clearly, this is a lens that's not intended for anything but autofocusing. That said, autofocus, while dependent on the body, is very accurate. There are no distance markings on the lens and the focusing ring is also very narrow and awkward to reach, on account of it being so far forward. There is a positive side to this, however, in that fingers are kept clear of the ring in AF mode. Macro results are fair for this lens, with a magnfication of 0.28x, and a close-focusing range of 1.4 meters (around 4 and a half feet).

55-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G ED VR Lens - Photo Review AF-S DX Nikkor 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G ED VR Lens - Photo Review

The VR too is a must have, as per me. This really reduces the use of a tripod plus other advantages, shell out a bit more for the VR variant, if given a choice.While the 28-300mm works well on both full-frame and cropped sensor cameras, its 28mm focal length is too long for general use on cropped sensor cameras (with an equivalent focal length of 42mm). Therefore, a redesigned version of the lens with a wider field of view makes the 18-300mm VR a more attractive superzoom option for DX users.