GeneS Loc: Glendale,AZ

Google nikon 55-300mm lens v nikon 70-300mm lens and you will get an idea of the difference. 70 has faster focus, little better IQ.
The 70 will work fine on the D7000

Greg Loc: Maryland

No you DON'T need a FF camera/sensor to use a FF lens, it will perform the same on either a FF or crop sensor camera body. If you use a non-FF lens on a FF camera you will get vignetting as it's not designed to present a FF image. If you think you'll upgrade to a FF camera in the future, you can future proof yourself by getting lenses for FF. If not, don't worry about whether it's a FF lens or not.

Erv Loc: Medina Ohio

Greg, read the first line in his post. He says they will work with a crop factor. And with the better Nikons you can use DX lenses, they have a setting to do it.
Erv

TED613

Beautiful pictures fstop thanks for sharing them!

MainStreet Business Loc: Butler, MO

D0r1neK,

Hi, I have both lenses. I bought the 55-300 for my daughters D3000 and I bought myself the 70-300 to use on my D5000. Both lenses produce excellent pictures, however, if I were taking and African camera safari, I would be taking the 70-300 for the following reasons.
The 70-300 AF is quicker and an even more important factor for me is that the 70-300 has manual focus override.

At distance with brush and other obsticles in the way, AF on both lenses have to hunt a lot and can't always lock on.
With the 70-300 I can turn the focus ring which is at the rear of the lense right next to where my hand is already instead of out front where I would have to move my hand on the 55-300. Also, on the 55-300, in order to manually focus, I have to take time to turn AF off.

The 70-300 has a manual override, meaning you can manually focus it without turning of AF. By doing that, you can bring the lense to near focus and AF can lock on without hunting.

I bought my 70-300 for $430. It is a bit more than the 55-300 and in many instances maybe not worth the extra cost.
But if I were taking a camera safari to Africa, I would be taking the 70-300 over the 55. The rear mount manual focus override and quicker AF are the main reason.

BuckeyeBilly Loc: St. Petersburg, FL

I haven't gone through all of the posts, so if I'm repeating something, please forgive me. Here is a link to compare these 2 lenses. Hope it helps you in some way.

http://lenshero.com/comparison/Nikon-AF-S-VR-70-300mm-f4.5-5.6G-IF-ED-vs-Nikon-AF-S-55-300mm-f4.5-5.6G-ED-VR

Nevada Chuck

It isn't the lens that determines whether or not a photo is full frame, it's the size of the sensor.

Nevada Chuck

No, you can use a full-coverage lens on a smaller-than-full frame camera, but the shot won't look any different.

Ljensen Loc: OKC

Oh, and by the way, the field of view as well as the near focus distance would be limited on these lenses, especially the 70-300mm.

So for landscape shots, or something where you're within a few feet of, you'll want another lens in addition. I bought my D7000 with a kit lens, the 18-105mm. That would fill the bill. But a nice basic, prime lens is the Nikkor 50mm f1.8. You can get a used one on eBay for somewhere between $150-200. Also for low light situations, this would be a good lens due to the wider aperture.

But if you're just bringing one lens and you want to be able to do landscape and closer distance shots, it might sway you toward the 55-200mm. As to low light, you'd just have to rely on the D7000 being able to use higher ISO settings with good results.

julesreyesmarko Loc: Los Angeles

the big question is, will you want to upgrade to a FF (full frame) camera body? If you were bit by the camera bug like me, you most likely would want to upgrade to FF. For myself there is no question of upgrading, its just when. sounds like the 70/300mm is the way to go.

GWMH Loc: Kisumu, Kenya, East Africa

Just curious: doing what in Africa?
If you happen by Kisumu, stop in & see me!

melphoto60

the nikon 55-300 also is essentually a 82.5 to 450 and you dont need a full frame to ge full use of ff lenses..you still have to multiply (1.5 for nikon, 1.6 for canon) x lens focal lenght to get crop factor no matter what lens you put on the D7000 only thing to remember is that a dx crop lens will work on a ff but ff will reduce the sensor so you arent getting full use of ff when using dx lenses on your ff nikon. Probally the only difference is build quality, you just have to see for yourself.

MainStreet Business Loc: Butler, MO

Ljensen is quite right.

If you are just thinking of taking 1 lense, I would be taking a 55-200 kit lense. Good alround lense. I have both 55-300 and 70-300. They are both great lenses. But if you are just taking 1 lense, the 70-300 is very heavy and cumbersome. After a time you will be thinking you that your neck strap is attache to a transmition out of a Buick.

JohnM Loc: Springfield, Illinois

Great Pics regardless of equipment, wtg

JohnM Loc: Springfield, Illinois

I also have the AF-S 70-300. Before I got it I did a lot of online research for a few reasons no one on here cares about but the result was that its one of those get what you pay for things. Yes, the 55-300 is a lot less costly and from what I read, it should be.

I do not have the best of stuff but this one time I did not want to end up having to buy two. The lesser cost one then later the one I really wanted. Just my .02