Am doing some traveling this year so purchased a slightly used Nikon 28-300mm as a one lens solution to use on my D600. I had borrowed a friends last year and it seemed like a pretty decent lens overall, but this one is very disappointing. Anything hand held over 200mm is not clear and also has bad vignetteing at wider angles. It doesn’t get the greatest reviews but this one is pretty bad. Could it be this particular lens is “bad” or could my friend just happen to have a very “good” one. I got a pretty good deal on it but am ready to sell it and go back to plan A...mount my Nikon 16-35mm which is awesome for landscapes and carry my little Nikon 50mm 1.8 which I also love for when I need to travel light or in places like museums or street photos. Comments or suggestions please.
I've been using a Nikkor 28~300 for about 3 years now. Excellent results in a variety of photographic applications.
--Bob
westjl2 wrote:
Am doing some traveling this year so purchased a slightly used Nikon 28-300mm as a one lens solution to use on my D600. I had borrowed a friends last year and it seemed like a pretty decent lens overall, but this one is very disappointing. Anything hand held over 200mm is not clear and also has bad vignetteing at wider angles. It doesn’t get the greatest reviews but this one is pretty bad. Could it be this particular lens is “bad” or could my friend just happen to have a very “good” one. I got a pretty good deal on it but am ready to sell it and go back to plan A...mount my Nikon 16-35mm which is awesome for landscapes and carry my little Nikon 50mm 1.8 which I also love for when I need to travel light or in places like museums or street photos. Comments or suggestions please.
Am doing some traveling this year so purchased a s... (
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You must have chanced upon a bad one. Mine (which is currently on loan to my niece) takes excellent pictures across the entire range.
westjl2 wrote:
Am doing some traveling this year so purchased a slightly used Nikon 28-300mm as a one lens solution to use on my D600. I had borrowed a friends last year and it seemed like a pretty decent lens overall, but this one is very disappointing. Anything hand held over 200mm is not clear and also has bad vignetteing at wider angles. It doesn’t get the greatest reviews but this one is pretty bad. Could it be this particular lens is “bad” or could my friend just happen to have a very “good” one. I got a pretty good deal on it but am ready to sell it and go back to plan A...mount my Nikon 16-35mm which is awesome for landscapes and carry my little Nikon 50mm 1.8 which I also love for when I need to travel light or in places like museums or street photos. Comments or suggestions please.
Am doing some traveling this year so purchased a s... (
show quote)
Did you buy it new or used? If new I would suggest a trip to Nikon to have it looked at under warranty.
But if you bought it used I think you bought someone elses problem!
Its a good lens on your 24MP body and should be giving you better results. Don't use it on the D800's or the D850 though.
MT Shooter wrote:
Don't use it on the D800's or the D850 though.
Why not, other than it will go into cropped mode? It’s a great lens and I used it on my D810 multiple times prior to loaning it to my niece on the D3200.
jonfrei wrote:
Why not, other than it will go into cropped mode? .
Why would an FX lens go into cropped mode on any camera? And why would you want it to? Your statement makes no sense at all.
I use both of what you mention, FX 16-35, and FX 28-300, both new. On my D500 DX body, they give me effective range of 24-450 which is all I need. No complaints. They are terrific! Wondering why not good on a 850 because that is what I would consider for a second body.
MT Shooter wrote:
Why would an FX lens go into cropped mode on any camera? And why would you want it to? Your statement makes no sense at all.
The 28-300 is a DX lens. Put it on an FX camera like the D810 and the camera automatically goes into a DX crop mode.
MT Shooter wrote:
Why would an FX lens go into cropped mode on any camera? And why would you want it to? Your statement makes no sense at all.
If you are under the (wrong) impression that the 28-300 is an FX lens, why would you not recommend it on the D8xx series cameras? Unless, of course, you are simply in “glass snob” mode?
jonfrei wrote:
The 28-300 is a DX lens. Put it on an FX camera like the D810 and the camera automatically goes into a DX crop mode.
The 28-300 is not a DX lens the 18-300 is.
cedymock wrote:
The 28-300 is not a DX lens the 18-300 is.
My bad. I’ll shut up now. Though I would still be interested as to why MT Shooter doesn’t recommend it on the D8xx series cameras.
jonfrei wrote:
If you are under the (wrong) impression that the 28-300 is an FX lens, why would you not recommend it on the D8xx series cameras? Unless, of course, you are simply in “glass snob” mode?
My apologies, MT Shooter. On re-read, 1 — I was wrong on the lens format (mine is an 18-300), and 2 - that response sounds incredibly rude — I had intended a friendly jibe, but most certainly missed the mark.
I am fairly sure my 28-300 is FX, so some of the comments in this chain are wrong. I traded from a DX 18-300 of which there are two; mine was the cheaper one.
Part of my disappointment is that I also have the Nikon AF-S VR 70-300 FX zoom and it is much sharper. On top of that the 28- 300 is more than twice the price of the 70–300mm. I have been able to get rid of some of the problems in post processing but to me that seems pretty silly considering the price of this lens. These are problems that I don’t have with 70-300mm lenses. So I just wanted to hear from others who have used this same lens as to whether they do get some vignettes at wide angles or a lack of sharpness at the 200-300mm ranges.
Also this is most definitely an FX lens. So let’s put that argument to rest. And my comments regarding the 70–300 lens is also referring to the FX model. That is very confusing because there is also a 70-300 DX model.
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