p.1 #1 · 55-300 DX VR vs 70-300 VR for travel/wildlife
Hello, all. My parents are going on an African safari trip in a month or two, and in preparation my dad and I ventured out on black friday and came home with a D7000 kit for him to take along.
The kit came with the standard 18-105 lens, but I suggested he may want more reach and he agreed. I had the 70-300 VR in mind, but the store we were at didn't have them in stock, and suggested the 55-300 DX VR instead, for $250. Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with the lens (didn't even know it existed, in fact, until I was handed one by the store clerk yesterday). We held off on the purchase until I could find out more.
Is the DX lens a suitable, decent substitute for the 70-300 VR? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
p.1 #5 · 55-300 DX VR vs 70-300 VR for travel/wildlife
i went down this road recently and decided on the 70-300/5.6 VR for these reasons...
(i own the 70-300/5.6 VR, but have not shot the 55-300/5.6 VR)
metal ring around connection to body... its a long lens.
the AF is faster (rated by internet people, and if the AF speed on the 55-300 VR is like the other kit lenses, its true).
price is really close considering the extra quality/durability of the 70-300/5.6 VR.
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if you want to shoot wildlife, you are not going to miss the 55-70 range, IMHO, but you will miss the extra AF speed and sturdier build. go with the 70-300 VR. i'm very happy with it. the fact that it was made as an FX lens should tell you Nikon believes in it too.
-e
edit: to clarify, in my experience the 70-300 VR auto-focus is noticeably faster than: 18-55 VR, 18-105 VR, 55-200 VR.
p.1 #8 · 55-300 DX VR vs 70-300 VR for travel/wildlife
ChiShutter wrote:
Anyone have experience with the DX lens itself? Real world impressions?
Yep.
Nothing wrong with the lens (except FX support is missing). Just another one in the 4 recent good DX lenses brought to market. 55-300mm, 85mm macro and 40mm macro (this is a great lens in itself). The 55-300mm does not loose to much to the 70-300mm VR. In some area's I would even say it is better. Are in the same class. If you need significant more quality at 300mm, then you need to jump into a completely different category like the 300mm/4.
My ranking on IQ and considering the price (all DX lenses):
40mm/2.8 macro
55-300mm VR
35mm/1.8G
85mm/3.5 macro
p.1 #10 · 55-300 DX VR vs 70-300 VR for travel/wildlife
I haven't compared sharpness, but when I tried the 55-300 in store, I did notice the autofocus was noticeably slower. It's really just a question of how fast you think the animals will be moving I suppose.
