Nikon Nikkor 300mm f/4.5 AiS Lens Review

Nikon Nikkor 300mm f/4.5 AiS is a traditional, manual 'everything' lens, manufactured by Nikon from early 80s through mid 90s. The 300mm prime has gone through at least through half a dozen revisions, with the first version of the lens, Nikon Nikkor 300mm f/4.5 P first released in mid 60s, but quickly replaced by an improved Nikkor 300mm f/4.5 H in 1969. That lens was in turn replaced by an AI variant circa 1977. In addition to thetraditional focus 300mm lens, Nikon used to manufacture a quantity of IF (Internlal Focus) 300mm primes, including Nikkor 300mm f/4.5 IF & later Nikkor 300mm f/4.5 ED IF. The AiS version, reviewed here, was finally phased out in favor of a slightly faster auto-focus variant, AF Nikkor 300mm f/4D. The AiS versions of the lens are common these days on used markets, with nice quality copies fetching ~US$250 (as of September 2008).

The optical construction of the lens consists of 6 elements in 5 groups - nothing fancy, compared to modern super telephotos. The build quality of the lens is superb - all metal barrel, retractable metal lens hood, rubberized focus ring, metal lens mount - 'built to last' is the best description that comes to mind here. The focusing ring is broad & comfortable to grip. The ring is a small bit tight to operate, although it is not clear whether this is due to the age of the lens or the original designers' purpose. Despite the all metal construction, the lens is 'moderately' bulky & heavy (for a telephoto lens that is) - it measures 79 x 202mm (3 x 7.95in) & weighs 990g (2.1lb). The lens actually extends during focusing, doubling in length. With the lens hood also extended, the lens looks monstrous even on such a bulky camera as Nikon D3.

As any other AiS lens, Nikon Nikkor 300mm f/4.5 AiS sports a conventional aperture ring, which moves from f/4.5 to f/32 in two full f-stop increments. The lens supports automatic aperture indexing, allowing for shutter priority & program modes. The lens accepts 72mm screw-in type filters & since the front element of the lens does not rotate, photographers can use polarizing filters without any problems. The maximum focusing distance for the lens is 3.5m (12ft).




Considering that the Nikkor 30mm f/4.5 AiS is a traditional lens designed for 35mm cameras, when it is used on an APS-C camera with 1.5x crop factor its field of view will resemble that of a 450mm prime on a full frame body. Like any Nikon F lenses, Nikkor 300mm f/4.5 AiS is easily adaptable to a quantity of alternative mounts, including Canon EF/EF-S & Olympus Three Thirds. Obviously, you will must use the lens in manual or aperture priority mode.


Summary
Lens Composition 6 elements in 5 groups
Angular Field ~8 degrees
Maximum Focus 3.5m/12ft
Focusing Action MF
f-stop Scale f/4.5-f/32, camera/manual
Filter Size 72mm
Lens Hood Built-in
Weight 990kg/2.1lb
Dimensions 78.5x202mm/3x7.95"
Lens Case CL-20A (included)

The first thing that cames to mind after mounting the lens to Nikon D3 is that it is darn long (physically), with the barrel fully extended when the lens is focused towards closeup. Not that the lens is the longest or the heaviest of them all, (actually, the newer AF version of the 300mm prime is both longer as well as heavier) but it is long & heavy to make hand-held photography of a hassle. Try holding a combination of an already bulky D3 & this lens & simultaneously trying to manual focus this lens & you would quickly create a full appreciation for an auto-focus. Quick focusing with this lens is practically out of query. The focusing ring rotates for about 200 degrees when the lens is focused from the infinity to the closeup distance, & thinking about that you need to use both of your hands holding the camera/lens combo, you will finish up rotating the focusing ring with your thumb & index finger - how fast can you do that? Probably not fast to track a moving target. There's individuals who claim they can take great pics with 300mm primes hand-held at 1/150sec or even 1/80sec. If you belong to this group, you might be able to use the Nikon Nikkor 300mm f/4.5 AiS hand-held & accomplish great results. But for the rest of us, using a tripod & even presetting the lens would probably be a more prudent option.

Field Tests

Overall, the lens produced average performance in the field. Images lacked a pop & picture resolution was weak throughout the frame. The worst part was that the picture quality did not improved with stopped down apertures - actually there did not appear to be any significant visible improvement between images short at f/4.5 & say f/8 or f/11. Furthermore, there was no visible difference in picture quality between shots taken at the closeup distance vs the infinity.