Is there a problem with the Nikkor AF-S VR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G IF-ED?

[Martin Dunn]

or is it just mine that has a problem?

On my last safari, instead of taking my usual lens - a Sigma 120-400mm zoom - I needed to save weight and took my Nikkor AF-S 70-300mm lens.

I am now reviewing my photographs and notice that there is a real problem with sharpness on many photos.
Even at the focus point the image is soft and noticeably poorer than I would have got with my Sigma lens.

For most photos I had VR switched on.

Is there known to be an issue with this particular Nikon lens or have I just got a poor example?

[Randy Stout]

Martin:

I have the lens, and within its limitations (slow aperture) it has preformed very well. It is a well respected lens, and should give you good results. The previous version wasn't nearly as good, but the latest version is a real value. You might do some auto focus fine tuning just incase yours is out of alignment.

Cheers

Randy

[shane shacaluga]

I also have this lens and it works very well

Not heard there is a problem with it.

I did try my brothers 70-300 tamron once on my camera and had the same problem. I partially resolved it my doing an AF fine tune it needed more tuning than my cameras system was able to adjust for.

Hope you can resolve it

[Martin Dunn]

Thanks Randy & Shane.
Auto focus fine tuning, how does one do that?

[shane shacaluga]

In the camera menu there is a setting for AF fine tune. Usually goes from +20 to -20. The defaukt setting is zero but if you find the lens back focuses you push it into positive and into negatives if it back focuses. There are special softwares to micro adjust but a few home made setups you can easily try.

The camera remembers the lens so will set it to whatever setting you selected for each lens each time you mount the lens on the camera. So you could have +15 on this lens and -5 on another one and not have to keep changing the settings

Hope this helps

[Martin Dunn]

Brilliant, thanks Shane