Just got this lens for my Nikon D7000. A Coopers Hawk decided to have dinner in my yard so I grabbed this lens. The enclosed shots are handheld, with the ISO at 1250, 1/320 @ f6.3, with VR on. I'm happy and can't wait to see the performance once I can mount it on a tripod.

Fast focusing; Quality Glass

Tripod foot

A word of warning-this is absolutely a LAYMAN'S REVIEW. I am not a professional, and not even a serious amateur, but I have been dabbling in wild-life (particularly birds) photography for almost 5 years.

I traded my 70-200 f 2.8mm lens for this new Nikon 80-400mm lens and in some way am a little disappointed with the decision, as the quality achieve with this lens despite what others may say, is still a mile off the quality you will be able to achieve with your prime lenses.

Considering that this opticis only a tad slower than the Nikkor 200-400mm f/4, with a drop of a stop when you zoom out, has a 5x zoom range, is lighter, and costs about half of the near $7000 price tag of the 200-400mm f/4, it is certainly worthy of consideration for those who can appreciate what it...

Of all the lenses in Nikon's range, their 80-400mm offering has been long overdue an update for quite some time. The old lens had a reputation for being slow slow and clunky. Thankfully this new lens couldn't easily be labelled as either of these thanks to the inclusion of a silent wave autofocus...

Back in 2000, Nikon introduced the original 80-400mm/f4.5-5.6 as their very first lens with vibration reduction (VR). While it was a technological break through for Nikon at the time, that lens does not have an internal auto-focus motor such that its AF speed is notoriously slow.

I've just completed my full field test of this lens. Here's the "Executive Summary": The AF-S 80-400mm f4.5-5.6 VR is a significant and worthwhile upgrade from its predecessor. It's an incredibly versatile lens that will meet most of the needs for many, many nature and wildlife photographers.

Solid optical quality throughout the entire focal range; very "hand-holdable

Just acceptable build quality; horrendous tripod collar; poorly designed hood

If you're looking for a compact, versatile telephoto zoom lens that handles portraiture as well as it handles long-distance wildlife and action photography, look no further than the AF-S NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR.

Optically this lens is excellent, producing very sharp photos on both full-frame and sub-frame cameras even at wide-open apertures throughout the zoom range. Other image quality factors like chromatic aberration, distortion and vignetting were all well behaved and minimal.