Nikkor 75 - 300mm

1970's Fan

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IMG_1400.JPG I'm thinking of getting a Nikkor 75-300mm lens, the one made from 1989-1999, for my D3200.
That and a gimbal tripod head. I would appreciate opinions on this lens from anyone who has it. I'd love to try out the steadying technique I saw on a video by Moose Peterson (I think I got his name right).

I suffer from hand trembles and my wife is suggesting to santa that he brings me a 55-200mm VRII lens this Christmas (he he that sounds so silly :rflmao:) I'm hoping the VR makes things easier for me. I don't like things beating me so I want to take photos with not only a non VR lens but a zoom lens at that and without camera shake.
 
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I don't have that exact lens, but I do have a 300mm Nikkor and I find it a challenge to hand hold on my D7000. I don't have hand tremors, but my brother does. I traded him my D80 w/a VR lens on it for an old camera and some lenses of his (the 300 was one of them). I don't know that he's used it yet as he gave it to his son at first, but he's now shooting a D7200 so I think the D80 is back home with my brother again. He uses his phone so I doubt the D80 will get worn out soon. Once I figured out the trick to getting my D7000 to focus, it is rare that I get a bad picture from it with my 18-200 VR lens. I'm not sure a gimbal tripod head would work for me as a means of steadying a 300mm lens. I'd think it would get in the way more than help.
I'd suggest that renting a lens might answer a few questions for you, without committing a large amount of money first.
 
For folks with less than steady hands, VR is a feature I wouldn't suggest you be without.

The 55-200 is pretty nice. The 70-300 VR is a physically nicer lens, but in terms of pure optical quality, I don't know that it's any better. The 200-300mm range isn't the lens's strongest area.

I have the 75-300 lens mentioned in the OP. I didn't buy it new, but I've had it since the D80 was the current model. It's not a bad lens. Mine has developed somewhat of a focus issue. Nothing devastating as it served me for a good, long time but it can be frustrating. Again, I don't think the 200-300mm end is super amazing. Not talking smack about it, but those 300mm f4s and 300mm f2.8s are WAY WAY better than the long end of a consumer xx-300. I mean, discounting the narrower depth of field offered. On the other hand, the 55-200 is pretty darn good right up to the 200mm setting.

I don't know what they go for on your side, but here you can find the VR I very gently used for as little as $75 from reputable shops, with a warranty. Amazing lens for that price range. The plastic mount is more troublesome on longer lenses than on the 18-55mm kit lenses, but you can buy two for the price of the next upgrade.

No experience with the Tamron 70-300 with the stabilization but it gets great reviews and is more physically robust.
 
I didn't get the Nikon 75-300 after all. Today, (30 November), I bought the Tamron SP 70-300mm F/4-5.6 DI VC USD. off eBay. It should be here by Friday. :banana::banana::banana:
I've been watching YouTube videos about it and it looks like I made the right decision. Did a search on AK for it and three posts, two showing a fantastic photo of a humming bird came up. I'll be glad of a few pics of a blue tit or robin at the bird cafe outside my back door. On the menu, there's sultanas, oat flakes, wild bird seed, meal worms and nuts in the nut feeder for the blue tits.
 
I think you made a great decision. Just be sure to take some control pictures at different focal lengths to ensure your particular lens doesn't have any issues with focus.
 
My lens arrived this morning (Thursday) :banana::banana::banana:. It usually takes at least an extra day more than the due date but it got here a day earlier. The focus seems great and that's with the diminishing light we have here. The VC is fantastic! I love the way it grabs the focus and steadies it. I'm glad I didn't get the old Nikon. This Tamron is much easier to use for me. Best lens I've bought.
 
I agree with cratz2 about the Nikon 55 - 200 VR. While in terms of build quality, It isn't in the league as my 16 - 85 mm lens, But the image quality is 2'nd to none for this speed lens and it still has a quality feel to it. I initially bought the 70 - 300 mm lens with my D90, I exchanged it for the much lighter and more compact 55 - 200 mm. Also the wider angle comes in more handy for me than the longer zoom.
 
I took this photo this morning using the new Tamron at 300mm. All I did was put it through Google Nik Define to take away the noise then resize to 1200 pixels by 700 'n something then sharpen a little in PhotoShop.
Oh My Goodness I just love this lens especially the Vibration Compensation. He was sitting on a half barrel edge waiting for me to put out his breakfast and the tall hedge in the background provided great Bokeh colour. One thing I'll have to remember about this lens, is how really narrow the depth of field is.

Blackbird.jpg

I think the little guy below is a Chaffinch? he was on the fence just outside my lounge window. he's looking down at the nut feeder I fastened to the fence. I've got to fill the nuts sometimes twice a day.
Chaffinch shp.jpg
Did I mention I love this lens?:D
BlueTit shp.jpg
 
Photos look very nice.
A birder, eh?

Mrs. H is an avid birder -- I like birds, too. But I really like optics. So she has nice optics.
(and I still take mediocre photos, at best)

DSC_1257 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
DSC_1334 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
DSC_1367 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
018 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
since you're in the UK, you may not recognize some (or all) of them:

evening grosbeak
turkey
rose-breasted grosbeak & Baltimore oriole
more turkeys :)
 
Thanks. Yes I like feeding them. There's a robin who moves too fast and just as I'm going to press the shutter, he's off again! He's the first bird to the step I put the feed on and lands right next to my feet. I've also been trying to get one of the three blue tits sitting on the fence waiting their turn on the nut feeder but the same thing happens.
I think I've cracked it regarding sharpening photos for uploading to the net. Before, I would have a picture looking nice but when it got uploaded, it wasn't nearly as good. I think resizing plays a large part so now I reduce the longest side to 1200 pixels before I use unsharp mask on it.
The rose breasted bird on your seed feeder is a cracker. I'd love to capture one hovering like the one next to it. Very nice! This is the most satisfied I've been with my photos. I'm going to try using faster shutter speeds to see if I can get better results with non VR/VC lenses.
One thing I am impressed with is Google's Nik Define filter for noise reduction. It really takes care of noise.
 
Definitely resize the photo to the resolution that it will be natively displayed at, then use Unsharp Mask after the resize. You will probably only want to run USM on the subject itself, not the entire shot.

You will probably find that you get the best sharpness out of the lens by stopping down (selecting a smaller aperture) than wide open at a given setting. f8 would be a good guess, assuming there is adequate light. You will have a less shallow depth of field, but you can try to isolate the subject by moving so that the background is as distant as possible.

Looks pretty good to my eyes already.
 
I know nothing about the sharpening/de-noising app(s) you mentioned -- the results, apparently, speak for themselves, though!
Thanks. I only discovered Google Nik software recently which, btw, is free for a bunch of really great filters.

Definitely resize the photo to the resolution that it will be natively displayed at, then use Unsharp Mask after the resize. You will probably only want to run USM on the subject itself, not the entire shot.

You will probably find that you get the best sharpness out of the lens by stopping down (selecting a smaller aperture) than wide open at a given setting. f8 would be a good guess, assuming there is adequate light. You will have a less shallow depth of field, but you can try to isolate the subject by moving so that the background is as distant as possible.

Looks pretty good to my eyes already.
Thanks. One major flaw in my previous attempts was to leave the picture at its original size, thinking that reducing pixels was making it worse. I will start using adjustment layers to apply masks for sharpening the subject. I've been lucky so far but the bokeh is great.
 
At last I got my little friend this morning! He even looks like he's posing :biggrin:. I don't usually note shooting details but on checking the card in the camera, it's as follows ;
300mm f11 @ 1/250th ISO 3200 on auto ISO. Even with such a high ISO, it was remarkably noise free before I used Nik Collections Define on it. I really wanted him on the barrel but he was off again and onto the step before I could lift my camera which was only on the CD shelf next to the back door ready for quick access. Not quick enough for speedy Robin though.

Robin on step shp.jpg
 
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