AF VR Zoom 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D

Technical Details

-Compact, lightweight 5x telephoto zoom lens
-Vibration Reduction operation offers the equivalent of using a shutter speed three stops faster
-VR automatically detected during panning operation
-Three ED glass elements ensure superior optical performance
-Nine-blade rounded diaphragm achieves a natural blur for out-of-focus elements
See more technical details

 "It's all we have from Nikon!" 2010-07-22
By Richard Berns (Chicago, Illinois United States)
It's a tough challenge - affordability, great quality and ease of use. This lens is not easy to use!


 "Rather nice for a tele!" 2010-05-07
By Anthony Robert Mann (Hemet, CA United States)
This is my second zoom tele for my D300 - the first one was a 18-200mm DX VR, which is a very nice everyday lens also, but a bit too short for the types of wildlife photography I do.

All of my other lenses are primes; a 105mm f/2.8, 300mm f/2.8 and a 600mm f/4, of which my 300mm f/2.8 AI-S is my favorite. I use my 300mm for wildlife shots, landscapes and indoor sports, but its a big and heavy manual focus lens that misses a few shots because I can't focus it fast enough sometimes. I really searched and mulled over updating to a 300mm f/2.8 AF-S VR, and even priced out used ones, but decided to try out the Nikon 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D VR which cost less than 1/3 the price, thinking that it may be a good lens to use outdoors between my 300mm and 600mm primes that require tripods and get too many wierd looks when I use them in public places.

After reading reviews about how slow the 80-400mm is to focus (I can beat that, try a MF lens sometimes!), and how slow of a lens it is regarding its aperature (ok, it' not a f/2.8, but it's not trying to be one either), I'm glad I bought it anyway because I find that I can take it on trips without a lot of other stuff besides a monopod and extra battery and not miss taking on-the-fly photographs of wildlife or my family at play anymore, especially when and where I ever feel like not lugging the big lenses around.

I think most people would find this lens to be a cost effective way to have a long telephoto that does take sharp photos (especialy at around 300mm at f/8). It does focus fast enough for most shots (I use it on a D300), and it has the benefits of VR to boot. Make sure it works for your camera though, it is a AF-I lens, not a AF-S, thus it won't work on D5000's and several other non-pro level Nikon DSLR's.

New update (6/10): Yes, I am glad I bought this lens. I was able to get some good handheld shots of bighorn sheep (see pic sample) in very low morning light while hiking in some very rough terrain that I would not have tried with a tripod and heavier lenses, and another plus is that I didn't have to ask the sheep to wait while I put on an extender.


 "Useful as a walkabout lens" 2010-04-02
By M. Henri De Feraudy (France)
I've had this lens a few years now as well as a few primes and the 80-200 F/2.8 AFS zoom.
The good:
It's rather lightweight compared to the set of lenses it replaces. But much heavier than a compact with a very powerful zoom.
The vibration reduction works quite well.
Distortion is low.
Flare is rather low.
Very sharp wide open from 80mm to about 200mm, pretty good to 300m.
The less good:
The aperture is not that wide, but heck, it's small.
At 400mm you really need to stop down to f/11 to get maximal sharpness and even then it's clearly not sharp as my 400mm prime.
The design seems a little dated as a recent Sony zoom of the same range is said to be noticeably sharper (but wont fit on Nikon cameras!).
The autofocus is rather slow.

Some people say the zoom is quite stiff. This is quite an advantage when you point it upwards, because this prevents creep.

So when I want to make poster sized pictures of some architectural detail I know about beforehand I bring my prime. When I'm on holiday and I want to have it light
I use this one.


 "OK, but slow autofocus" 2009-12-29
By J. Howard (Paso Robles, CA USA)
I tried this lens out for a few weeks. I was shooting it on a Nikon D300. I found the autofocus was too slow for my liking. The image quality was decent, but fairly soft wide open. The zoom on this thing is great, but the zoom is worthless if you can't get the autofocus to track fast enough for moving objects.

Anyway, if you're looking for a lens with good zoom capabilities and will be photographing mostly still objects, than this lens is great. If you plan to shoot sports with fast action, you will probably be disappointed.


 "Great lens, but starting to feel a little dated" 2009-12-05
By Busy Executive (Long Island, NY)
I wanted a lens over 200mm for my arsenal and unfortunately, if you stick with the Nikon brand, there aren't too many options. I chose the 80-400, but I have to say that it's the one Nikon lens purchase I've had the most trouble getting excited over. Not that it isn't a great product - it is - it's just that it seemed like a step back in time since this lens hasn't kept up with the features of Nikon's phenomenally good pro lenses throughout the rest of the product line. In the end, I felt like the choice was to "settle" for this product, or spend several times more money on (say) the excellent 200-400 zoom instead. Or, I suppose you could wait for the next upgrade, but I've already been waiting a few years with no result.

The lens itself is large and heavy, somewhat "thicker" than say, a 70-200 2.8 - but not by a huge amount. It feels balanced on any of Nikon's larger cameras, but it is quite a handful. Unlike some, I find the tripod collar adequate, although I understand many recommend the Kirk collar as an important upgrade. Honestly, I tend to hand-hold the lens more often than not, so I usually have the tripod collar removed altogether. I find it's large enough to get in the way of where I'd naturally want to put my hands. The other comment on construction quality is that it really looks like a "legacy" product. Not being an AFS focusing system, it sports that old "M/A" focus control, and it also still has a manual aperture selector. Which isn't to say that it's not a high quality lens - it is, it's just showing its age. Otherwise, the controls operate smoothly and it does feel to be built to last.

From an optical point of view, I found the lens to perform better than I expected. At both extremes (80 and 400), I notice photos are a little soft in the corners with the lens wide open, but if you use f/8 or smaller, results are uniformly sharp corner to corner (this is only really noticeable on an FX sensor...DX cameras are very good even wide open). Contrast and color are also good, and images generally have that "pop" you get from any top quality lens. I have the latest 70-200 2.8 lens, and at 200mm, I'd say that images from the 80-400 are nearly - but not quite - as good overall. The 80-400 is slightly less contrasty, making some shots appear a little "flat", and the 80-400 also seems slightly more prone to flare when pointed in the direction of a bright light source.

I find the VR system works well, and with the lens zoomed out to 400mm, I can usually get sharp results with shutter speeds in the vicinity of 1/100 second, maybe a little less.

As everyone else points out, the autofocus system is somewhat slow and noisy if you're used to AFS lenses. At longer focal lengths in darker spots, it also tends to hunt. I've learned to simply switch off the autofocus and use the manual controls in these situations.

Overall, I guess I'm happy with this lens, but this is one of those lenses that I'll be looking to upgrade as soon as Nikon comes out with an AFS version that's hopefully about a stop faster and not triple the price.






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