What to look for…

Zoom range, aperture, autofocus and stabilization are just some of the factors to consider

Zoom range

A 70-300mm lens gives the same ‘effective’ reach on a DX format camera as using a 450mm super-telephoto lens on an FX body.

Stabilization

Especially on lenses that combine an f/5.6 or f/6.3 aperture rating with a long telephoto focal length, optical stabilization really helps for capturing sharp shots.

Electromagnetic diaphragm

Increasingly used in third-party lenses as well as genuine Nikon optics, these enable greater accuracy and consistency in rapid continuous shooting.

Aperture rating

A 70-200mm lens with an f/2.8 aperture rating will be two full f/stops faster than most 70-300mm lenses throughout the longer section of their zoom range.

Macro facility

Some older designs of telephoto zoom boast a ‘macro’ facility, but the maximum magnification factor will be 0.5x or less, rather than full 1.0x magnification of a dedicated macro.

DX vs FX

Most of these telephoto zooms are designed for full-frame (FX format) Nikon DSLRs, so they will work perfectly well on a smaller format DX Nikon. Some are specifically for DX format cameras only, however, so while these are fine if you have a DX Nikon, they will only work on full-frame Nikons in ‘crop’ mode.