Nikon AF-P 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E ED VR

Nikon has made some excellent 70-300mm lenses, but this one is the cream of the crop

Price: £629/$597

By way of context, the previous

Nikon AF-S 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED VR was one of our all-time favourite budget telephoto zooms. It packed ring-type ultrasonic autofocus and effective VR (Vibration Reduction) into a robust casing, delivering good handling and performance. Nikon has since launched a few less impressive DX (APS-C format) budget telephoto zooms, and the FX (full-frame) lens has now been superseded by the new AF-P 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E ED VR that we have on test here. So what’s new?

The optical path has been upgraded with the aim of delivering better sharpness throughout the zoom range, despite featuring just one ED (Extra-low Dispersion) element, whereas the old lens had two. The new model features additional weather seals, and is slightly lighter in weight. A new

‘Pulse’ (stepping motor) autofocus system delivers incredible speed and is almost silent in operation, and the aperture is electromagnetically controlled. As featured in Canon-fit lenses, this tends to enable exposures to be more accurate and consistent when shooting in high-speed continuous drive mode. A downside of both the AF-P autofocus system and ‘E’ aperture control is that they’re incompatible with some of the older Nikon DSLRs. On the upside, there are no incompatibility issues when using the lens on any of Nikon’s Z-system mirrorless cameras.

VR has also been upgraded to a 4.5-stop system, compared with the 2.5 stops of the older lens. The ‘Active’ mode of the old stabiliser has been replaced with a ‘Sport’ mode. This applies stabilisation only during the actual exposure, making it easier to track erratically moving objects in the viewfinder and avoids any slowing of fast continuous drivexrates. Build quality and handling are excellent, while overall performance and image quality are superb. All things considered, this Nikon 70-300mm is the pick of the bunch from this test group.

WEATHER-SEALS Unlike the Canon lens on test, the Nikon features a weatherseal gasket on its mounting plate, and further weather seals on the joints of the barrel DUAL AUTOFOCUS MODES As well as offering fully manual focusing, the focus mode switch gives access to two autofocus modes, which priority to autofocus or manual override VR MODE As with autofocus, VR comes with a three-way switch, enabling quick selection of Normal and Sport modes, or for turning off stabilisation altogether

Lab results based on close-range test charts don’t stand out at long zoom settings, but the Nikon is sharp in real-world tests at more typical distances