So I've got my hands on a 55-300mm lens which I've heard nothing but good about! Having used it for a little while now, I've a bit of an issue with it; until just under focal lengths of 200mm it performs absolutely beautifully and I couldn't really ask for much more. But beyond that, it's... really nasty, honestly. Neither auto focus nor manual focus is able to produce an image that isn't pretty horribly blurred. I've looked around and seen that people suggest trying taking pictures in bright light with a very fast shutter speeds and tried that, but no progress made at all. The lens just seems to immediately go out of focus at higher focal lengths and it's really frustrating me. I'm not the best photographer ever but I feel like I should be able to at least take a picture with this thing that isn't really blurry. Any advice? I assume I'm doing something wrong given how happy people are with these lenses but is it possible that mine is simply defective?
Nikkor 55-300mm trouble: me or the lens?
- Thread starter Aylikan
- Start date
RockyNH_RIP
Senior Member
Anything is possible... suggest doing what AC016 stated...
My initial guess would be it is just blur from handholding.. Is VR on or off on the lens??? Have you tried one on a tripod? VR should be on for hand held and off for tripod..
I have the same lens and get excellent sharp images.. it does "hunt" sometimes to find focus but when it locks it it is good.
Pat in NH
My initial guess would be it is just blur from handholding.. Is VR on or off on the lens??? Have you tried one on a tripod? VR should be on for hand held and off for tripod..
I have the same lens and get excellent sharp images.. it does "hunt" sometimes to find focus but when it locks it it is good.
Pat in NH
If you're hand holding the camera with that lens, make sure, as Pat said, that VR is ON, and make sure you're using a higher shutter speed, equal to or greater than the focal length of the lens; eg: 300mm = 1/320th of a second, 50mm = 1/60th of a second, etc. As a rule of thumb, the longer the focal length, the faster the shutter speed to compensate for camera shake. When using a tripod, turn VR OFF. It's not needed when the camera is stable and not moving.