Pardon me if that is sort of a strange question. Actually, I do not have the lens yet. I am in the market for a zoom lens for my D3400. Something in the neighborhood of 80-300mm would be what I want. I did not purchase the two lens "kit" when I purchased the camera as I figured for the $100 difference I would probably not get a very good telephoto lens. On the other hand the 18-55mm "kit" lens which came with the camera does a very good job within its range.
As I search for telephoto lenses I find several from Nikkor with similar specs and different prices. What I am not finding are model numbers which I can comparison shop. The lens which came with the camera has a description which reads like the title of British nobility: Nikon DX VR AF-P NIKKOR 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6G. I think I know what all of the letters mean, except for the G. It has a serial number but no model number marked on it. If I search for the entire "title" at various vendors I get multiple hits. I have this lens in hand and can figure out which listed item corresponds. As to the telephoto lens I am looking for... very confusion.
After all that rambling I guess I can boil down my question to this: If I find two Nikkor lenses which have all of the same letters and numbers in their title, can I be reasonably sure they are the same lens?
And a second question if I might... I know there are gray market cameras. Are there gray market lenses as well? I purchased a US warranty camera. Is there a great risk in a gray market lens? The one I am leaning towards is the "Nikon AF-P DX NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3G ED VR Lens". This lens goes for just under $400US at several reputable on-line retailers. A DuckDuckGo search for that description brought up a bunch of hits on evilbay for what appeared to be the same lens for less than 1/3 that price.
If these are gray market versions of the same lens... If I purchased one and it went bad I could purchase two more and still have a couple of bucks left over. On the other hand if they are counterfeit or a different model lens... very confusing.
If I should be looking beyond Nikkor, please feel free to tell me. I used a Vivitar 28-80 on my Nikon FG for 30 years and it never let me down.
TIA,
Ken
As I search for telephoto lenses I find several from Nikkor with similar specs and different prices. What I am not finding are model numbers which I can comparison shop. The lens which came with the camera has a description which reads like the title of British nobility: Nikon DX VR AF-P NIKKOR 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6G. I think I know what all of the letters mean, except for the G. It has a serial number but no model number marked on it. If I search for the entire "title" at various vendors I get multiple hits. I have this lens in hand and can figure out which listed item corresponds. As to the telephoto lens I am looking for... very confusion.
After all that rambling I guess I can boil down my question to this: If I find two Nikkor lenses which have all of the same letters and numbers in their title, can I be reasonably sure they are the same lens?
And a second question if I might... I know there are gray market cameras. Are there gray market lenses as well? I purchased a US warranty camera. Is there a great risk in a gray market lens? The one I am leaning towards is the "Nikon AF-P DX NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3G ED VR Lens". This lens goes for just under $400US at several reputable on-line retailers. A DuckDuckGo search for that description brought up a bunch of hits on evilbay for what appeared to be the same lens for less than 1/3 that price.
If these are gray market versions of the same lens... If I purchased one and it went bad I could purchase two more and still have a couple of bucks left over. On the other hand if they are counterfeit or a different model lens... very confusing.
If I should be looking beyond Nikkor, please feel free to tell me. I used a Vivitar 28-80 on my Nikon FG for 30 years and it never let me down.
TIA,
Ken