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Best Nikon Telephoto Lens
Selecting the best lens for your camera can be quite a task. This is especially true when you are unaware of the latest models with the most advanced technologies.
Nikon is ranked as one of the top camera lens makers. The brand provides an extensive range of camera lenses, including some of the most popular and reliable telephoto lenses.
To help you select the best out of all, our photography experts decided to test and try the latest telephoto lenses from Nikon and ranked the top 5 best Nikon telephoto lenses in this article.
5 of the Best Nikon Telephoto Lenses
Check out our list of the 5 best Nikon telephoto lenses:
1 – Tamron SP 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di VC USD
The Tamron SP 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di VC USD is the best-budgeted telephoto lens for Nikon cameras in the market.
Apart from being affordable, the Di VC USD from Tamron features a faster, quieter ring-type ultrasonic autofocus along with an advanced optical stabilization system.
Although this lens is not weather-proof it can still withstand the rugged outdoors with a good quality body.
This telephoto lens provides an incredibly sharp and well-contrast image thanks to the LD (Low Dispersion) and XLD (Extra-Low Dispersion) features.
Unlike some of the other Tamron lenses, the SP 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di VC USD is made for use with DX and FX-format camera bodies.
Additionally, the lens’s conventional autofocus and aperture control systems make it easy to use with older-model DSLR cameras.
Features
- Mount – Nikon F
- Autofocus – Ring-type ultrasonic
- Minimum Focus Distance – 1.5 meters
- Filter Thread – 62 mm
- Weight – 765 grams
- Dimensions (W x L) – 82 mm x 143 mm
2 – Nikon AF-P 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E ED VR
Nikon’s AF-P 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E ED VR telephoto lens is an excellent performer which recently became more affordable.
It comes with an innovative ‘Pulse’ stepping motor autofocus system, which is amazingly fast and effective for silent operation.
The VR system is especially efficient as it features a switchable “Sports VR” mode and a 4.5-stop performance which makes it easier to track and erratically move objects through the viewfinder.
Overall, the lens body is robust and weather-proof to a large extent.
All in all, the Nikon AF-P 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6S ED VR telephoto lens ranks high on our list of the 5 best Nikon telephoto lenses owing to its high performance and ease of handling as well as greater image quality.
Currently, Nikon slashed the price for this model and made it more affordable.
Features
- Mount – Nikon F
- Autofocus – Stepping Motor
- Electromagnetic Diaphragm – Yes
- Minimum Focus Distance – 1.2 meters
- Filter Thread – 67 mm
- Weight – 680 grams
- Dimensions (W x L) – 84 mm x 146 mm
3 – Nikon Z DX 50-250mm f/4.5-6.3 VR
The Nikon Z DX 50-250mm f/4.5-6.3 VR telephoto lens is yet another excellent model from renowned camera-makers.
It comes in a dual-lens kit with the Z 16-50mm standard zoom lens included with it but is also sold separately. This telephoto lens from Nikon is extremely lightweight with the majority of plastic parts.
It comes equipped with the advanced “Pulse” stepping motor autofocus system, which is virtually silent and swift.
Additionally, the lens also features an electromagnetically controlled aperture diaphragm, which helps to keep the size and weight of the lens in the lower range.
Last but not least, the innovative 5-stop optical VR system enhances the sharpness and quality of the images remarkably with the Nikon Z DX 50-250mm f/4.5-6.3 VR telephoto lens.
Features
- Mount – Nikon Z DX
- Autofocus – Stepping Motor
- Electromagnetic Diaphragm – Yes
- Minimum Focus Distance – 0.5 – 1.0 meters
- Filter Thread – 62 mm
- Weight – 305 grams
- Dimensions (W x L) – 74 mm x 110 mm
4 – Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2
The Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2 telephoto lens is simply spectacular and comes at half the price of similar lenses.
It comes equipped with an excellent and quick autofocus system and triple-mode optical stabilizer, with the third mode being the same as Nikon’s “VR Sport” mode.
This mode ensures stabilizing the image only during exposure, thus making it easier to track moving objects.
This telephoto lens from Tamron also comes with a unique Vibration Compensation (VC) system with innovative 5-stop performance.
The quality of the lens barrel and the pictures it helps to capture are widely popular among the photographer’s community worldwide.
Features
- Mount – Nikon F
- Autofocus – Ring-type Ultrasonic
- Electromagnetic Diaphragm – Yes
- Minimum Focus Distance – 0.95 meters
- Filter Thread – 77 mm
- Weight – 1,485 grams
- Dimensions (W x L) – 88 mm x 194 mm
5 – Nikon Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S
The Nikon Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S is incredibly versatile and equally useful for sports, wildlife, weddings, events and landscape photography.
The top features of this lens include the high-end optical glass, which includes 2 aspherical lenses, 6 Extra-low Dispersion (ED) lenses along with a fluorite lens and a short-wave refractive lens.
The lens comes with swift dual-autofocus stepping motors and 5-stop optical stabilization.
Features
- Mount – Nikon Z FC
- Autofocus – Stepping Motor
- Electromagnetic Diaphragm – Yes
- Minimum Focus Distance – 0.5 – 1.0 meter
- Filter Thread – 77 mm
- Weight – 1,440 grams
- Dimensions (W x L) – 89 mm x 220 mm
Let’s hope this list of the 5 best Nikon telephoto lenses helps you select the best-suited zoom lens and ensure you always capture crystal-clear and extremely sharp high-quality images.
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