Nikon’s 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G for FX-format cameras (ie. full-frame) is designed as a lens for all seasons. It has a broad zoom range, from 28mm to 300mm, and built-in vibration reduction. It’s also compact and easily portable. And it is priced quite reasonably with an MSRP of $950. So it’s a very good option to have as an all-purpose, take-anywhere lens for travel photography or general-use photography.
Versatile 107x zoom lens with ED glass and VR II image stabilization
Optimized for edge to edge sharpness on both FX and DX-format
That convenience and price point come with compromises. With a maximum aperture of f/3.5 to f/5.6, depending on how much you have it zoomed in or out, it’s not an especially fast lens. And while the optical quality is good and perfectly suitable for a great many uses, it’s not up there with higher-end (and more expensive) pro lenses.
Here’s a collection of photos I’ve taken with this lens to provide some examples of how it performs under real-world shooting conditions. These go alongside a detailed hands-on review that I’ll be posting shortly. I’ll also be posting a side-by-side comparison with the Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD zoom lens.
These have been shot on either a Nikon D800 or D810 and processed in Lightroom. Some of the ones from the Arctic have had a little more processing applied to bring out the details in the ice, particularly by boosting local contrast, but others have had minimal processing done to them.
Sample Images Taken with a Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Zoom Lens
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 70mm and f/14 on a Nikon D800.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 250mm and f/5.6 on a Nikon D800. This is an occasion where the telephoto reach came in handy. This is our ship anchored in a small bay in Svalbard. We’d landed ashore and hiked up a hill. This shot was taken from up the hill and from quite a distance away.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 300mm and f/5.6 on a Nikon D810.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 52mm and f/5.6 on a Nikon D800.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 28mm and f/5.6 on a Nikon D800.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 28mm and f/5.6 on a Nikon D800.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 300mm and f/6.3 on a Nikon D810.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 135mm and f/5.6 on a Nikon D810.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 300mm and f/11 on a Nikon D810. Zoomed right into 300mm it’s quite sharp, but if you’re picky you can still see room for improvement with the detail in the buildings. This was a very clear day without any issues with haze. You can click on this one to open a full-resolution version if you’d like a closer look.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 28mm and f/11 on a Nikon D810. You can click on this one to open a full-resolution version if you’d like a closer look.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 300mm and f/7.1 on a Nikon D800. When you look closely at this walrus’s tusks and whiskers you can see two things: 1. it’s sharp, but not as tack sharp as some lenses, and 2. there’s some chromatic aberration (purple fringing) along the high-contrast edge of the tusks. You can click on this one to open a full-resolution version if you’d like a closer look.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 45mm and f/8.0 on a Nikon D810. More curved lines pretty clearly at the top of the frame. You can click on this one to open a full-resolution version if you’d like a closer look.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 300mm and f/5.6 on a Nikon D800. I was sitting quietly on the ground on the top of a cliff as these two Arctic foxes played next to me. The foreground is particularly blurred in this one because I was shooting low to the ground, and the background is quite a distance behind, the face of another ridge.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 300mm and f/5.6 on a Nikon D800.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 28mm and f/16 on a Nikon D810. The roof line shows some curving here. You can click on this one to open a full-resolution version if you’d like a closer look.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 32mm and f/5.6 on a Nikon D800.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 300mm and f/5.6 on a Nikon D800.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 135mm and f/10 on a Nikon D800.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 300mm and f/5.6 on a Nikon D800. This was shot low to the water (in another kayak) and I wanted to use a large aperture to soften the foreground.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 180mm and f/16 on a Nikon D810. You can click on this one to open a full-resolution version if you’d like a closer look.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 28mm and f/11 on a Nikon D810. You can click on this one to open a full-resolution version if you’d like a closer look.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 170mm and f/11 on a Nikon D800. This is the sun reflecting off some shallow wind-blown water next to the gravelly beach. The beach looks black because I deliberately underexposed to get that metallic look with the water.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 28mm and f/4.5 on a Nikon D800.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 300mm and f/6.3 on a Nikon D800.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 300mm and f/16 on a Nikon D810. You can click on this one to open a full-resolution version if you’d like a closer look.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 50mm and f/4.5 on a Nikon D810. You can see some definite curvature in the columns at left that isn’t there in real life. You can click on this one to open a full-resolution version if you’d like a closer look.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 190mm and f/5.6 on a Nikon D800.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 28mm and f/16 on a Nikon D810. You can click on this one to open a full-resolution version if you’d like a closer look.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 68mm and f/8.0 on a Nikon D800. You can see some clear curvature in the wood planks at the top and bottom from the lens distortation.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 210mm and f/5.6 on a Nikon D800.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 100mm and f/11 on a Nikon D810. You can click on this one to open a full-resolution version if you’d like a closer look.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 28mm and f/8.0 on a Nikon D800. This was a very bright scene shooting almost directly into the light. There’s a flare spot at left, but I suspect that was a smudge on the front of the lens from some salt water that had dried.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 300mm and f/5.6 on a Nikon D810. You can click on this one to open a full-resolution version if you’d like a closer look.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 300mm and f/5.6 on a Nikon D800.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 28mm and f/16 on a Nikon D810.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 28mm and f/4.5 on a Nikon D800.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 300mm and f/5.6 on a Nikon D810.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 52mm and f/4.5 on a Nikon D810. You can click on this one to open a full-resolution version if you’d like a closer look.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 55mm and f/9.0 on a Nikon D810.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 300mm and f/5.6 on a Nikon D810. It’s pretty sharp through most of the frame in this one, although it’s softer in the bottom corners. You can also see some definite curved lines. You can click on this one to open a full-resolution version if you’d like a closer look.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 28mm and f/5.6 on a Nikon D810. You can click on this one to open a full-resolution version if you’d like a closer look.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 300mm and f/5.6 on a Nikon D800.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 300mm and f/5.6 on a Nikon D810.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 28mm and f/3.5 on a Nikon D810. You can see curved lines (that should be straight) along both sides and the top in this shot. You can click on this one to open a full-resolution version if you’d like a closer look.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 40mm and f/8.0 on a Nikon D810. High-contrast edges like this can really bring out any chromatic aberration issues, but they’re not there to any practical degree. You can click on this one to open a full-resolution version if you’d like a closer look.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 300mm and f/8.0 on a Nikon D800.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 28mm and f/5.6 on a Nikon D810.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 28mm and f/11 on a Nikon D800.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 28mm and f/8.0 on a Nikon D800.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 28mm and f/8.0 on a Nikon D800.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 78mm and f/14 on a Nikon D800.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 300mm and f/16 on a Nikon D810.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 300mm and f/5.6 on a Nikon D800.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 28mm and f/11 on a Nikon D800. There lens flare here, even when pointing at the sun, is visible, but it’s well within what I’d call acceptable and normal range.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 92mm and f/5.3 on a Nikon D800. I did bump the contrast up a little in this one, which exaggerates the problem a bit, but you can clearly see the vignetting in the top corners.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 56mm and f/4.5 on a Nikon D800.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 300mm and f/8.0 on a Nikon D800. The VR came in handy here because we were floating in a kayak just off the shore with small chop and trying to make sure we kept a safe distance away. It’s feeding on a whale carcass that had washed up on the shore.
Photo taken with a Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens at 122mm and f/5.6 on a Nikon D800.
Zoom Range of the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Zoom Lens
Here are some practical examples of the zoom range, from fully zoomed out at 28mm to fully zoomed in to 300mm.
Price & Availability of the Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Zoom Lens
Images and product information from Amazon PA-API were last updated on 2023-09-27 at 13:09. Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon Site at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
David Coleman
I'm a professional freelance travel photographer based in Washington DC. Seven continents, up mountains, underwater, and a bunch of places in between. My images have appeared in numerous publications, and you can check out some of my travel photography here. More »
