Tamron Auto Focus 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 Di LD Macro Zoom Lens with Built In Motor for Nikon Digital SLR (Model A17NII)

First, I should mention that I recently took a digital photography class with a dinky 7 year old point-and-shoot. All the while I was drooling over the capabilities and freedoms of the dSLR world. I am by no means an expert, but I have taken 35mm photography classes in the past as well. After recently getting a Nikon d3100, I wanted to get the reach of a zoom telephoto without emptying my bank account. I have to say that I was somewhat hesitant at first that a good lens could cost as little as $160, but I decided to take a chance. Both my father and grandfather swore by their extensive collections of Tamron lenses for 35mm professional photography. So, I'll get on with it:I just received the lens today and with just a few shots, I am completely amazed. It was packaged with plenty of airbags for safe shipping. The lens comes with a 6 year limited warranty, which pulled me away from the similar Sigma lens. Upon taking it out of the box, build quality seems to be solid. My only complaint about the lens is that the zoom is not quite a smooth as I had wanted. It is somewhat "sticky", especially out toward 300mm (that's it!). On my d3100, the lens dwarfs the camera (62mm diameter), but it is not as heavy as a I thought it might be at around 15 ounces. I was unsure how dark photos would come out indoors, being as that it is an f4.0-5.6. It goes without saying that you will definitely want the camera stabilized if you are shooting much more than 150mm, but 70-150mm shoots handheld nicely. I went outside to take a picture of the license plate on a car off in the distant parking lot and it came out great, even though it was a gloomy day. Again, when zoomed out much past 150, you are going to want your camera stabilized, no matter how many features are on the lens (i.e VR, IS etc.). The macro setting is a nice addition as well. I tricked my brother into looking up at the ceiling while I took a picture of his nose hairs haha! Needless to say, I deleted it, but not because it didn't come out nicely focused in! The camera has to be around 2-2.5 feet away from your subject to get it nicely focused at the low end of the macro zoom. Like others have noted, manual focus works best when working with this feature. When shooting regular zoom telephoto shots, the AF works just fine. It does take maybe just a little longer and is a little more noisy than the 15-55mm Nikon lens that came with my camera, but for a hobbyist/intermediate photographer like myself, it is nothing to complain about. The 18-70mm AF Nikon lens that came with my old 35mm camera was much noisier! All in all, first impressions lead me to say that this lens is an awesome deal.

I should start off by saying, I am a beginner photographer using a Nixon D3200. I've only used one other lens in my life, the one it came with, which is why I figured I better get a better one for distance shots. I'm not looking to be a professional, I really just enjoy the outdoors and want to be able to take pictures of birds & wildlife. I mostly bought this lens to use for photographing birds.I was really deterred by the price and nervous about the lack of image stabilization, being that I'm not very steady handed. I decided to give it a shot anyways.I am completely in awe. This lens perfectly fits my needs. I'm able to take pictures of birds in just about any lighting and weather, whether they are moving or not. The auto focus was a must for me and it works beautifully. It seems sturdy and durable and is very easy to use. I'm able to get beautiful close up shots of birds in nearby trees! Im not at all steady handed and all of my pictures have been without the use of a tripod, just by hand. Even if I'm fully focused in, I can still take good pictures without a tripod or propping my elbows on something, so that didn't turn out to be an issue for me at all. I've only had photographs with doubled tree branches in about 10 photos, out of about 200 since I got this lens. And really the photograph still came out really nice (it's actually below)- the branches were blurred in the background so you really couldn't even tell.Also, with about 3 out of about 200 pictures I have taken, I've seen a slight purple or green edge on the bird or tree branch. It's a rarity though.I'm really impressed. It's also much lighter than I expected it to be, so I'll be able to take it hiking no problem- and we go on long trails, hiking for up to 10 hours a day!I'm really impressed and I highly recommend this lens, especially for bird and wildlife enthusiasts. I do hope to one day get a lens that reaches further, but for now and with my current budget, this is perfect! You'll be able to get really good close up photos, some as close as even showing the details of their feathers, of birds in nearby trees. I can also get some pretty amazing long range photos with this as well.Totally worth it!The photos below were taken with this lens, with only minimal editing to the coloration and contrast of the photo. These birds were about 30-40 feet away in a nearby tree! They probably would have come out even better had I have used the hood that it comes with, but I keep forgetting to put it on.

Great Quality, Works well with NIKON D 810.

I bought this lens because I got a new camera which required an autofocus feature on the lens instead of the camera body and I got tired of all the zoom pictures I'd taken using manual focus coming out blurry.I am very happy with this lens. It focuses well and I don't really think it makes all that much noise, just a small "vrrrt" as the mechanism works. I think it gives very nice, crisp images and the macro setting works just fine. It may not be as close as some people would like for macro photography, but it isn't a "macro" lens specifically so I think it is a nice feature for a standard zoom lens.The one con I have with this is that sometimes it's hard to tell the lens what to zoom on. For example, if there's something in the background that you're trying to bring into focus, it might focus on something in the foreground first (I had a bit of that problem with the cattail picture I posted) and you have to move the camera around or play with the settings a little bit to get it just right. However, I've had that issue with other zoom lenses before, so I think that is more of a learning curve of zoom lenses in general than just this particular one.I am a more serious amateur photographer. I would like to be able to sell photos eventually, so I probably take them with a bit more care than other people, but I certainly don't have the budget for a super high end fancy lens. I think that for the price, this lens can't be beat if you are trying to up your game so to speak in the realm of digital photography.