Autofocus versions of 300mm f/2.8 apochromatic lenses have been around for 25 years now, and as each major camera system re-invented itself for AF, this was one of the first designs to migrate from manual focus with complete success. Apart from rare earth glass elements that have changed colour, or crystal fluorite, which is fragile and soft, there are few reasons the basic design of a 300mm f/2.8 for the 35mm format has ever needed to change.

But Carl Zeiss offers some clues as to why such lenses get revised frequently. The large elements made using special glass types are very hard to replicate exactly, so when a Zeiss lens in the fast long tele class is planned, the final shape of the elements and their positioning in the barrel is only decided after the glass batches have been produced, and the lens blanks tested for their exact properties. If Zeiss makes 100 lenses in a batch, it keeps 10 sets of lens elements in reserve for future repairs to that batch. Once those are gone, a repair involving partial replacement of the glass becomes impossible.

Although I have never been able to find out the batch sizes for all of the major Japanese manufacturers, quantities in the hundreds rather than thousands apply to many production runs of fast long teles. There is a useful website (www.photosynthesis.co.nz) that uses serial numbers and dates to list the known production runs of all Nikon lenses. Almost 7000 of the last Nikkor 300mm f/2.8 IF-ED VR were made between 2006 and 2009, and since 1972, the first Nikon design using an Extra-low Dispersion (ED) glass, there have been 13 redesigns, nine of these AF models.

So, when considering the latest one for review, the first thought was, “If they haven’t got it right by now…”

What has been revised, apart from those subtle changes based on glass batches and fine-tuning the production run, is the vibration reduction (VR) system, which is upgraded to VRII, and the autofocus control system, which acquires an additional mode called A/M in addition to the previous M/A and M.

VRII benefits
Where standard VR has offered a three-stop safety net to compensate for shake when using a lens handheld, VRII promises four. It also has the expected Normal and Active modes; Normal being able to detect and allow for action panning, while Active responds better in rougher conditions, such as shooting off-road from a moving vehicle.

I found it difficult to contrive a situation where I felt comfortable holding this very large lens while being jolted around, and from the start I fixed a second camera strap to the lens lugs and didn’t attempt to support it from the Nikon D3 body I used, though it felt safe enough during handling.

Also, looking at the lens from a sports and action angle, there would rarely be any subject that you didn’t want to capture at shake-free speeds, aided by the superb high ISO performance of the latest cameras. I simply set the ISO to 800 for shots in sunny conditions and used shutter priority at 1/1000s. Deliberate tests of VRII proved that it’s obviously harder to handhold almost three kilos of lens than something much lighter. I guess that makes VR more important. To a point, there are many subjects you can capture at around 1/125s, and to handhold this lens at that speed definitely requires all the compensation offered by VRII.

But the main benefit of VRII (or indeed VR) has to be the stabilisation of the viewed image, and of the image as seen by the AF sensors. I use a camera system with sensor-based stabilisation and, while this is effective enough, shaky long telephoto composition slows down autofocus as the AF sensors are not seeing a stable image. Turning on VRII improves AF performance, subjectively judged in a range of conditions.

AF functions
The 300mm f/2.8 has, like its predecessor, three ED elements and two surfaces that are Nano Crystal coated for maximum contrast. It also has a non-dioptric meniscus front protector, a sacrificial glass that is easily replaced if scratched or damaged. The curved design means that it does not create reflections or flare.

Such high contrast, combined with the very deep carbon fibre lens hood, gives the D3’s AF plenty to work with. I found it difficult to set the optimum AF parameters for the lens; it is not particularly fast to focus, and users of non AF-S screw driven lenses may even think the silent ultrasonic motor is slower.

Using long delay for detecting new focus targets did keep it tracking moving subjects well without getting distracted, but tended to miss recomposed shots – as when swinging the camera to a different group of soccer players, following the ball. Using short delay, or turning off this function entirely, produced the predictable variation in target selection with complex action situations.

Where the Nikon 300mm scores is in its override ability. The new A/M setting is Autofocus with Manual Override, but you have to be pretty deliberate to get the manual focus to take over. Just lightly touching the focus ring won’t knock you off an autofocused setting. I found this very useful when switching grip from horizontal to vertical shots; it’s natural to support the lens by the large focusing barrel. When you release your grip (and take your finger off the shutter) to grab the camera in vertical mode, you can use the focus ring like a rotating collar, without any effect on focus.

If you keep your grip on the camera and move quickly to shoot vertical without shifting your hand to the vertical release, doing the same in M/A mode (the only choice on the previous lens) was almost guaranteed to override the focus. Now it is much less likely to do so when set to A/M.

The other form of override is Focus Memory. There are four buttons positioned round the front of the lens, just ahead of the focusing ring where your grip is most comfortable. You can get to one of these with your thumb or a finger; it’s easy enough to find your own way to hold the lens and have immediate access to a button. Pressing a button on the lens and holding it can memorise a focus point thus acquired. So, you can memorise your focus on the crease or the goal or another key point. A switch on the lens assigns the buttons to AF-Lock, Memory Recall, of AF-On (acquire focus). Set it to Memory Recall after recording a focus point, and pressing the lens button again will instantly refocus the lens on that point.

To be complete, this focus point is remembered by the lens itself, not the camera. It is stored in non-volative memory, so you can remove the 300mm for a while, put it back on and it will still have the same focus point memorised.

I had a limited time to use the Nikkor and I can only compare it to learning to play a musical instrument – “muscle memory” is the term used by musicians. Your hand and fingers get used to the position of controls, to the point that actions become something the hand appears to do on its own without the brain getting in the way. My brain was still getting in the way, but muscle memory will quickly take over if you use it all the time. It’s a brilliant piece of design that solves a problem. It does not have to be sports – it could be news. You know the politician will walk out of that door, but there’s lots happening with the police and the crowd, so you memorise the focus, and get on with other shots. The lens would probably have refocused correctly anyway, but a button press makes absolutely sure.

Results
I chose two different situations to test how the lens worked on a full-frame body. A local football match was photographed in the rain on a dull day, and a dog show in spring sunshine. Both proved difficult to cover well for someone used to relying on a 70-200mm f/2.8 for this type of subject. The restrictions of a fixed 300mm meant moving to new viewpoints, often with the risk of people getting between the camera and subject. Sometimes it meant simply not being able to get the shot at all.

The new lens focuses to 2.3m versus 2.2m of the previous VR design, which is also 30g lighter. It has a very slightly larger close-up image scale, 0.16× instead of 0.156×, despite the extra working distance, and this reflects changes to the internal focusing configuration. Technically, it retains its true focal length slightly more than the previous one did. With this comes (as with the 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII) a flatter field at close distances and better edge-to-edge sharpness at wider apertures.

However, the difference is barely discernible, and for the extra £1000 that a VRII model costs compared to a VRI, you may think that £3900 or so for an end-of-line bargain compares well with £4900 for the replacement.

During shooting, I often felt the camera had missed focus and then found the shot was captured perfectly. Only in two or three shots out of a hundred was there a case of complete misfocus. I used both Focus+Release and Focus priority with AF-C and continuous high-speed shooting. Selecting Release priority would have lost too many shots for these subjects; it’s fine if you are following a car or a horse round a track from a distance, but not if you are dealing with unpredictable movement and sudden changes of distance.

Exposure was very consistent with the D3. The muddy wet football match pictured overleaf didn’t yield many keepers before thunder announced a heavy downpour, which the lens survived well enough given a towelling back at base. The dog show, also on the previous page, had almost as much action as owners trotted their dogs round the judging ring, a square circuit meaning that tracking any one dog resulted in someone else getting in front moving in the opposite direction.

I’d rather use a D3× (24 megapixels) or a D300s (12 megapixels in DX format) with a 70-200mm zoom than a full frame D3 (12 megapixels) with the 300mm and the restraints of size, weight, fixed focal length and focusing range. Pixel for pixel, the D300s at 200mm is a dead match for the D3 at 300mm.

But those who want a 300mm f/2.8 know why they want it.

A lot may depend on how well this lens performs with the new generation of Nikon teleconverters, something I wasn’t able to check out. A 300mm f/2.8 that turns into a stabilised 420mm f/4 or 600 f/5.6 has many more uses.

200-400mm alternative
With more than 43,000 AF 300mm f/2.8 Nikkors of one vintage or another in circulation, those who don’t need close focusing, VR or electronic focus and aperture control can enjoy a fast 300mm for a fraction of the cost of this new lens. Those who do need all this will be putting more older lenses on the market as they trade up.

The fixed focal length puts the fast 300mm at a disadvantage compared to the 200-400mm f/4 G ED from Nikon, which has just been updated to VRII with Nano Crystal coating and the new A/M Focus mode. It weighs more, it’s physically longer, it has more than double the number of elements, but focuses to 2m (1.95m manual), has similar Focus Memory and button functions. At well over £6000 it may be outside your budget unless you’re off to South Africa armed with passes for the World Cup.

The 200-400mm has been designed to be sharp wide open, and f/4 is probably fast enough given today’s super-high ISO bodies. AF-S gains no extra speed or accuracy from an f/2.8 lens, over an f/4, on the Nikon focusing module; it’s already performing optimally at f/4.

So, before replacing your ageing 300mm f/2.8 with exactly the same thing in the latest VRII flavour, consider the cost and benefits of the new VRII 200-400mm. You might even spot a mark one version for a bargain price.