I forgot to mention I ordered the Nikon AFS 300mm f/4 lense back in August that has been wonderful to shoot with. I was a little worried about this lense because I wanted something I could hand hold and not have to use a tripod. Packing around and using a tripod in some parts of Japan is a little difficult, so I prefer to shoot hand held as much as possible. Thus with the 300mm, I was wondering if I could get away without the VR and keep my hands steady. After using this lense several times on the Street, I can definitely put to rest any doubts. The 300mm f/4 performs beautifully hand held in my opinion. Although the keeper rate is slightly lower than my other lenses, this is not an issue when shooting 2-3 frames per second. I always get at least one frame in perfect quality and in focus to suit my taste just fine. It’s also amazing just how many places around you are available to rest the lense on if necessary so you can shoot in a more steady fashion if desired. The lense I also find is a little lighter and smaller than the 70-200 VR zoom with the built-in hood twisted back of course, but when fully extended, it could be about the same. Still though, I find myself able to conceal the lense a little easier than the legendary 70-200 VR.

In addition to the lense, I also bought the RSS ( Really Right Stuff ) lense collar along the the RSS lense foot that also fits the 70-200 VR lense. The build and quality is awesome with the RSS foot and collar combo. It fits as it should nicely on my tripod very sturdy as advertised. I have no idea if the stock collar is any good or not though, I just bought the RSS version because it was on back order for a long time and felt I might as well get it while I had the chance. I’m glad I did though because I now don’t have to worry at all about any play. The Nikon 300mm f/4 is a lense to have if you can’t or don’t want to fork over the large sum of cash for the Nikon 300mm VR f/2.8 lense. I’ve heard that one is a little bigger and heavier as well, so perhaps the 300mm f/4 is all I will ever really need. With that said, if I find a used f/2.8 version I may pick one up, but we’ll see. For now the 300mm f/4 with the TCs offer all the range I really need right now on the street, or at any sort of event I attend. Like the recently acquired Nikon AF 180mm f/2.8D the Nikon AF-S 300mm f/4 is a real quality and very fun lense to shoot with.

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