ALTHOUGH I’M STILL fed up from my efforts in trying to sort out my camera kit at the wider end of the zoom spectrum (even the damn alternative lens I ordered hasn’t arrived yet!), I am still rather interested in another new lens that Nikon announced back in August. Yes, I am a sucker for punishment.

While Nikon already lists two 70-300mm zooms in its range, a ‘D’ and a lower-specified ‘G’ product, the new AF-S VR 70-300 f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED, slated for an October release, features Nikon’s second-generation vibration reduction system. Some might say that Nikon should concentrate on producing lens that it released in 2005 and that are still generally unavailable, rather than ponce about announcing new zooms but I’m gonna focus on the positives here!

Nikon AF-S VR 70-300 f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED

I’ve heard good things about Nikon’s VR and I’ve also heard a lot of stupid things. For a railway photographer, some of the benefits are moot. It’s no use being able to shoot at 300mm at a shutter speed of 1/200 if you’re taking pictures of fast moving trains - no matter that the longer the zoom the slower the relative speed of the object you’re photographing! Although, obviously, for static and slow moving objects it could be a real boon.

So this purchase for me would be mainly about getting better glass. While the 70-300mm ‘D’ lens is an excellent product for the price, and well worth the extra few quid on top of the ‘G’ version, out-of-focus objects at the longer end of the zoom range tend to have an slightly unreal quality that has always bugged me. It never seemed to be so bad when I was shooting slide film on my F70 or F90S but on digital it just seems more obvious now.

I would hope, with the 70-300mm VR having the benefit of over half a decade or more of new technology to back it up, that this lens would see a real improvement in this area. I’m looking forward to trying one out myself and making the comparison when it is released in a few weeks time. It could be time for an upgrade.