Summaries (click each for fuill reviews)
1964-1969: 300mm f/4.5 NIKKOR-P
Nikon's first 300mm SLR lens was the f/4.5 NIKKOR-P.
It had 5 elements (P = Penta = 5) and had very strong lateral color fringes, visible even on 35mm film.
1969-1998: 300mm f/4.5 NIKKOR-H to AI-s
Nikon updated the design to six elements in the 300mm f/4.5 NIKKOR-H (H = Hexa = 6), which greatly improved the optics.
Coatings vary somewhat by era; multicoating came along in the 1970s.
Nikon made many different mechanical versions of this lens from 1969 through 1998 and they all share the same very good optics.
Its optics are far superior to to previous NIKKOR-P.
1977-1979: 300mm f/4.5 NIKKOR-ED
The 300mm f/4.5 ED added ED glass for supposed reduction in secondary chromatic aberration, but since the earlier lenses were so good, it doesn't make that much of an improvement.
Thus this lens wasn't very popular; it cost more than the earlier version but didn't do much different.
1978-1999: 300mm f/4.5 NIKKOR- ED-IF
The 3 300mm f/4.5 ED-IF is a completely different lens form the previous models.
The ED-IF adds internal focussing, and in doing that, made the lens the smallest and lightest 300mm yet, and let it focus much closer.
Better, instead of the whole lens having to rack in and out to focus, all you do is flick a small focus ring.
1987-2000: 300mm f/4 AF
The 300mm f/4 AF (1987 - 2000) has even better optics, and adds autofocus.
It is built like a tank, and has slow autofocus speed to match. You have to move two switches to get from auto to manual focus.
2000-present: 300mm f/4 AF-S
The 300mm f/4 AF-S adds ultra fast autofocus with instant manual focus override.
2015-present: 300mm f/4 PF VR
The 300mm f/4 PF uses a Fresnel element for less weight. It's the same idea as Canon's DO lenses, which also use Fresnel elements.
Fresnel elements have been used for hundreds of years in lighthouse condensers.
It's also Nikon's first 300mm f/4 or f/4.5 lens with Vibration Reduction.
This is the smallest 300mm ever, and it weighs only half as much as the others!
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