Cosina 70-210mm f/4.5-5.6 MC AF Wide Angle Telephoto Lens for Nikon SLR

I read the other reviews here and was willing to plop down my 40$ for a lens that one reviewer with a d40 said did not autofocus. SURPRISE! I can assure you that with the d70 it DOES! Furthermore the glass is good , even excellent for the price. It's very light too. Personally I think its easier to tote around than some of the heavier nikon lenses. For this price I felt comfortable enough for my seven year old to trudge down the beach and take whatever pictures she wanted. I am going to look for more of these Cosina lenses they're great.

How can it not be though, eh?

I wanted a telephoto lens for the main purpose of taking pictures of my kids' soccer games. It didn't work too well for that.

As another reviewer noted, there is purple haloing at long distances, so the white shirts were notably purple along the edges in some shots. Also, the lack of AF on the d40 and d40x makes it nearly impossible to get action shots. I couldn't zoom, focus and shoot in time.

However, I got some excellent shots where there was less action and got some stellar action shots that turned out blurry - not such a loss because now I know I can take the shots and just need an AF lens. I wasn't sure if it was worth the money before, but now I do.

I think if you are using this for something other than sports, you are fine. It did take some really nice pictures. It is definitely worth the $40 for practice and knowing if it is enough zoom, too much zoom or just right if you decide to upgrade later.

I'm a point-and-shooter who is not crazy about spending a fortune on lenses for my Nikon D40x. I use the Nikon dSLR mostly for set-up shots and rely on my ultra zoom P&S cameras (Canon S2, Kodak Z650, and Olympus C740) for wildlife, nature, and sports shooting. So, the price for the Cosina 70-210mm lens was just too tempting for me to resist.

My expectations were low when I bought this lens in June 2008 ... but for the price, I figured I'd be happy if it just got me a little extra zoom beyond the kit lens and my 28-135mm Nikor lens. Wow, I was pleasantly surprised by this bargain lens! No, the image quality is not quite that of Nikon lenses -- at $40, how could it be? -- but this lens has far exceeded my expectations.

I've been using it now for 4 months, and I've been extemely happy with it. There are, of course, a few downsides ... and this is not a lens for anyone who has ambtions of becoming a pro, but it is a GREAT starter lens for those like me who are either on a tight budget or just getting their feet wet in realms of d-SLRs.

Pro:
1) the price!
2) the focal range -- if you're using 10mp camera, you can pretty much take shots at any range on this lens and crop as desired. Surprisingly, there's minimal distortion, even at the long end of the zoom, and very little barreling -- and to be honest, I see more viginetting in my Nikon lenses than in the Cosina lens.
3) aperature ring is easy to adjust if using it on a camera that supports auto or priority settings (the D40x does not).
4) fast focusing in good light, and acceptable in mid- to low-light. Metering has been very accurate.
5) IMAGE QUALITY! By far, it's still better than my p&s cameras, even if it's not on par with the Nikon lenses. In good lighting, noise is non-existent, very little if any artifacts or CA, mild to minimal fringing in low-light or low-contrast shots. I think most d-SLR beginners will be thrilled with the image quality of this lens.
6) silly, but possibly important to some -- it comes with a nice hood and soft pouch.

Cons:
1) some purple haloing can be seen when images are viewed at 100% res. It's most evident on whites and highlights, particularly at the long end of the zoom, when there's sharp contrast between the subject and the background. This should not be a deal-breaker to casual and amateur photographers who will mostly be sharing their photos on-line or printing them on 4x6 or 5x7 prints. It's really only a problem if you will doing tight cropping or printing the images larger than 8x10.
2) any mild color fringing that I've noticed usually appears when the lighting is not metered properly (operator error, not lens fault), or the contrast is sketchy. This is true of my Nikon lenses as well, but it is a bit more noticable in low-light images from the Cosina lens.
3) no image stablization ... uh, not at this price. If you'll be shooting mostly hand-held, you'll need to brace the camera and lens pretty steadily for long zoom shots, and use a high ISO and fast shutter speed. All of the sample photos I've posted taken this lens were hand-held ... no tripod, but I had bright sunlight and shot at very fast shutter speeds. If you're likely to use a tripod, a monopod or beanbag, this is a non-issue.
4) lens cap ... my biggest complaint about this lens is the cap, lol! It's kind of flimsy and doesn't alway catch properly. The hood and cap assembly is the craziest thing I've ever seen. On my Nikon lenses, I can put the cap on (and it stays on!) and then invert and lock the hood over the lens barrel. On the Cosina lens, you must place and lock the hood first, and only then will the cap stay on properly. Kind of a silly gripe because we're only talking about a $40 piece of glass, but I'm sort of fussy about protecting my lens glass even if it is cheap.
5) Nikon D40x users ... you cannot use auto or priority settings with this lens. It will only work using manual settings and manual focus. For me, this was not a problem as I prefer manual focus to auto focus 99% of the time. But I admit, there have been a few rare occasions when I wished auto options were available to me -- usually when the lighting or a moving subject is shifting more quickly than I can adjust the settings. Again, for me this is not a major kerfluffle ... but if you prefer to use auto settings or tend to rely on auto focusing, this is not the lens for you -- although it can be a good learning aid if you wish to become more comfortable working in manual modes.

Summary: This Cosina lens is an unbeatable bargain. It packs good zoom range with nice image quality at a ridiculously affordable price. In the 4 months that I have been using this lens, I've been delighted with it. I will eventually go for a "good" 70-300mm lens with IS and auto mode options, but in the interim this lens serves all my needs. Using this lens helped me to recognize and rank what features are "must haves" and which are negligible to me before spending $800-$900 that might not have been what I really needed or wanted. So as investment, this lens has already saved me money and given me a lot of photos that I'm very happy with.

If you decide to give it a try, I hope you'll be as impressed with it as I have been.

This is my first lense other than my 18-55mm lens, and I'm writing this review while I move on and buy a better lense. For the money, this is a great lens. Good for beginners but bad if your looking for an excellent 210mm lens. It is a push and pull lense for zooming in and out, and is very heavy and awkward to carry. But for $50, you can't beat the price. IT'S DONE ITS JOB VERY WELL!

I think this is great lens for the money....buy it! It's only 40 bucks!! Seems to be of better quality than regular Nikon lenses. MADE with pride!! Buy it!!