VR is all well and good, but how does well does this lens perform its main task, namely delivering sharp, distortion-free images? It is a "DX" lens, meaning it has an APS-C size image circle, and so isn't compatible with Nikon's full-frame film cameras; this helps the price somewhat. Like many inexpensive zooms, it's sharper at shorter focal lengths than at long, the worst blur performance occurring at mm in our DxO tests.
But even its worst isn't all that bad, the softest point coming in at under three blur units. That's a blur that's easily noticeable when compared against the best lenses we've tested, but is as good as that of many lenses likely to be considered by even relatively well-heeled amateur shooters.
The mm VR's blur characteristics are also unusually uniform across the frame, with much less variation from center to edges than we're accustomed to seeing, particularly in this price range.
Sharpness improves somewhat as you stop down, but images never get truly crisp. At the risk of sounding like broken record though, the mm VR's image quality does exceed expectations for its market segment.
Chromatic Aberration The mm VR's chromatic aberration was also something of a pleasant surprise. It begins on the low side of moderate at 55mm, drops to truly low levels through the middle of its focal length range, and then rises to the high side of moderate at mm.
At mm, average CA remains fairly low as you stop down, but maximum CA increases, meaning you'll see more CA in the corners and edges, and less in the center as you close the aperture. Across the entire range though, CA is better than that of many more expensive lenses, again drawing attention to the excellent value offered by this lens. Shading "Vignetting" I guess it was inevitable that something had to give in the design of the mm VR, and it turned out to be shading.
These are much higher levels of shading than we're accustomed to seeing in the lenses we test, but it's worth noting that shading isn't too hard to correct in recent versions of Photoshop, so a solution at least exists.
Even if the software package involved costs more than twice as much as the lens in question. Distortion While the mm VR's shading performance was well below average, geometric distortion is in line with other lenses sharing its focal length range.
It starts at about 0. That's a noticeable amount of pincushion, but not more than we've seen in many other lenses we've tested in the past. And again, recent versions of Photoshop make it fairly easy to correct even significant amounts of geometric distortion.
This means it will work with the D40 and D40x, or any future Nikon bodies lacking an internal AF motor. AF operation isn't blazingly fast, but isn't bad either, it taking roughly a second for the lens to slew from closest focus to infinity. As is the case with many modern AF lenses though, the price for this fairly fast AF performance is a relatively limited amount of travel on the manual focus ring, making manual focus a bit touchy.
Macro Macro performance is fairly typical for a non-macro lens, with a minimum coverage area of 97mm at a lens-subject distance of 0.
Build Quality and Handling Build quality is better than we'd normally expect from a "budget" lens, with smooth operation of both the manual focus and zoom rings, and no play between lens components.
This makes the lens well-suited for use with polarizers, graduated neutral density filters, or other front-element accessories sensitive to rotation. The lens isn't an internal-zoom design though, as the barrel extends about 37mm beyond its minimum length as you zoom from wide to tele.
While we did find this lens a little tweaky to focus manually, it was otherwise a very nice-handling optic. Operation was quite smooth, and while it has a largely plastic construction, its feel was quite nice and relatively solid. The zoom ring operated smoothly, but took enough force that we were surprised to find the lens prone to zoom creep, if only slightly. That is, if you hang a camera with the mm VR attached around your neck, the lens will maintain its zoom setting fairly well as long as it isn't jiggled too much.
Vibration will cause it to creep to more telephoto settings over time though, so you'll likely want to make use of the zoom lock when carrying it for extended periods. While fairly solid-feeling, the all-plastic construction makes the mm VR light enough that it balanced very nicely on our D test body and isn't too unwieldy, even on smaller bodies like the D40 and D40x.
Comparison with all possible options would thus be a rather tedious process, so we'll restrict our discussion here to a subset of the alternatives that we've tested. It's less expensive and does OK for its price, but for the slight increase in price in the VR version you get image stabilization, significantly better sharpness, as well as a noticeable reduction in chromatic aberration and distortion. Optically, the mm is a bit more solid; sharper at the same focal lengths and apertures, as well as exhibiting less chromatic aberration, distortion and vignetting.
That said, it is nowhere as versatile as the mm, which covers the entire range from wide to telephoto, which accounts for and perhaps excuses some of its optical shortcomings.
Obviously these are different beasts, with the Sigma being optimized to handle both the wide and tele ends of the focal-length spectrum. Chromatic aberration and distortion are better controlled on the Nikon, while Sigma does well in controlling vignetting. Not surprisingly, chromatic aberration is better controlled on the Nikon, vignetting is better on the Tamron, and distortion is similar between the two lenses. If we haven't said it enough through this review, lenses that used to cost this much didn't have much to offer other than the savings in the wallet.
The Nikon mm VR isn't a perfect lens - there are some obvious issues with vignetting, and its focus mechanism is a bit of a step backwards from even slightly more expensive AF-S models.
However, it's sharper than most alternatives, controls chromatic aberration well, and distortion isn't a real issue. Paired with Nikon's basic mm kit lens, you would have a full range of focal lengths in two lenses, for half the overall price of the Nikon mm super-zoom. With a real improvement in optical characteristics from its predecessor design and the addition of VR image stabilization technology, you can't do much better for the price.
Sample Photos! Beginning in July , we now provide sample photos of two laboratory test targets to help in our readers' evaluation of the lenses we test. The VFA target should give you a good idea of sharpness in the center and corners, as well as some idea of the extent of barrel or pincushion distortion and chromatic aberration, while the Still Life subject may help in judging contrast and color. We shoot both images using the default JPEG settings and manual white balance of our test bodies, so the images should be quite consistent from lens to lens.
For the "VFA" target the viewfinder accuracy target from Imaging Resource , we also provide sample crops from the center and upper-left corner of each shot, so you can quickly get a sense of relative sharpness, without having to download and inspect the full-res images.
To avoid space limitations with the layout of our review pages, indexes to the test shots launch in separate windows. To see the sample shots from this lens captured with this lens on our test body, just click on either of the thumbnails below, and scroll as needed in the window that appears. Still Life shot. VFA target. A solid performer that punches above its price point I own the Tamron VC, which has better IQ and markedly better image stabilization, but at the price of heft.
When I want a "light kit" and portability is paramount, this lens shines. Not one of Nikon's better VR systems, be advised.
This lens is a real bargain. It's as sharp as lenses several times as expensive and is so lightweight that it's easy to carry all day on a small camera like a Nikon D The results are much better than expected: sharp, good contrast, fairly quick focus even full out. Decent performance for an entry level lens Silent focusing Collapsible design Lightweight Compact Quick focusing.
Seems quite expensive compared to current equivalents Performance isn't bad, but certainly not worth paying a premium for. Visit our Competitions Forum, where you'll find our monthly competition and other external competitions to enter.
Search for all the latest photography gear and services in our dedicated photography directories. Magezine Publishing Top. Login Join for Free. What is Plus Membership? Create a free account to like this page. MTF 55mm. MTF mm. How to read our charts The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges.
Averaging them out gives the red weighted column. The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution. The taller the column, the better the lens performance. For this review, the lens was tested on a Nikon D using Imatest. CA 55mm. CA mm. How to read our charts Chromatic aberration is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture.
It can be cured in software. Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more. Previous Next. Other articles you might find interesting New Samyang AF 50mm F1. This one turned up at a good price, so I decided to buy one to use with my little D as a knockabout companion to the My first task was to compare it with my VR. So I took identical shots on the D and D, at 55mm, mm and mm, with and without a Kenko 1.
If there's a resolution difference in any identical pair, between the VR II and VR, can't readily see it. I'd say that resolution on both cameras at all overlapping focal lengths, with and without TC, is virtually identical. The good news is that this lens has much faster autofocus than the , and somewhat better VR.
They aren't astonishing crisp, but they're completely acceptable, and that's a slow hold. More good news relates to use of the lens with the Kenko 1. It works great. But then the resolution of the drops off fairly rapidly above about mm. I don't use it above about Another nice feature is that the lens collapses. This means that I can walk around with the D and this one or the on the camera, with the other in my pocket. The bad news is that this lens is so light, especially on the little D, that it's hard to hold steady, especially in a breeze.
So I wouldn't use it in anything like a gusty wind, especially out at mm
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