| Lens |
Rating |
Comments |
| AFS-Nikkor 18-200 mm f/3.5-5.6 VR G ED DX |
4(-), see text
(D2X)
|
This 11X
wide-ranging zoom lens is a marvel of modern computer
wizardry and clever optical design, and at the same time
a difficult item to score with a single-valued rating.
You need to consider carefully your needs and shooting
habits before deciding that this lens is the appropriate
tool for you. No
less than 16 elements, of which three are aspherical and
two are ED, go together to give a rather compact and
surprisingly light-weight zoom lens. The filter size (72
mm) is odd these days when most Nikkors come with either
67 mm or 77 mm threads. It comes with a substantial
scalloped lens hood and extends in a very obvious and
nearly obscene fashion when it is zoomed out to the 200
mm mark. Despite all the glass inside, it handles
difficult against-the-light shots quite well as zoom
lenses go, so the coatings applied are top notch.
Geometric distortion is complex, going from strong barrel
at 18 mm, almost none at 24 mm, to end up with pincushion
at the longer focal lengths. There are higher-order
components involved too, so the curvature is non-linear
and this is seen towards the periphery of the image. The
"wave" or "moustache" distortion
means you need to be careful shooting architecture or
other subjects having straight lines, unless you confine
the zoom setting at 24 mm.
The design is optimised
for the smaller image circle needed for Nikon's current
"DX" sensor, and the lens will not cover the
24x36 mm format anywhere. It is also telecentric and
adding extension to this lens tends to bring the focus
point inside the lens assembly, so using it for advanced
close-ups is not recommended. You can add a close-up
attachment on the front, though.
Image quality is
remarkably good at the wide end and declines towards the
telephoto end. This is the opposite behaviour compared to
most modern zoom Nikkors. A fair amount of light fall-off
into the corners of the image is seen towards the long
end, too, and is present even at f/8-f/11 despite the
telecentric principle of this lens. The very long lens
barrel could be instrumental in giving this effect,
acting like a mechanical vignette. Chromatic aberration
(CA) is quite well controlled, but is easily seen for
landscape subjects when you employ the longer end of the
lens. Blue fringing occasionally was an issue for some
high-contrast subjects, and is less easy to handle in
your post-processing workflow than the traditional purple
or red/cyan CA pattern.
Around 18-24 mm, you get
high image sharpness already at f/4-f/5.6, whilst the
long end may need stopping down to f/11 to deliver really
sharp images. This further underscores that you need to
consider the way you approach your subjects with this
lens. It is not a question of staying put and just
racking out the lens to get a proper framing, unless you
are aware of the consequences.
The vibration-reduction
(VR) technology allowed me to get quite sharp images down
to 1/10 sec @200 mm, and to 1/5 sec @18 mm. So, Nikon's
claim of up to four stops improvement is confirmed at
least for the long end. On the other hand, to get the
proper perspective on the matter, you start out at f/5.6,
which costs you 2 or 3 stops compared to an f/2.8 or f/2
lens, respectively, so the actual benefit isn't quite as
impressive as per Nikon's claims (which presumes of
course you have access to a faster lens, which is my
situation, but not everyone will be sharing that
position).
The practical handling is
easy and the amazing span in coverage comes in handy in a
number of shooting situations. The AF action is snappy
under normal conditions, but when light levels are low,
the focusing speed slows down and towards the long end,
some hunting may occur.
Is the 18-200 VR the
ultimate "jack-of-all-trades" alternative, the
one and only lens you need having mounted to your camera?
The answer obviously depends on the end user. If you are
satisfied with the inevitable constraints of this design,
by all means go ahead and enjoy using it.
IR
performance: Seems to be very acceptable, but I will have
to do more testing before I assign a rate to the lens.
|
| AFS-Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 ED G FX |
5
(DX:D2X)
5
(FX:D3)
IR:
5
(D200 modified)
|
This lens,
introduced with the new Nikon D3 and its FX
("full-frame") format, is a state-of-the-art
design and will likely replace the older 28-70. It is a
little longer than the old lens, weighs about the same,
and is significantly more narrow. Its shape and outline
means it rests very comfortably in your hand and it
handles great on the D3 and D2x bodies despite its
"G" disadvantage. To offset the latter, there
are improved sealings and a rubber gasket to the rear to
alleviate ingress of dirt and moisture. The newcomer uses
a huge scalloped (petal-formed) lens shade like its
predecessor. The
optics comprise 15 elements, 3 of which are ED, 3
aspherical, and one has nano-crystal coating. Nine blades
in the aperture makes for nice out-of-focus backgrounds.
Unlike the 28-70, it has a fixed rear lens element so the
tendency for the lens to act as a "suction
device" is eliminated. In fact, the element is fixed
both for focusing and zooming, very neat and clever. When
you zoom either side of the 50 mm setting, the front
assembly moves to expand or contract just like the 28-70.
Normally you won't notice this since all the action takes
place inside the lens hood.
In terms of geometric
distortion, the 24-70 shows very low pincushion towards
the long end on D2X, a little more on the D3. Towards the
24 mm end, almost no distortion at all could be seen,
just vestiges of a barrel type. It is obvious when you
swap the lens between DX- and FX-cameras that the
distortion pattern is somewhat wave-shaped across the
frame so the nearly straight lines in the corners of the
DX frame can be curved a little more on the D3, and vice
versa. However, levels of distortion are so low that they
encroach on those found in fixed-focal length territory.
You can shoot architecture with this zoom lens. Simple as
that, really.
Compared to the older
28-70, the 24-70 handles adverse light conditions much
better and flare and ghosting are rarely an issue. The
"micro-contrast" of image details is much
better too. It focuses a little closer as well, 0.4m
(0.38-0.41m depending on the zoom setting) to give approx
1:3.7x magnfication. Not "macro" of course, but
very useful for flowers and larger objects, and image
quality held well up into the nearest range.
The 28-70/2.8 has long
been recognised as among the best ever made by Nikon. I'm
happy to report that the new 24-70 takes this quality
even further. It has a very modest amount of field
curvature at 24mm and virtually none at 70 mm, so you can
approach your subject without fear of the corners going
unsharp. Light fall-off can probably be measured in a
research lab but is undetectable within the frame of a DX
camera. On the FX:D3 some corner fall-off is detectable
when the lens gets toward 24 mm setting. This by and
large is gone by f/4.
Very sharp images result
on-axis at 24 mm even at f/2.8 and the contrast was good
all over the frame with corners ever so slightly softer.
At f/4 the entire frame at 24 mm appears sharp and
crisply defined with excellent contrast and colour
saturation. Stopping down further changed little of these
traits until you got near f/16, where lowering of
contrast and the onset of loss of detail commenced to be
more visible. Still, I would not hesitate shooting at
f/16 even on the wide end of the range.
For the long end, f/2.8
delivered sharp images across the entire frame and this
improved further at f/4. Absolutely state of the art
optical performance and the enhanced acuity and better
micro-contrast compared to the identical capture with the
28-70 were plainly visible. Image quality held up well to
beyond f/16, even f/22 looked very acceptable, a most
unusual finding.
Both in test chart shots
and in the field, I had a hard time detect any CA nasties
with this lens. When the lens was used for close-ups on
high-contrast subjects, very slight CA (chiefly blue
fringing) could be detected but not to any level that
judicious post-processing couldn't remove entirely. So
again this is state of the art performance. Nikon
themselves claim that the image quality of current lenses
result from a three-sided approach involving camera
sensor technology, lens design, and software. I wrote the
same in my 12-24 DX and D2X reviews years ago, by the
way.
I have used several
randomly acquired samples of this lens and they all have
behaved in a very similar fashion. However, some users
complain about severe light fall-off or field curvature.
Since these reports are at variance with what I could
observe, there is always the possibility of QC issues.
But personally I consider the new 24-70/2.8 Nikkor to be
the reference for all other midrange zoom lenses. There
is absolutely no doubt that the new lens trounces the old
favourite, the 28-70 AFS, in terms of sheer image
quality.
IR:
performance on the D200 (modified) was impeccable in the
IR range. Very sharp images resulted and no issues with
hot spots and other nasties could be found. In common
with all other lenses in IR, you'll see more ghosting and
flare compared to that in visible light.
|
| Zoom-Nikkor 28-45 mm f/4.5 [non-AI, AI]
|
4.5
(F2, F4)
4.5
(D2X)
IR:
2-3
(Fuji S3 UVIR)
|
This, the world's first
true wide-angle zoom,
had a short production run in the mid 70's before being
replaced by the 25-50 in 1977. It shares many of the
virtues of the latter zoom, however. Additionally, it had
a stationary front while focusing so making it easy to
apply a polariser. Image sharpness is excellent at all
focal settings and colour fringing is quite well
controlled, so it gives a nicely defined DOF. From f/5.6
to f/16 quality images are obtained. Its weak spot is the
strong tendency to flare under less than ideal
conditions, and ghosting can be detrimental to image
quality. The restricted zooming range and the dark view
it gave in the viewfinder never made it a popular lens,
so is scarce and difficult to locate today. It is
probably best suited for an F2 camera with the 'R'
viewfinder screen installed. Images acquired with this lens mounted on a
D2X have a very pleasant, "rounded" feeling to
them, and are tack sharp even with the lens set wide
open. Colour fringing is seen, but occurs in moderate
amounts as long as the lens isn't stopped down too far.
IR:
performance is let down by a tendency to give a central
hot spot. Besides, image sharpness seems to suffer ever
so slightly in IR too.
|
| Zoom-Nikkor 28-50 mm f/3.5 AIS |
4.5
(D2X)
IR:
1
(D200)
|
A small,
compact zoom lens that is not familiar to most Nikon
users, it was presented in the early '80s likely as a
supplement to the 50-135/3.5. In use it is uncomplicated and reliable.
Image quality is excellent and chromatic aberration (CA)
is kept well under control. Geometric distortion is very
low, going from slight barrel at the short end to slight
pincushion. Flare and ghosting are moderate compared to
most other zoom lenses. Set the lens between f/5.6 and
f/8 to get optimum results.
There is a
"macro" setting as well, more a practical joke,
but you never know if it could be used for something.
IR:
performance is marred by a strong hot spot occurring even
when the lens is set wide open.
|
| AFS-Nikkor 28-70 mm f/2.8 ED IF |
5
(F5) 5
(D1, D1X, D2X, D200)
|
For its limited range of
focal settings, the new AFS 28-70 might seem a tremendous
overkill. It's very expensive, heavy and surprisingly
bulky. Add its huge scalloped lens hood and people think
you are the proverbial paparazzo. That don't impress me
much - I bought this lens solely for its outstanding
optical quality. It having non-rotating filter threads helped too. The stunning
results delivered by this lens would indeed be expected
from its sophisticated optical design that employs
several aspherical and ED elements, and IF focusing. Its
silent-wave motor gives blindingly fast AF focusing with
D1, F5 or F100 bodies. Compared to the vast majority of
wide-angle zooms (and most wide primes too), the AFS
28-70 convinces by its extreme sharpness, total lack of
colour fringing (an effect due to residual chromatic
aberration and coma, the bugaboo of retrofocus-designed
wide lenses), low vignetting even used wide open, and
nice rendition of out-of-focus areas thanks to its
nine-bladed aperture. It is among the few modern zooms
that match the 25-50/4 for landscape photography.
However, flare can be a serious problem when shooting into
the sun, much more so
than with the 20-35 f/2.8 Nikkor, and there occasionally
is some ghosting too when scene contrast is high, but the
latter can be largely avoided by stopping the lens down.
Sharp images are produced even when the lens is shot wide
open, and this holds when extension tubes are added.
Stopping the lens down to f/5.6 yields sharp pictures
corner-to-corner and there is negligible field curvature
as well. It shows only a small degree of barrel
distortion. An outstanding lens if it suits your shooting
habits. |
| AF-Nikkor 28-70 mm f/3.5-4.5 |
4 |
This is a
humble lens with an aspherical element up its sleeve, so
optical performance is surprisingly good for its modest
8-element design. Also it ranks among the best zooms for its low flare and
ghosting levels. Set
at f/8, quality images can be produced. Guess one has to
live with the plasticky feel of the lens and a rotating
front, though. You can't always win. |
| AF-Nikkor 28-80 mm f/3.5-5.6 |
3-3.5
|
This
featherweight lens, all plastic even down to the lens
mount, isn't exactly my preferred optical choice.
However, if I concentrate on the pictures produced by it,
the situation changes for the better. Pictures are
rendered with good sharpness and rich colours, although
clearly not with the "bite" of the better
lenses. However, for amateur use the lens would be an
excellent choice. Set the aperture to f/8 for the best
results, and shield the front element from bright light
sources. |
| AF-Nikkor 28-100 mm f/3.5-5.6 G |
3-3.5
|
Everything
is plastic on this lens, down to the lens mount itself.
The lens likely self-destruct if dropped, due to the
internal construction in which Scotch tape plays an
important rôle. Manual focusing is next to impossible
since only a narrow collar, located inconveniently in
front of the lens, is provided and the focusing pitch is
rough. AF works quite well, but is noisy. Despite the awful plasticky
feeling, images were delivered with good quality although
contrast is lower than on the better lenses, and so is
image saturation. Geometric distortion is evident towards
the extremes of the zooming range, and as usual goes from
barrel at the wide to pincushion at the long end.
|
| Zoom-Nikkor 28-85 mm f/3.5-4.5 [AIS]
|
3 |
The focal
range of this zoom extends from moderate wide-angle to
short tele and thus would suit the needs of many people.
At the longer end, it gives quite sharp images from f/8,
but at the short setting there is a general problem with
corner sharpness. Flare and ghosting do their part to
reduce image quality despite the multi-coated lens
elements. The front rotates when the lens is focused. |
AF-Nikkor
28-105 mm f/3.5-4.5 IF |
4
(D1)
|
Many people
have asked me to review this lens, so I finally yielded
to popular demand. This
quite lightweight Nikkor has the current nondescript
plastic finish of which I'm no big fan, but is less
wobbly than many of its consumer AF relatives. Thanks to
an IF design, the lens is kept quite short and its
focusing throw is quite short ensuring fast focusing on
an AF-enabled camera.
Optically speaking, this
lens has a number of surprises up its sleeve (or
helicoid?). Firstly, the inevitable geometric distortion,
often quite nasty on consumer lenses, is kept under
impressively strict control as zoom lenses go. There is
just a trace of barrel distortion at the wide end and
slightly bigger amounts of pincushion distortion at the
long setting, but neither is of any practical value
except for the really nit-pickers amongst us, and such
people wouldn't touch a zoom lens by a ten-feet pole
anyway. Secondly, the curvature of field is insignificant
thus allowing the lens to capture buildings and other
flat subjects in sharp focus across the entire frame even
at wide aperture settings.
However, the levels of
flare and ghosting are slighly more "normal"
for a zoom lens, thus care should be taken when shooting
into the sun. At the 105 mm setting, lens flare prevails,
unless the sun is at a grazing angle to give a nasty big
ghosting spot.
The 28-105 delivers very
sharp images with just a trace of softening by internal
flare set wide-open, and this is cured by slightly
stopping the lens down. Image contrast and sharpness are
excellent by f/8 and hold up well to f/16, from which
point onwards diffraction will gracefully degrade image
quality. I could not detect any significant light
fall-off towards the corners when the lens was deployed
on a D1, and the fall-off seems to be well controlled on
the F5 too. Colour fringing was virtually undetectable
despite the fact that this lens lacks ED glass.
The so-called
"macro" feature of most zooms typically is
worse than useless, not so on the 28-105. You can get
into "macro" mode within the 50-105 mm focal
range, and the lens will focus to around 1:2 (half
life-size), which is quite impressive. Even more
impressive is the excellent optical rendtion of the
close-ups, still with colour fringing kept well under
control. This lens is not a true "macro"
flat-field design, but even so field curvature is quite
low for the close-up setting. My impression was that the
best quality of close-ups were obtained at the 50 mm
setting, but if you are after maximum subject
magnification, the 105 mm setting should be used.
The 28-105 justify its
popularity by delivering quality results in a small,
handy package. It would constitute a perfect travel lens
if you can live with the angle of view of a 28 mm (a
separate wider lens can always be added to your setup).
|
| AF-Nikkor 35-70 mm f/2.8 D |
4.5
(F5) |
This bulky
and impressively sharp 'normal' lens was released in the
late 80's to attract the attention of photojournalists.
It is a nice handling lens on an F4 or F5, although the
rotating front end is a little annoying when a polariser
is used. Barrel distortion and corner fall-off are kept
at negligible levels. At f/5.6 to f/11 it delivers
excellent images at all focal settings. It flares visibly
under adverse light conditions but ghosting, although
plainly visible, rarely is detrimental to image quality.
There is a 'macro' setting for people wanting to get a
little closer with a concomitant loss of sharpness,
particularly in the corners. Reversing this lens to get
high magnification yields mediocre quality so is not
recommended. |
| Zoom-Nikkor 35-70 mm f/3.3-4.5 [AIS]
|
3.5 |
A small and
modest lens targeted at the lower end of the market, this
zoom can be obtained at throw-away prices and is a real
bargain, despite its traditional rotating front.
Sharpness is surprisingly good at f/8 or so, and there is
a useful close-focus setting at the long end of the zoom
range. I suspect the AF version to be similar in quality,
but never had the opportunity to test it. It can be used for
close-up photography the same way as the 35-70/3.5 (see
below), but its smaller filter size means a 4T close-up
lens is needed and the BR-5 is superfluous.
|
| Zoom-Nikkor 35-70 mm f/3.5 (62 mm
Filter Size) [AIS]
|
3.5 |
The last version of the
35-70 f/3.5 had a much slimmer outline thanks to its 62
mm filter size, it also boasted the first 'macro' setting
for a Nikkor zoom and kept the rotating front of its
sister lens. Because this 'macro' feature occurred for
the long end of the focal range, some useful results
could be obtained. Just don't expect anywhere near the
quality attainable with a Micro-Nikkor lens. In terms of
sharpness, this lens isn't quite up to the standard of
its predecessor although it doesn't exhibit the same
problems with flare and ghosting. Expect f/8-f/11 to
yield best sharpness. Tip: This lens can give an
excellent macro setup, when a 6T close-up lens is added
and the lens then is reversed using the BR-2/2A and BR-5
adapters. Adding the close-up lens is necessary to yield
top results, do not reverse the zoom on its own. Zooming
in the reversed position conveniently alters image
magnification that can go up to 3X.
|
| Zoom-Nikkor 35-70 mm f/3.5 (72 mm
Filter Size) [AI]
|
4
(F3)4-4.5
(D2X)
IR:
4.5
(DX: D200 modified)
|
The oldest version of the
35-70 came with a 72 mm filter thread and is a great
performer in terms of the sharp images it yields.
However, don't even consider shooting into the sun
because flare and ghosting are terrible under such
conditions. Stopping
down the lens won't help in this situation either.
Otherwise, setting the lens to f/8 will give tremendously
sharp images. Used with care, this zoom is a perfect
travel companion for an F2, F3, or F4. On the D2X, very crisp images with
saturated colours result, geometric distortion across the
frame and along the zooming range is very low, and CA is
negligible. However, the propensity for excessive flare
and ghosting still is troublesome, and this is the reason
I won't rate the 35-70 higher than a healthy 4.5.
IR: The
35-70 behaved in an exemplary fashion when I tested it
for IR. No hot spots or other IR nasties.
|
| AF Zoom-Nikkor 35-80 mm f/4-5.6 D |
3
|
A true treat
for any lover of plastic-fantastic items, this humble
lens accompanies the low-end SLRS such as F/N60/65. I've
taken apart this lens to extract its matrix chip print,
and shudder by the very thought of its poor internal
construction quality (in fact, the lens barrel is just
kept together with sticky tape!!). As an optical device, you actually
get more than you have bargained for. The performance is
not that bad and at f/8, quite decent images result.
However, don't drop the lens because it certainly won't
survive the impact. (Why do you think I get all those
lenses for free?)
|
| Zoom-Nikkor 35-200 mm f/3.5-4.5 [AIS]
|
3.5
(F5) 4
(D1X)
3.5
(D2X)
IR:
2
(DX: D200 modified)
|
Opinions are highly
divided on this 6X zoom design. Likely there is
significant sample variability present and this can
explain why people disagree on this lens. My sample,
however, is an excellent lens that gives sharp results
even wide open. There
is some barrel distortion at the short end that changes
into mild pincushion towards the 200 mm setting. Flare
lowers image contrast unless the lens is stopped down to
f/8, which incidentally is the optimum aperture setting
for this lens anyway. Ghosting can hardly be avoided when
shooting backlit scenes. The 35-200 is capable of
delivering great close-ups when the 6T auxiliary lens is
added to it and then reaches nearly 1:1 magnification.
On digital bodies this
lens performs even better and I have used it with great
success on my D1X. However, it didn't like D2X or vice
versa.
Physically the 35-200 is a
long lens and the barrel may have a weak point towards
the rear end, where a sleeve is kept in position by 3
small set screws, any of which may work loose to make the
lens wobble and get out of focus. They need to be checked
and preferrably tightened down and locked with Loctite.
This issue might help explain the widely different
opinions of the 35-200, which incidentally is among the
few MF Nikkors still manufactured.
IR:
Nothing to brag about, image quality deteriorates and
there is a tendency for a hot spot. Massive focus shifts
further underscore that this lerns is not a viable IR
alternative.
|
| Zoom-Nikkor 43-86 mm f/3.5 [non-AI, AI]
|
1-1.5 (early version)
3
(last version)
|
This beautifully built
43-86 mm zoom lens was immensely popular in the early
Nikon years, although image quality admittedly was poor.
Thus it served to give zooms a reputation of bad quality
that tenaciously survives even to this time. However,
many people are unaware that Nikon replaced the first
9-element version with a markedly improved new 11-element
design in 1976. The
last optical version had serial numbers starting at 774
071 and continued into the AI epoch. I have used it
extensively with or without a close-up lens and it really
gives good results stopped down to f/8 or so. Even with
the newest design, pincushion distortion is a bit on the
high side compared with modern lenses so the 43-86 shouldn't be
used for architectural photography. Moreover, its bokeh
isn't great. In fact, it is terrible! Easily the worst of
all Nikkors in this aspect. |
| Zoom-Nikkor 50-135 mm f/3.5 [AIS]
|
4-4.5
(F4)
4.5-5
(D2X)IR:
1-2
(Fuji S3 UVIR)
|
This compact and
extremely well-made lens is among the few zooms that have
a non-rotating front thread thus making life easier if a
polariser is applied. Very sharp and contrasty images are
produced by this design, that unfortunately was
discontinued after a short period. It yields great images
with a 6T close-up lens, too. Optimum results occur at
f/8, but even at f/22 a good image quality remains. It is
a one-ring zoom that handles extremely well on all Nikon
cameras. Flare is well controlled and ghosting is
negligible as a zoom goes. Set to the 'macro' mode, image
quality deteriorates and colour fringing occurs. I recently put this zoom to good
service on my D2X and was rewarded with stunningly sharp
images. What a little gem this old-timer zoom lens proves
itself to be. You should not stop down way beyond f/11 if
top quality is wanted, though.
IR
performance: Not good at all, largely due to the
pronounced central hot spot and a loss of image detail.
|