An Excellent Zoom Lens from a Genuine Camera Maker!
Written: Dec 27 '08 (Updated Dec 28 '08)
Product Rating:
Pros: Excellent focal range, image quality and packs all wonderful technology--AFS/VR/ED/IF--to make an excellent lens.
Cons: 67mm filter size is a stinger! Build quality. Confusing focal length designation.
The Bottom Line: An amazing lens offering AF-S (Silent Wave Motor) and VR II (2nd generation of Vibration Reduction) technology and good focal length coverage from ultra-wide angle to telephoto portrait. Highly recommended!
paulphoto's Full Review: Nikon AF-S DX 16-85 mm f/3.5-5.6G VR Lens
I explored two zoom lenses: Nikon AF-S Nikkor VR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED (IF) DX and Tokina 16-50mm f/2.8 ATX Pro DX. In this review, I will discuss the Nikkor AF-S 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR IF and will soon post a review of the Tokina 16-50mm f/2.8 as well. The name of this zoom lens is quite a mouth full; so I will just call it Nikon 16-85mm throughout this discussion.
Mount/Format
The Nikon 16-85mm lens is dedicated for Nikon DX format digital camera bodies, such as D2X, D300, D200, D100, D90, D80, D70, etc. Due to its design for DX (APS-C) field-of-view that covers the DX image sensor, the lens will not work on the conventional 35mm film SLR camera bodies (F6, F5, F4, F100, etc) or full-frame digital Nikon bodies (FX), such as D700 or D3-series. When mounted on a 35mm film camera body, image will be recorded in the central portion equivalent to DX frame (smaller than 24x36mm film size); full-frame FX digital camera is able to use its smaller area comparable to DX image recoverage. I bought this lens particularly for my Nikon D300 D-SLR DX camera body.
Retail Package
- Nikon AF-S Nikkor VR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED (IF) DX w/ both front and rear caps - Tulip-Shaped dedicated lens hood HB-39 - Instruction manual - Soft pouch CL-1015 - Warranty (5-year)
The Nikon AF-S VR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED (IF) DX
The Nikon AF-S Nikkor VR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED DX is the new member of the Nikon lens family line introduced early in 2008. It is quite an impressive and unique zoom lens that features AF-S (Silent Wave Motor) auto focus mechanism, vibration reduction (VR II, second generation), Nikon's ED optical elements to help maintain and produce amazing image quality. The lens also benefits from an Internal Focus (IF) design which I appreciate greatly for its excellent handling and ease of use with a polarizing filter, since the front barrel does not rotate during focusing.
In terms of speed, the lens is on the slow side, with a maximum aperture of f/3.5 at the shorter and f/5.6 at the longer focal length, respectively. The Nikon 16-85mm can be classified as an amateur or entry-level zoom lens; but as you will learn in this review, this lens will render the words "amateur or entry-level" inappropriate. Of course, there is a professional-grade zoom lens offered from Nikon, the Nikkor AF-S 16-55mm f/2.8G ED-IF DX that costs about three times the Nikon 16-85mm being reviewed here.
Field Test, Performance
The Nikon AF-S Nikkor VR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED IF DX balances extremely well on my Nikon D300 body. It is quite reasonably small and lightweight (weighing at just 17 oz). Being a G-type lens, the 16-85mm is aperture less; its f-stop is controlled via the camera's command dial.
The unit features a two-ring zooming and focusing design using a dual-cam technology. At the minimum focal length, the lens is at its shortest, fully colapsed, that measures about 3.4 inches. At its longest focal length (85mm), the lens fully extends, expanding its two inner tubes to a length of about 5 inches. The zooming ring is a little stiff but well dampen, with focal length range marked in 16, 24, 35, 50, 70 and 85mm on the zoom ring. This marking is quite confusing because it does not reflect the true focal length but a translation focal length multiplied by a factor of 1.5. For example, at 16mm, the actual field-of-view coverage is 1.5x16mm or 24mm. Thus, the marked focal length range is actually in reference to the full-frame 35mm film or full-frame (FX) digital format. And, since this lens is designated for DX format camera bodies, its usage of focal length is confusing.
Focusing is smooth; but I think the ring is a bit narrow, and I still have to get used to the placement of the zooming and focusing rings in reverse order in contrast to all my Nikkor lenses.
With its AF-S and VR technology, the lens sports M/A and M modes for manual or AF/manual override during AF action and VR On/Off with Normal or Active modes. I always leave the lens AF mode in M/A. Here, I can fine tune focus at any time during AF action. As for the VR feature, I usually leave it off unless I require to use this technology. Now, the VR's Normal and Active modes can handle handheld shooting in two separate situations:
VR Normal: Applicible in almost situations in static condition, that is, subjects or photographer not moving. VR Active: Applicible in dynamic situations when subjects and/or photographer are in motion.
Nikon claims that with VR switched on, the lens can help maintain image sharpness up to four stops above normal handholdable situations. In my shooting styles and experience I can achieve about three stops; more on this later.
AF Action
On my Nikon D300, the lens' AF action and response are pretty good and swift; it also operates in near silent, thanks to its Silent Wave motor technology. The lens' AF accuracy is also very good which responses quite well to the AF selectable area in the viewfinder of my D300. AF response seems to decline towards the longer focal length. There is a noticible difference in the AF response between 20mm and 85mm, indeed. Considering its f-stop of f/5.6 at the 85mm focal length, the decline in AF response is to be expected.
Test Comparison
During my initial test of the Nikon 16-85mm, I compared its optical quality with my Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8. I used both on my Nikon D300 D-SLR body with ISO speed set to 200. The Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 is a non-DX format lens and becomes 25.5-52.5mm zoom lens on my Nikon D300 body. I used focal lengths between 28mm and 50mm with f-stops between f/4 and f/16, with the camera securely mounted on the tripod, and VR feature turned off on the 16-85mm lens. At wide angle, both zoom lenses produced amazingly nearly identical results: contrast, color and sharpness, center to corner.
This lens produces extremely pleasing contrast almost throughout its focal length range, I would say between 18mm and 70mm. Its color is very neutral. Chromatic aberration (color shifting defect) seems to be very well controlled. At the widest angle, sharpness is pretty good, but suffers a lot from vignetting (that is, light fall-off) at f/3.5. But it's not surprising here as all ultra-wide angle lenses tend to suffer from this defect. Stopping down to about f/5.6 will eliminate this flaw. Center-to-corner sharpness at the widest angle is also pretty good.
Between 24mm and 40mm focal length range, this lens really shines; image sharpness on my 12mega pixel image resolution reveals consistent center to corner at nearly all f-stops (from f/5.6 - f/16). This actually proved what I really need in this lens. At the longer focal length range, 40mm to 85mm image sharpness is still very high. Its longest focal length 85mm could be used for a portrait shot at f/8 to produce amazing result -- excellent control of bokeh, very nice pleasing out-of-focus background produced by its 7 rounded blades. It is very difficult to say but I think its optimum performance is at f/11. In the wide angle range, shooting at f/8 will produce superb and consistent results.
As a result, this lens should be used at smaller f-stops, recommended f/5.6 - f/11; shallow depth of field may not be desirable, but if used in close focusing distance by throwing everything behind the subject out of focus will do the job surprisingly good! More on this in the "VR Operation and Its Usefullness" section discussed below.
Barrelling distortions at 16mm and 18mm are quite dominant, much more noticeable than my Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 at 17mm on my full-frame Nikon F5 film camera. There is a hint of pincushioning at around 28mm focal length -- a surprising find by just zooming on straight-line objects placed on the edge of the frame. Virtually no pincushion effect at the 85mm focal length, very slightly.
Its multi-coated and ED optical elements did a very good job at controlling flares and internal reflections, as well as color (chromatic aberration). As usual, bright object such as the sun will produce ghosting effects, and should be avoided in the framing, though the degree of this effect depends on the framing angle. For this reason, the dedicated tulip-shaped lens hood should be attached at all time, because it is very good at helping to control flares.
VR Operation and Its Usefullness
For people photography in low ambient light, the VR feature is a real bonus and rewarding when done correctly. With the VR technology, as mentioned previously, Nikon maintains that the lens can provide up to four f-stops of handholdability from the normal handholdable shooting condition achieved by the photographer.
Prior to using this zoom lens, I regularly shoot with my Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 or Nikkor 35-70mm f/2.8 (mostly in 50mm focal length) handheld at shutter speeds between 1/15 and 1/30 seconds in rear synch mode to complement the overall image quality by exposing for the ambient light (under indoor lights and/or evening natural lights) with a touch of flash to accentuate the main subject. It was challenging to achieve good results using a negative film with ISO speed of 400 (Kodak Portra NC/VC 400) and I had to stay at around f/4 or even f/2.8. That was quite a limitation as the constraint was mainly controlled by the film speed and the low light. The smaller f-stop also restricts my ability to control depth of field; so I often stay around the short focal length. I did shoot with Nikon VR lenses before such as the 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 and 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6, but I went back to shooting with my trusted Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 and 35-70mm f/2.8 for their superb image quality.
Now, with the Nikon 16-85mm, a whole new possibility emerges. The second generation of VR is much improved, in terms of accuracy and performance. Back in July this year, after numerous testing, I used the Nikon 16-85mm on an assignment to shoot a wedding banquet. I set the ISO speed on my Nikon D300 between 400 and 640 when shooting in low light (exposed for ambient light, that is) with my Nikon 16-85mm lens set between f/5.6 and f/8 and focal length range between 20mm and 50mm.
A rule of thumb for maintaining image sharpness when handholding a lens is that the shutter speed has to equal the reciprocal of the focal length; that is, if the focal length is 50mm, the shutter speed has to be 1/50 sec or actually 1/60 sec. With experience and steady handholding and with a rear sync flash, I was able to obtain good images with my Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 at a focal length of 30mm and f-stop of f/4 with shutter speed of 1/15 sec. By constrast, with the Nikon 16-85mm and its VR switched on in Normal mode, I have freedom to manipulate the depth of field and focal lengths because I can now shoot handheld two to three f-stops below what I can normally achieve with a non-VR lens.
In one occasion at the wedding banquet, while the bride and her bridesmaids were standing waiting to greet guests at the entrance, I quickly lined them up slightly at an angle, using part of the flower arch to frame the image. I shot with Nikon 16-85mm at 28mm, shutter speed 1/8 sec at f/5.6, exposed for the ambient light (mostly neon and flourescent) and natural light through glass windows and door (to my left and behind me) as side and frontal light; I also used flash to expose the subject to balance with the ambient light. Between shutter speed of 1/4 and 1/15 sec, any subtle movement of the elements in the image during exposure would render a motion effect. The result has turned out exactly what I had invisioned in my mind's eye: The bride and her bridesmaids were rendered amazingly sharp with pleasing contrast and natural color, while the background revealed a blury motion effect that gave a hint of busyness. Here, no doubt, the Nikon 16-85mm and its VR feature were the main factor of my success, given the split-second decision to make the picture. If I were to make this same image using my Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8, I would need to shoot at a shutter speed of 1/30 sec and f-stop f/2.8. Here, the depth of field would not give much room to render all the four people (bride and her three bridesmaids) in sharp focus, because they were standing at an angle (that required shooting for a wider depth of field); motion effect would not be able to show at 1/30-sec shutter speed for a moderate motion.
Many of the early evening shots at that wedding were made with my Nikon 16-85mm done with its VR turned on in Normal mode. Image quality was nothing short of outstanding. The Nikon AF-S VR Nikkor 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED (IF) DX produced amazing color, contrast and sharpness (and I dare say) comparable to my Nikon AF-S Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8D ED-IF. Many of the images were blown up to 11x14 inches with great results, no hint of sharpness declination; an amazing zoom lens!
Back in October, I used the same lens to shoot another wedding and was pleased to see the same amazing, consistent results. I am very impressed with this zoom lens.
VR Active on this lens performs as advertised. In one occasion, I made several shots of people walking along the street from a moving vehicle (~ 35-40 MPH). I set the VR in Active mode and my Nikon D300 in dynamic AF mode. I panned through the passenger-side window taking snapshots of people on the street. The lens and camera worked together to lock on the selected subject to maintain sharpness. I took about 20 shots and all were surprisingly sharp!
Close Focusing Distance
The Nikon 16-85mm can focus on subjects as close as 15.6 inches or 1.3 feet. While not as close as my Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 at 11 inches, the Nikon 16-85mm is very good compared to other zoom lenses in its class. The lens' ability to focus close is actually very useful particularly for scenic photography, where image can be rendered sharp focus from the front of the lens all the way to infinity; and this lens maintains excellent image quality throughout focusing distances.
Drawback (for me)
The drawback (for me) is that the zoom lens uses the unpopular filter size 67mm. All my other lenses use 62mm and 77mm, and so I am stuck with the option of getting a set of 67mm filters. If you have 72mm filters, perhaps a step-up 67mm-to-72mm ring can be used; however, a problem might be encountered when a lens hood is attached. Furthermore, it puzzles me why the lens is designated as 16-85mm, since in fact, as I mentioned previously, it produces an equivalent 24-127.5mm focal length range. In total, this lens only provides an ultra-wide focal length at 24mm (in conventional full-frame 35mm film format). Truly, this lens should be advertised as 24-128mm f/3.5-5.6.
Another drawback is that its dual-cam design for zooming worries me regarding its longevity, especially since the optical elements rely on the VR mechanism -- here they have to move back and forth during zooming and the VR optical elements have to shift off axis to provide focus correction... too much movement imposed on the dual-cam tubes. This leads to another concern surrounding its build quality. Construction is mostly of high-quality plastic, not metal; thus classifying the lens with a decent build quality compared to the all-metal pro zoom lenses. It is good to know that during zooming the tubes are firm and rigid. With careful handling (not abusing, that is), this lens should serve well.
Conclusion
The Nikon AF-S Nikkor VR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED (IF) DX is an extremely sharp zoom lens that is able to produce outstanding image quality almost throughout its focal length range; well, except at 16mm at wide open, but that's normal for all ultra-wide angle lenses any way. It maintains its image quality when stopped down one to two stops; this is really good for a zoom lens with high ratio focal length (16mm to 85mm).
I am very impressed with the image definition produced by this zoom lens. For people photography, its VR technology proves very useful. Its consistent image sharpness at smaller f-stops is excellent for landscape photography, where depth of field is the main actor that helps render sharp image from foreground to background, in addition to its amazing ultra-wide to wide angle coverage.
While its body construction is not a pro grade design and its focal length coverage is not a real 16-85mm range, its image quality is superb! All in all, I highly recommend this zoom lens for its exceptional optical quality and VR II technology (especially good for handheld at low shutter speeds). Do not get the DX lens, if you plan to use it on both your 35mm film and digital SLR bodies.
AF-S DX Nikkor 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR lens Designed For Wse With Nikon DX Digital SLR Cameras Including The D40, D60, D80, D90, and D300 24-128mm Ef...More at Amazon
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