Nikon 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX ED VR Nikkor Wide-Angle Telephoto Zoom Lens for Nikon DSLR Cameras by Nikon
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Digital camera reviews of Nikon 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX ED VR Nikkor Wide-Angle Telephoto Zoom Lens for Nikon DSLR Cameras
Digital camera Review: Excellent!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I won't spend a ton of time on this review as others have very succinctly detailed this lens, however a couple points. I was initially considering the 18-200 for my purchase as a replacement for my kit 18-65 and for an everyday walkaround lens. In the end, I ended up deciding on this as the concerns of softness, etc scared me off. That being said, I am very, very happy with my purchase. I got the lens about 2 mths ago and have made about 1000 shots with it. It is all that I could have asked for - very sharp, great color, easy to live with. For others looking at the 18-200 I would encourage you to look back at old photos and see how many of them are actually >85mm. For me, it was an exceedingly small #. Additionally the extra 2mm on the wide side seems to be a small but noticeable difference. Of course, it would be nice if it went to f2.4 or something of the like, but that's not realistic in this price range. I highly recommend this lens, good luck on you purchase decisionsDigital camera Review: Excellet lens - great compliment to the 70-300 VR
Summary: 5 Stars
Bought this lens after one too many times being dissapointed in the 18-55 kit lens that came with my D50. There were two factors important to me - 1) VR being included and 2) improved sharpness, another, yet less important factor was the zoom range which fits perfectly with my other lenses. I currently shoot the 70-300VR, 50mm 1.8, Tamron 90mm macro and now the 16-85 VR. It was a bonus that this lens fit perfectly with my other gear, the real reason I picked it up was revealed the first time I used it. Love the VR, really helps on a majority of my shots which are done hand held. Second is the IQ - sharpness and colors are much improved over the 18-55 kit lens. There is a slight bit of vignetting, however, that's easily fixed in post processing. The build quailty is excellent on this lens and while it may be a bit on the pricey side I'm very happy with it and highly recommend it. I've since "upgraded" to the D300 body and it shines with that as well. If you've currently got the 70-300VR this lens is the perfect compliment.Digital camera Review: Expensive, but unique to the Nikon lineup
Summary: 4 Stars
If you're reading this you're probably cross shopping the 18-200mm. Is the 16-85mm worth it over the 18-200mm? Depends on if you need to shoot past 85mm. I shoot almost all 16-50mm so I chose this lens, although I found myself at an air show and at 85mm it was very inadequate to capture the planes in flight. For those who wonder if this lense is sharp, a resounding YES! It's very sharp for a zoom lense. Distortions and flare are well controlled. The 16mm wide end gives you a view that's impossible to see with the 18mm. Be careful with using the lens hood with the on camera flash at it's widest setting, I screwed up some of my pics unknowingly. I find my Nikon D50 has some trouble with underexposed shots with this lense. I'm not sure what it is but it always underexposes by 1/2 to 1 full stop, I can compensate by increasing the default exposure but it's still annoying. This lense is slow so there's no point in using this indoors without adequate lighting, I use my 35mm f1.8 for indoor shots.Digital camera Review: FINALLY!
Summary: 4 Stars
Update December 2010
Before I broke it, I fired around 15,000 shots over 2 yrs with this lens and was thoroughly satisfied. It's incredibly sharp and contrasty. The AF is somewhat spotty when zoomed wide, but otherwise it's fast, silent, and accurate. Yes, the apertures are slow, but that's what we get for the price. No, it doesn't have the reach of the famous 18-200, but the optics are so superior. I'm finally buying another one to compliment my new D7000. I highly recommend this lens.
Despite the mediocre optics, I'd been a fan of the old, ultra-versatile, 24-120mm Nikkor for years on my N90s. When I saw this lens hit the market at its price, I knew the digital format had arrived. This lens delivers a 24-127mm (film-equivalent) zoom range, which is perfect for daily use: very wide for those creative tight shots and medium telephoto for portraits and candids. Most importantly, the optics on this lens are waaay better than the old 24-120 film lens, and a good step up from the kit 18-XX lenses coupled to Nikon's D-SLRs these days -- very crisp, bright, and great colors. And it focuses surprisingly close! Not a professional lens by any means, but a great value for what it does.
Digital camera Review: Finally, short focus lens with VR
Summary: 5 Stars
I missed one. 70-300 VR is great, but 70mm is often too much and 18-135mm lens has no VR, so "no flash" in museums, aquariums etc. usually means no pictures.
Most Nikon fans probably wonder if this new lens is a worthy alternative to 18-200 VR. 18-200 VR lens covers the range of this lens almost completely, adds plenty on telephoto end and costs about as much. So optical quality of 16-85mm VR lens better be very good. Not many reviews and test results are available on the web at the time of writing. I spent hours searching for test data and found only one French site that had detailed test results.
The major weaknesses of 18-200 lens - bad distortion and corner softness are clearly addressed in this new lens. Distortion is about half of what you get with 18-200 lens, and sharpnes is on par with 70-300mm VR. The only weakness is relatively harsh bokeh - out of focus background blurring.
My personal experience with the lens is pretty much in line with formal tests. The lens is as sharp as it gets. Tansitions between two objects of different color are usually one pixhel wide. Distortion, noticeable at 16mm is not very bad and quickly disappears as you increase focal length. VR works like a charm. This lens is not fast, but professionals should have incentive to pay 3 times as much for their toys. I think 16-85mm VR and 70-300 VR lenses is probably all amateur like me needs, with light and compact 16-85mm VR lens mounted on camera most of the time.