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Nikon's first digital-only super zoom lens has a typically generous 11.1X zoom range (27-300mm equivalent), and five elements of specialized glass (ED and aspheric). It offers an improved version of Nikon's highly effective vibration reduction (VR) system, which the company says delivers four extra stops of handholdability.
HANDS ON: Ruggedly constructed and unusually attractive, this well-balanced lens sports easy-to-read focusing and zoom scales, as well as amply sized ribbed and rubberized collars with adequately damped turning actions. The zoom action is slightly uneven across its range. As usual, Nikon's Silent Wave Motor turns the focusing elements in virtual silence. The lens is somewhat heavy for the class (though slightly faster), and longer, too. As is common with superzooms, the barrel is long enough to cast a shadow in the lower portion of close-up photos made with most built-in flash units.
IN THE LAB: SQF data was in the Excellent range at all focal lengths except 200mm, where sharpness fell to Good -- typical of superzooms. But distortion control was the best we've ever seen in this category, with DxO Analyzer 2.0 tests showing just barely Visible barrel distortion (0.73%) at 18mm, and Slight pincushioning at 50mm, 100mm, and 200mm (0.29%, 0.24%, and 0.19%, respectively). Light falloff was gone from the corners by f/6.3 at all focal lengths except 50mm, where there was no vignetting at all -- an unusually good performance. At its close-focus distance of 16.5 inches (at all focal lengths except 18mm, where it was 14.6 in.), maximum magnification ranged from 1:15 at 18mm to a satisfying 1:3.9 at 200mm.
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To test VR II, we used the DxO Analyzer's Blur test. At 18mm, VR II seemed to match VR I. At 200mm, it came close to matching -- and even exceeding -- Nikon's claims. Two of our four testers shot sharp images (blur factors below 1.0) at four shutter speeds below the reciprocal of the (equivalent) focal length (1/25 sec). One shooter did so well (an average blur factor of 0.85 at 1/25 sec) that we inferred he could do better than four stops. Moral: Your mileage may vary.
CONCLUSIONS: Optically, this lens is the best superzoom we've seen, though it's not compatible with Nikon teleconverters, extension rings, or coupled macro bellows. It also costs about $300 more than third-party digital-only glass. But are extremely rugged construction, unusually well-controlled distortion, and four extra handholdable speeds worth the extra bucks? That, and more
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