vibration reduction
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Starting this month, a new CIPA (Consumer & Imaging Products Association) standard has come into effect, this time mandating how companies describe the often nebulous world of image stabilization. Theoretically, the standardization now means that the image stabilization tests should be the same between all manufacturers, so you should get a more comparable comparison, regardless of who makes the lens. Nikon Europe has just released the updated performance numbers, and it turns out there’s a lot of range between the best and the worst.

You can read about the new standard here, and Nikon’s lenses range from 2-stops of vibration reduction, all the way up to a whopping 4.5. Interestingly, the largest range of values stretches across the FX lens line, and all the DX lenses offer 3 or 3.5 stops improvement. By far the best lens of the lot is the AF-S NIKKOR 800mm f5.6E FL ED VR, Nikon’s largest lens, which will set you back near $18,000. You’ll also get an impressive 4 stops improvement with the far more affordable $600 AF-S NIKKOR 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED VR , and the $1400 AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/4G ED VR.

At the bottom of the list with just 2 stops improvement is the AF VR Zoom-Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D ED, which goes for around $1600.

We haven’t seen similar announcements from other manufacturers yet, but given how widely CIPA standards are used for things like battery life, hopefully we’ll see updated information soon.

[via Foto Actualidad]