Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/4G ED VR Lens

Product Information

Nikon has a long history of making professional 70-80 to 200mm focal length zoom lenses, but aside from the very old 70-210 f/4 AI-S and AF lenses, it has never had an affordable and lightweight constant aperture f/4 model in its line. With its arch-rival Canon making a 70-200mm f/4L lens since 1999, and the high cost of the 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II model, Nikon was often criticized for not providing an f/4 alternative. After many years of delays, Nikon finally announced a lightweight alternative to the f/2.8 version in October of 2012 – the AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/4G ED VR, which is designed to work on both full-frame (FX) and cropped-factor sensor (DX) DSLR cameras. These confirm that the Nikon claims that the 70-200 4 is just about perfectly sharp from edge to edge, even wide-open. Auto focus is powered by a silent wave motor, and autofocus speeds are very fast. Manual adjustments can be applied at any time via the focusing ring. The wide focusing ring is smooth, and well damped, which makes applying manual adjustments a pleasure.

Price: already down to 1200 EUR new (incl. 19% VAT), but that’s still a lot of money, and the tripod collar RT-1 is an extra. The Sigma AF 70-200mm 2.8 EX DG APO HSM OS is 20% cheaper, the new Tamron SP AF 70-200mm 2.8 Di VC USD 30% more expensive, and the Nikon 70-200/2.8G VR hovers around 1800 EUR street price – and all three come with a tripod collar. But if the new Nikon zoom delivers performance-wise I’d say the price is adequate. [0] There are a couple of differences worth noting here. While the Nikon 70-200mm f/4G has a maximum aperture of f/4, its minimum aperture is also smaller at f/32 (versus f/22 on the 70-200mm f/2.8G). Next, it obviously has a simpler optical design with 20 elements in 14 groups, while the 70-200mm f/2.8G has 21 elements in 16 groups. The new Nikon 70-200mm f/4G VR also comes with a brand new, third generation Vibration Reduction (VR) technology, which Nikon claims can provide up to 5 stops of image stabilization. This is interesting, because while the new 70-200mm f/4 lens is one stop slower than the 70-200mm f/2.8, in some situations it regains the light loss with better VR control. After playing with the lens for sometime, I must admit that the VR on the 70-200mm f/4 is in fact better. I am sure Nikon will be using this new VR system in all future lenses, because it really works. The number of ED elements in the 70-200mm f/4G lens design is fewer: 3 versus 7 on the 70-200mm f/2.8G. A big advantage, in my opinion for the 70-200mm f/4G is its closer focusing distance of 3.28 ft versus 4.6 ft on the f/2.8G version. Because the barrel size is smaller, the filter size is also smaller – 67mm versus 77mm. And lastly, it is a smaller and significantly cheaper lens. But what about everything else? Looks like the rest of the features are pretty much exactly the same. Both lenses have a 9 blade diaphragm, both are coated with Nano Coated glass, both have Super Integrated Coating, AF-S motor and Internal Focusing. MTF and Sharpness Imatest only managed to detect 0.149% barrel distortion at 70mm, which is a very mild amount of distortion and shouldn't cause any issues day-to-day. However, at 200mm Imatest detected 2.28% pincushion distortion, which is reaching the levels where it may become noticeable in normal images. If straight lines are paramount, you'll be glad to hear that the distortion pattern is uniform across the frame at both ends of the zoom range, which should make corrections in image editing software afterwards relatively straightforward to apply. The zoom ring is the best Nikon has made in almost 30 years since the 70-210/4 AF: it turns with one fingertip, and is well enough balanced that you can do this pointed up or down, too. Colors on the building were preserved the best on the 70-200mm f/4G VR, but I still like the way the 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II handled the bright sun in the corner, with less noticeable and better-looking ghosting. Distortion

When shooting at very low shutter speeds at long focal lengths, the mirror slap of your camera will send vibrations to the lens. And because of the length of the lens, those vibrations might result in softer images. With a tripod collar, the setup gets a little more balanced and the mirror slap effect is greatly reduced. For heavier and higher-end DSLRs like D800 and D4, you do not have to worry about this for a couple of reasons. First, the weight of the camera is probably going to be greater than the weight of the lens. Most importantly, for those who can afford the latest version, we found that in our lab tests that optical performance has been noticably improved. Weighing 850g, the AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/4G ED VR is significantly lighter and more compact than Nikon's other pro-level telephoto zoom lenses. We found that it balanced well on the Nikon D4 body and proved to not be too much of a burden when used all day long.

At 200mm it's a little softer, 2,181 lines at f/4 with even sharpness across the frame. The best performance is at f/8 where it tops 3,100 lines. The Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM delivers similar performance, but its edges are at their best at 70mm and softest at 200mm. As I have already said above, the Tamron 70-200mm Macro lens does not really belong here – it should have been the new Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 SP Di VC USD lens instead. Since the lens was not available for the Nikon F mount at the time of testing, I could only obtain the old Macro version. I certainly have plans to test the new Tamron lens, because it seems to be comparable to the Sigma 70-200mm and a good alternative to the Nikkors. I did a bit of lens tuning and guess what? This is sharper than my old Nikon 70-300vr and pretty much sharp enough for any application I could imagine. Have a look at the pic and crop below and tell me otherwise. And at 200mm it's even sharper!The only barriers to sharpness are your own abilities, and curvature of field and autofocus offsets at very close distances at 200mm. Comes with a cheap flexible lens pouch, the lens-shade is included, reversible for transport, and the lens-caps are standard Nikon’s. But there’s no tripod collar ring as with the f2.8. That has to be bought separately for an additional 130 EUR. [-] I wouldn't bother with this new tele-only lens if you already own the 28-300mm VR, 18-200mm VR or 18-300mm VR. If you do own one of those other lenses and get this 70-200mm VR, do not carry both at the same time. See Assembling a System. On some lenses, the effect is stronger than on others. For example, I find that the nano-coated Nikon 24-120mm f/4G VR renders superior colors than the older Nikon 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 and the new Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G VR, both of which do not have Nano Crystal Coat. Straight out of the camera, images just look better on the 24-120mm VR. When testing out the Nikon 70-200mm f/4G VR, I found that it renders colors the same way the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II does, which is excellent. Again, I think it is because both the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II and the 70-200mm f/4G VR have similar lens coating. Size (diam. x length): 78 x 179 mm (3.1 x 7.0 in.) compared to 87 x 206 mm (3.4 x 8.1 in.) for the f2.8. The lens-hood adds another 36mm (to a total length of 215mm). The lens does not change length during zooming or focusing. [+]