Nikon 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR AF-S DX Nikkor Lens Review

Nikon 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR AF-S DX Nikkor Performance

At 16mm sharpness in the centre of the frame is already outstanding at maximum aperture, and the clarity towards the edges of the frame is very good. Stopping the lens down a little results in increased sharpness towards the edges of the frame and peak quality across the frame is achieved at f/5.6 for this focal length.

As is often the case with many high ratio zoom lenses, sharpness drops off a little as the lens is zoomed in. At 35mm the lens still performs well, with excellent sharpness in the centre and good clarity towards the edges at maximum aperture. Peak performance across the frame is achieved at f/8 for this focal length where sharpness across the frame is excellent.

Finally at 85mm, there is another slight drop in overall clarity, but the lens still performs well. The lens produces good sharpness across the frame at f/5.6 and very good sharpness at f/8.

Resolution @ 16mm		Resolution @ 35mm
Resolution @ 85mm		How to read our charts The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges. Averaging them out gives the red weighted column. The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution. The taller the column, the better the lens performance. Simple. For this review, the lens was tested on a Nikon D300 using Imatest.

Chromatic aberrations are well controlled, staying well below one pixel width throughout the zoom range. Fringing is at its strongest at 85mm towards the edges of the frame at f/5.6. Here Imatest recorded chromatic aberrations covering 0.95 pixel widths, which should be hard to spot, even in large prints or harsh crops from the edges of the frame.

Chromatic aberrations @ 16mm		Chromatic aberrations @ 35mm
Chromatic aberrations @ 85mm		How to read our charts Chromatic aberration is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. It can be cured in software. Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more. For this review, the lens was tested on a Nikon D300 using Imatest.

Falloff of illumination towards the corners of the frame is well enough controlled throughout the zoom range. At 16mm the corners are 1.5 stops darker than the image centre at maximum aperture and visually uniform illumination is achieved at f/5.6. At 85mm the corners are only 1 stop darker at f/5.6 and visually uniform illumination is achieved at f/8 for this focal length.

Distortion is often an issue with high ratio zooms and although the 3.56% level of barrel distortion at 16mm is quite pronounced, this level is quite low when compared with other similar zoom lenses. Imatest detected 0.993% pincushion distortion at 85mm, which may be noticeable in some circumstances. At either end of the zoom range the distortion pattern is uniform across the frame, which should make corrections in image editing software relatively straightforward.

A reasonably deep petal-shaped lens hood comes supplied with the lens, which does a reasonable job of keeping extraneous light from causing flare and loss of contrast in images. In use the lens is fairly resistant to flare with only very strong light sources in the frame causing any issues.

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