Nikon 16-35 AF-S VR F4 on D700, a user review...

[StanyB]

My 16-35 AF-S VR F4 arrived, some first impressions...

I picked up my 16-35 AF-S VR F4 this afternoon @ Audiophil in Aachen, Germany.


Some first impressions after coming home @ 0:40AM...
When I opened the box I expected this lens to feel heavier, my 17-35 F2.8 was 745gramms , this one is 680gramms, but it "seems" significantly lighter,...
AF is very fast on my D700, even in low light.
VR seems to do very well @ real slow shutter speeds.
Seems tacksharp, even wide open...
Very well built, and a "nice" lens...

Some very first images:

VR seems to work, underneath picture was taken @32mm(of course handhold), iso 640 and 1/4th second... Only lighting was the reflection of the candlelight...


35mm, F4 and 1/8 sec, handhold.


35mm, F4 and 1/25sec, handhold


and a 100% crop from the above picture


I plan to go out to take some pictures tomorrow with subjects and situations this kind of lens is intended for, I hope the weather is fine, otherwise it will be delayed a couple of days...

Thanks for your attention.

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Audiophil in Aachen-Germany. Less than 2 hours drive from Brussels for the very best service you can imagine.
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[StanyB]

I was happy the sun was shining this morning, so I went out to make some pictures with my 16-35 on D700...

After having owned the 17-35 F2.8 for approx 5 years, you automatically tend to compare with that lens. Well, the 17-35 F2.8 might have been a great lens on DX, on FX the 16-35 AF-S VR is simply in another league. After approx 3 hours of shooting, I'm very happy I sold my 17-35 F2.8 a couple of months ago...

What's better with the new version:

• Sharpness and microcontrast is in the same league than the 24-70 F2.8 and/or 70-200VRII while TMHO the 17-35 was not. When I was comparing my 17-35 F2.8 with my 17-55 F2.8 on DX approx 3 years ago, then already the 17-55 was definitely sharper and more contrasty while delivering more vibrant colours.
  PS: Bjorn Rorslett mentioned in his 17-35 F2.8 reviewthat there have been some important sample variation with the 17-35 F2.8, so perhaps I had one that was made on a rainy monday morning...
• It has an amazing corner sharpness compared with the 17-35 F2.8...
  
• It has VR...

While a picture says more than a thousand words, some pictures...

All underneath pictures have been taken in RAW and are resized to suit for this review and according to the max image size for this forum. Some of the pictures show massive perspective distortion but this was done on purpose. Sometimes perspective distortion can be used for the photographic effect, and sometimes to give some kind of panoramic view of a subject or space too big to fit in a picture taken without this effect.

A view on the market place of Gravelines...
16-35 @ 16mm, iso200, F8, 1/800sec.


Hostellerie du Beffroi, a great restaurant in this nice town...
16-35@16mm, iso 1250, F11 and 1/320sec


Next to "the Beffroi"
16-35 @ 16mm, iso 400, F16 and 1/160sec


Another monument on the Gravelines' market place taken in an angle I want to take a picture of the red square in Moscow one day...
16-35 @ 35mm, iso200, F20 and 1/60 sec


and one more from the same monument...
16-35 @ 16mm, iso200, F13 and 1/125sec


And some more pictures of monuments of my beautiful hometown...






D700 has great DR,... the above pictures after some shadow lifting in Capture NX2...



Back to the 16-35 F4 AF-S VR...

[StanyB]

About 16-35 F4 AF-S VR' corner sharpness...

The scene:
16-35 @ 32mm, iso400, F11 and 1/640 sec


a 100% crop from the corner left under:


And one more...
The scene:


and a 100%

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[StanyB]

Another very welcome surprise is the 16-35 closest focusing distance...

16-35 @ 35mm, iso 800, F13 and 1/400sec


And a 100% crop...

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[StanyB]

While shooting nearly straight in the sun, occasionally some flare shows up, but in all normal circumstances flare is extremely well controlled...



Another one directly aiming in the direction of the sun, two flare signs right bottom corner, easy to repair in PP though...


TMHO, also about flare this lens is extremely well made.
I'm curious to read the comments from Bjorn Rorslett about this...

[StanyB]

Underwhile I had to buy something to eat @ my favorite bakery... Don't ask me why it's my favorite bakery or you will be banned!


A quite nice view on Gravelines...


And one more in the industrial zone where boats are very important...
16-35@ 16mm, iso400, F11 and 1-320sec

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[StanyB]

16-35 @ 32mm, iso 400, F4, 1/5000 sec


and a 100% crop from the corner left under.

[StanyB]

I had a couple of requires to post a sample picture with the 16-35 F4 AF-SVR @ 16mm and F4 in relation to vignetting and corner sharpness..., Here we go...

First of all the scene as originally captured, resized from NEF to websize 800x532pix .
The picture was taken with16-35 on my D700 @ 16mm, iso 400, F4 and 1/2500sec

In the top left and top right corner you can see that vignetting, -even wide open and @ 16mm-, is extremely well controlled.

Let me add that I find the exposure of the picture quite poor, because it was taken on a moment where the sun just disappeared for a couple of second behind a cloud, the expose of my D700 was somewhat fooled...



To enable to check about corner sharpness I wanted to crop the corner right under, but as it was somewhat dark, I lifted the shadows with 23% in CaptureNX2.
The original proportioned image after a 23% shadow lift in PP:


And finally a 100% crop of the right bottom corner:



Conclusion:TMHO, and after having owned the 17-35 F2.8 for over 5 years and having tested the 14-24 F2.8 from my friend Dr. Dusslier, this is simply an incredible achievement from the Nikon technical staff...

[StanyB]

Because I'm still completing this review with more pictures and findings with this lens used on other cameras like D3s and D3x(by Dr. Dusslier), please post your questions, remarks and more on this topic here.

Thanks
Stany

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If you would like to join this forum, everybody is welcome!, just not anonymous.
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Sincerely yours,
Rita B, site owner.
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[StanyB]

Dpreview just published their 16-35 AF-S VR F4 review and the conclusion is pretty much in the same line as mine.

Conclusion - Pros
■Very high image quality on both DX and FX formats
■Excellent build quality with dust and moisture sealing
■Highly effective optical image stabilization
■Fast, silent autofocus with manual override
Conclusion - Cons
■Huge barrel distortion at 16mm on FX cameras
■Relatively big and heavy for its class (larger than many F2.8 wideangle zooms)
■Slightly inelegant flare handling

Also in the Chasseur d'Images june magazine the 16-35 was praised as an outstanding super wide angle. A "must have" lens...

The only downpoint everybody agrees about is the strong distortion @ the wide end. For many shooting situations this doesn't disturb though.

[StanyB]

Copy from his website: http://www.bythom.com/faqnew.htm

Should I get the 16-35mm, 17-35mm, or the 14-24mm?
We can pretty much eliminate the 17-35mm these days. As good as it was during its day, both the other lenses surpass it, especially in terms of corner sharpness. The big questions then become: do you need to use filters (get the 16-35mm), do you worry about linear distortion (get the 14-24mm), do you know how to frame extremely wide angle (get the 14-24mm), do you need faster apertures (get the 14-24mm), and do you need the most versatile focal range (get the 16-35mm). Resolve those questions and you have your answer.

[StanyB]

If you want to read a complete review on the 16-35 F4 VR done by professionels, I strongly recommand n°324 (june 2010 edition) from Chasseur d'Images.
It gives a detailed report about how this lens behaves both on D3/D700 and D3X.
The results of the tests are very good, with only one weak point like everybody else mentions: its vignetting and distortion @ 16mm.
According to the results of this professional test, also mounted on the D3x the 16-35 on the gives an extreme detail rendering (piqué in French) which confirms the enthusiasm and findings of Rudy Dusslier, moderator on this forum.

Quote from the review in Chasseur d'Images:

"Piqué: ...et d'offrir une résolution compatible avec la définition extrême des 24Mpix. ...avec un piqué extrême, l'un des meilleurs jamais notés, toutes focales confondues."

Please notice that a google or other online translation can sometimes result in funny or even totally wrong contents, so I'll add my free translation as native Flemish citizen who is living many years in France:

Detail rendering: ...offering a resolution which is perfectly compatible with the resolution of a 24Mpix sensor... with an extreme detail rendering, among the best ever noticed at all focal lenghts."

Also the summary in this review is clear: (free translation) : With exception of the vignetting and distortion @ 16mm, this lens becomes nearly a "obligatory purchase" for every passionated expert...

[StanyB]

All links to the specific pages on the nikon site:

Click on the image to go to the specific webpage.

The 16-35 F4 AF-S VRxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxThe 17-35 F2.8 AF-S xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxThe 14-24 F2.8 AF-S



Audiophil in Aachen-Germany. Less than 2 hours drive from Brussels for the very best service you can imagine.
Click here for more details...