Finally, at 300mm, sharpness remains very good in the centre of the frame between f/6.3 and f/11, although performance towards the edges of the frame never really exceeds fairly good levels at this focal length. Given that this is a DX lens, mounting it to a full-frame camera used in FX mode will result in extremely heavy vignetting, as you would expect. Macro The lens uses Nikon's F mount. It's designed for DX format SLRs - on FX cameras, DX crop mode will be engaged automatically. It can also be used on Nikon 1 System mirrorless cameras via the F mount adapter, giving a 50-800mm equivalent range, with autofocus and stabilization.

Superzooms lenses inevitably trade versatility and portability against significant optical compromises compared to shorter-range zooms. So the question we're looking to answer in this review is what the 18-300mm offers to justify its bulk and price premium compared to its two most-obvious competitors - the aforementioned Tamron 18-270mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD and the recently announced Sigma 18-250mm F3.5-6.3 DC Macro OS HSM. Headline features Ditto, last in respect to contrast. C is supposed to lose contrast at 300mm. But if it does, so does A. I see no difference. They're both good at 300. Detailed specifications for the lens, along with MTF charts and other useful data can be found in our lens database. NIKON D800E + 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 30mm, ISO 110, 1/200, f/8.0 Lens Construction and Handling Bokeh is a word used for the out-of-focus areas of a photograph, and is usually described in qualitative terms, such as smooth / creamy / harsh etc. In the AF-S Nikkor 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3G ED VR, Nikon employed an iris diaphragm with 7 rounded blades, which has resulted in a surprisingly decent bokeh for a zoom lens, at least in our opinion. However, recognising that bokeh evaluation is subjective, we have provided a few examples for your perusal.

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One of the key advantages of the Nikon 18-300mm lens is supposed to be its 9 blade diaphragm, which should result in better-looking round bokeh. In my experience, the number of blades on the latest Nikon lenses does not really matter, since the aperture blades are rounded. I have done some extensive bokeh tests and comparisons and I really could not see major differences between 9 blade and 7 blade rounded diaphragms. Now if you compare old straight aperture lenses with fewer blades to the new rounded ones, the difference is quite evident. In fact, I prefer rounded 7 blade diaphragm to a straight 9 blade one – try to test an older lens and see for yourself. An array of switches on the side of the barrel control focusing and stabilization. The top one selects between manual focus (M) and autofocus with manual override (M/A). Next down is a switch to turn stabilization on and off, and at the bottom, one to select VR mode. The 18-300mm uses Nikon's 'Silent Wave Motor' for focusing, which is reasonably fast and near-silent in normal operation using the optical viewfinder. We saw no evidence for any systematic focusing errors during our real-world shooting, but using the D3200 as the test body, we saw a certain predisposition towards random misfocusing towards the telephoto end of the zoom. As usual, though, it must be noted that focus speed and accuracy is dependent upon a number of variables, including the camera body used, subject contrast, and light levels. The good news is that it does not rotate on autofocusing, which makes use of polarizing or ND gradient filters a bit easier.

Despite being a consumer-grade lens, the Nikon 18-300mm is beefed up with plenty of optical technologies from Nikon. The lens sports the second generation VR II (vibration reduction) technology, offering camera shake compensation equivalent to a shutter speed increase of approximately four stops, allowing to shoot at slower shutter speeds without introducing camera shake. C auto-focuses more reliably than A at 300m with a Kenko 1.4x teleconverter. It's a matter of f/9 v. f/8; that small aperture difference seems to matter. Can we expect a lens that has compromised even more on image quality to actually perform not just better, but on an acceptable level? More importantly, lenses like this one cover such a vast range of focal lengths, it’s almost as if the manufacturer is implying the buyer does not actually know what he wants or, crucially, needs. I strongly believe that if you need a single lens that goes from around 28mm to 400mm and over (full-frame equivalent), you are better off with a super-zoom point-and-shoot camera. There’s just no point in owning a big, heavy DSLR with a big, heavy super-zoom lens, both of which cost a lot of money and don’t actually make much sense in terms of image quality. If you own a big, expensive kit, it should perform like a big, expensive kit. Which is to say, brilliantly. Not bad, I cannot see any apparent ghosting and flares in the image. As you zoom in towards the telephoto range, however, ghosting can become an issue. Distortion B is much sharper than A with close subjects, i.e., about 6 feet away, at each focal length; with more distant subjects, they're more similar, but B is still sharper.

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Zooming is not internal – as you can see, the front extends considerably upon zooming to 300mm. The ribbed zoom ring is sufficiently wide – and somewhat stiff too, but not annoyingly so. Zoom creep is not an issue.

With the introduction of the AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3G ED VR lens, DX-format photographers have a compact and lightweight telephoto zoom lens, over 30 percent lighter than the acclaimed AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR lens, that produces the incredible results users have come to expect from Nikon’s NIKKOR lens lineup. The 18-300mm lens boasts an impressive 16.7X ultrahigh-ratio zoom range, offering a focal range from wide-angle 18mm to super-telephoto 300mm (27mm to 450mm equivalent in FX/35mm format). The new lens provides photographers with compositional freedom that is ideal for everyday use, whether capturing close-ups, sweeping landscapes, portraits, architecture, nature, sports and fast moving action. When recording HD videos, users will have the ability to capture wide establishing shots, medium close-up shots or extreme telephoto sequences that best complement their creative vision. With the new 18-300mm, photographers that currently use DX-format D-SLR cameras, like the Nikon D3000 and D5000 series, now have a versatile telephoto zoom lens to upgrade their current lens arsenal or complement their kit lens. Chromatic aberrations, typically seen as purple or blue fringes in the peripheral areas of the image, are surprisingly well controlled on this lens. The examples below show what you should expect in the worst case. JPEG shooters won't even notice this much, as all modern Nikon dSLRs can eliminate chromatic aberrations very effectively. The pictures below illustrate the focal length range from wide to telephoto (taken from our usual camera position). The lens is not claimed to be weatherproof, but there is a rubber seal around the lens mount that should provide basic dust protection. Focal RangeWhile the 28-300mm works well on both full-frame and cropped sensor cameras, its 28mm focal length is too long for general use on cropped sensor cameras (with an equivalent focal length of 42mm). Therefore, a redesigned version of the lens with a wider field of view makes the 18-300mm VR a more attractive superzoom option for DX users.

You’ve probably noticed my skeptical tone by now. I will be straightforward – I do not like this lens nor any other 18-300mm class optic. Why? Because they are too much of a compromise. Here’s what Nasim thought about the f/3.5-5.6 version of this lens in our review:From Nikon lens literature) Nikon Inc. has announced the latest addition to its legendary NIKKOR lineup, the new AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3G ED VR telephoto zoom lens. Designed for the DX-format photographer looking to get more out of their D-SLR camera, the versatile NIKKOR 18-300mm is a compact and lightweight 16.7X all-in-one telephoto zoom lens that delivers high performance and superior image quality. Whether capturing still images or HD video, the 18-300mm lens is built to help users capture content with vibrant colors and sharp details, plus shoot sports, vacations and wildlife with confidence. And here they all are again, this time fully extended (From left to right: Nikon 18-200mm, Nikon 18-300mm, Nikon 28-300mm): Here we show the maximum and minimum apertures reported by the camera at the marked focal lengths. Focal length The lens suffers from similar problems as the other superzooms – sharpness and contrast vary by focal length and aperture, with the weakest numbers at the largest apertures. The performance of the lens at short focal lengths is pretty good, but anything above 105mm is average to below average. Contrast is quite poor wide open but gets better at f/5.6 and beyond.