Nikon Nikkor AF-S 80-400 mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR review - Introduction

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Nikon Nikkor AF-S 80-400 mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR

4 August 2015

Arkadiusz Olech

1. Introduction

In 2000 Nikon launched the Nikkor AF 80–400mm f/4.5–5.6D VR, the first lens of that producer which was equipped with an image stabilization system called Vibration Reduction (VR). Although they boasted about 3 EV stops efficiency, in reality it was rather closer to 2-2.5 EV.

Although the Nikkor AF 80–400mm f/4.5–5.6D VR could be called a very good optical construction, by contemporary standards it had two serious flaws. The first of them concerned the low stabilization efficiency and the second one – the autofocus. The lack of the modern SWM motor made the old 80-400 mm sluggish, not especially fit for photos of dynamic scenes and after all there are many of such scenes in bird or plane photography.

Nikon was aware of those weaknesses so in March 2013 they launched the Nikkor-AF-S 80–400 mm f/4.5–5.6G ED VR which main task was to eliminate the flaws of its predecessor and provide an even better image quality.

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