Nikon Nikkor AF-S 28-300 mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR
11. Summary
- wide and useful focal lengths range,
- good build quality,
- very good image quality in the frame centre,
- slight distortion on DX sensor,
- low astigmatism,
- vignetting on DX sensor not bothersome at all,
- efficient image stabilization,
- silent and relatively accurate autofocus.
Cons:
- weak image quality on the edge of DX and full frame as well,
- very high distortion on full frame,
- high chromatic aberration at longer focal lengths,
- significant coma in full frame corners,
- noticeable problems during work against bright light.
If you only compare the number of pros and cons, you can see that the Nikkor 28-300 mm VR, although bigger, heavier and more expensive, is worse than the best 18-200 mm class lenses. It only shows that full frame forces constructors of such big zooms to face really serious problems.
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The summary is perhaps a good place to think about the point of launching such a lens these days. Full frame digital cameras are now bought mainly by professionals or advanced amateur photographers. These reflex cameras are most often bulky so not very handy. 28-300 mm class megazooms (or their smaller sensors’ equivalents with the range of 18-200 mm) have always been bought mainly by amateurs which want to have a handy set consisting of a lightweight body and one all-purpose lens so they don’t have to carry a big, heavy camera and a set of lenses on a holiday trip. Taking this info into account you must admit that the launch of the Nikkor 28-300 mm VR should be assessed as a false start. When it comes to the aforementioned applications the lens will have its place for sure but it is a matter of a few years – we must wait until the digital full frame gathers wide popularity for good.
Of course we can imagine a professional photographer who owns a Nikon D700 as an extra camera body who might want to buy something all-purpose while going on holiday, exactly in the style of the Nikkor 28-300 mm VR. The problem is that instead the Nikkor he/she can have a much smaller and more handy set consisting of a Nikon D5000 and a Sigma 18-200 mm OS - there will be much more free space in his/her holiday bag, the image quality won’t suffer at all and there will be still left some petty cash for small holiday purchases in his/her wallet.
The results, reached by the Nikkor 28-300 mm VR in our test, made me think about one more possible application of this instrument. It’s worth emphasizing that the values the tested lens got at 50,100,200 and 300 mm focal lengths show that this device fares similarly and sometimes even better than the much-praised and popular Nikkor 70-300 mm VR. That latter instrument is a bit cheaper but the Nikkor 28-300 mm VR is new on the market so its price is bound to decrease in months to come. Apart from that, with focal lengths from 28 to 70 mm, it is certainly more all-purpose than the Nikkor 70-300 mm VR - a big advantage which might make a great number of amateur photographers ponder over its purchase very seriously.
Zdjęcia przykładowe
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Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/3.5, exp. 1/3200 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 6.79 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/7.1, exp. 1/1600 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 7.56 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/4.5, exp. 1/1600 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 8.23 MB |
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Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/800 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 8.69 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 28 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/1000 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 6.54 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 36 mm, f/4.5, exp. 1/1250 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 7.03 MB |
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Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 50 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/2500 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 7.74 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 55 mm, f/4.5, exp. 1/60 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 7.99 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 50 mm, f/8.0, exp. 1/800 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 8.24 MB |
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Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 50 mm, f/4.5, exp. 1/200 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 6.09 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 100 mm, f/7.1, exp. 1/2000 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 7.43 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 100 mm, f/5.3, exp. 1/160 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 6.66 MB |
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Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 105 mm, f/5.3, exp. 1/200 s, ISO 400 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 7.11 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 105 mm, f/5.3, exp. 1/100 s, ISO 400 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 7.84 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 85 mm, f/5.0, exp. 1/1000 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 6.64 MB |
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Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 100 mm, f/8.0, exp. 1/640 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 7.68 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 100 mm, f/7.1, exp. 1/200 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 7 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 200 mm, f/11.0, exp. 1/320 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 7.46 MB |
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Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 200 mm, f/8.0, exp. 1/500 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 7.53 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 190 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/50 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 7.14 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 160 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/200 s, ISO 400 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 7.79 MB |
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Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 200 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/80 s, ISO 400 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 7.39 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 200 mm, f/8.0, exp. 1/1600 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 7.34 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 300 mm, f/11.0, exp. 1/800 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 7.01 MB |
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Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 300 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/160 s, ISO 400 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 6.87 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 300 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/80 s, ISO 400 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 7.93 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 300 mm, f/8.0, exp. 1/500 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 7.03 MB |
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Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 300 mm, f/8.0, exp. 1/1000 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 6.9 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 180 mm, f/8.0, exp. 1/160 s, ISO 200 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 6.99 MB |
Camera: Nikon D3x Parameters: 300 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/400 s, ISO 100 File: JPEG, 6048×4032 pix, 5.49 MB |
