Nikon Nikkor AF-S DX 18-140 mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR review - Vignetting

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Nikon Nikkor AF-S DX 18-140 mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR

15 April 2014

Arkadiusz Olech

8. Vignetting

The thumbnails, posted below, allow you to assess the vignetting level of the Nikkor AF-S DX 18-140 mm f/3.5-5.6 ED VR.

Nikon Nikkor AF-S DX 18-140 mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR - Vignetting

The biggest problems are situated at both ends of focal range. At 18 mm and at the maximum relative aperture the relative light fall-off in the frame corners amounts to 37% (-1.33 EV) which is a significant value. By f/4.0 that aberration decreases to 32% (-1.11 EV) and by f/5.6 it reaches 18% (-0.58 EV). By f/8.0 aperture and the next ones the vignetting is 12% (-0.37 EV).

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The problem becomes moderate at 35 mm where, at the maximum relative aperture, the vignetting reaches 27% (−0.90 EV). By f/5.6 it decreases to 18% (-0.58 EV) and for f/8.0 and f/11.0 it becomes imperceptible, amounting to, respectively, 11% (−0.33 EV) and 8% (−0.25 EV).

The aberration, described here, starts increasing as the focal length get bigger. At 70 mm, with the lens wide open, you must take into account 34% of brightness loss in the corners (-1.19 EV). By f/5.6 you notice just a slight decrease to 30% (-1.04 EV) and by f/8.0 you get a value of 16% (-0.49 EV). The aberration disappears almost completely by f/11 where it is just 7% (-0.21 EV).

The highest vignetting level we observed for the longest focal length and the maximum relative aperture – it reached a value of 39% (−1.46 EV) there. On stopping down the lens to f/8.0 that aberration decreased to 21% (−0.70 EV), and by f/11 it became imperceptible (8%).

Although the results of the Nikkor 18–140 mm VR are perhaps not exactly impressive in this category, still it fares noticeably better than the cheaper Nikkor 18-105 mm VR which could have the maximum vignetting on a level of even 52%.