Nikkor 16-35mm F4 ED VRII

By www.vividirelandphotography.com

I would like to share this criterion with photobook readers as I have included the Nikkor 16-35mm F4 ED Lens into my photography and over the next few weeks / months will be using it for my Images. I hope to give you some thoughts on this new ultra wide-angle zoom lens from Nikon.

Having viewed some photography websites along with lens reviews I felt the information online was sometimes of help to me as a photographer, but on occasions after reading other reviews the lens was being shown in a different light so I did not know what to expect from a Nikon professional product this made me unsure about this lens also its image quality as reviewers and users were coming to different conclusions regarding the optical quality of the Nikon 16-35mm F4 ED VRII.

I spent time in prayer asking God for his guidance in trying to make the right lens buying choice along with further web searching I came across these Url examples with pictures.

http://mansurovs.com/nikon-16-35mm-f4-vr-review also http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/nikon_16-35_2p8_vr_n15/

Both websites looked promising but I still had my doubts about the overall sharpness of the Nikkor 16-35mm lens so I searched the web again leading me to the following sites.

http://nikonglass.blogspot.com/2010/10/afs-16-35mm-f4g-ed-vr.html http://www.richardpeters.co.uk/blog/2010/12/01/which-nikon-wide-angle-14-24-or-16--35vr/

Also searching flickr for Pictures taken with the Nikon 16-35mm give me good image examples that I felt showed the quality of this nikkor lens.

After a few months of waiting I was getting closer to trying the Nikon 16-35mm lens at the Calumet photographic store in Belfast along with my Nikon D3s in hand I arrived to try out the 16-35 for myself.
Entering the store I asked if the lens was in stock and available to try fortunately the assistant said they had a demonstration copy suitable for my test shots.
The location was not a beautiful Irish landscape but traffic and surrounding buildings on a dullish day most of the pictures were shot outside with a few inside but all were hand held using a low to medium shutter speed for the image capture.

The Nikkor 16-35mm F4 lens fitted well on my Nikon D3S and its weight felt right in my hands it offered smooth focusing and I felt it was not to bulky but it was not as light or as quick as the AF-S Nikkor 50mm 1:1.4 G Lens I mainly use at this time.

Having never owned a Nikon Ultra-wide angle zoom before only a Pentax 14mm /2.8 ED lens and a Pentax 10-17 DA 3.5-4.5 ED Fish Eye these two lenses were sold to pay for a new Nikkor lens for the D3s.

I shot around 279 NEF and JPEG images at the following focal lengths of 16, 20, 22,24,28,32,35 at shutter speeds of 1/800 sec at f / 4.0 to 1/13 sec at f/ 4.5 these pictures were then used for the reference images.
I would like to say handling the Nikon 16-35mm just felt right on the D3s as both camera and lens balanced well, weight could be an issue for me using the heaver Nikkor 14-24mm F/2.8 lens all day but the Nikkor 16-35mm looked well built only the Image quality would need to be as sharp as the 14- 24mmm to make a good impression.

The pictures I Later viewed in Adobe lightroom 3 were sharp, some underexposed, overexposed, with a bit of image blur due to the slower shutter settings used, not necessary a fault of the Nikkor lens but possibly my own photographic settings and method of shooting.

The Nikon 16 -35mm F4 ED VRII Lens had left me thinking it was the right Ultra-wide lens for my photography, I was not ready to purchase the lens there and then, but now I have had more time to see Image quality along with its features like reduced weight, increased focal range, and a 77mm filter option along with a lower purchase cost this could be the right lens for me.

The older but highly rated Nikkor 14-24mm F/2.8 lens had made it into my lens test but I could not invest the total cost for this lens so the Nikkor 16-35mm won on the day.

I hope to include new images and an updated article as to why I bought the Nikkor 16-35mm F4 ED VR II lens as my new Ultra-wide Zoom for Vivid Ireland Photography.


Thanks for Reading

VividIrelandPhotography