Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-300mm 1:3.5-5.6 G ED VR Lens (f/3.5-5.6)

Overall Rating:

This lens is 12 years old. It was priced at $1000 (USD) when introduced. It is a varifocal zoom which means it changes focus as it is zoomed. It has three ED elements with two being large elements near the front of the lens and three aspherical elements. It has a related cousin, the Nikon Nikkor AF-S DX 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED VR lens, which performs worse at f=200mm than this lens does at the same focal length. This zoom features Nikon's Vibration Reduction which helps with the low-light performance of this somewhat slow lens. Nikon DX cameras were pushing 24 megapixels at the time of the introduction of this lens (2012), which is a demanding pixel count/density because it has the same pixel density as a 56 megapixel full-frame sensor.

This lens is remarkable for its 16.7× zoom ratio. This means it has an equivalent focal length of 27-450mm in DX mode or on a DX camera body such as the Nikon D500/D300/etc.

In 2014, Nikon replaced this lens with the Nikkor AF-S DX 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3 G ED VR which was slower, more compact and less expensive ($700 (USD)). It had fewer lens elements and less macro capabilities with 0.29× magnification versus the 0.32× of the lens in this review.

Compactness Compared

Performance

There is color fringing particularly in the middle of the zoom and in the corners. Such small amounts of this aberration can be easily removed in post with little to no affect on the end result. These are at 3-to-1 magnification:

Sharpness is good throughout most of the range. It is sharpest at f=18mm which is not a surprise as the lens stops down to clean up the corners which suffer on the widest focal length of a zoom lens. It is not great at f=300mm for distant subjects. It is compared below to the Nikkor AF-S 300mm/4 PF lens which is obviously a prime but should not necessarily be sharper in the dead center of the lens which is where lenses are at their sharpest. The prime is sharper, though, revealing the weakness of this lens: distant objects at f=300mm.

It's not a macro lens so its macro performance is not as good as a true macro lens but it is better than expected. It seems to be semi-optimized for close-up photography at f=300mm. It would have been nice to have the lens optimized for distant objects at this focal length instead of near objects. People's opinions on this will vary, of course.

Surpisingly, vignetting really is not a big problem with this lens.

Distortion is not bad considering the large zoom ratio, but distortion is normal in a zoom. It can be corrected in post fairly easily but expect some degredation in sharpness.

Diffraction begins before f/8.

The autofocus is silent and decently fast — not as fast as the Nikon Nikkor AF-P 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3 G ED VR, but fast enough for its intended purpose of being a great lens for travel.

For a lens with so many glass surfaces inside, ghosting and flaring are well controlled.

Infrared

This lens is not perfect for infrared photography. It exhibits a wide hot spot at f=18mm/22.

Bokeh

The bokeh seems fairly smooth. Highlights are natural looking and well rounded thanks to the round diaphragm. Because the lens is relatively slow, the following images were stopped down only slightly.

Compatibility

Because this is an AF-S G lens, it is fully compatible with all Nikon DSLR's. It is also fully compatible with Nikon Z cameras using the Nikon FTZ adapter.

Apertures

Construction

This is largely a plastic lens, however, it is very solid. The manual focusing feels good and there is no slop in either the focus or zoom collars. The zoom does not creep so its 18mm zoom lock is not really needed. It does focus beyond infinity to accommodate the UV wavelength (maybe, presumably). Or is it do to manufacturing tolerances? Or is it because ED glass elements shift too much with temperature change?

This lens has a focus scale but no depth of field scale because it's a zoom.

The 77mm filter threads do not rotate.

Conclusion

Some compromises had to be made to make a 16.7× zoom lens that can go as wide as a 27mm and as long as a 450mm (full-frame equivalent, in DX mode). The compromises are minor for a do-it-all lens such as this. It is much easier and cheaper than carrying around a small arsenal of lenses that cover the same focal lengths. It can be said this lens exhibits the typical Nikkor quality and optical performance one would expect.

Specifications

Images

Related links:

• Nikon Nikkor Lens Reviews
• All Lens Reviews