Nikon AF-S Nikkor 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED VR Lens Review

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED VR Performance

At 24mm and maximum aperture, sharpness in the centre of the frame is already excellent, with the clarity towards the edges of the frame not too far behind. Stopping the aperture down improves sharpness with peak quality being achieved at f/5.6 for this focal length. Here clarity in the centre is outstanding and excellent towards the edges of the frame.

Zooming to 50mm results in a drop in overall clarity, but sharpness in the centre is still very good in the centre of the frame at maximum aperture. Clarity towards the edges of the frame falls just below good levels at this setting. Peak quality across the frame is achieved with the aperture stopped down to between f/8 and f/11 where sharpness in the centre is excellent and very good sharpness is present towards the edges of the frame.

Zooming to 85mm sees a slight increases in sharpness towards the edges of the frame, with good levels of clarity being recorded during testing. Sharpness in the centre of the frame remains very good at maximum aperture and peak quality across the frame is achieved at f/11.

Resolution at 24mm		Resolution at 50mm
Resolution at 85mm		How to read our charts The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges. Averaging them out gives the red weighted column. The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution. The taller the column, the better the lens performance. Simple. For this review, the lens was tested on a Nikon D700 using Imatest.

Chromatic aberrations are well controlled throughout the zoom range barely exceeding half a pixel width between 24mm and 50mm. There is a slight increase in fringing at 85mm, but CA levels of 0.75 pixel widths should not pose any issues for general photography.

Chromatic aberration at 24mm		Chromatic aberration at 50mm
Chromatic aberration at 85mm		How to read our charts Chromatic aberration is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. It can be cured in software. Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more. For this review, the lens was tested on a Nikon D700 using Imatest.

Falloff of illumination towards the corners of the frame is quite pronounced for a lens sporting a moderate maximum aperture. At 24mm the corners are 2.83 stops darker than the image centre and at 85mm the corners are 1.93 stops darker. Visually uniform illumination isn't achieved until the lens is stopped down to f/8 or beyond throughout the zoom range.

Distortion is also quite strong at the extremes of the zoom range. At 24mm 4.74% barrel distortion is present and this is replaced with 2.78% pincushion at 85mm. Both these distortion values can be quite visible in images with straight lines towards the edges of the frame. Luckily the distortion pattern is uniform across the frame throughout the zoom range, which should make applying corrections relatively straightforward in image editing software afterwards.

A particularly deep petal shaped hood is provided with this lens, which does an excellent job of shielding the lens from extraneous light that may cause flare or loss of contrast. This lens is pretty resistant to flare, although some flare may appear when shooting into the light at 24mm, and a slight loss of contrast can be seen at 85mm under the same conditions.

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