Nikon AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/2.8G ED VRII Review

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/2.8G ED VRII Performance

During testing, this lens produced remarkably consistent sharpness across the frame. At f/2.8 sharpness is very good across the frame and stopping down to between f/8 and f/11 results in outstanding clarity across the frame.

Resolution at 300mm

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.

Levels of chromatic aberrations are extremely well controlled for a super-telephoto lens, only just exceeding 0.5 pixel widths towards the edges of the frame. This low level of fringing should be difficult to spot, even in very large prints, and harsh crops from the edges of the frame.

Chromatic aberration at 300mm

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 is very well controlled for a lens of this type. At f/2.8 the corners are 1.42 stops darker than the image centre and visually uniform illumination is achieved with the aperture stopped down to f/5.6.

Distortion is also extremely well controlled with Imatest only being able to detect 0.879% pincushion distortion. This low level will be difficult to spot in normal photographs, but if you require absolutely straight lines, you'll be glad to find that the distortion pattern is uniform across the frame. This should make applying any corrections in image editing software fairly straightforward.

Thanks to Nikon's Nano-crystal coating, this lens is highly resistant to flare and contrast holds up incredibly well, even when shooting into the light at maximum aperture. A tube-like circular hood with a carbon-fibre effect finish comes supplied with the lens, which does a superb job of shading the lens from extraneous light that may cause issues.

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