Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-85 mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Lens

I've had a Nikon Nikkor AF 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5D ED (DX) kit lens for years now, and I've had a great number of lovely pictures captured using it. It's got a number of down sides for me though, so I've been looking around for a, not too expensive, alternative to replace it. My ideal would be the professional Nikkor AF-S 17-35mm f/2.8D IF-EDI, but finally settled on the Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Lens. It's certainly not as fast as the 17-35, but at half the price it's a great compromise. Allowing for the crop factor, the 16-85mm focal length used on a DX camera gives effective angles of view of around 24 - 125mm. This overcomes one of the minor issues I had with the 18-35mm: It's a good wide angle lens, but I was forever having to swap to my 24-80mm zoom to get the longer view. This lens covers that ground nicely. It's no replacement for my 28-80 f2.8 Tokina, but it's good to have the overlap. The biggest problem I wished to overcome was that while the images from my older 18-35mm where pretty sharp, the barrel distortion at the 18mm end of the zoom was ridiculous. I can correct the bulging in Photoshop if I was careful to make sure that the plane of the camera in front of the photographic subject was well placed, but that's not always possible. The end result is that it can be very painful trying to straighten out wonky lines. There is still a little barrel distortion at the 16mm end of the 16-85mm lens, but even with the extra 2mm focal length gain, the distortion is very mild. If you're not photographing straight lines (alas, architecture is one of my favourite subjects) then you'll probably not even notice it. Being restricted to smaller apertures is not great in poor light, and my old lens gave me problems in that department. I also like shooting graffiti, which is often seen in low light conditions. The 16-85mm isn't any faster then my old lens, but with the amazing VR mechanism built in I can hand hold in poorly lit places with long shutter speeds which would have me ramping up the ISO with the old lens. The end result is that this lens is quite an upgrade. It's wider and longer at the same time, it's no faster then my old lens, but with VR it overcomes some of the issues associated with low-light shooting. It covers the ground that I needed two lenses to cover previously and it's all but removed the barrel distortion problems I've had in the past. Shooting with the new lens is a real joy. The lens feels solid and robust, with a good heft to it. The zoom action feels smooth, and can be taken from the 16mm to 85mm extremes with one twist. The focus with the Sonic Wave motor is reasonably quick, and as yet I've not noticed any problems trying to auto-focus in low light, where other lenses I have had will tend to 'hunt' before eventually locking up under similar conditions. I've only shot a few dozen images through the lens to date, but those have come back sharp, with great contrast and little by way of colour aberrations even under close scrutiny. In summery then, I think for a compromise lens (the 17-35mm f/2.8D ED-IF AF-S NIKKOR would be great but at around £1000... ouch!) this offers phenomenal value for money at this price. It will undoubtedly become the lens most attached to my camera going forward.

This is my second copy of this super Nikon 16-85mm lens. While using a new wide angle lens exclusively, my wife 'borrowed' my old 16-85 to use on her Nikon D90, she has the 18-135mm without VR and camera shake at the telephoto end was a problem as it was in fading light. No such problems with the 16-85mm, although at 85mm, the telephoto is a touch short for her. Still when I wanted my 16-85 back I could sense its recovery could cause problems, so I did the 'right' thing and bought a new one. Even though I had the choice of all the current Nikon and 3rd party lenses to choose from, I still regard this as the best DX zoom available for the zoom range around 16 - 200mm. Surprisingly, the 2mm at the wide end makes a significant difference over 18mm, but the 115mm over the telephoto end is not so noticeable. Those who 'need' extra at the Tele end would probably be better off with the 18-300mm anyway. One caveat, it's rumoured that this lens will be updated by Nikon soon, perhaps to a 16-85 F4, I doubt it would be optically better and for me the F4 would offer little over the F3.5 - F5.6 as this lens performs best at F5.6 to F8, and the VR II is so good that I can shoot hand held down to a quarter of a second. The increase in price may be the most noticeable feature of a new version. There is a little distortion at 16mm which completely disappears by about 20mm through to 85mm which can mostly, but not entirely, be rectified by post processing. By 18mm it has noticeably less distortion than the 18 - 200mm Nikon at 18mm. This lens really excels with its contrast and colour rendition which I think is the best of all current Nikon DX zooms, much better than my 12-24mm F4 at one third the cost. The lens is reasonably light, it fits well on the D90 / D7000 bodies or the smaller D40 / D3100 / D5100 bodies. It has a Silent Wave Motor (SWM) which is very quiet and very quick; it focuses accurately at all points even in very dim light. With all VR lenses, there is a need to let the VR settle before taking the shot, I never make allowances for this and have never had a blurred picture because the VR hadn't settled, so it too must perform very quickly. In summary, the Nikon 16-85mm F3.5 - F5.6 AF-S lens with VR II is an excellent choice and excellent value for those needing a versatile standard walk around zoom.

I really wished I had not been tempted by the 18-200mm VR Nikon lens before eventually settling on this.....I had the 18-200mm for a week before returning it as I was so disappointed with the image quality and sharpness (maybe a had a bad copy) I then tried the Tamron 18-270, slow slow slow focus, and aperture, so not a great success either, eventually sold it on Ebay. So having been burned by trying to get a lens for everything, I finally decided on a 3 lens solution, This Nikon 16-85 plus a Nikon 70-300mm VR, plus for really low light or portrait situations a Nikon 50mm 1.4 prime. So enough about those other lenses what about this. I have to say I am thrilled with the image quality, pictures are sharp, full of punch and contrast, and the extra couple of mm at the wide end is really handy. (If you are using anything wider than 16mm in my opinion it starts to look freaky anyway). The lens is a really handy compact size, but very solid feeling and nicely built. This lens pretty much stays on the camera 90% of the time as its all you really need. Admittedly sometimes you wish for a bit of extra reach without having to swap, but I have to keep reminding myself that, yes you can get more reach with a superzoom but the pictures are not going to be very sharp. The autofocus is adequate but not super speedy, so you have to leave the camera on continual focus if trying to capture running children etc, once focused on the moving target it will track it quite well so you get the majority of pictures sharp. By the way the 70-300 is also a brilliant lens. So don't be suckered by a superzoom, this is as zoomy as you should really get without too many compromises,

Just bought this to replace my old 18-105.since I bought the D90 last summer replacing my old buddy D40 and couldn't get the magic out with the 18-105 , then I decided the 16-85( not a big fan of telephoto) and the magic came back. D90 and 16-85 can give you better result photos then 18-105( only if you know how to use your camera well) the reason I gave 4 stars is a bit of over price but that is photography it's all about magic

I bought this lens at the end of April and have used it for about four months on a D90 & D7000 . This lens is fast to focus and very quiet and accurate when doing so , it is much better made than the 18-105 but it should be as it costs considerably more to purchase. The images are very sharp and the lens does not suffer much from flare as I thought it may at the wide angle end . The 16mm at the wide angle end of the zoom range is very useful , and is equivalent to a 24mm prime lens I used to use on my previous 35mm SLR. The other end of the zoom range at 85mm is not a problem compared to 105mm on my previous 18-105 as the extra quality should compensate. In summary a very good lens , if a little too expensive , but I would definitely recommend this lens. J.A.

I upgraded from a D5000 camera to a D7000. And as I sold the D5000 the kit lens 18-55 mm went with it. I needed a new wide-mid zoom. As I owned a 70-300 mm Nikkor VR II which is a great lens, I was looking for something in the 18-70 mm range. I went through a lot of lens reviews and finally decided to buy 16-85 mm VR II. This lens is great. Light and very very sharp, clearly as sharp as the70-300mm VRII. The wide end of the zoom is great for landscapes. 2 mm may appear small (16-18 mm), but practically it is a lot. The VR works great and I get sharp images at 1/10 shutter speed. I have this lens on my camera 90 percent of the time. Surely I would recommend it people lookig for a lens in this range.

I bought this after much soul searching with the intention of replacing my Nikon 18-200mm as I thought that the extra 2mm at the wide angle lens would more than make up for the loss of the 85-200mm range. After 3 weeks of use in a number of situations, I have had to revise my intentions. This lens now complements the 18-200mm and it is fitted to my D7000 almost permanently. It is a superb lens producing crystal clear images with no discernable distortion or aberrations and that extra 2mm makes a world of difference especially in and around buildings, towns and cities. The build is up to the usual high Nikon standard and I am absolutely delighted with it. Am I going to get rid of the 18-200mm? No. It is still an excellent (albeit inferior) lens but the extra range makes it indispensible under a number of circumstances such as visits to nature reserves, bird sanctuaries, zoos etc. I am in the lucky position whereby I can keep them both, however if I had to make a choice, I would choose the 16-85mm without reservation. It is a first class lens and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

This camera lens does exactly what it says on the tin. I've been using an 18 - 105mm Nikor lens with my D90 DSLR camera but I've been a little dissatisfied with the quality of the focus when the images are viewed on my PC monitor. Some time ago I purchased a 70 - 300mm telephoto lens for the same camera and took numerous shots at the Aviation Viewing Park at Manchester Airport and I was astonished at the clarity of the images I was getting. Unfortunately, a telephoto lens can't be used with any degree of success for everyday photography so I new I had to get myself a replacement lens for the 18 - 105mm. I reviewed some of the images that accompanied this item when browsing on Amazon and I was impressed with what I saw and the focal parameters would complement the telephoto lens. Boy, am I glad I made this choice. Perfect shots every time, clarity like you wouldn't believe. Even hand-held shots with the VR enabled are excellent, which is particularly beneficial when taking family shots during an informal gathering, like bbq's and the like. All in all, no regrets.

I ordered this item on Friday morning and thought the Sunday Delivery date was a bit ambitious. However, to my most pleasant surprise, the lens was delivered on time at Lunchtime on Sunday. Two days!!! And an added bonus is the price being $20 cheaper than a pre-loved item fom a major camera store ✔✔✔

Ottimo tuttofare nikon... Costo leggermente alto, ma qualità e versatilità eccezionali. Su nikon d300 e d50 ha una nitidezza favolosa, autofocus rapido e vr sfruttabile. distorce ai due estremi, e vignetta a tutta apertura, ma entrambe sono corregibili con 2 click in post produzione, meglio ancora se si scatta in nef.

If you take many pictures, there have been times when your primary lens has not done the job. Say you are in a small room attempting to take a portrait shot, you have a 35mm lens on the camera, and you run out of room to maneuver. I was there recently. The picture was very important, and the subject was chopped off at the shoulders. I really wanted a full portrait. Finally you remember you have the 16-85mm in your bag and the day is saved. Hopefully you are smarter than I, and you keep the lens on the camera and carry the primary as a spare. Are you, like me, afraid to carry $700 hanging from your neck? Live life, my friend, live dangerously, don't let fear dictate the excellence of your photography. Do two important things before you go out: get a very good neck strap, get an equally good filter to protect the expensive lens. Make use of this wonderful telephoto and take great shots. Cons: The lens is heavy. Don't expect to hold it steady for a long time in your hand. Oh, you are a twenty year old athelete. Maybe you can, but your father shouldn't try it. It has VR which is very handy, but you will want a good tripod. Pros: Have you ever taken beautiful shots in wide angle and found the corners of the pictures have blacked out? When I bought the D5100 kit with the 18-55mm lens the lens took decent pictures at 28mm. Wider than that you don't want to display your great talent. No such problem occurs with this lens. If you take terrible pictures, you are a terrible photographer. For myself I take a lot of macro, landscape and portrait shots. Wonderful results. If the pictures are any good it is due to the D7000 and this lens. Will it work for you? Probably, but there is no guarantee. How good are you? Hopefully this lelps you to decide if you want this lens. For the money it is excellent. Thank you for your time and attention. Barrie Bracken

A Must have lens in your kit, replacing many lens in your kit. Obviously not in competition with telephoto lens. Image quality and lens wide aperture is really amazing. Thanks! to Amazon for such a good deal , got lens at almost half price, with peace of mind.

Pues eso, si quieres tener un objetivo pegado al cuerpo de tu cámara, este es el tuyo, bastante nítido en todas las focales y cerrando un poco el diafragma aun mejor (a partir de 6,3 mejora mucho), va durito (buena construcción), es un poco oscuro, mejor un 2,8-4 claro que si, pero es lo que tiene tener tanto rango focal. La relación calidad-precio no es óptima, pero vale lo que cuesta. No distorsiona demasiado a 16, y para la mayoría de las fotos de viajes vale. Con la d7000 se lleva de miedo. Incluye el típico parasol y bolsa.