Nikon 70-200mm VR II Review

This is an in-depth review of the new professional Nikon AF-S 70-200mm F/2.8G ED VR II lens that was released earlier this year.

The Nikon 70-200mm lens is a professional-grade lens that was introduced by Nikon in early 80′s in a shape of 80-200mm f/2.8 constant aperture lens for professional news, sports, wildlife and portrait photographers. Since then, Nikon has been enhancing and redesigning the lens every 4-5 years, making it faster, sharper and more versatile by enhancing the optics and introducing new features.

The latest generation of the 70-200mm lens is no exception – Nikon completely redesigned the lens, adding more “ED” (Extra-Low Dispersion) optical elements, making this lens sharper than the previous version. Nikon also added the new “N” (Nano Crystal Coating) to this lens, which is supposed to minimize ghosting and lens flare. Other new features include a brand new “VR II” vibration reduction system, which provides a four stop benefit over non-VR systems and a new “A/M” focus mode for auto-focus priority.

So, compared to the older 70-200mm (which is a superb lens), this lens is supposed to deliver better sharpness and vibration reduction, better resistance to ghosting and flares and less vignetting on full frame bodies (which was a major weakness of the older lens). In this review, I will do my best to provide a thorough analysis of this lens, along with image samples and comparisons against other Nikon lenses.

1) Technical specifications

These are taken from the Nikon press release.

1. Focal length: 70-200mm
2. Maximum aperture: f/2.8
3. Minimum aperture: f/22
4. Lens construction: 21 elements in 16 groups (with 7 ED and some Nano Crystal Coat-deposited lens elements)
5. Picture angle: 34°20’ – 12°20’ (22°50’ – 8° with Nikon DX format)
6. Closest focusing distance: 1.4 m/4.6 ft. (throughout entire zoom range)
7. No. of diaphragm blades: 9 (rounded)
8. Filter/attachment size: 77mm
9. Diameter x length (extension from lens mount): Approximately 87 x 205.5 mm/3.4 x 8.1 in.
10. Weight: Approximately 1,540 g/3.4 lb.

2) Lens handling

Just like its predecessors, the new Nikon 70-200mm VR II lens is built like a tank to last a lifetime. It is made of solid metal and can easily withstand tough weather, occasional bumps and is well protected against dust and moisture. The 21 optical elements within the lens, along with the metal body add to the weight – making it 3.4 pounds in total weight, which makes it necessary to hold the lens with one hand, while holding the camera with another. The lens feels solid in hands and the zoom ring is easy to rotate from 70 to 200mm and vice versa. The focus ring is located close to the zoom ring, making it easy to reach it with fingers for manual focus, without having to move the hand to the front of the lens barrel. Compared to the older version of this lens, the zoom ring is a little longer, while the focus ring is a little shorter, which was a smart move by Nikon. After-all, this lens is created for automatic focusing and the focus ring does not get nearly as much use as the zoom ring.

3) Focus acquisition speed and accuracy

When it comes to speed of focus acquisition, the 70-200mm is one of the best performers in the Nikon line of professional lenses. The lens autofocus system with SWM (Silent Wave Motor) is quiet, while focusing is instant and accurate, even in low light conditions. I recently shot a corporate event with this lens and I was amazed at the speed and accuracy of focus when mounted on an FX sensor. Here is a good example of how the lens focuses in a very dim environment:

Click here to see the unprocessed, full JPEG version of the shot (80% Quality @ 1,6 MB).

As you can see in the picture, the room was poorly lit with candles and very dim light and yet the lens focused fast and dead-on, wide open at f/2.8. Out of approximately 250 pictures that I took that day, only about 5 were slightly out of focus, mainly due to the limited amount of light in the meeting room. Quick note: none of the test images have been processed in Photoshop – I extracted them as they were from Lightroom without making any changes.

4) Lens sharpness and contrast

I won’t go much into lens sharpness, because you can see all sample images yourself in the next several pages. But if you can’t wait, see the large version of the above picture – I shot it at f/2.8. This lens performs so well at f/2.8, that you wouldn’t want to shoot it at higher apertures, unless you need to increase the depth of field. In fact, once I saw how good the shots were coming out at f/2.8, I just kept shooting wide open and really loving the results! Best of all, the lens has consistent sharpness across the board, from 70mm all the way to 200mm. Color and contrast have also been improved over the previous 70-200mm.

5) Vibration Reduction – VR II

The new vibration reduction system in this lens is truly amazing! I loved my old 70-200mm, but it made me nervous to shoot it below 1/40-1/50th of a second. After I got the new 70-200mm VRII in my hands, I decided to see what I can get with this lens at much lower shutter speeds. Take a look at this shot:

Unbelievable! Tack sharp at 1/13th of a second at f/2.8! Good luck trying the same on the previous 70-200mm! Click here to get the unprocessed, full JPEG (80% Quality @ 1 MB). The new vibration reduction system really works and you can get some magical shots with this lens. Wedding photographers will absolutely love this!

6) Bokeh

The bokeh on 70-200mm lenses has always been outstanding. Although I no longer have my old 70-200mm lens (I sold it at a higher price than what I paid for it 3 years ago) to compare with, I feel that the bokeh actually looks better on this lens than on its predecessor. I went through some of my archived images and I can say that the bokeh on the previous 70-200mm does look a little harsher, although I rarely shot the older lens wide open, due to softness at very large apertures between f/2.8 and f/4.0.

Anyway, I still had to do a bokeh test of this lens against the Nikon cream machine and the king of bokeh – Nikon 85mm f/1.4. Take a look at these image samples:

As you can see, the bokeh on the new 70-200mm VRII is very comparable to the bokeh of 85mm f/1.4 – it is very smooth and “creamy”.

7) Vignetting

Vignetting has been greatly reduced at lower focal lengths, but at 200mm it is still quite noticeable when shot against a plain bright background. Nothing to worry about though, as I could not spot vignetting on my images at 200mm – I only noticed it during testing. Here are some test shots that reveal vignetting @ 200mm at different apertures:

At higher apertures of f/8.0 and above, the effect is minimized to the degree where it is barely visible.

8) Ghosting and Flare

I haven’t yet performed a real test for ghosting and flare outside, but judging by what I have seen so far, the effects are almost completely gone – I did not see any ghosting while shooting indoors. I’m also sure that lens flare has been substantially reduced (due to “N” Nano-Coating), otherwise Nikon would not have changed the lens hood to be shorter and more open. Talking about the lens hood – I was able to squeeze the lens into my bag with the lens hood attached! I was never able to do that on my older lens, because it was too long and I had to reverse the hood to fit it into my camera bag.

Click here to see the unprocessed, full JPEG image (80% Quality @ 2 MB)

9) Tripod support

I rarely use this lens on a tripod, but if you need to mount it on a tripod for whatever reason, the tripod mount is very stable and sturdy, just like on its predecessor. Since nothing changed on the tripod mount and the leg is the same as on the previous model, I was able to re-attach my RRS “L-10 Lens Plate” on the lens leg and it worked perfectly! When mounted on a tripod, don’t forget to turn “VR” off.

10) Distortion

This lens is practically distortion-free. There is a slight amount of it on both short and long focal lengths (barrel and pincushion), but nothing to be worried about. When you use this lens for architectural work and for photographing textures and patterns, you can fix the minor distortion in Photoshop very easily by using the Lens Correction filter.

11) Increased Field of View

The new Nikon 70-200mm VR II has a larger FoV (Field of View or Angle of View) compared to the older version at close focus distances. I spotted the difference while doing a comparison of this lens against the Nikon 300mm f/4.0 AF-S. With a 1.7x teleconverter mounted on the lens, I could not produce a similar field of view at 300mm when standing very close to the subject – the lens was far off. Even at 340mm (200mm x 1.7x TC) the lens was shorter than what Nikon 300mm was giving me, which is not good news for those who want to use this lens for close telephoto work. When I did a similar comparison with my older 70-200mm, I didn’t have that big of a difference, so there is definitely a loss in magnification at both short and long focal lengths when in close focus. If you stand further away (15+ feet) from the subject with focus near infinity, the field of view issue goes away and the focal length returns back to normal. This happens due to focus “breathing”, an effect when focal length changes with the change in focus distance.

So, how pronounced is this difference, especially on the long end at 200mm? At the closest focus distance (4.6 feet) @ 200mm, the lens is like a 135mm lens. As you move about 10 feet away from the subject, the focal length changes to approximately 165mm-170mm. When the lens is near infinity, the focal length is very close to actual 200mm. Does this present a problem? Not really. If you are taking a picture of a subject at a close distance and you are getting a larger field of view, simply get closer to the subject. At longer distances and when focused close to infinity, the new and the older lens have almost exactly the same field of view (near 200mm).

Let’s now move on to the good stuff – Sharpness tests. Select the next page from the drop-down below.