Support this site by shopping below

To compare real-life sharpness at a mid focal length of 55mm, we shot this scene with the Nikkor DX 16-85mm VR, DX 18-105mm VR and DX 18-200mm VR II, using a Nikon D90 body at all apertures. The D90 was set to RAW to avoid in-camera JPEG corrections; all files were processed in Nikon's Capture NX 2.2.3 with lens corrections disabled and the default sharpness of 3. VR was disabled on each lens, and magnified assistance in Live View used to confirm the focusing.

From this point on in our tests we have also included results from the Nikkor DX 55-200mm VR budget telephoto zoom. When coupled with a standard kit lens, this delivers the same focal range as the Nikkor super-zoom, albeit with two lenses rather than one. But it's a comfortably cheaper option, and two lenses with shorter ranges have the potential to perform better than a single model with a long range. So on this page we've matched the coverage from the original three lenses against the DX 55-200mm VR when zoomed-out to 55mm.

You can see the results from the first three lenses below, and as before we've split them into two tables separating corner and centre performance. After these tables you'll see results comparing the DX 55-200mm VR, so be sure to scroll all the way down after reading this first set of results!

At first glance the corner performance between the three lenses looks fairly similar, albeit with a reduction in contrast on the super-zoom. Look closely though and you'll see some interesting differences emerging. Despite its premium status, the DX 16-85mm VR suffers from the worst fringing of the three here, although to be fair it's still pretty minimal.

In terms of corner sharpness and detail at 55mm, the DX 18-200mm VR II is pretty close to the DX 16-85mm VR, but the surprise result here is from the DX 18-105mm VR kit lens, which delivers the crispest result of the three, especially when closed to f8. A very respectable result from the kit lens here.

Scrolling down to the centre crops and once again the performance becomes pretty close, although the DX 16-85mm VR goes some way to redeem itself with what's arguably the sharpest result. This is most noticeable in the smaller tree to the lower right of the crops which is better-defined on the DX 16-85mm VR samples, although the DX 18-105mm VR kit lens is very close behind. In the meantime, the DX 18-200mm VR II super-zoom is fractionally softer than the others, lacking their ultimate fine detail in the foliage, although again it's fairly subtle.

Now scroll down beyond both results tables to see how the DX 55-200mm VR telephoto zoom compares at the same focal length, or if you're not interested in this lens, head straight on over to our Nikkor DX 18-200mm VR II results at 85mm.

Support this site by shopping below

To compare real-life sharpness at a mid focal length of 55mm, we shot this scene with the Nikkor DX 55-200mm VR, DX 18-105mm VR and DX 18-200mm VR II, using a Nikon D90 body at all apertures. The D90 was set to RAW to avoid in-camera JPEG corrections; all files were processed in Nikon's Capture NX 2.2.3 with lens corrections disabled and the default sharpness of 3. VR was disabled on each lens, and magnified assistance in Live View used to confirm the focusing.

The first table compares crops taken from the corner of each image at different aperture settings and the second table compares crops taken from the centres of the same images.

We had high-hopes for the DX 55-200mm VR here as it sports a much shorter range than the super-zoom, with the potential to out-perform it, but that's certainly not the case at 55mm. The corner results from the budget telephoto zoom are much softer than the other samples, and there's also greater evidence of geometric distortion.

Scroll down though and you'll see the disappointing corner results are somewhat redeemed by decent-innings at the centre, where there's finer details, especially in the smaller, lighter coloured tree. Like the DX 16-85mm VR above, these details are slightly better-defined than either the DX 18-105mm VR or the DX 18-200mm VR II. Now let's see how all four lenses compare at a short-telephoto focal length in our Nikkor DX 18-200mm VR II 85mm results.