Nikkor DX kit lens group test: 18-55mm vs 18-70mm vs 18-135mm vs 18-200mm VR Cameralabs vignetting results

Outdoor / Resolution / Corner sharpness / Fringe and macro / Geometry / Vignetting

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Nikkor DX kit lens group test wide-angle uniformity comparison

To measure and compare light fall-off at wide angle, we photographed a white target using a highly diffused custom filter with each lens at its shortest focal length and the aperture wide open. The images were then analysed with Imatest and the full areas presented here at a reduced resolution. Bigger percentages are better.

Zoomed-out to 18mm with their apertures wide open, the most noticeable light fall-off comes from the DX 18-70mm. Almost 10% less dark in the corners are the DX 18-55mm and DX 18-135mm lenses, although the best result here comes from the DX 18-200mm; impressive considering it also has the longest focal range.

Nikkor DX 18-55mm II f/3.5-5.6	Nikkor DX 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5	Nikkor DX 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6	Nikkor DX 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR

DX 18-55mm II at 18mm f3.5 Mean corner fall-off: 52.1%	DX 18-70mm at 18mm f3.5 Mean corner fall-off: 41.5%	DX 18-135mm at 18mm f3.5 Mean corner fall-off: 50.2%	DX 18-200mm at 18mm f3.5 Mean corner fall-off: 62.2%

Nikkor DX kit lens group test telephoto uniformity comparison

To measure and compare light fall-off at telephoto, we photographed a white target using a highly diffused custom filter with each lens at its longest focal length and the aperture wide open. The images were then analysed with Imatest and the full areas presented here at a reduced resolution. Bigger percentages are better.

Zoomed-into their longest focal lengths and with their apertures wide open, the most obvious light fall-off once again comes from the DX 18-70mm, although the DX 18-135mm is right behind it; indeed the darkening in the corners of the 18-135mm is obvious even with the aperture closed to f8, see previous page.

Coming in way ahead of both these lenses are the DX 18-55mm and DX 18-200mm models which exhibit noticeably less darkening in the corners. Once again this is particularly impressive for the DX 18-200mm considering its large 11.1x focal range.

Nikkor DX 18-55mm II f/3.5-5.6	Nikkor DX 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5	Nikkor DX 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6	Nikkor DX 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR

DX 18-55mm II at 55mm f5.6 Mean corner fall-off: 73.7%	DX 18-70mm at 70mm f4.5 Mean corner fall-off: 55.4%	DX 18-135mm at 135mm f5.6 Mean corner fall-off: 58.5%	DX 18-200mm at 200mm f5.6 Mean corner fall-off: 73.4%

Nikkor DX kit lens group test results

Outdoor / Resolution / Corner sharpness / Fringe and macro / Geometry / Vignetting

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