| Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3G ED VR Lens I have been using a 5100 body with the DX VR lenses that came with the bundle - 18mm-55mm and 55mm-300mm. I recently purchased the DX 18-300mm VR Lens to replace both older lenses and save on having to switch between them during shooting. Checking out the new lens, I noticed something not quite the same when I racked out to 300mm on the new lens. Seemed to not give the same magnification as my old zoom @ 300mm. So I did some test shots to compare. At 18mm, both lenses were very close to same field of view, but there was a big difference in comparing the other zoom @ 300mm to the new 18-300mm zoom. I discovered, using the exposure data, that the field of view that the new lens gave @300mm was about the same as 185mm on the 55-300mm lens. Big discrepancy! So I went back to Best Buy and demonstrated this to the guy in the camera dept. and he too was mystified. We took another 18-300mm lens to test, same results on my 5100. We then tested the lenses on a 5500 body, same discrepancy. Then we tried a 70-300mm lens that had the same older zoom mechanism as my older 55-300mm and it gave matching 300mm results. So there seems to be a hugh difference with the newer zoom mechanism giving a true 300mm fov. Has anyone else encountered this issue and can anyone from Nikon explain why the difference? All lenses tested were AF VR series. Thanks! |
Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3G ED VR Lens
- Thread starter Pax333
- Start date
I have never used that lens (so I don't know nothin'), but that is not an uncommon issue with the internal focusing lenses. Your 185mm result is quite short, and I wondered if you were testing with a pretty short focus distance, a few feet, close to minimum distance? That result probably varies with distance, and long focus distances (where you'd probably use 300 mm) might test a lot better.
Sounds like something called focus breathing. I don't know much about it but as Wayne mentioned at close focusing distances the lens may not be true 300mm but at greater distances it may well be. I heard about this watching Tony Northrup videos on youtube, he found the latest Nikkor 70-200mm 2.8 did not give the same tight head shot portraits as the equivalent Canon lens. I think this is the video he talks about it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jva08HY6uLE
Thanks for the heads up about this lens though, I'd thought about it for my wife but that would put me off.
Thanks for the heads up about this lens though, I'd thought about it for my wife but that would put me off.
Focusing at long distances the field of view should be correct. It should only occur at fairly close focusing distances. As others have said, focus breathing is the issue. It's due to the way the lens is designed. It is a compromise so that the lens can focus close, yet still have the 300mm focal length at longer focus distances. It's part of the price for an "all-in-one" lens. You will probably also notice softer focus at longer focal lengths, especially near 300mm.