Nikon 24-120 AF-S VR- G ED F/3.5-4.5 Lens
Nikon 24-120mm VR Lens - All Photos: George Collazo ©
Discovering the Nikon 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S VR Lens: Versatility and Performance
The Nikon 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S VR lens is a versatile and popular choice among photographers, offering a broad focal range and advanced features that cater to a variety of shooting scenarios. Let’s explore what makes this lens a valuable addition to any photographer’s kit.
Build Quality and Design
The Nikon 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S VR lens is designed with practicality in mind. It features a compact and lightweight build, making it easy to carry around for extended shooting sessions. The lens is constructed with high-quality materials, ensuring durability and reliability in various shooting conditions.
Optical Performance
This lens covers a wide focal range from 24mm to 120mm, making it suitable for everything from wide-angle landscapes to medium telephoto portraits. The variable aperture of f/3.5-5.6 allows for decent low-light performance, although it may not be as fast as some prime lenses. The inclusion of Extra-low Dispersion (ED) glass elements helps to minimize chromatic aberrations, resulting in sharp and clear images.
Vibration Reduction (VR) Technology
One of the standout features of this lens is Nikon’s Vibration Reduction (VR) technology. This feature allows photographers to shoot at slower shutter speeds without the risk of camera shake, which is particularly useful in low-light conditions or when shooting handheld. The VR system provides up to three stops of image stabilization, enhancing the overall sharpness of your photos.
Autofocus and Handling
The lens is equipped with Nikon’s Silent Wave Motor (SWM) for fast and quiet autofocus performance. This makes it ideal for both still photography and video recording. The internal focusing (IF) design ensures that the lens does not change in size during focusing, which is a great advantage when using polarizing filters or lens hoods.
Practical Uses
Thanks to its versatile focal range, the Nikon 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S VR lens is suitable for a wide range of photography genres. It’s an excellent choice for travel photography, where you might encounter diverse subjects and shooting conditions. The lens is also well-suited for portrait photography, offering a flattering perspective and smooth background blur.
Value for Money
The Nikon 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S VR lens offers great value for money, especially for photographers looking for a versatile zoom lens without breaking the bank. Its combination of advanced features, solid build quality, and optical performance makes it a worthwhile investment for both amateur and professional photographers.
Pictures taken with Nikon 24-120 AFS VR- G ED F/3.5-4.5 Lens.
Welcome to the Vibration Reduction world (VR). This lens is an improved version of the old 24-120 AF-D lens. Looking around the web you’ll find some mixed reviews. We can’t talk for others but for ourselves. The first tests on a Nikon D100 showed that I was capable of handholding the lens down to 120mm (180mm with crop factor) and getting sharp pictures at 1/8 sec. Of course, ”mileage may vary” especially if you had a lot of coffee.
Nikon 24-120 AF-S F/3.5-5.6 ‘VR’ Key Features
-Nikon D-type design provides precise distance information for flash and ambient light exposure processes.
–G-type NIKKOR is designed exclusively for use with Nikon SLR models where the aperture is controlled from the camera body.
-2 Aspherical lens elements for low distortion.
-2 Extra-low Dispersion (ED) glass elements for minimized chromatic aberration.
-Internal Focus (IF) design for smoother focusing and great body balance.
-Exclusive Silent Wave Motor (SWM) enables ultra-high-speed auto focusing with exceptional accuracy and powerful super-quiet operation.
-Rounded diaphragm to make out-of-focus elements appear more natural.
-First Nikon wide-angle zoom lens with Vibration Reduction (VR).
-Compact and lightweight.
Tests on Fuji Velvia 50 slides revealed considerable light fall-off when using the lens wide open. But we do not use ours that way, we bought this lens to be mainly used on a Nikon F5. We can get sharp pictures using ISO 50 slides shot at F/8, 11 & F/16. The lens exceeded our expectations based on our particular needs.
When we need or want to travel light and cover almost all corners, we dump in our Lowepro Micro Trekker a Nikon D100 my Tokina 12-24 F/4, our Nikon 24-120 VR, and an SB-600 flash. Regarding digital, light falloff is less evident due to the 1.5x crop factor. The lens performs fairly well at F/5.6 and very well from F/8 to soft at F/22. Refraction is notable and affects the overall quality of the pictures at such aperture. Luckily, most of us don’t need such a small lens aperture often.
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