AF 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D VR ED

So you have done some research and found a lot of negative reports on the 80-400mm VR lens and are worried that they might be true. Your pocket is filled with cash but you’re having second thoughts on whether to buy this zoom or not.

In summary, the reports on the web and various forums complain about the AF being very sluggish with hints of hunting and that beyond 300mm the optical performance diminishes. Is this true? Well, yes and no. To a certain degree some of it can be thrown at this lens when in anger or disappointment or when chart shooting, but in practical terms this lens can produce outstanding results if treated the right way and under the right circumstances as I will explain further down. But for those not familiar with this lens, let’s first have a closer look at its specifications and description.


Quick specs

• It is comprised of 17 elements in 11 groups.
• It uses a 9-bladed diaphragm design with curved blades for smooth bokeh
• The front of the lens, which doesn’t rotate accepts 77mm filters.
• The AF mechanism is the old screwdriver type
• The close focusing capability is acceptable at 2.3m
• Thankfully, the tripod collar is removable
• The size is compact for such range at only 91mm x 170mm.
• And the weight is OK at 1,340g especially when compared to the heavier AFS 80-200mm.
  

First impressions
This is a small and compact design, considering we are talking about a 400mm lens on a FX body. It is also light for such a complex design which comprises of 17 elements, so handholding this compact long reach telephoto-zoom is not that painful, though I am of a large build, so I personally find no trouble carrying this lens when birding, though it will cause fatigue quite quickly especially when combined with a pro body which is recommended for balancing reasons and better AF performance. So it’s not big and heavy like the faster telephoto lenses (300mm f/2.8) but rather small and light similar to the AF 80-200mm f/2.8D. Plus we shouldn’t forget that this zoom is equivalent to a 120-600mm focal length on a DX format body.

Optical performance
The optical performance is great. Its sharp with hardly any noticeable distortion or flare and I don’t think you can find many zooms that would let you shoot against the sun with such performance, well maybe the last incarnation of the AF 80-200mm can. On the subject of flaring, if you are getting flare with your copy, I would suggest you clean your lens and remove any unnecessary filters from the front of it.

Bokeh
Although complex designs such as this 17-element zoom don’t help in the bokeh department, the OOF (out-of-focus) areas are portrayed with a nice, pleasant and smooth creamy effect that is very pleasing thanks in part to its incorporation of a rounded 9-bladed diaphragm.

Distortion
Distortion is usually a problem with wide angle lenses or for photographers shooting architecture, so I don’t think anyone considering this lens should worry about distortion. As I have already mentioned, I don’t shoot charts or go pixel-peeping, so as long as my photographs look pleasing, I’m happy. For my shooting style (nature & wildlife), this lens has no visible distortion.

Vignetting
On the subject of vignetting, the 80-400mm is surprisingly good when compared to my old AF 80-200mm f/2.8D lens which had noticeable light fall off toward the edges of the frame wide open and at f4. And this observation is based on the results from a full frame camera, so on a DX format camera the vignetting is a non-issue.

Sharpness
On the subject of sharpness I have a warning to pass along. If you are not getting sharp results from this lens, one reason may be because your shutter speeds are too low and another is discussed further down in the autofocusing section. Don’t think that VR means you can shoot this lens at ridiculously slow speeds. VR is for helping to stabilize camera movement and not for forgetting everything we learned with film and long lenses. Shutter speeds and good light are needed to get sharp results, and my god can this lens perform, delivering very good sharpness even wide open at 400mm. I do tend to close 1/3 or 2/3 of a stop if the light permits or even zoom back a little if the subject is large enough in the frame, not because my results otherwise would be soft or bad, but because those actions will help to gain a little more quality out of an already excellent optic. This lens can produce good results in any situation, but it excels at shooting static subjects that are well lit and are close to the lens.

Flycatcher (muscicapa striata) Nikon D200 & VR 80-400mm F/4,5-5,6D @ 400mm AF-C, f/8 @ 1/250s , +0,7EV, Auto (ISO 180)

Detail at 100%

VR Technology
Most people are shooting wildlife with this lens, so VR is of little help, though a welcome addition. As mentioned before, VR is designed to compensate for camera movement. As such, it can not stabilize a moving subject. People need to understand this. Don’t be naïve and think that VR will produce sharp results on its own. The best way to get the most out of this lens is to forget about its VR capabilities. You are shooting at 400mm (600mm on DX) and so should be trying to maximize your yield by aiming for the highest shutter speeds possible. Let VR work in the background, and it will do its part. Some inexperienced photographers, buy this lens and expect to be shooting birds handheld with shutter speeds of 1/60 sec. forget it!

If you want sharp results, you need to “continue” using long lens techniques, support yourself and camera as much as possible, aim for the highest speeds and just let the VR technology do its thing. This lens requires that you shoot 5-6 frames in succession so you can pick the best result. Some are usually soft or blurred looking, but then in the series you will find one or two that really pop. I often also vary my focus so as long as my subject permits, I fire off 5-6 frames and then refocus and shoot again. Although I have some very sharp results at some insanely slow shutter speeds, I usually try to stick with speeds of 1/200sec or faster on my D200. With a DX body the old rule of thumb says that a shutter close to 1/600sec is needed to get a chance at sharp results. Thankfully, most of the times, I end up with more sharp results to choose from and less to throw out.

Autofocusing
OK, up until now I haven’t really pointed out any of its negative points. One of those is its AF speed and AF acquisition. These are the biggest negative points of this lens though they can be overcome with a little finesse.

The lens reminds me of my beloved AF 80-200mm which was also a slow focusing lens. Not only are they both screwdriver type lenses, but the amount of travel that the mechanism has to traverse compared to other lenses, is of a quadruple measure. Nikon is forced to use low gearing so as to be able to move the heavy optics involved in this design. Hopefully, they will come up with a new design which will entail the movement of less glass, so as to release this zoom range with an AFS mechanism.

So the 80-400mm is a slow focusing lens. And having a slow aperture of f/5.6 @ 400mm doesn’t help much either when it comes to focusing accurately on the chosen subject. When you read the various post about softness, most of them really are referring to out-of-focus results which they interpret as unsharp. You need to secure a well focused subject before you can comment on sharpness, and quite often this lens will focus, stop and under closer inspection reveal an OOF image. This is why I tend to refocus often between bursts, in an attempt to increase my chances at getting a properly focused shot. Sometimes, I will even resort to manual focusing.

There are ways to improve its AF capabilities. One is to pre-focus so the AF will have less distance to travel and another is to use the focus range limiter switch. I am a bit puzzled as to why the limiting range is from 2.3m to just under 4 and then from 5 to infinity. I would have preferred an overlap such as 2.3m to 10m and from 7m to infinity.

Of course, another way to improve AF, is with the use of a pro body. Pro-calibre cameras such as the F5 and the D series offer greater torque from their AF motors compared to their smaller brothers like the Dx00 series cameras, so the autofocusing on the pro cameras can be expected to perform better and faster.

Cruising at 60kph , Nikon D200 & VR 80-400mm F/4,5-5,6D @ 400mm, AF-C, f/8 @ 1/320s, ISO 250

From the 10 frames, all were in pretty good as far as focus is concerned. They were all usable but only the last 3 were really good. This series doesn’t prove that this lens is good for sports. Its not! But it can under certain circumstances do action when needed. If you want a sports/action lens, look elsewhere.

This is the cleanest shot of that series. The rest aren’t that far from it.

With this lens, there is no need to switch from one of the AF modes to MF on the body. To quickly change from AF to MF and back again you can use the updated Auto/Manual focus mode switch which quite surprisingly worked better than I originally thought. It can be moved quite easily (once you get used to it) with the hand supporting the camera and there is no need to lock the selection unless you want to. It’s no comparison to the AFS solutions, but at least you have that option, even though it’s a dated design.

As we have already seen, the optics that needs to be moved for AF are heavy and that’s one of the reasons of its slow AF performance. The same issue applies to zooming, which also requires the movement of a lot of glass, so it requires some muscle to turn the zoom ring which can be frightening at first if you are used to a small zoom like the AFS 24-120mm.

An issue I had with my copy is that the AF mechanism within the lens seems at times to couple with the zoom ring. This is quite annoying and I usually come across it when supporting my lens with my left hand (tripod collar removed).

On a lighter note, one accessory that can complement this lens (and the AFS 300mm f/4 as well), is the Canon close-up 500D filter. This looks like a regular screw on filter, but is of a high quality two lens design that helps to reduce the minimum focus distance. Although the lens can shoot some remarkable close-ups, with the addition of the 500D, those butterflies really jump of the page.

Final words
If you are not happy with your results, remember to use the fastest shutter speeds possible and double-check the focusing accuracy. The important thing to remember is that this lens can deliver some excellent results, though it may require extra work from the photographer and some extra light as well. But thankfully it’s not as bad as shooting with an old MF lens. It does offer AF, though a bit slow, it does offer a quick manual focus override (sort of), it has VR (first generation), and carries some great optics with some very smooth bokeh all packaged in a well built casing. The AF 80-400mm VR is not an action lens; it’s a nature-trekking lens.

IN SUMMARY

Chromatic aberrations
At 400mm and on most DX format cameras some chromatic aberrations (usually purple fringing) are present but can be removed by software. The D300 and D3 combined with Capture NX help to remove most traces automatically.

Vignetting
On the DX format cameras there is no noticeable light fall off to worry about.

Distortion
On the DX format cameras no distortion is noticeable unless you shoot a brick wall. In such a case, some minor barrel distortion is will become noticeable at the 80mm focal length and some minor pincushion distortion will become noticeable at 400mm. So really nothing to worry about in most cases.

Sharpness
Between 80mm and 300mm this lens can produce very good results, but the AFS 70-300mm VR is noticeably sharper so if you are interested in this range, the much cheaper 70-300mm is the better choice. But most people will purchase this lens for its 400mm focal length. At the long end, this zoom can deliver sharp results. Wide open its just acceptably sharp in the center with soft edges but still useable. Closing down a little to f/7.1 improves the sharpness and contrast and at f/8 performance is very good all over. At f/11 performance peaks and anything after that degrades fast.

NOTES
This is the only way, as of this writing, to get to a portable and affordable Nikkor telephoto lens equipped with VR technology. AF performance will disappoint more often than you would like but overall the lens can bring home some excellent results if you are patient and persistent. I would also like to add, that even though the VR is first generation, it really performs well and helps to nail sharp images. A lot of folks look at the MTF charts and compare this lens with the AFS 300mm f/4 which does not have VR and think they can get sharper results, but this is usually not the case since in real life wobbly hands and slow shutter speeds need VR to be able to transfer the capabilities of the optics.



If you liked this article, please leave a comment or post a link to this review at your favorite hang-out so others can get to read it as well. Donations through PayPal (at bottom of page) are also welcome - Thanks for the support.

MTF chart as published by Nikon

WIDE

TELE

How to read the MTF chart