Nikon 1 30-110mm VR vs Nikon 1 10-30mm VR @ 30mm Center Frame
Let’s see how the Nikon 1 30-110mm VR compares to the Nikon 1 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6 VR kit lens that comes with the Nikon 1 V1 / J1 cameras. Since there is only one focal length (30mm) that overlaps between these lenses, the below comparison only shows one center and one corner frame comparison.
As expected, the Nikon 1 30-110mm performs much better at 30mm, even wide open (Left: Nikon 1 30-110mm VR, Right: Nikon 1 10-30mm VR):
Sharpness difference is very apparent, especially when both lenses are stopped down to f/5.6:
Again, diffraction kicks in at f/8 and the image quality starts to degrade on both, although the 30-110mm still looks a world better:
Stopped down to f/11, both lenses perform rather poorly, but the 10-30mm looks much worse in comparison:
Again, I won’t be providing any f/16 crops, since image quality is very poor at the minimum aperture.
Nikon 1 30-110mm VR vs Nikon 1 10-30mm VR @ 30mm Corner Frame
Let’s see how the corners compare wide open. Surprisingly, the Nikon 1 30-110mm in the corners does not perform as good in comparison, so the differences are pretty small:
At f/5.6 the Nikon 1 30-110mm looks better and sharper:
Stopped down further to f/8, the Nikon 1 30-110mm improves even more, reaching its sweet spot. Again, it looks better than the 10-30mm lens:
And the same is true for f/11, although diffraction definitely takes its toll:
Nikon 1 30-110mm VR vs Nikon 1 10-30mm VR Conclusion
Both the Nikon 1 10-30mm VR and the Nikon 1 30-110mm VR lenses are for two different needs and they are meant to complement each other – the 10-30mm lens covers wider angles and mid-range, while the 30-110mm lens covers telephoto. As you can see from the above image crops, the Nikon 30-110mm VR is much sharper than the 10-30mm lens at 30mm in comparison. This is expected, because it is a specialized lens for telephoto needs and it should perform well at longer focal lengths. As for vignetting, the Nikon 10-30mm vignettes less at 30mm in comparison, especially in the extreme corners, but don’t forget that it is also at f/5.6 vs f/3.8. Ghosting and flares are not handled well by the 30-110mm VR due to the nature of telephoto lens optics. AF speed seems to be about the same on both lenses. As for physical differences, the Nikon 1 30-110mm is a much longer lens compared to the 10-30mm, especially when fully extended.
Nikon 1 30-110mm VR vs Nikon 1 10-100mm VR @ 30mm Center Frame
One interesting lens that Nikon introduced for the Nikon 1 mount is the Nikon 1 10-100mm f/4.5-5.6 VR PD-ZOOM, also known as “1 NIKKOR VR 10-100mm f/4.5-5.6 PD-ZOOM”. This superzoom is the most expensive Nikon CX lens and it is also the biggest/bulkiest of the four. Compared to the 30-100mm lens, the Nikon 1 10-100mm is equipped with a new “Voice Coil AF Motor” (VCM), which allows zooming in and out by using the power zoom switch on the lens. Its focal length is equivalent to a 27–270mm lens in 35mm format and it is also equipped with VR (plus a bunch of nice optical features from DSLR lenses). Comparing these two lenses was rather difficult, because there is no fixed position of focal lengths on the 10-100mm lens and I had to move slightly, then take a picture and check its focal length. As a result, the comparison image crops might not have the same field of view.
The Nikon 1 30-110mm seems to perform better at 30mm, even wide open (Left: Nikon 1 30-110mm VR @ f/3.8, Right: Nikon 1 10-100mm VR @ f/5.3):
With both stopped down to f/5.6 the sharpness difference is reduced, but the 30-110mm still seems to be a little sharper in comparison:
Again, diffraction kicks in at f/8 and the image quality starts to degrade:
Stopped down to f/11, both lenses perform rather poorly:
Again, I won’t be providing any f/16 crops, since image quality is very poor at the minimum aperture.
Nikon 1 30-110mm vs Nikon 1 10-100mm VR @ 30mm Corner Frame
Let’s see how the corners compare wide open. Surprisingly, the Nikon 1 30-110mm in the corners does not perform as good in comparison at its maximum aperture of f/3.8:
Stopped down to f/5.6 the Nikon 1 30-110mm gets much sharper, but still looks weaker in comparison:
Stopped down further to f/8, the Nikon 1 30-110mm improves even more, reaching its sweet spot. But it is still worse than the 10-100mm in comparison:
At f/11, diffraction reduces resolution on both lenses and they start to look about the same:
Nikon 1 30-110mm VR vs Nikon 1 10-100mm VR @ 40mm Center Frame
The sweet spot of the Nikon 1 10-100mm lens is at 30mm. Let’s see what happens when the lens is zoomed to 40mm. Again, the wide open performance of the 30-110mm is a little better:
Nothing changes at f/5.6 – the 30-110mm is still sharper:
Stopping down just reduces resolution:
And at f/11 both lenses look about the same:
Nikon 1 30-110mm VR vs Nikon 1 10-100mm VR @ 40mm Corner Frame
Let’s take a look at the corners at 40mm. Once again, the Nikon 10-110mm shows better extreme corner performance wide open (1 stop of difference between the two):
Stopping down to f/5.6 does not make much difference:
Although by f/8 both lenses start looking about the same:
And even more so at f/11:
Nikon 1 30-110mm VR vs Nikon 1 10-100mm VR @ 60mm Center Frame
At 60mm the center performance of both lenses seems to be about the same:
Nothing changes at f/5.6:
And at f/8.0:
Plenty of diffraction at f/11 on both:
Nikon 1 30-110mm VR vs Nikon 1 10-100mm VR @ 60mm Corner Frame
Zoomed in to 60mm, the corner performance of the Nikon 1 10-100mm clearly weakens. Now both lenses are starting to look about the same wide open:
Differences are further reduced at f/5.6, although the Nikon 1 10-100mm has some green fringing visible now:
About the same at f/8:
Again, losing plenty of resolution at f/11:
Nikon 1 30-110mm VR vs Nikon 1 10-100mm VR @ 80mm Center Frame
Moving on to 80mm, lenses look about the same:
Nikon 1 30-110mm VR vs Nikon 1 10-100mm VR @ 80mm Corner Frame
As we get closer to the long range, the corner performance of the Nikon 30-110mm looks better due to less chromatic aberration:
Nikon 1 30-110mm VR @ 110mm vs Nikon 1 10-100mm VR @ 100mm Center Frame
At their longest range, again, the lenses seem to show about the same center frame performance, with a slight lead by the 30-110mm:
Nikon 1 30-110mm VR @ 110mm vs Nikon 1 10-100mm VR @ 100mm Corner Frame
The 30-110mm looks better in the corners because it has less chromatic aberration (and less vignetting):
Nikon 1 30-110mm VR vs Nikon 1 10-100mm VR Conclusion
As you can see from the above image crops, the Nikon 30-110mm VR starts out sharper in the center and weaker in the corners, then catches up in the corners towards its longest focal length. Overall, I would say the differences are rather small when both lenses are stopped down to the same aperture, which is disappointing for the 30-110mm lens. I guess I just expected a little more out of a dedicated telephoto lens. At focal lengths below 60mm the Nikon 1 30-110mm has a 1 stop lead, but it also has a weaker corner performance.
In terms of other optical performance differences, the Nikon 1 30-110mm has much less vignetting at f/5.6 throughout its focal range. The 30-110mm has more barrel distortion at 30mm, but less pincushion distortion above 60mm. Both lenses are equally allergic to flare and ghosting, which is why Nikon provided lens hoods. AF speed seems to be about the same on both lenses. As for lens build, the Nikon 1 30-110mm feels a little “plasticky” compared to the all-metal Nikon 1 10-100mm. Each lens has its advantages and disadvantages. The clear advantage of the 30-110mm is its compact size and light weight, while the 10-100mm is a much more versatile lens that almost packs the performance of both the 10-30mm kit and the 30-110mm telephoto lenses into one lens.