Photography Life

PL provides various digital photography news, reviews, articles, tips, tutorials and guides to photographers of all levels

  • Lens Reviews
  • Camera Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • Compare Cameras
  • Forum
    • Sign Up
    • Login
  • About
  • Search
Home โ†’ Reviews โ†’ Cameras and Lenses โ†’ Nikon 16-35mm f/4 VR Review

Nikon 16-35mm f/4 VR Review

By Nasim Mansurov 243 Comments
Last Updated On July 2, 2020

«»

Summary

The Nikon 16-35mm f/4G VR turned out to be an excellent lens with impressive optics, particularly when compared to its predecessor, the 17-35mm f/2.8D. It produces great center sharpness and impressive corners, especially once stopped down to smaller apertures. I did not expect the lens to be able to compete with expensive pro-grade lenses such as the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G and the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G, but as you can see from the comparisons pages, it held up pretty well.

Another big plus to the Nikon 16-35mm f/4G VR is Vibration Reduction, which truly does help when you shoot hand-held in dim environments. I used this lens in a number of dark environments and VR worked beautifully, allowing me to shoot at extremely slow shutter speeds of 1/10th of a second and slower – something I have never been able to do with other wide-angle lenses.

Nikon 16-35mm f4G VR Image Sample (4)
NIKON D700 + 16-35mm f/4 @ 35mm, ISO 200, 1/250, f/8.0

The lens is not without problems though. Although center sharpness is superb from 16mm to 24mm, the corners are rather soft at wide apertures, requiring the lens to be stopped down to the f/8+ range to get solid performance. It is also not a particularly good lens to use at the long end, where it shows the worst overall performance. Heavy distortion and vignetting are also a tad annoying, although they can be easily fixed in post-processing software.

However, I bet this lens would have been twice the price if it did not have all these issues, so I expected to see some compromises. Overall though, after shooting thousands of images with this lens, I am still very happy with the results and the above problems are workable in the field. If you are looking for a lens with a longer range to complement the Nikon 16-35mm f/4G VR, I highly recommend looking into the Nikon 24-120mm f/4G VR, which has very similar performance characteristics at an affordable price.

Where to Buy

B&H is currently selling the Nikon 16-35mm f/4G ED VR lens for $1,096.95 – check price

Nikon 16-35mm f/4 VR
  • Optical Performance
  • Features
  • Build Quality
  • Focus Speed and Accuracy
  • Handling
  • Image Stabilization
  • Value
  • Size and Weight

Photography Life Overall Rating

Photograhy Life Gold Award
4.6

Table of Contents

  • Overview and Specifications
  • Optical Features
  • Lens Comparisons
  • Summary
  • More Image Samples
  • Reader Comments
«»
Looking for even more exclusive content?

On Photography Life, you already get world-class articles with no advertising every day for free. As a Member, you'll get even more:

Silver ($5/mo)
  • Exclusive articles
  • Monthly Q&A chat
  • Early lens test results
  • "Creative Landscape Photography" eBook
Gold ($12/mo)
  • All that, PLUS:
  • Online workshops
  • Monthly photo critiques
  • Vote on our next lens reviews
 
Click Here to Join Today
 
Disclosures, Terms and Conditions and Support Options

Learn

  • Beginner Photography
  • Landscape Photography
  • Wildlife Photography
  • Portraiture
  • Post-Processing
  • Advanced Tutorials
Photography Life on Patreon

Reviews

  • Camera Reviews
  • Lens Reviews
  • Other Gear Reviews
  • Best Cameras and Lenses

Photography Tutorials

Photography Basics
Landscape Photography
Wildlife Photography
Macro Photography
Composition & Creativity
Black & White Photography
Night Sky Photography
Portrait Photography
Street Photography
Photography Videos

Unique Gift Ideas

Best Gifts for Photographers

Subscribe via Email

If you like our content, you can subscribe to our newsletter to receive weekly email updates using the link below:

Subscribe to our newsletter

Site Menu

  • About Us
  • Beginner Photography
  • Lens Database
  • Lens Index
  • Photo Spots
  • Search
  • Forum

Reviews

  • Reviews Archive
  • Camera Reviews
  • Lens Reviews
  • Other Gear Reviews

More

  • Contact Us
  • Subscribe
  • Workshops
  • Support Us
  • Submit Content

Copyright © 2025 ยท Photography Life

You are going to send email to

Move Comment