Summary
The Nikon 70-200mm f/4G VR was definitely worth the wait. As you can see from this review, there is very little not to like about the lens. With its excellent performance from center to corner, no noticeable field curvature issues, beautiful color rendition, fast autofocus, extremely useful vibration reduction and no focus breathing, it even tops the high-end Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR in a number of ways. It makes sense to use this lens over the f/2.8 version for photographing small subjects at close distances, because it has longer reach and its minimum focus distance is much shorter.
Add a teleconverter with a close-up filter and you got yourself a nice macro setup. Yes, its bokeh is not as smooth, it has visible vignetting at wide apertures and its distortion levels are noticeable on both short and long ends of the zoom range. However, if it did not have these issues, it would not have cost $1K less than the 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II now, would it? Gladly, aside from bokeh, many of these issues can be easily fixed in Lightroom and Photoshop, so I would not consider them showstoppers by any means.
Similar to other superb f/4 lenses like Nikon 16-35mm f/4G VR and Nikon 24-120mm f/4G VR, I find the Nikon 70-200mm f/4G VR of incredible value. If you enjoy using the 16-35mm or the 24-120mm lenses, take my word for it – the Nikon 70-200mm f/4G VR is even more impressive optically.
Where to Buy
The Nikon 70-200mm f/4G VR is available for purchase at B&H for $1,396.95 (as of 02/12/2020). The optional RT-1 collar is also available for $164.95.
Nikon 70-200mm f/4G VR
- Optical Performance
- Features
- Bokeh Quality
- Build Quality
- Focus Speed and Accuracy
- Handling
- Image Stabilization
- Value
- Size and Weight
Photography Life Overall Rating
