Nikon 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G ED-IF AF-S DX Nikkor Lens Review

Handling and features
Performance
Verdict
Specification


This standard zoom lens for Nikon DX format cameras was introduced with the Nikon D70 as a kit lens option and is available to pick up new for between £170 and £250 depending on the supplier. As this lens has been around for quite a while it often crops up used and can be picked up in good condition for around £130. It sports internal focusing with full time manual override and a relatively bright f/3.5-4.5 maximum aperture.

More recently released alternatives from Nikon include the AF-S 16-85mm VR f/4-5.6, which costs around £420 and includes a longer zoom range and vibration reduction. The cheaper AF-S 18-105mm f/4-5.6 VR lens may also be considered as it only costs around £230.

The closest equivalent from third party manufacturers is the Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4 OS HSM, which costs around £350. This lens has a slight brighter maximum aperture than the Nikon 18-70mm and also includes optical stabilisation.

Nikon 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G ED-IF AF-S DX Nikkor Handling and features

As with Nikon's other sub-professional lenses, the lens barrel is constructed from high quality plastics with a metal lens mount. It has a slightly textured finish, which doesn’t show marks easily and a large rubberised zoom ring, which extends in two sections and doesn't suffer from zoom creep when pointed downwards. It balances extremely well on the Nikon D300 body used for testing and is quite lightweight at only 420g.

As focusing is performed internally the 67mm filter thread does not rotate during use, making this lens ideal for use with graduated and polarising filters. Focus speeds are reasonably quick and the thin manual focus ring offers a decent amount of resistance, which makes applying fine adjustments fairly straightforward.

The minimum focus distance of 38cm isn't overly special for a lens in this focal range, although I rarely found myself hitting the minimum focus stop during normal use.

Nikon 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G ED-IF AF-S DX Nikkor Performance

Sharpness in the centre portion of the frame at 18mm is already excellent at maximum aperture and the quality towards the edges is good enough. Stopping down improves clarity across the frame and peak sharpness is achieved at f/8, where the clarity is excellent across the frame.

A similar pattern of performance is repeated at 35mm, with excellent centre sharpness at maximum aperture, with the clarity improving towards the edges of the frame as the lens is stopped down. Peak quality across the frame is achieved between f/5.6 and f/8 at this focal length.

Finally at 70mm, the lens holds up well, maintaining excellent sharpness in the centre at maximum aperture and very good sharpness towards the edges of the frame. Peak quality is again achieved between f/5.6 and f/8.

Resolution @ 18mm		Resolution @ 35mm
Resolution @ 70mm		How to read our charts The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges. Averaging them out gives the red weighted column. The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution. The taller the column, the better the lens performance. Simple. For this review, the lens was tested on a Nikon D300 using Imatest.

Chromatic aberrations may start to become visible in high contrast regions towards the edges of the frame at either end of the zoom range. Imatest recorded values approaching one pixel width, which may require some correction in image editing software.

Chromatic aberrations @ 18mm		Chromatic aberrations @ 35mm
Chromatic aberrations @ 70mm		How to read our charts Chromatic aberration is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. It can be cured in software. Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more. For this review, the lens was tested on a Nikon D300 using Imatest.

Falloff of illumination towards the corners of the frame is reasonably controlled. At 18mm the corners are 1.36 stops darker than the image centre at maximum aperture and this reduces to 0.97 stops at 70mm. Visually uniform illumination is achieved at f/5.6 throughout the zoom range.

Distortion at 18mm can be quite noticeable for a lens of this focal length, with Imatest recording 4.22% barrel distortion. At 70mm 0.484% pincushion distortion is present, which is much less noticeable. Luckily the distortion pattern is uniform across the frame, so any curvature of lines should be relatively easy to correct in image editing software.

A fairly deep petal shaped hood is supplied with the lens, which does an excellent job of shielding the front element from extraneous light that may cause flare of loss of contrast. When shooting into the light, this lens is fairly resistant to flare and good levels of contrast are maintained.

Nikon AF-S DX 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G Sample Photos

Nikon 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G ED-IF AF-S DX Nikkor Verdict

Although this isn't the latest lens design, it still holds up well against its contemporaries, producing images with excellent sharpness in the centre at maximum aperture, and across the frame at optimum apertures.

Owners of Nikon's current 18-55mm lens may still look to this lens as an upgrade, and rightly so. The lack of vibration reduction is more than made up for in increased performance, build quality and a more handy zoom range for day-to-day snaps. Those who picked this lens up with an older camera, such as the Nikon D70, may wish to hang onto this optic, unless they have particular specialised needs beyond what this standard zoom offers.

Nikon 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G ED-IF AF-S DX Nikkor Pros

Excellent sharpness, especially when stopped down a little
Handy zoom range
Lightweight
Decent build quality

Nikon 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G ED-IF AF-S DX Nikkor Cons

Barrel distortion at 18mm
Slightly high CA levels at either end of the zoom range

FEATURES
HANDLING
PERFORMANCE
VALUE FOR MONEY
OVERALL

Nikon AF-S DX 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G Specifications

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