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Lens review

Nikon Nikkor AF-S 200–500 mm f/5.6E ED VR

30 October 2018
Arkadiusz Olech

6. Distortion

Super telephoto zoom lenses with high zoom ratio often are plagued by distinct pincushion distortion. In the case of the Nikkor 200-500 mm VR the zoom ratio is just 2.5x and the angles of view are narrow so we didn’t expect any serious problems in this category.

Indeed, there are no visible problems on the smaller sensor of the Nikon D500. In that case the pincushion distortion is very small and difficult to notice in real life photos. At 200, 300, 400 and 500 m we reached the following results: +0.50%, +0.53%, +0.49% and +0.37%.

The problem increases after passing to full frame but still it remains in the lower levels of moderate values because the deformations exceed 1% in most of cases just slightly. The appropriate results are as follows: +1.07%, +1.27%, +1.16% and +0.92%


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Nikon D500, 200 mm
Nikon Nikkor AF-S 200–500 mm f/5.6E ED VR - Distortion
Nikon D500, 300 mm
Nikon Nikkor AF-S 200–500 mm f/5.6E ED VR - Distortion
Nikon D500, 400 mm
Nikon Nikkor AF-S 200–500 mm f/5.6E ED VR - Distortion
Nikon D500, 500 mm
Nikon Nikkor AF-S 200–500 mm f/5.6E ED VR - Distortion

Nikon D3x, 200 mm
Nikon Nikkor AF-S 200–500 mm f/5.6E ED VR - Distortion
Nikon D3x, 300 mm
Nikon Nikkor AF-S 200–500 mm f/5.6E ED VR - Distortion
Nikon D3x, 400 mm
Nikon Nikkor AF-S 200–500 mm f/5.6E ED VR - Distortion
Nikon D3x, 500 mm
Nikon Nikkor AF-S 200–500 mm f/5.6E ED VR - Distortion