Nikkor 16-85mm f/3.5-4.5G: Six Primes in One

The AF-S DX Nikkor 16-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED VR has six ideal focal length designations on the barrel, which are my go-to numbers. Although DSLR zoom lenses are continuously variable, I find myself going straight to these numbers first, depending on the subject matter. Generally, I set the lens to 24mm, which gets me closest to the classic 35mm focal length. For portraits, I tend to work around 50mm. Starting from the short end:

Nikkor 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6	35mm equivalent	f-stop range
16mm	24mm	f3.5-f22
24mm	36mm	f/4.0-f/25
35mm	52.5mm	f/4.5-f/29
50mm	75mm	f/5.0-f/32
70mm	105mm	f/5.6-f/36
85mm	127mm	f5.6-f/36

Like the Canon SD780 IS and Nikon P5100, the maximum and minimum apertures are variable depending on the focal length of the lens. At 85mm, it goes all the way up to f/36! This is not as great an advantage as it seems though, since diffraction begins to soften images above f/11. To get the best combination of depth of field vs. sharpness, work between f/8 and f/11.

Remember the old photojournalists’ saying, “f/8 and don’t be late”.

On the other hand, f/5.6 is a memorable number, as it’s available across the board, and gives good all-around results regardless of which focal length you use. Happily, as long as you don’t manually change the aperture, the D90 returns to the maximum aperture for any given focal length automatically as you zoom back out. But if you change it, it sticks, which is one reason I like to work with a single focal length whenever I can.

Prime lenses such as the Nikkor 20mm f/2.8D, 35mm f/1.8G, 50mm f/1.4G, and 85mm f/1.4G all have distinct advantages in both size and speed over the Nikkor 16-85mm, but VR narrows that gap somewhat. In theory, at 35mm, VR makes the 16-85mm behave similar to f/1.8, (except for the ability to freeze action), but it can't compete with the compactness of the 35mm f/1.8.