Nikkor AF-S DX 55-200mm f4-5.6 IF-ED Review

The inclusion of Nikon’s Vibration Reduction system gives this lens added appeal, but it also makes it a little bigger and fatter than its non-VR predecessor (which still continues, incidentally), and also hikes the price, of course.

But hang on. It’s easy to get a bit too snobbish about lenses, and to imagine that specs alone are all that matters. You’ve only got to compare this lens in the flesh with a 70-300mm, for example, or a superzoom or an expensive constant-aperture telephoto to realise that low cost and modest specs aren’t always bad. Yes, it’s plasticky, but it’s small enough to fit in a spare compartment in your camera bag and light enough not to dislocate your shoulder during a day’s shooting. Its size and weight means that it doesn’t upset the balance of even the lightest Nikon body, and the smooth, light zoom action comes as a welcome relief after the heavy, cumbersome operation of bigger lenses. Cheap it may be, but this lens’s handling is very sweet indeed.

Optically, it’s adequate rather than exceptional, but you’d have to pay a lot more (and put up with a lot more weight) to get something noticeably better. The VR is worth having too, and not just for the reduction in camera shake (Nikon claims a three stop advantage) but because of the way it steadies up the image in the viewfinder. It’s sharp enough at short-medium focal lengths, and while the definition  does tail off at the long end, if you can stop down to f8 or f11 it does pick up. Interestingly, the older non-VR 55-200mm does seem just a tad sharper, but much of the time the vibration reduction in the new lens will cancel out any optical advantage the old one might have anyway.

If your photographic interests mean that you’re using a telephoto all the time, you might want to invest in a better one than this. But if you only use a telephoto occasionally, or you just want to fill a gap in your lens range, you can’t afford to ignore this Nikon 55-200mm VR. It’s better than its specs and its plastic construction suggest, and not just optically but in terms of handling and everyday convenience too.