Sharpness at 200mm

For this review, the sharpness test is carried out by photographing a real-world sample, rather than a test chart. The AF-P Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E ED VR was mounted on a Nikon D850, which was in-turn mounted on a sturdy tripod. Exposure delay was activated to prevent camera-shake. Any changes in tone you might see across the crops are due to natural light changes during the shooting session.

The full frame at 200mm

The widest aperture at 200mm is f/5.3. Here, centre sharpness is pretty good, but it’s sharpest between f/8 and f/16. F/22 sees noticeable sharpness, dropping off even more at f/32 and f/38. At the edge, the best results can be seen between f/8 and f/22.

Aperture	Centre Crop	Edge Crop
f/5.3
f/5.6
f/8
f/11
f/16
f/22
f/32
f/38