Sharpness Cont... 3

Sharpness at 300mm

For this test, the Nikon AF-S Nikkor 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G VR lens was attached to a Nikon D7000 body, which in turn was mounted on a sturdy tripod. Exposure delay mode was activated. Tonal and colour variances across the crops are due to changes in natural light during the session. The 100% crops represent about 1/400th of the total frame area.

The full frame at 300mm

The sweet spot of sharpness at full telephoto is f/8, but the lens is almost as sharp at f/5.6 and f/11. This is a very good performance, as most consumer zooms that go to 300mm tend to be quite soft at that focal length.

Aperture	Centre Crop	Edge Crop
f/5.6
f/8
f/11
f/16
f/22
f/29