Sharpness at 300mm

The sharpness tests for this review were carried out using a real-world subject rather than a test chart. The AF-S Nikkor 300mm F4E PF ED VR lens was attached to a Nikon D810 body, which in turn was mounted on a sturdy tripod. Mirror lock-up was activated and a cable release was used to prevent camera shake resulting from tripping the shutter. The 100% crops represent about 1/900th of the total frame area.

The full frame at 300mm

Wide open at f/4, the image centre is very sharp, even on the demanding and rather unforgiving 36-megapixel sensor of the Nikon D810. Stopping down a notch brings further improvements, while the f/8 and f11 settings also yield good results. Diffraction limits the optical performance from f16 onwards. The borders are sharpest at f/8.

Aperture	Centre Crop	Edge Crop
f/4
f/5.6
f/8
f/11
f/16
f/22
f/32