Specifications

1) Lens Specifications

Main Features:

1. A high-power zoom lens that covers the 10–100mm range of focal lengths (angle of view equivalent to 27–270mm in 35mm format)
2. A 10x power drive zoom lens
3. Retractable lens mechanism
4. Equipped with a vibration reduction (VR) mechanism
5. Zooming speed (3 speeds available) can be adjusted with positioning of the power drive zoom switch
6. Smooth zooming with the built-in power drive zoom mechanism, an unusual feature for interchangeable lenses
7. The perfect lens for those who want to maximize the enjoyment of recording still images, movies, or both
8. Metal mount adopted for increased durability, and a metal exterior for an elegant feel
9. High Refractive Index (HRI) lens element achieves great optical performance in an even more compact body
10. Two aspherical lens elements
11. Three ED (Extra-low Dispersion) glass elements

2) Lens Handling and Build

If you have used Nikon Nikkor lenses in the past, you will not be disappointed with the new Nikon 1 10-100mm VR, which resembles many Nikkor DSLR lenses in terms of build and quality. It has a tough, all-metal exterior with a single rubber ring for better traction and handling. Similar to other 1 Nikkor lenses, the end of the lens barrel features a gray metal ring for aesthetics. The lens employs an automatic retractable lens mechanism, which greatly reduces the size of the lens when it is not in use. When camera is turned on, the lens automatically extends and unless the switch on the side of the lens is set to “Lock”, it will also automatically collapse when the camera is turned off. Once the lens is fully extended, the length of the lens does not change, whether it is set to 10mm or 100mm. Just like the rest of the Nikon 1 lenses, the Nikon 1 10-100mm has a solid metal mount for better durability.

Nikon put plenty of thought into the new Nikon 1 lens line-up and developed the CX mount from scratch. Compared to the current Nikon DX/FX mounts with 8 contacts, the Nikon 1 lenses and cameras have a total of 12 contacts, which means more communication capabilities between Nikon 1 cameras and lenses. As a result, many of the lens functions such as VR, AF / Manual Focus, are now controlled by the camera. Even the manual focus ring has been removed to simplify lens operation. There are only two switches on the side of the lens: “T / W” (Telephoto / Wide) is used to zoom in and out, while the “Off / Lock” switch controls the automatic lens retraction mechanism. When set to “Off” mode, the camera will automatically extend and collapse when turned on and off, while setting it to “Lock” will keep the lens barrel extended, so that you can start shooting as soon as the camera is turned on. Another positive outcome of the new CX mount with extra contacts is the ability to upgrade lens firmware through the camera, which has never been possible before. Now you see an extra “L” firmware in addition to the traditional “A” and “B” under “Firmware version” in camera setup menu, which shows what firmware the lens is running on. Nikon has already identified and resolved a serious problem with Vibration Reduction on the Nikon 1 10-100mm lens and released a firmware update.

Another similarity between some of the Nikon DSLR lenses and the Nikon 1 10-100mm is, unfortunately, size. The Nikon 1 10-100mm is currently the largest and the bulkiest lens for the Nikon 1 system. In fact, it is larger and heavier than most Nikon DSLR kit lenses and it is almost as heavy as the Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G VR II superzoom. This is a huge disadvantage to this otherwise optically almost perfect lens (more on lens optics below). In fact, as I have already previously stated in my other Nikon 1 lens reviews, this lens defeats the purpose of a compact Nikon 1 camera system. It is so big, bulky and heavy, that it even looks unnatural when mounted on the Nikon 1 V1 and J1 cameras. I had a brief conversation about the Nikon 1 system with Laurie Excell, while shooting alongside her at Bosque del Apache and she also complained about size, bulk and weight of the 10-100mm lens. She said that she immediately returned the lens, because she felt it was “too inconvenient” for a compact camera. While videographers will certainly appreciate the capabilities of this lens, as a photographer, I personally would stay away from this lens for the above reasons. Take a look at how the lens compares to other 1 Nikkor lenses:

3) Lens Features and Optics

The Nikon 1 10-100mm f/4.5-5.6 VR features some of the best lens features and optics found in modern Nikon lenses, which is expected, given the size, weight and price of the lens. It sports the latest generation of Vibration Reduction (VR II), Super Integrated Coating (SIC), Internal Focusing (IF) and Voice Coil AF Motor (VCM). Vibration Reduction is Nikon’s term for image stabilization, which is a very useful feature in low light situations, where camera shake and slow shutter speed can cause images to be blurry. Super Integrated Coating helps reduce lens flare and ghosting. Internal focusing means that the lens barrel does not extend or rotate when the lens focuses. And finally, Voice Coil AF Motor is a brand new motor specifically developed for this lens, which allows for super fast and near-silent autofocus + zoom operation.

The Nikon 1 10-100mm f/4.5-5.6 VR has a complex optical design consisting of a total of 21 lens elements (in 14 groups), 3 of which are Extra-Dispersion (ED), 2 are Aspherical (AS) and 1 is a High Refractive Index (HRI). Extra-Dispersion lens elements help reduce chromatic aberrations and other optical problems and increase the overall sharpness and contrast of the lens. Aspherical lenses greatly reduce spherical aberration, which also increases lens sharpness and overall performance. High Refractive Index lens
compensates for field curvature and spherical aberrations. With so many correcting and enhancing glass elements, no wonder why the Nikon 1 10-100mm VR is so big and heavy.

The lens is shipped with the HB-N102 Bayonet Lens Hood, which not only helps eliminate ghosting and flares in daylight conditions (blocking sun rays from reaching the front lens element), but also helps protect the same front element. Similar to other Nikkor lens hoods, it can be mounted in reverse position for more compact storage.

As for its video capabilities, here is a video I shot at Bosque del Apache that demonstrates the silent zooming and AF capabilities of the lens:

As you can see, the zoom action is indeed very smooth and you cannot hear the motor at all in the video. VR works great for video recording, but you have to be careful when panning the camera with VR turned on, because it will occasionally bump the camera up or down, as seen in a couple of spots in the video. This is normal VR behavior and the same thing would happen if you were to pan while taking stills. Here is another one shot in slow motion with the Nikon 1 V1 camera:

4) Autofocus Performance and Accuracy

As I have already pointed out in my Nikon 1 V1 Review, the new autofocus system on the Nikon 1 system is phenomenal when compared to other mirrorless competitors. It is very fast and accurate, thanks to the hybrid autofocus system that Nikon specifically developed for the Nikon 1 cameras. Hybrid autofocus is a combination of phase and contrast detect AF that work together to obtain quick and accurate focus. Similar to the “Silent Stepping AF Motor” (STM) on the Nikon 1 10-30mm VR lens, the Voice Coil AF Motor seems to be as fast in acquiring focus in daylight conditions. In low-light conditions, AF speed definitely takes a hit, not because of the lens, but because the camera automatically switches to contrast-detect only mode. The biggest difference between the STM and the VCM motor, is that the latter is silent. Yes, you heard it right – it literally focuses without any noise whatsoever. I even tried putting the lens right next to my ear while half-pressing the shutter and I still could not hear a thing.

Overall, I had a very positive experience with autofocus performance and accuracy of the Nikon 1 10-100mm VR lens. It truly does acquire focus quickly, silently and most importantly, accurately. I shot several hundred images with the 10-100mm lens and I had a hard time finding images that were out of focus. Large depth of field due to the small 2.7x crop factor sensor surely plays a role here, but I have shot with point and shoot cameras with even smaller sensors before and managed to get a lot more out of focus images.

5) Vibration Reduction

The Image Stabilization / Vibration Reduction technology found on the Nikon 1 10-100mm f/4.5-5.6 lens is very similar to the VR technology found on modern DSLR lenses – it is very effective when shot at slow shutter speeds. There are, however, some differences in the way VR is deployed on the new mirrorless cameras versus DSLR lenses. First, VR does not engage on DSLR lenses unless the shutter button is half-pressed (or AF-ON pressed). This is not the case with the Nikon mirrorless cameras – when VR is turned on in camera setup, it is constantly on. You do not have to half-press the shutter button – it will always be active. This seems to be a flaw in the Nikon 1 system design, because having VR turned on constantly will have its toll on battery life. Second, VR is no longer controlled through lens switches, but rather from inside the camera menu (as reported earlier). Lastly, for some strange reason, both the Nikon 1 J1 and V1 cameras were shipped with VR turned on in “Active” mode. This is rather strange, because the active mode is supposed to be used when a person stands on a moving platform (inside a car, on a boat, etc). Not sure if this is a firmware issue, but it would be interesting to find out exactly why Nikon decided to do that. Despite these differences and reported issues, Vibration Reduction works great. I would leave it on “Normal” mode within the camera setup and only turn it off when mounting the camera on a tripod.

6) Lens sharpness, contrast and color rendition

As I reveal in my sharpness tests in the subsequent pages of this review, the performance of the Nikon 1 10-100mm f/3.5-5.6 VR is excellent throughout the focal length of the lens and its aperture range. You can see many examples of lens sharpness taken in a controlled environment in the next page, along with comparisons against other lenses.

A quick note on lens sharpness that generally applies to all Nikon 1 Nikkor lenses. Due to the small size of the sensor and the nature of compact optics, an aperture of f/5.6 is rather small and often represents peak lens performance. While diffraction negatively effects images on DX and FX sensors above f/8-f/11, it greatly impacts lens performance at anything smaller than f/5.6 on CX sensors. In the case of the Nikon 1 10-100mm lens, its maximum aperture of f/5.6 on the long end means that you are at its peak performance when it is wide open and stopping down the lens only decreases image quality. This is yet another negative consequence of a small sensor camera design.

7) Bokeh

Isolating subjects from the background with a small-aperture zoom lens is a challenge due to its larger depth of field. This becomes even a more difficult task on Nikon 1 cameras, because of their small 2.7x crop factor sensors. While depth of field and the size of background highlights depend on multiple factors such as focal length, aperture, camera to subject distance and subject to background distance, the quality of Bokeh largely depends on lens optics. If you are able to get close to your subject while keeping the busy background further away from the subject, you can get a decent-looking bokeh, as long as you are shooting at maximum aperture and zoomed in to telephoto range (above 30mm, preferably close to 100mm). The 1 Nikkor VR 10-100mm f/4.5-5.6 lens is equipped with a rounded 7-blade diaphragm, which helps in obtaining circular bokeh highlights. Here is an example of bokeh quality shot at approximately 70mm:

Once Nikon releases fast f/1.2-f/1.8 prime lenses, I will look into their bokeh performance in more detail.

8) Vignetting

As for vignetting, the Nikon 1 10-100mm unfortunately shows vignetting at most focal lengths and apertures, with least amount of vignetting at 30mm and most at 10mm. In some cases, even stopping down the lens to f/8 does not get rid of vignetting, as shown below:

RAW shooters will see more vignetting in their images, because vignetting is automatically reduced on JPEG images by camera firmware. If vignetting is an issue for you, it is easy to fix in post-processing, so I would not worry about it. Adobe has not yet added a lens profile for the Nikon 1 10-100mm f/4.5-5.6 VR into Lightroom or Camera RAW, but we should be seeing it in upcoming updates pretty soon. Once it is added, you will be able to get rid of vignetting with a single click through the Lens Corrections sub-module in Lightroom / Camera RAW.

9) Ghosting and Flare

Despite advanced lens coatings, the Nikon 1 10-100mm f/4.5-5.6 VR lens does not handle flares and ghosting very well, especially when the sun is out of the frame – that’s where you will see a significant drop in contrast. There is a reason why Nikon supplied this lens with a hood. Make sure to keep it on all the time and use your hand to block additional light if it is still reaching the front element of the lens. Here is an extreme example of ghosting and flare when shooting with the sun in the frame:

Ghosting and flares are not always bad though. In some cases, you might want to use them creatively like this:

It goes without saying that the size, color, amount and shape of lens flares depends on a number of factors, including types and number of optical elements, lens aperture, focal length and the location of the light source in the frame.

10) Chromatic Aberration and Distorion

It is hard to keep chromatic aberration under control at all focal lengths on superzoom lenses, despite the fact that the lens sports ED, Aspheric and coated lens elements. There is a modest amount of chromatic aberration at the shortest end (in the corners, high-contrast situations), which is greatly reduced between 30mm and 50mm, then kicks back again at longer focal lengths all the way to 100mm in high-contrast situations. Here is an example of chromatic aberration that is visible at 10mm:

As for distortion, unfortunately, there is quite a bit of barrel distortion on the wide end at 10mm, which gets better by 30mm. From there on, pincushion distortion takes over all the way to the 100mm mark. These optical issues are expected for a superzoom lens like the 10-100mm though; if you look at other superzoom lenses like the Nikon 18-200mm VR, they also exhibit similar chromatic aberration and distortion problems.