"Would that it 'twere so simple" - from Hail, Caesar!
Well, this test was an easy one. Bummer that my preferred answer did not pan out.
I put the two 24-85 Nikkors G (VR and previous) in a dimly-lit room and shot it out. ISO 500, f/5.6 and an instruction manual about six feet away. Shutter was 1/2.5 seconds for easy VR evaluation. Elbows on knees but little other support; with ftz the lenses are just over 500g.
First up was the VR lens, fully engaged. Wow: an excellent result with lens and sensor VR in effect. No surprise? Well, 85mm and 1/4 second is 8+ stops - so an image this sharp was a surprise.
Turning off VR is simple, as the lens switch disables both internal and lens VR. It took me three tries and much more rigorous technique to achieve a nearly not-blurry shot. The other two were awful.
Lens #2 with in-body VR was better than no VR.. but not by much. The internal VR definitely couldn't handle the shutter speed used in this scenario. Coming from Pentax and Lumix S5, it was disappointing. However: internal VR improves to a 5-axis system with Z-native lenses; bonus points for the marketing team for that 🫤 but my wallet is displeased.
So about five minutes of testing convinced me that the slightly heavier VR lens is a keeper, and a 72mm cpl filter is in my future. I had hoped to run with just 52+67mm filters; oh well. At least I already have a 72mm split ND!
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