This review is from: Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens (Electronics)
By now there are enough pro reviews out there for experienced shooters to read the handwriting on the wall. No, this is not a 17-35 and 70-200 wrapped into a tiny package. You can't have that for any amount of money. The 18-200VR is NOT meant to challenge the exotics like my 70-200VR or the 200-400VR. It's not even meant to take on a prime. It's designed to be the ultimate one lens solution when you don't want a bag full of heavy glass along for the ride. It features moderately fast (but not very) optics, vibration reduction and a lot of work to keep CA and distortion down. This it achieves with some success, but distortion is still obvious at 18mm. Distortion is sever enough at the wide end to require correction in post (easy to do), but this is NOT lens for those who shoot architecture professionally. This type of distortion is TYPICAL for a lens of this type.
I'm sorry, but those who have panned this lens either got a bad one (quite possible with early batch issues reported) or just don't understand what a walk-around lens is for. This is what we all hoped the 24-120 VR would be, but unlike that lens it gets much more done for just 200 dollars more. Anyone who says there are lenses like this for less...well where? No other superzoom is this sharp, has so little CA and throws in VR II as well...and in a small package!
Now...how good is it in the real world? VERY GOOD. It's a match for the sharp little 28-200G which means it's only a bit less sharp than the 70-200VR which costs twice as much. My first images with this lens were stunning, detailed and fairly sharp to the edges above F5. Close focus gives near macro results and again this lens is SHARP! Focus speed is quite fast of course, but I feel that the 18-70 kit lens is a hair quicker. You could shoot all day with this miracle and do it all without feeling like you need a giant lens. If, like me, you find yourself shooting mostly in the 35-200mm range on a DSLR, this lens makes a lot of sense. It also displayed deeper color saturation and contrast than either the 28-200G or 50mm 1.8. Did I mention that I'm impressed?
Build quality is good, but not great. It's hard to be impressed with any lens build when compared to the 70-200VR. The 18-200 zoom is a bit stiff, the manual focus a bit loose. I suspect Nikon dialed up the zoom stiffness due to early problems with lens creep early on. It's not creeping at all. The size of the lens is only a bit bigger than the kit lens, perhaps as bulky at the Tokina 12-24 if you have one of those.
VR II exceeds all expectations I was able to shoot sharp shots at 1.10th sec exposure. But remember this is NOT fast glass. A moving object in dim light will be blurred at such slow shutter speeds. Thus far this is an impressive effort from Nikon. Even an experienced shooter could find this lens on the camera most days and be happy. "Average" shooters will need nothing more because this lens is that good. The only areas for improvement given the real limits of optical design are in the build quality, which could be a bit better. In the end, even at 700 dollars plus, this lens is pretty hard to resist.
And no, this is not a "kit lens with VR." The kit lens only reaches to 70mm. The kit lens also can't do near macro work as this lens can. The kit lens is also not as sharp. And of course this lens has the latest version of VR that works superbly. There is simply no other lens like this on the market currently. Again, if you're thinking that this lens should be perfect and doesn't require compromises to achieve it's design goals, please do your homework before buying. If you need a zoom to cover this range at F2.8, with no distortion and small size please call Mr. Scott aboard the Starship Enterprise.
For those who question the sharpness of this lens, be aware that there are online tests showing it's even sharper at the corners than the legendary 17-35 2.8! Against my 70-200VR I see a SLIGHT sharpness advantage with the 70-200, but only visible with a 100% crop. Or to put things even more in perspective, this lens works nicely on a D200. Search the forums for yourself. Most D200 owners are reporting great sharpness even with pro bodies.
This lens is simply a ton of fun for people who like to take pictures
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This review is from: Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens (Electronics)
I waited 6 weeks for mine to arrive and used it almost immediately at an airshow featuring the Blue Angels. I took about 3 gigibytes of pictures at that show. I used the lens with a D50 in sports mode to capture the fast moving planes. It was a great day with not a cloud in the sky. When I later looked at the pictures I was dismayed to see significant light fall off or vignetting on the shots taken at 200mm with the lens wide open at f5.6.
This light fall off is the most significant problem I have noticed with this lens. I contacted Nikon and they said it was normal. Since the lens is made for the smaller DX sensor the diameter of the lens is smaller. This causes mechanical shadowing at long zoom lengths with the lens at the wide open settings of f5.6 until about f11. All lenses have light fall off, to some degree, at the edges. When you use a regular lens made for 35mm with the smaller digital DX sensors the fall off is outside the sensor and not seen. The light fall off was especially noticable with the blue/uniform background. If the background was "busy" the falloff would be less noticable.
Vignetting/light fall off is also usually seen on the wide side of zooms like this. I have not seen any with this lens. I do use a Hoya Pro 1/2 thickness filter so that a shadow is not made when shooting wide angles of 18mm - 28mm or so. I saw a technical review of this lens that noted it had significant outer distortion on pictures taken at 18mm but I have not seen that.
Pros
-Light weight for range
-Large range
-Vibration Reduction
-Sharp, crisp pictures with vibrant colors
-Fast Focus with manual focus adjustment ring for fine tuning
Cons
-Light fall off at long telephoto settings and large f stops
-Vibration Reduction helps with handheld shots but does not stop subject motion in low light, you still need a fast lens for that
-High price and limited availability
-Might get light fall off at wide angles unless expensive 1/2
width filter is used
-Lens Creep (but most telephotos have this to some extent)
I have since used the lens to shoot the Special Olympics. The outside track and field photos are excellent. Inside shots where hit and miss with subject movement in low light being the biggest culprit (was shooting no flash at 1600 iso).
For about the same money you can get a Nikon or Sigma 2.8 lens that covers approx. 80-200mm. I have read several opinions that you will still have fewer bad pictures with the VR of this lens and I believe that is true. It is not a perfect lens, but it takes great pictures once you know its limitations.
One tip - If you get this lens, when you use it on a tripod turn VR off, it will actually cause your photos to be blurry.
UPDATE-Fall 2008 I have stopped using this lens and am instead using the Tamron 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC LD Aspherical IF Macro Lens for Nikon DSLR Cameras which has "Vibration Control" and a wider range going all the way out to 270mm. It focuses almost as fast and has a wider diameter hence the vignetting of the Nikon is gone. One last thing is that it has much less lens creep and even a lock at 18mm.
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This review is from: Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens (Electronics)
My thoughts:
- It's sharp at the center at all apertures and at all focal lenghts, however it falls short on the edges ("sweet point" at f10 or f11, IMO)
- It's a very contrasty lens.
- The VR system works very very good (Im able to get steady handheld shots even at 1/1.3s)
- It's well-built, solid and reliable.
- The autofocus speed is very fast and accurate.
- does the lens creep? Yes, it does (sometimes) but I really dont mind it.
- The 11.1X zoom is unbeatable, better than any zoom ever made, and it's faster at long end than the Sigma or Tamron ones (f5.6 vs 6.3)
- It's a highly recommendend lens, no doubt on it.
- Some sample images at full resolution taken with D50 can be found on the link below:
http://www.pbase.com/afukuda/cusco_puno
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This review is from: Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens (Electronics)
NOTE: I changed this review on May 15, somewhat to respond to some of the other comments.
Some of the reviews you've read on the internet are a little over-hyped. And some of them, or at least some portions of them, are not. I'm using this lens on a D50... Great results so far.
Well, you know the specs by now. two ED elements, three aspheric, Silent Wave Motor, VR II, Internal Focusing (NO movement of the front element!) and great zoom range (beware, this thing gets obnoxiously huge when zoomed in to 200. It just looks plain silly, especially with the lens hood, which I left in the box anyway.)
I am not going to go into detailed specifics of the distortion, since that's been dealt with better by Ken Rockwell, Thom Hogan and others (EXCELLENT reviews... seek them out...). But it's severe enough at the wide end that you will probably want to correct it (as best you can) in Photoshop. In real-life shooting, it isn't a huge deal. (UPDATE: In real life shooting of hundreds of images so far, I've found NOT ONE SINGLE INSTANCE where I wanted to bother "fixing" it. I repeat... There is distortion, but it is NOT a problem.) I find that when I zoom in to 24 it is totally usable to all intents and purposes, and if I REALLY want to use something you shot at 18, unless there are some REALLY straight lines in it you might have no need of correction. So, in short, the distortion is there, but so what. It's bound to be in a lens of this range.
Some other reviewers report better resistance to flare than I am experiencing. It is still pretty good in a lens of this many elements, but it is hardly "nonexistent" as some have reported. (UPDATE! I have had only ONE image "ruined" by flare. It was pointed at the sun. Flare is excellent on this lens!) Mine is made in Thailand and earlier ones in Japan. I hope that I got the same quality as the lucky early adopters, but this could account for that difference. I still don't use the lens hood because I step the filter threads up to 77 and don't want to take off my UV filter ever time I use it.
I actually find I can stack my polarizer on top of my UV (which is on a 72 - 77mm step-up ring - Curse you Nikon for not making the threads 77!) and STILL use this lens with no real vignetting at 24 and above. Now I REALLY want a 12-24, but that's a whole other story (don't have the dough).
Focus is LUDICROUSLY fast, either manually or auto. The AF-S seems to be the real deal in this lens, with a real Silent Wave Motor, unlike some "partial" AF-S lenses NIkon has been selling lately. (Low light is a problem sometimes... duh...)
Now, I took two stars off for the distortion (necessary, I admit), and the slight chromatic aberrations I'm getting on slight over-exposures, and the reduced speed as you zoom out to 200, but it gets BOTH of those back easily for the INCREDIBLE VR technology and the fact that I have had NOTHING but excellent images come out of it. It kinda eats batteries for lunch compared with not using VR, but it's still usuallly lasting me at least 300 exposures with an external SB600 as flash. (why haven't you gotten a backup battery yet?!?). I actually shot some indoor 1600 stuff hand-held all the way at 200mm (300 equiv) and 1/40 or 1/50. AMAZING! I understand it works well in low light at the wide end too. Haven't tried any available darkness landscapes yet, so I can't say.
So... It IS a do all and be all lens! Maybe not for the pro, but certainly for the guy who wants to take some great shots and especially the guy who doesn't want to miss a shot because he's changing lenses (and letting dust into his camera...)
I tried to change my review to 5 stars, Amazon won't let me. :-(
It's a great lens. Just buy it!
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This review is from: Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens (Electronics)
No question about it this is a great lens. But be aware that if you plan on using it with your built-in flash, at wide angle there will be a dark spot on the bottom of your pictures because the flash is so close to the lens. This is not a problem for hot shoe mounted flash units such as the SB-800. So while this lens as often is touted as a good "travel lens" you may still have to carry a flash unit along. Not a big issue, but something potential buyers should be aware of.
Also, you may want to purchase thin lens filter (e.g. Hoya Pro series) to avoid vignetting of wide angle shots.
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This review is from: Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens (Electronics)
There are several reasons why you should not get this lens. First is that I have gotten a reputation for taking great pictures. How will my reputation last if people find out it is really just the lens? Second is that it replaces so many other lenses that it is sure to cause unemployment around lens factories in Thailand, Malaysia, and China. You don't want that on your conscience do you? If you use this thing to zoom in or out to frame pictures, when will you get exercise by walking long distances and climbing over things so that you can "zoom with your feet" like a prime lens user? Getting this lens will also mean that you will have wasted your investment in tripods because the VR-II makes them almost always unnecessary, and you don't want that do you? The VR-II provides four stops of stabilization, one better than VR, which means that you can shoot at exposures 16 times longer than without it. Not having to worry about shaky hands will reduce your incentive to cut back on the Starbuckaroos, will it not? It also increases the effective speed of the camera so much that you can use polarizers more frequently to shoot through windows and water which is sure to ruin the privacy of mannequins and fish. Even if you are wrongheaded enough to buy this thing in spite of all these good reasons not to, at least have the decency to wait until I have unloaded my old Nikon 24mm-120mm VR lens on Ebay before you do, so I still can get something for it. There is some vignetting at 200mm and barrel creep when the lens is extended, which of course is intolerable. It is also horribly expensive, almost half as much as the Nikon 70mm-300mm VR lens it replaces, among many others. If you are fool enough to get this thing, don't say I didn't warn you.
P.S. The only thing this mutt won't do is shoot at very shallow depth of field because its maximum aperture is f/3.5. The solution forced on you by this huge shortcoming is to carry a Nikon 50mm f/1.8. Being forced to carry that supplemental lens will cost you in excess of $90 and weigh you down with several ounces of otherwise unnecessary burden for one of the sharpest lenses available. Don't do it.
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This review is from: Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens (Electronics)
I ordered the new 18-200mm vr lens after using a Nikon 70-300mm lens with my Nikon D70 camera to photograph my daughter's graduation. I used the camera handheld at a speed of 1/20th of a second or less due to available light. Camera shake was evident in most of the photos I took due to the high magnification, available light, and speed I needed to shoot at without a tripod.
I received the new lens on Dec. 27th, and I really put it through its paces. It is lightweight and has a very compact size. The sharpness of the lens is excellent and the vr works flawlessly. I am able to shoot at full magnification @ 1/20th of a second and slower without any distortion. The lens is very quick and quiet as it focuses. The photos are beautiful.
To be able to shoot from wide angle 18mm - telephoto 200mm without changing the lens is too good to be true.
This lens is a great investment in versatility, quality, and convenience.
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This review is from: Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens (Electronics)
This lens is quite literally a miracle of technology. It provides sharp, decent performance as a 18mm to 200mm zoom lens. (It provides a 27-300 focal range on a Nikon digital camera due to the 1.5 sensor crop). This is a DX lens, and therefore is designed only for Nikon digital cameras, not film cameras. The fact that it is a DX lens also enables this lens to be lighter and smaller than a conventional "full crop" lens. I have been told by pros that this lens would be a "monster" in size were it not for the fact that it is a DX lens. As it is, it is small and light, and feels great mounted on my D70s.
This is not a cheap lens. It is capable of providing professional-level quality images throughout its range, although it is certainly not the best lens at a given range--no zoom lense is that. The fantastic (yes, I mean it, fantastic) thing about this lens is that over an incredible focal range from wide-angle to telescopic, it provides sharp, bright images. Oh, many prime lenses can produce brighter images, and the much more expensive and larger, heavier 70-200 VR Nikkor provides brighter images with better bokeh, and many wide-angle Nikkor zooms outperform this lens at the other end of its range, but no other lens I know of can touch this lens for its overall range. This lens is capable of producing pleasing, bright, and vivid images througout its range.
One big feature of the 18-200 VR is the Vibration Reduction technology that is built into the lens. This stabilizes the lens and allows it to take good photographs in much dimmer light than would otherwise be practical, and to some extent VR does the same thing that a tripod would do, i.e. stabilize the camera. The VR works, too, contributing to the sharpness of the images. VR is not a substitute for fast glass, which is one reason that very serious photographers will not be junking their heavy professional lenses (such as the incomparable 70-200 VR zoom, for example, or the wonderful 17-55 zoom). A discussion of the shortcomings and advantages of VR is beyond the scope of this review, but suffice to say that the VR on this 18-200 VR lens contributes to its ability to produce very sharp images.
This is the ultimate "walking around" lens, and it is absolutely the lens of choice in many/most situations in which it is simply impractical to either change lenses, or bring along more than one lens. Almost all users of Nikon digital cameras will want to consider this lens. I am blown away with the images that I have been able to achieve using the 18-200VR.
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This review is from: Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens (Electronics)
I have had this lens for ~2 months and use it on my D80. I also have a few other lenses, two primes and one wide-angle zoom.
Before purchasing this lens I would encourage anyone to search online and read the technical reviews of it. I agree with their consensus which is:
- if you want a very flexible zoom that gives you VR and a wide range of focal lengths without too much weight or bulk, and if you don't want to be switching between lenses, then this is the lens for you. It's good enough to cover most shots in a range of common conditions. If you want the quality of SLR but only one lens then go for it.
- if you want great optical quality (ie low distortion etc), and/or wide enough aperture to give low light ability/fast shutter speed, then the design compromises in this lens make it a questionable choice for you.
In short, the designers have definitely preferenced this lens's amazing flexibility at the cost of other attributes found in higher quality (though less versatile in some respects) photographic glass.
This design balance may suit you brilliantly or it may not suit you at all. It all depends on what you are buying the lens for, and what sort of use you intend to have for your photographic equipment.
I'm happy with mine as a flexible "one-stop-shop" tool, especially when I'm travelling light and don't exactly know what I'm going to come across. It does give pretty reasonable images all told, and a fantastic "advanced point-and-shoot" capability.
But does it spend much time on my camera when I have all my other gear on hand and when I want to take a specific high-quality, technically thought out shot? No.
PS: a general-use alternative that a number of people recommend is a 2-lens kit made up of the 18-55 and 55-200. Both come in VR these days and are inexpensive yet arguably better optical quality. Bottom line is you get the same total focal length range and slightly better optics for about 2/3 of the cost of 18-200, with the only downside being the need to switch between the lenses.
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This review is from: Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens (Electronics)
The positives:
The 18-200 zoon range is unbeatable and unbelievable. VR II works great (most of the time), although you should still follow the good rules of holding the camera steady... no sloppy shooting. Lens very sharp for a zoom, not just zooms in this range.
The negatives:
Most of the negatives are typical of a big zoom. There is noticeable barrel & pincushion distortion, about 90% of which is fixable using Photoshop or PTLens (free) software. Vignetting at the corners is observable. I have not noticed considerable CA, although other reviews do mention it. I also noticed light fall off at the corners in certain situations. But the distortions are considered better than all the zooms of this range.
Verdict:
If you need just one walkaround lens and dont mind the minor distortions (and have the dough to spend), go for it. The only problem seems to be the endless wait in stores everywhere.
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