( 136 reviews )
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Posted: Aug 4 2009
Great all purpose lens. I use these like 95% of the time and only switch to my prime 40mm len for portrait shots. The vibration reduction (VR) really works and is worth the purchase; if you zoom to 175-200mm a lot. If you don't have VR, things are a little burry with most shaky hands. A lot better than the cheaper Sigma 18-200 OS, which engine fail on me after 50-75 shots. I had this lens since May 2008 and shot around 2500-3500 shots and it still works great. Nikon does have a newer VR II this year, which is pricelier. If you can't spend too much, this still is a great deal. Since I am in architecture, having a good zoom is a must to get those little details from building. I am using this on my Nikon D40. That I noticed: +I got the Nikon AF 55-200 without VR and noticed that the 200mm zoom on that Nikon lens is much closer then this 18-200mm. I say this is more like 175mm compare to the 55-200 lens with the same range. this was the same problem on the Sigma too. + The Nikon 18-200mm VR has the zoom rotation in front and the focus in the back. Sigma has placed the zoom closer to the base and the focus in the front of the lens; this is easier to attach the sun-flare on backward without having to take it off. This may be a personal preference though. + I liked the sun flare attachment that came with this lens, very solid. + VR drain the battery a lot more, so turn it off when you aren't using it. I don't know why I been changing lens all these time and not having a VR all these days. My 200mm shots are now worth something, before they would come out all burry without a tripod. I think the 18mm shots could be a little sharper at time, like my normal Nikon AF 18-55. If you like shooting 135mm and above, you got to have some form of an image stabilizer for a Nikon DSLR. Too bad Nikon didn't include it like Sony and some other brands. The micro shots could be a little better too, but that could be a my camera. Are these lens the sharpest, no. I got the Nikon's prime len and they are even sharper. I turn the VR on for low light and indoor to get a better image also.
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Jul 27 2009
This is an extremely popular lens for two reasons: price, and the long zoom range. Overall, this is a very good lens. Not perfect, but almost. It has a huge focal range, but is not particularly fast with the f-stop range of 3.5-5.6. The lens is sharp, but not "tack-sharp." I find it goes a bit soft fully extended at 200mm. This lens lets you work as close as 9 inches at 135mm, but it won't replace your macro lens for really close in work. With the subjects I photograph, I don't notice the slight distortion other people have mentioned. Despite these limitations, you will not find a third party or major brand lens as good as this one for the focal range handled. At a little more than a pound, this is NOT a heavy lens for what it does. It has a plastic body to reduce weight, which makes for a bit of an odd pairing with my D300 and its metal body. The build quality is very good, but I have insurance for it because I doubt it would survive even a moderate drop. The plastic body is supporting an awful lot of glass. There is no doubt about it: this zoom DOES creep, probably due to the weight the plastic has to handle! Unless it's stowed at 18mm, pointing it up or down will have it run nearly the entire zoom range. I've convinced myself that this is a "feature" to force me to work to recompose between subjects to make my photos stronger. The manual focus ring is next to the body and the zoom ring is outside. Ugh. The manual focus has a very short "throw" from infinity to full in, but at least it's nearly half an inch wide so it's easy to find with your fingers. Auto focus is fast and doesn't "hunt." VR is useful and helps mitigate the relatively slow speed of this lens. Bottom line: you know you want this lens. Go ahead and buy it, knowing full well that it's not perfect, but if you have it in you, this lens will allow you to take award winning photographs. In this case, the photographer is the limiting factor.
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Posted: Jul 22 2009
This is an excellent all-around lens. You get the advantage of wide angle and close-ups, all with one lens. I tried the 18-55 & 55-200 combo lens kit. Even though you think that your shooting environment would dictate one or the other you constantly found yourself changing the lenses. One small issue with the 18-200 is that at the extreme travel of the zoom the twist force is not consistent. It tightens up at the end of the travel. This seems to have no negative effect on the performance of the lens.
