One lens does everything (Nikon AF-S DX 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR II)

Member Name: sax_man_al

Product:	Nikon AF-S DX 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
Date:	15/10/09 (83 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: wide range of focal lengths, vibration reduction, sharp, veratile

Disadvantages: some softness wide open at the edges

This is a new lens from Nikon, recently announced, although saying that it's actually almost identical to the 'old' 18-200VR, so what is the point of it I hear you cry!

Well, the boast of this lens is that it uses the VRII vibration reduction system, which allows you to hand hold up to 4 stops slower than you would without it, although this always depends on how steady your hands are. However, the old lens I also used VRII, and there have been no changes to the lens elements either, but then this lens was really great to start with so I assume they couldn't really improve it!

So are there any differences? Yes there are, but are these that significant? No not really! Of course the little name plate has been changed to add in a II, and the VR logo is gold instead of red (so you can see that the photo above is the 'old' lens incidentally). The only other change is that there is now a 'zoom lock' at 18mm. Some people complained that when set to 18mm if you tilted the lens/camera forward the lens wood zoom in due to gravity. This problem only seemed to affect some lenses as some zooms were stiff enough not to cause a problem, but it's generally not a problem anyway and how often do you take a photo at 18mm pointing downwards?

The range that this lens offers, 18-200mm (27-300mm equiv on 35mm) or 11.1 times zoom is quite astonishing, and the way in which it performs over all focal lengths is impressive. Perhaps the biggest selling point of this lens is that it can be used to replace up to 4 other lenses that you would usually carry! So that means less baggage, less weight, less time spent changing lenses, less chance of dust getting in your camera, all of which means more enjoyment and more time actually taking photos.

Some people will worry about the sharpness, but I can say that used properly it is a sharp lens. Of course if you try the lens wide open there is going to be some loss of sharpness, especially towards the edges, but, stop it down a couple of stops and the performance is great. If you are worrying about resolution graphs from this lens then stop right there, and ask yourself how often do you really take photos of graph paper? One issue I have had is that my lens seems to be softer on the right edge than the left wide open which can be annoying, but this almost entirely dissapears stopped down. At f/22 the lens will be soft too, but that happens to all lenses, it's called diffraction.

This lens also has incredible close focussing, down to 0.5m, throughout the zoom range. Focussing is also an internal affair, so the lens stays the same size, and the front element doesn't rotate making the use of filters easy. Because of the internal focus, when you get really close 200mm will actually be more like 130mm, but the it focusses so close this outperforms most other lenses anyway! It doesn't really make all that much difference, but I thought I'd include it for fullness. The close focus makes this lens great for flowers, insects, and also people, as you can still photograph them when they try to be rather 'in your face'! I often get slightly annoyed at my £1400 70-200 f/2.8 lens because it won't focus as close as this one does!

Distortion: As lenses go this one does really well at minimising distortion. At 18mm there is some barrel distortion, but it is easy enough to fix this pretty well in photoshop with between +3 and +4 lens correction. At longer lengths there is some pincussion, most noticable at 50-70mm, but again easy enough to correct with about -3 to -4 correction. At 22-24mm there is pretty much no distortion at all.

This lens has been solidly built, has a good weight in the hand. The filter thread at the front is plastic, so take care not to cross thread a filter, but usually this isn't a problem as you'll fit a protective filter when you get the lens and just leave it on there. It is worth getting a decent filter for the front to minimise ghosting.

Lens features:

Coatings: Nikon Super-Intergrated Coating (SIC), same as the original 18-200mm.
Picture angle: 76°-8°
Diaphragm blades: 7 (rounded)
Closest focusing distance: 0.5 m/1.6 ft.
Maximum Reproduction ratio: 1:4.5 (0.22x)
Filter/attachment size: 72mm
Diameter x length: Approximately 77 x 96.5 mm/3.0 x 3.8 in.
Weight:Approximately 565 g/19.9oz, specified.
Supplied accessories: 72mm Snap-on Front Lens Cap LC-72, Rear Lens Cap LF-1, Bayonet Hood HB-35, Flexible Lens Pouch CL-1018.

Overview:

This is a lens that will do almost everything you need, in one convenient package, and to a high standard of quality. Wide angle, yes, medium telephoto, yes, close up, yes, sharp, yes..... For travel this lens means your baggage is manageable, for weddings/people you'll get photos you'd miss while changing lenses/cameras. You'll hardly ever have to change lenses so you'll get those photos while your mates are head down scrabbling in their camera bag!

Summary: One lens with a big range, more photos less time messing in your camera bag

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