Featured User Review: Nikon AF-S 18-200mm VR Zoom Lens

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Featured Review: Nikon AF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G VR DX Zoom Lens

by galton (Intermediate)

Summary:
Not the actual Holy Grail. Far better than your average lens, however, and may replace most other lenses for most users. If you’re heading out the door and don’t know what you need, this is probably it. It will not, however, replace your campstove nor cook you breakfast in the morning.

The range is excellent, the sharpness and colour, operation, and VR capability are all well above average, and well above what one might expect in a lens this versatile. It is well-built: not a tank, but solid. The price is very reasonable for what you get. Ultimately, it is an excellent all-purpose lens for DX cameras – probably 90% or more of users would be hard-pressed to find a reason to buy anything else.

The weaknesses all flow from the positives: the biggest weakness for the “average” user is that VR does not help with subjects that are moving. You may be able to do without your tripod, but for photographing children, dancers, performers, you will probably need a faster lens or a flash. Second, this is not a monster, but it is not small – every user have to decide for themself whether it is comfortable (and may depend on which camera you are using it with; on a D50 it’s big). My lens suffers from lens creep: when walking around with it over the shoulder, it extends into an absurd length that makes we worried I’ll whack it against something and cost me a pretty penny. Finally, it’s not an FX lens: you can’t use it with your film camera or cameras with full-sized sensor.

Strengths:
Awesome range, good performance, price is not cheap but more than reasonable. Really, the only serious complaint about this lens is that it doesn’t actually do EVERYTHING. That said, this is one of the best go-to lenses for most uses you can find.

As with most other lenses, if you have a specialised need, you’ll need to lay out money for a specialised (and likely pricey) lens. For many users, a smaller, lighter, faster lens will be a nice thing to have around, even if you won’t use that other lens very frequently. Lovers of the wide will need an extra lens.

VR works extremely well, it balances and handles well, and the performance/quality is really quite impressive with a modern DX camera. Focussing is fast and accurate (depending which camera body). Yes, you probably shouldn’t expect to use this for Ansel Adams photography, hard-core architecture, ten times lifesize macro, etc.

Weaknesses:
Serious issues:
1) VR is a wonderful feature but CANNOT stop moving subjects. If you need to capture subjects like this in low light (despite the amazing low-noise performance at high ISOs of the newer digital cameras), you need a faster lens or a flash (and the flash technique to match). For many users, a good normal prime at f1.8 would suffice. (If you need stop-action at 100 metres at night, you’ll need an expensive exotic). For the average owner, this would probably be noticed when trying to photograph children or small animals – both of which move more than seems possible. For most users, this really will enable you to ditch the tripod much of the time – but a monopod or good technique (like a big heavy wall to lean against) will still improve your photos.
2) Size: I don’t mind the size or balance much, but my wife finds it very heavy and hard to use during a long day. And sometimes I want a smaller and more convenient lens too. You may very well want to have a couple of smaller, lighter lenses of whatever combination. (The kit lenses are a bit bigger than ideal but very good matches for the smaller nikon digital SLRs).

Nitpicking (but may be important to some):
1) Lens creep. See above. When walking around, the barrel extends obscenely. Physically not so comfortable, in some cultures may cause offense.
2) Lens hood/lens cap: the lens hood works well for what it is designed for and noticeably reduces negative effects of difficult lighting situations, but it is big. It is easily reversible by twisting on, making it easy to travel with, but when reversed, it gets in the way of usage (you can’t reach the zoom barrel easily); if you want to remove it/put it on right so that you can zoom, the lens cap gets in the way and has to be removed first; you can’t put the lens cap on when the hood is on properly; and if you want to toss it in a pocket, it’s just bigger than is comfortable. Not a critical issue, but for a lens that is ergonomically excellent, it’s surprisingly annoying and will have you cursing one of the few trade-offs that was not dictated by the limits of optical design.

Similar Products Used:
Most lenses are similar in that they cover the same uses. My comments here are intended to point out where this lens doesn’t cut it – and you may want to have a different lens handy. I have used all of these: but this is still the lens I use most frequently.
1) Fast lenses. This lens is 2-3 stops slower than a fast prime, 1-2 stops lower than a fast zoom. For low-light motion photography, you’ll need something faster, and VR won’t help. For many users, a fast prime would be a good cheap complement.
2) Smaller lenses: This is a big lens – your handsize may vary. For maximum comfort, a smaller lens is nice to have around (like your fast prime or a simple zoom) for occasional use.
3) Superwides: this is a good general-purpose wide lens at about 28 mm equivalent. I like much wider – this is not that lens.
4) Super-low distortion/high performance: for perfect reproduction of Escher-type complexity with maximum accuracy, a zoom like this will not cut it. This lens is pretty sharp, but for capturing dollar bill engravings for counterfeiting, you need a specialised and expensive lens.
5) Cheap throw-aways: you’ll cry if you break this unless you’re rich. It’s nice to have a beater around.

Customer Service:
Not needed.

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