AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED
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In depth review by Ken Rockwell
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I bought this lens to replace my 18-70mm and 70-210mm lens. My decision was based primarily on the convenience factor. I now have one lens that will probably spend 90-95% of the time on my camera. I no longer need to worry about swapping lenses to go from reasonable wide to a decent zoom. In addition to simply having two lenses in one, the lens also provides vibration reduction and a very close minimum focus distance, even at 200mm.
Advantages over my existing lenses
My 18-70 is a fairly new lens, so I don't have too much to complain about there. However the 70-210 lens that I have is a older used lens. It had some issues including a relatively slow focus. In addition it seems to have some problem deciding what to focus on. These two combined to make the occasionally annoying experience. However for the price of the used lens, it was pretty good. So far the 18-200 seems to focus quite quickly and is better at actually focusing on what I want it to.
Vibration Reduction
I've never used a VR lens before. Basically the lens has the ability to compensate for camera shake. This allows one to take pictures at large focal lengths with relatively slow shutter speeds and end up with good results. It can be a bit weird the first time you enable it. I think that one's brain is subtly aware of the fact that at certain focal lengths camera shake is natural, so with the VR enabled, and no camera shake visible though the lens, one's brain detects something is different, but it is not immediately obvious. Without VR enabled, looking through the lens is a little like a turbulence in a plane, lots of sharp quick little movements. With the VR enabled, it is more like riding in a boat, slower, smoother movements.
VR definitely works. Which is great. Nothing is more annoying that not having enough light to get the necessary shutter speed for the focal length you have chosen. Of course VR won't help you freeze motion, but it will help you get pictures animals at dusk.
The following test images were cropped out of series of images like this one.
They were all taken at 200mm (300mm effective), at the labeled shutter speed.
All the images were taken on a fairly windy rooftop parking lot. The effectiveness of the VR is pretty clear. As expected at 1/320 of a second both images are sharp, but as the shutter speed decreases the non-VR pictures are much blurrier. The VR 1/40 is better than the non-VR 1/80, and is pretty close to the non-VR 1/160. The non-VR 1/40 and 1/80 are unusable, however the VR 1/40 almost usable, and the 1/80 is probably good enough.
Minimum Focal Distance
At all focal lengths this lens will focus down to about 50 cm. This is really cool. I used to rely on using my macro lens for some shots that I can now take with this lens. Of course, it won't replace my macro lens for super close up pictures. However this does make the lens that much more flexible.
Here is a picture taken at 200mm and the minimum focus distance.
At this extreme you can fill the frame with an object approximately 10 cm across. This means that you can probably take good frame filling photographs of flowers. To get up close and personal you will still need a real macro lens.
Sample images
Wide Angle
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Medium
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Long Focal Length
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