Nikon AF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF VR DX Zoom-Nikkor

This lens is rather amazing for its range, and the ability to handle a diverse range of situations. It's in no way competitive in quality to primes, or even more limited-range zooms.

But sometimes, good is good enough. Example: The Paris Marche du Fiertes, their gay pride festival. Hundreds of thousands of people having more fun than you can imagine. I spent a few hours in the march, with my D300 and the 18-200, with a Tamron f2.8 28-75mm and a Nikkor 35mm f2 in a belt pack. The Tamron is very, very sharp for portraits, and the 35mm is like a 50mm on a DX sensor.

I never changed lenses. I got way over 1000 shots, and the only ones I screwed up were because of changing light conditions and guessing backlight compensation.

Here's what I find about the lens:

1. VR doesn't compensate for sloppy technique. Much of the "sharpness" issues are the result of photographers getting sloppy on focusing and bracing proper;y.

2. It distorts more at 18 mm than my 17mm Tokina, which weighs about as much as the 18-200. But for people-shooting in a crowd, it's fine.

3. The lens - at least mine - is least sharp around 135mm. VERY sharp at 18mm - stunning. I put it on my lap and shoot inside places where they say "no pictures" like the Sistine Chapel and the Sacre Cure in Paris. Results are terrific. I find that if I take the trouble to really make sure of focus, I get great, sharp portraits at 200mm. But shot-to-shot variability is great.

4. Lens creep is a bear. Lens shade is pure junk.

5. A high quality fast zoom like the Tamron XR Di is a necessity when you're traveling. This lens is too slow for indoors work.

6. Color balance seems excellent, neutral. My Tamron is quite warm.

In the end, I give this lens 3 stars. It's nowhere near as sharp as my 80-200mm f2.8 AF-D two-ring or my 70-210 f4-5.6 Nikon. At normal shooting, it can't hold a candle to my Nikon 35mm f2 or my Nikon 50mm f1.8.

But when getting shots from telephoto to wide angle in tight spots, its excellent. And if all you do is outdoor travel shots, you don't need any other lens.


Mel

One lens for most outdoor situations - even sports, if the light is good enough

Not the sharpest tool in the shed, but sharp enough

VR is good, but can't compensate for poor technique

Not reliably razor-sharp at all focal lengths.

Really too slow to use at optimal DSLR ISO settings indoors

f4-5.6 isn't sufficient for sharply separating subjects from background

Zoom "creep" when camera carried is annoying

Looks like an amateur lens - no one will confuse you as a pro carrying a camera with this lens

None as "amateur" - mostly pro lenses like Nikon f2.8 80-200 AF-D

Unknown

I have a mixed impression about the 18-200mm lens. The lens is definitely multi-purpose, but said capability comes with a cost in performance. Lens distortion is a big problem with the lens; the broad range of focal lengths, compact size, and light weight will compromise image integrity. The lens readily slips in focal length, aqnd that is a design problem that Nikon did not have resolved when my lens was built. In general, the lens has a flimsy "feel" about it; for comparison, the 35-135mm was a work of art and very well built without the aforementioned lens slippage. VR is a big plus and works well; however, the lens does not resolve with high image clarity / sharpness above around 130-140mm. In fact, images appear to be quite soft. There are better values in used lenses and for less as long as one is willing to dispense with VR. This lens is crippled by its limitation to DX, which limits use to 1 of 2 Nikons that I own. This is one lens that I may sell sooner rather than later as it is a so-so lens and will be less important as FX sensor-bearing cameras become more prevalent.

Broad range of focal lengths - like having 1 good and 1-2 mediocre lenses in one.
Modest weight.
VR.

Distortion over a range of focal lengths.
Focal length creep.
Soft images above 130-140mm.
Flimsy build quality
Limited to DX camera use

Nikon 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-D
Nikon 35-135mm f/3.5-4.5 Ai-S

Depends - some techs are great and some are not.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Not needed.

After reading lots of raving reviews, I bought one for our Scotland trip last year.
The long zoom range, VR and fast autofocus were the reasons for this dicision.
I found out that colour rendition is OK. Sharpness is also good from 18 up to a 125 mm. From that point on the lens gives softer pictures.
VR is amazing. It's my first VR lens, and it works better than expected!!
Zoom creep is no issue on my lens. AF is fast indeed.

But: I was disapointed about two things: a lot of cromatic abberation and a lot of distortion on 18-24 mm. It takes up much time to change that in pp. For nature pics I'll keep using primes on my D200. As for portraits and animals.
I'll use this lens mostly for photographing people (snapshots).
On the D70 it's ok, because the sensor and lens do not outperform each other.
On the D200 it's a bit of a disapointment. I get sharper pics from the 18-70 AF-S 3.5-4 kitlens. Because it seems to be the best superzoom lens you can get, I did expect more sharpness and less ca.

Zoomrange, colourrendition, weight, fast AF and VR.

To soft for the D200, distortion and awfull ca's.

It's fast and good. Used it twice.
The first time with the well kniown D70 problem.
The second time I dropped a lens on the floor, right on the aperture handle.
Both items were returned within 10 days!
Thank you Nikon Repair Holland!

I was fortunate to be able to buy the 18-200 lens before we took a trip to Scotland. I lugged two other lenses along , a 70-300 VR lens and a 105 mm lens and never used them The lens stayed on my camera the whole time. It is sharp at 200 and wonderful for close ups of people at 18. I was unable to bring a tripod because of the weight and never missed it. I have a 70-200 lens which I love. It cannot be used without a tripod but it is 2.8 which allows more picture taking in low light. The f3.5 is close enough for me for travelling and indoor pictures. It is a great addition to my lenses. It focuses quickly and gives sharp images all the time. I even took some decent pictures from a moving train. I will keep it on my camera most of the time, except when I am taking nature shots with the tripod. I think this lens is a great starter lens. I wish I had had it when I bought my first Nikon camera.

The VR function works really well

it is so versatile 11 times zoom is amazing

It is sharp at all settings.

I don't like to change lenses out in the field. This one works so well for most situations.

None.
I have not experienced any lens creep which is what some people talked about when I was reading reviews to make a decision.

I have a nikon D80 with a 70-300 VR lens

a 70-200 2.8 lens
a 2x teleconverter which I use on the 70-200 lens only

I haven't needed any yet or ever.