versatile range
VR

A little heavy for a walking-around lens for casual use (parties, family events etc.)
Not as razor-sharp as Nikon's best primes.

I am replacing a Nikkor 18-70 DX and a Nikkor 70-300G with this lens. My detailed evaluation gallery with samples is at:

http://www.pbase.com/hsandler/18_200

The lens handles nicely. Fit and finish are good for a plastic lens. Barrel doesn't wobble and I have no issue with zoom creep. The zoom ring has an area around 100mm when it requries more torque to turn it, and the Nikon rep at a camera show told me this is normal, as the lens design has a complex series of cams which cause a reversal of direction of an internal part at that point.

VR really is great. One advantage of having it in the lens instead of in the body as in the Sony system is that you can see the stabilization effect in the viewfinder before pressing the shutter. It generally takes about 0.5 sec to stabilize upon engaging the system by half-pressing the shutter.

Consumers used to small cheap kit lenses may find it a tad on the heavy side as a walking-around lens, but pros will find it light.

Optically, it seems to perform at least as good as the 18-70 DX lens over that range, and certainly is sharper around 40mm where I had problems with the 18-70. At 200mm it's OK for me, but pros may be dissatisfied.

Versatility. Image quality. Small size. Relatively low cost. Image stabiliser really works

Zoom creeps forward when the lens is tilted forward at the tele end
Availability

OK I've had it for more than two months and there's nothing much to write about. It works just fine. A real milestone in my photography career. this is an amazing lens. Here's the story:

I realised after using the D200 with my f2.8 constant zooms (17-35, 28-70 and 80-200) that the D200 is a really super tool and that I could retire my last film body (Hasselblad medium format) and only shoot digital. The problem is the f2.8 constant lenses are big, heavy and expensive. The 18-70DX works fine with the D200 but my 70-210 f3.5-4.5 pump zoom blows dust into the mirror box. The 18-200 looked too good to be true. Surely an 11x zoom would not match the image quality of the f2.8 constant zooms?

First observation: I find that images from the Nikon consumer zooms (both 18-70DX and 18-200DX) used on the D200 need extra sharpness and saturation in Nikon Capture to look right. The f2.8 constant zooms look just fine with the standard settings.

Second observation: Prints from the 18-200 don't look quite as good as ones from the f2.8 constant zooms. The effect is hardly noticable. They don't quite have the same finesse.

That's all I've noticed. I would always use the f2.8 constant lenses if I want the best but for most uses the 18-200 stays on the camera. As a walk-about combination with Auto-ISO set on the D200 I just walk about, outdoors, indoors, never make any adjustments, hardly ever use the flash any more either.

Customer Service

Nikon Shop in Paris is excellent but I haven't needed them for this lens

Similar Products Used:

17-35 f2.8, 28-70 f2.8, 80-200 f2.8, 18-70 DX, 70-210 f3.5-4.5

Versatile.

Not fast enough for low-light.

Versatile. As a newbie into the SLR world, I wanted a lens that did it all. Attached to my D70s, it does most everything. If there is light present, this is the one lens to have.

Nice color. I shoot with either a UV or Polarizing filter on this lens.

I usually shoot sports. When I lived in Idaho, this was no prob, this lens is great for the versatility. But now that I live in Washington, it's not fast enough for the action shots I crave.

I'll probably keep it just because of how versatile it is. Maybe I'll buy some high speed primes. I usually end up shooting with my 50mm/1.8 in the woods, plus it's not as fragile as this big lens and weighs less.

For one lens that does it all, it's really nice.

The general impression over a few days is that the 18-200 VR is a good general purpose travel lens with decent image quality.

Its usability with VR enables it to go where most lenses fail to reach! The autofocus is good too and its close focusing is a big improvement on my old 70-300 lens.

Where this lens really excels is for photography of static objects like buildings and dark interior like churches in less than ideal conditions. At the wide F3.5 end; one would normally use 15 to 20th sec as a minimum for 18mm focal length. I was able to get reasonably sharp results hand held at ¼ second.

This is pretty handy if you in a place which bans tripods or flash; or are too lazy to bother with a tripod

I literally walked out of the dealer after purchasing this lens and straight to a music festival. The musicians and dancers lit by stage lighting will be a useful test of the lens capabilities.

Low lighting and movement exposed the biggest weakness of this lens.
At F5.6 at the 200mm end It is simply too slow for that purpose; as one needs at least 1:125 sec to freeze motion.

The VR does an effective job of freezing static objects; but if you are shooting a dancer at 1/10th of a second you are not going to get her sharp at all; but you will get a sharp background at F5.6 in most cases.

An F 2.8 lens is far more effective.
I made a direct comparison with my aging Fuji S7000 with a f2.5 to F3..2 zoom. I found the Nikon inferior in sharpness because I could not get a fast enough shutter speed even at 800asa to capture moving subjects.

I am saying this to benefit those who may intend buying this lens for low light wildlife or stage photography; as you will be wasting your money!

Another weakness is that out of focus detail (Bokeh) looks harsh and a little disturbing. My cheap 70-300 Nikon looks a much nicer visually.

The lens distortion which is most apparent at 18mm will not be much of an issue for general photography; if you want to take serious architectural photography then you will be best advised to get a more specialist lens like the Sigma 12-24

At present it is seriously overpriced for a consumer lens; but if I had wanted to wait for another year; then maybe the price will have come down to a sensible level.

Nikon 18-200 VR for those are too lazy to bother with a tripod?

Well the waiting of 9 months is over and I have now got my hands on the Nikon 18-200 VR lens. Was it worth the wait or is VR just an expensive gimmick?

Out of the box, the lens looks well built and finished with a nice smooth Nikon feel, like what should be expected. The wide zoom range will mean that couple of aging lenses can now be retired. (especially my 18-35 Nikkor which has too short a zoom range) Having a multi purpose wide to tele lens will reduce the need for lens changes. VR is a bonus albeit an expensive one.

So are VR lens a reason for tripod manufactured to go out of business!

There is no substitute for a proper camera support; as you can use small F stops to give depth of field. If you are shooting at F3.5 you just aren’t going to get the same DOF and sharpness than if you stop down to F11 for example. Having said that; it can enable a smaller F stop under marginal light. Where you may have to use F 3.5 at 15th sec you can use F8 at 1 ¼ sec

As I live in a very dusty environment; changing lenses can be a problem with dust getting in the camera. Not needing to change lenses is a real plus point and my main purpose in buying this lens.

If you want a complete digital lens kit in a box with VR as well; then the Nikon 18-200 VR would be worthwhile.; It is a jack of all trades but master of none!

. For the wild life or budding rock music photographer; get an 80-200 F2.8 lens; or if you are on a budget and not so concerned about ultimate quality; the Fuji S9000 / 9500 will be far more useful and cheaper.

The Nikon 18-200 VR is No 1 in a field of one; unless some manufacturer comes up with an 18-200 F2.8 lens at less than $1000 ……….dream on!

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 18-35 f3.5
Nikon 70-300 f4.5

Sharp
Punchy colour
Great zoom range
Quite compact really
Well made - but I would expect this for the money
The first super zoom I am really happy with.
A lot of hype about this lens but it is very good for what it does

Lens hood is a bit flimsy and fiddly to fit.
Some distortion at 18 mm but easily correctable with most photo software
Some falir when shooting bright highlights
Can drain batteries on a D200 - get a spare for all day shooting
It is quite expensive and still in short supply
I've knocked one star off for value due to the cost and problems with availability - but i am sure Nikon has limited its availability to keep the price up! All in all it's worth getting one

This is my second review of this lens after using it for a few months as a 'do all' lens. I stand by my initial impressions, good colour, sharp and distortion well controlled. Close focus is excellent and the VR does a gret job. I have now taken over 1200 pictures with it and enjoy using the lens on my D200 (infact the D200 and this lens make a great picture taking kit). I agree with other reviwers that this lens is expensive but well made. I have not had any regreats purchasing this lens so far. It just work well in all conditions. I still see a nice almost 3d image in well lit shots. I have now tried the lens for all sorts of wrok from still life to sport, the lens performed admirably in all situations and any duff shot were largely down to me. My wife, a Canon. fan, loves this lens and the D200 combination and I often have to fight her for it! I mentioned in my first review that the zoom ring was stiff but this has now resolved itself with use. I have printed upto A3 and the results have been very very good. Nikon have certainly done their home work here and made a good general purpose lens that is one step above other offerings for the range. I have had some minot flair but mainly down to me trying to push the lens and experiment a bit. It's also great not to have to carry four or five lenses around and a big kit bag. One thing I have noticed is that battery life is reduced due to the lens having motors in it to work the VR. This is most apparant on the D200 compared with the D70. I have now bought a spare ENEL3e so I can go all day using this lens without the faer of power drain. I can't find much to critisie with this lens although I have tried hard to find it's weak spots, it has not really got any! It's not as shapr as my primes but it's close, close enough to leave the primes at home. This is the first zoom I am really happy with. I paid £549 GBP for the lens which seem the average street price here in the UK - all in all a lot of money but a worth while investment in my opinion. See Ken Rockwells technical review for MTF charts and distortiuon factors etc, very informative review

Customer Service

Only needed to phone Nikon UK once but they answered my question and were supportive ( it was about a firmware upgrade)

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Loads of Nikon and Cannon gear

Range is simply incredible, but even more so as this lens is sharper than the 18-70 and just about as sharp as the 28-200G lens. VR II is fantastic and this lens handles well.

There is certainly some serious distortion with this lens at the wide end. This can be corrected easily is PS, but this is NOT a good pick if you shoot buildings professionally.

Let's face facts: Prime lenses are not as fun as zooms! Lenses like the Nikon 17-35, 70-200VR and other fast zooms match or exceed primes and allow a better range of options, which means the camera becomes less of a factor for getting between you and the shot. The 18-200VR is NOT meant to challenge the exotics like my 70-200VR or the 200-400VR. It's not even meant to take on a prime like my 50mm or Tamron 90 Macro. It's designed to be the ultimate one lens solution when you don't want a bag full of heavy glass along for the ride. It features moderately fast (but not very) optics, vibration reduction and a lot of work to keep CA and distortion down. This it achieves with some success, but distortion is still obvious at 18mm.
Now...how good is it in the real world? VERY GOOD. It's a match for the sharp little 28-200G which means it's only a bit less sharp than the 70-200VR which costs twice as much. My first images with this lens were stunning, detailed and fairly sharp to the edges above F5. Close focus gives near macro results and again this lens is SHARP! Focus speed is quite fast of course, but I feel that the 18-70 kit lens is a hair quicker. You could shoot all day with this miracle and do it all without feeling like you need a giant lens. If, like me, you find yourself shooting mostly in the 35-200mm range on a DSLR, this lens makes a lot of sense. It also displayed deeper color saturation and contrast than either the 28-200G or 50mm 1.8. Did I mention that I'm impressed?
Build quality is good, but not great. It's hard to be impressed with any lens build when compared to the 70-200VR. The 18-200 zoom is a bit stiff, the manual focus a bit loose. I suspect Nikon dialed up the zoom stiffness due to early problems with lens creep early on. It's not creeping at all. The size of the lens is only a bit bigger than the kit lens, perhaps as bulky at the Tokina 12-24 if you have one of those.
VR II works great as expected, but I've yet to give it more than a few simple tests. I was able to shoot sharp shots at 1.20th sec exposure. But remember this is NOT fast glass. A moving object in dim light will be blurred at such slow shutter speeds. Thus far this is an impressive effort from Nikon. Even an experienced shooter could find this lens on the camera most days and be happy. "Average" shooters will need nothing more because this lens is that good. The only areas for improvement given the real limits of optical design are in the build quality, which could be a bit better. In the end, even at 700 dollars plus, this lens is pretty hard to resist.

Customer Service

Unknown

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 28-200G, 17-35, 17-55, 70-200VR and so on

I find I can stack my polarizer on top of my UV (which is on a 72 - 77mm step-up ring - Curse you Nikon for not making the threads 77!) and STILL use this lens with no real vignetting at 24 and above. Now I REALLY want a 12-24, but that's a whole other story (don't have the dough).

Focus is LUDICROUSLY fast, either manually or auto. The AF-S seems to be the real deal in this lens, with a real Silent Wave Motor, unlike some "partial" AF-S lenses NIkon has been selling lately.

Now, if you look below, you'll see why I took two stars off for the distortion (necessary, I admit), the lens flaring (also necessary), the slight chromatic aberrations I'm getting on slight over-exposures, and the reduced speed as you zoom out to 200, but it gets one of those back easily for the INCREDIBLE VR technology. It kinda eats batteries for lunch (why haven't you gotten a backup battery yet?!?), but I actually shot some indoor 1600 stuff hand-held all the way at 200mm (300 equiv) and 1/40 or 1/50. AMAZING! I understand it works well in low light at the wide end too. Haven't tried any available darkness landscapes yet, so I can't say.

So... It IS a do all and be all lens! Maybe not for the pro, but certainly for the guy who wants to take some great shots and especially the guy who doesn't want to miss a shot because he's changing lenses (and letting dust into his camera...)

I am not going to go into detailed specifics of the distortion, since that's been dealt with better by Ken Rockwell, Thom Hogan and others (EXCELLENT reviews... seek them out...). But it's severe enough at the wide end that you will probably want to correct it (as best you can) in Photoshop. In real-life shooting, it isn't a huge deal. I find that when I zoom in to 24 it is totally usable to all intents and purposes, and if I REALLY want to use something you shot at 18, unless there are some REALLY straight lines in it you might have no need of correction. So, in short, the distortion is there, but so what. It's bound to be in a lens of this range.

Some other reviewers report better resistance to flare than I am experiencing. It is still pretty good in a lens of this many elements, but it is hardly "nonexistent" as some have reported. Mine is made in Thailand and earlier ones in Japan. I hope that I got the same quality as the lucky early adopters, but this could account for that difference. I still don't use the lens hood because I step the filter threads up to 77 and don't want to take off my UV filter ever time I use it. The lens hood is a pain in the neck anyway. Leave it at home.

I also think this lens is a tad expensive, that maybe 600 is more like it, but as long as Nikon can sell every single one they make, who am I to say. I was willing to pay it. If you can afford it, just buy it. If you don't like it, sell it on eBay.

Some of the reviews you've read on the internet are a little over-hyped. And some of them, or at least some portions of them, are not. I'm using this lens on a D50... Great results so far.

Well, you know the specs by now. two ED elements, three aspheric, Silent Wave Motor, VR II, Internal Focusing (NO movement of the front element!) and great zoom range (beware, this thing gets obnoxiously huge when zoomed in to 200. It just looks plain silly, especially with the lens hood, which I left in the box anyway.)

Customer Service

Bought this at B & H. I got REAL lucky. I dialed up their web site every morning, and lo and behold, this past week I brought up their web site and it said they were in stock. I dropped what I was doing and called and they said yes it was in stock. Got it the next day, service is everything you expect from them of course. I logged onto the web site after I completed my order and they were already out of stock. You can bet I tracked this package hourly!

Similar Products Used:

I have also used (at work) a lot of older Nikon lenses on NIkon film cameras and on D1 and Kodak 14n bodies. This lens is more fun than any two of them put together. I've shot Pentax at home, but now I got a real camera... (The Pentax D-SLRs just don't cut it yet, and I was tired of waiting.)

I am used to a Canon T90 and manual focus lenses so this Nikon lense and a D200 body are a revelation to me (I actually laughed with delight when I first tried this lense). Please bear in mind that I have no previous experience of autofocus lenses other than point and shoot compact digitals, so I am comparing this with old technology, which means my verdict might not hold up against a comparison with other, newer dSLR gear.

Reasonably light weight at 560g (nearly 20oz), balancing well on my D200, I've taken a few thousand photos with this lense in the last few months (some of them reasonably good - but, as we all know, good equipment does NOT a good photographer make).

Autofocus is quite good. It works quickly in good light but can sometimes hunt across the full range even then if the contrast is low - say a mountain or water scene. In those circumstances it could take up to a second to focus. It is a quiet and unobtrusive noise during this operation. In poor light autofocus is not guaranteed but manual override is quick, easy and positive - you just use the focus ring.

The VR capability is excellent, working well all the time. It is easy to forget that you have it on and it is recommended that you switch it off when using a tripod (something I'm always forgetting to do). It won't stop major shakes and will not correct poor camera holding technique, but I have taken sharp photos at wider angles down to nearly a second once or twice to see what would happen.

At telephoto settings you would be better off trying to stick to normal speeds to get guaranteed results, e.g. 200/sec @ 200mm zoom. In exceptional circumstances VR will help you get that shot, but *always* check the preview before assuming you have sharply it in the bag (something that should be automatic anyway).

Build quality is excellent. It was spotless coming out of the box, with two end caps, soft case and lense hood.

Being the equivalent of a 27-300mm zoom 35 mm film lense, it is easy to leave this on the camera all the time. The relatively small max aperture of f3.5 at wideangle drops to f5.6 fairly evenly as you zoom in to maximum telephoto, so in aperture priority mode this means a significant shutter speed drop - VR to the rescue in low light!

In ascending order of magnitude (worst last):

Zoom ring was a bit stiff at a few points across the range initially but has begun smoothing out nicely now.

Plastic filter screw thread, so be careful not to crossthread if you don't use a UV protector routinely.

"Nose wobbles" - at full extension (200mm) the front of my lense is actually loose and can be moved about 1 mm. This causes a disconcerting, but gentle, "clunk" if holding the camera pointing downwards when walking. It seems to have no discernable effect on any aspect of taking a photo, is also a feature of my other Nikon 70-300mm G type lense, and doesn't happen when the lense is shortened.

Useless lense hood, except at the maximum wideangle setting, so I have never used it.

When using VR this lense drains the battery quicker.

Cokin filter users like me WILL find some vignetting at widest zoom settings, but this is not the fault of the lense and on a tripod you can hand hold the filter.

On only a few sunset photos I have found an annoying ghost feature. If, for example, you place the sun at the centre of the left half of the viewfinder you will find its alter ego in the opposite half of the image when exposed. It is not a pleasant flare effect, but a poor, unfocussed, image-spoiling blob. It has only happened with images shot towards the maximum telephoto end and I haven't had the foresight to swap lenses to see if it occurs with any of my others - sorry!

A well made and sturdy lense, this doesn't weigh too much, works well and is very versatile. It delivers consistent, accurate results in focus and picture quality.

It balances a D200 body well, stores easily thanks to it compact size and covers a zoom range sufficient for most uses. Maximum aperture isn't at all bad at f3.5-f5.6 but it drains the battery quicker when using the VR option (can be switched off though).

It's easy to operate and follows Nikon convention. The only shortcoming I've found is the ghost image problem when photographing specular highlights such as the sun, but I don't know if this is an issue with this lense only, or something that affects other lenses as well. You should research this more yourself if it might be a big issue for you.

If you want an all-round lense offering good results from a relatively lightweight package then you can't go wrong with this - recommended for any digital Nikon SLR user (perhaps that's why they are so hard to get hold of)! Before rushing out to place an order please check it is compatible with your Nikon body - just in case.

Customer Service

No experience yet!

Similar Products Used:

None.

Image quality, outstanding "all purpose" lens, build quality is better than OK, vibration reduction is amazing (especially for close-ups), great warranty with Nikon.

I'm being picky, but I wish it had a larger zoom ring.

I try to extensively research any new product that I'm thinking of buying. This was a tough one as there are not that many out there at the time of this review. Nikon is making their D200 camera and this lens a tough buy as they are certainly not flooding the market with them. I learned that it was worth going to one of the smaller Nikon dealers rather than the big supply houses like Adorama or B&H. I found both in stock at Camera Wholesalers in Stamford, Ct. The digital world has taught me to be more concerened about dust than I ever was with my film cameras. The difference in the ease of cleaning is staggering. Because of this, I wanted a quality "all purpose" lens that would stay on the camera. I never used one with film. They actually turned me off. I can't put my finger on it, but the digital world is different. I honestly do not believe that the lens is as overall significant as it was with film. I have been amazed at the quality of my photos with both this lens and the less expensive 18-70 that came with my D70. My close up shots with the 18-200 give my 105 macro a run for its money! It does the same with my 80-200 2.8!! Digital is simply a different beast. And I dragged my feet getting there. Anyway, the 18-200 is MUCH better than I expected, and I expected it to be pretty good! There is some distortion with certain architectual shots as there is with a lot of lenses. If you specialize in this area, go for a specialty lens. Other than that, this is an absolute winner!! I'm amazed at the quality of the close up shots that I took without a tripod because of the VR factor. I don't do action shots but have read that it falls short in this area when in the VR mode. I guess this is where a 2.8 comes in handy. I think the build factor is fine. It is certainly not built like a tank, but not many lenses under a thousand bucks are. Most of the lenses that I used with my F5 were 2.8's so I am not a novice to quality equipment. This 18-200 will stay on my D200 for a long time to come. Interesting fact (at least to me) is, the 18-200 lens is made in Japan and the D200 is made in Thailand! The price is not cheap, but you have a lot of lenses in this one unit and it is capable of producing great photos if you are capable of taking them. The D200 and the 18-200 are a great combination, all for less money than a lot of other camera bodies alone would cost, and would not produce any better results!

Customer Service

Nikon has always been great. Thankfully I have not had to use them that much in the past 30 years,

Similar Products Used:

35-70 2.8, 80-200 2.8, 28-105