Fell out of love with my super zoom. :-(

[JustJazzie]

Last year I bought my nex7 with the 18-200 super zoom lens. I adored it! It was MUCH sharper than my previous setup. Then I got my 50mm prime.....now all I notice is how "soft" my 18-200 is. Will I be happy selling it for 2 "better" lens's? Or is it nice to have a jack of all trades lens?
My canon setup had a 24-50 (I think) and a 70-200 but I rarely used the 70-300 because it wasn't convenient to switch out all the time. However as my photography evolves I wonder if that would change?

Any thoughts?

 

[robbins.photo]

Last year I bought my nex7 with the 18-200 super zoom lens. I adored it! It was MUCH sharper than my previous setup. Then I got my 50mm prime.....now all I notice is how "soft" my 18-200 is. Will I be happy selling it for 2 "better" lens's? Or is it nice to have a jack of all trades lens?
My canon setup had a 24-50 (I think) and a 70-200 but I rarely used the 70-300 because it wasn't convenient to switch out all the time. However as my photography evolves I wonder if that would change?

Any thoughts?

Any lens that covers a large variation in focal length is going to have to make a lot of compromises in design, it has to be reasonably good at a large number of focal lengths and as a result it's never going to truly be "great" at any of them. As to whether you should keep it or sell it, that's pretty much a personal decision. I use a Nikon myself, and the 70-300 mm Nikor is such an outstanding lens that I'd never consider purchasing something to replace it at those focal lengths unless it were something with a much better aperture setting than what I currently have, and such a lens would be a pretty expensive proposition indeed.

But really it's up to you to decide if the 18-200 gives you good enough image quality for you to be worth keeping, or if it is worth selling for a couple of replacements which will give you better image quality but require you to switch lenses.

 

[Overread]

18-200mm is a nice lens to just put on the camera and have it do everything - one lens, no fiddling with changing for another; no need to carry other lenses. They fit a good niche when photography isn't the aim of the trip and where you just want something that works and is adaptive to what you encounter.

I even know a few professionals who will use 18-200mm lenses for scouting locations - light and quick to use they can play around with focal lengths and angles without having to carry a slew of lenses.

 

[minicoop1985]

It seems that all-around lenses have their purpose, but really, you have to ask if it's what YOU want. If you don't want it, there's no reason to keep it. But if you think you have a use for it, keep it.

 

[Derrel]

Yeah...I got a great deal on a used Tamron 28-300 VC lens from a camera store that was liquidating and going OOB. I payed $100 FOR THE THING!!! It was a convenient lens, and it was FINE on an old, low MP camera like my D70, but on my D2x, it was a bit mushy. Of course, that lens is now an "older" design. Newer and newer zoom lenses seem to get better and better, due to better optical design programs AND the readily availability of both moulded aspherical elements and software lens correction. One of my thoughts is that when a person buys a "superzoom", that he might want to consider that the camera maker's own brand is going to have access to ALL of the camera-maker's in-camera lens correction profiles for shooting JPEGs in camera and also is going to gain the benefit of the camera maker's lens correction profiles in common software like Adobe's Lightroom.

It has now become a somewhat standard operating procedure on lower-cost lenses to build the lenses reasonably well, but to allow certain optical defects to be corrected not in the camera, but in SOFTWARE. This is one of the newer camera- and lens-making methods. It is something that people who shoot non-manufacturer lenses on NEX- and other mirrorless systems talk about on some of the advanced forums.

 

[gsgary]

Put a Leica M lens on it and you will want to throw your 50 away, i tried a Nex7 last week with a 90F2 APO (£2600) and it was very nice but i didn't like the veiwfinder it was ok at F2

 

[JustJazzie]

Thanks for all the thoughts. I guess the biggest question is, am I being too harsh on it?? My 50 blows me away in sharpness, and obviously it's my go to for portraits. I never even noticed it was soft until I got the 50. My zoom is for walking around- hiking, zoo trips, landscapes, etc. Is it "sharp enough?" You tell me?

 

[Kolia]

Stop buying better lenses ! Aha !

Like suggested, understand what the 18-200mm is good at and use it accordingly. The whole idea of interchangeable lens is to use the best lens for the job. So use the 50mm for portraits and low light and the zoom for your walk around alternative.