Good all-around lens for use with Nikon D5300

The "Zoom With Your Feet" philosophy is fine in some situations but it flat does not work in others..

The problem people like Ken Rockwell and others don't understand (or refuse to understand) is that it is not only about "zooming". Focal length heavily influences perspective, not just the size of the main subject (which you can affect with "zooming with feet, yes), but also the size of the objects in the background. Imagine taking portrait of someone in front of some majestic mountains. According to Rockwell and others, it doesn't matter if you use 70-200mm or 35mm, because the photo will be the same. What they fail to understand is that in one photo, the mountain will be small and boring. In the other the mountain will retain its majesty.

This,this,this,^^^^^^^^ a thousand times THIS!!!!

Focal length influences perspective only insofar as HOW FAR away the lens forces/allows the shooter to position himself. But the background magnification, background rendering, degree of background blur, background angle behind the close subject, and the apparent compression of distance or the degree of apparent "expansion" of distance, are all determined in large part by the lens and its focal length.

The whole "zoom with your feet" admonition and the accompanying Rockwellian, "There's no need for moderate wide-angle" tropes are both utter bull**i+.

Since the 18-140 VR is brand new, I am going to assume it is the very-newest VR implementation, and as such will not be labeled specifically as VR-II. The "II" is used as in Mark-II aka Version II of the lens. Other Nikkors have the same naming convention; the first version of a lens made in this era will not be a "II" model, but it will have the very-newest VR system. That's my understanding.

I'd skip the 18-200 and go with the 18-140 VR lens for $1100.
 
And for the record the 16-85mm lens isn't out of the running, either. That option with the camera would be about $1330. I'm not sure I can convince my wife to sacrifice the extra zoom we could get with one of the other lenses, however.
 
Man, from y'all's posts it seems like you'd both be happy with the 18-200mm VR II. My Dad has the same needs and he is going to end up with the 18-200mm.
 

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