Help with a lens

[Sublime1304]

I have both the 18-55mm and 55-200mm lens and I was wondering if its worth selling both and just buying an 18-200mm lens all in one

 

[Overread36]

An 18-200mm lens covers a lot of focal length changes, the difference between 18mm and 100mm alone is very big and as a result, in order to both cover the range and have a cheaper price the 18-200mm lenses are typically poorer quality optics. Not impossible to use, but less than ideal for many who move to a DSLR for reasons of quality. They are great all in one lenses, great for when you just want a light setup without fuss for a day out with the family and the like; but most people wouldn't sell better quality lenses to get an all in one as their main and only lens.


Of course each person is different and you might want that all in one for your style and approach to photography - best advice I can give is to go try one out in a shop- take some photos on your camera and bring the files home to take a look at - see if the hit in quality (esp at the longer focal lengths) is something you can accept for the convenience - or not.

 

[djacobox372]

You will be sacrificing image quality for convienence, and if you sell both of your lenses youll still need another $200 minimum to buy a 18-200mm. Instead i would suggest taking that $200 and buying either a 50mm or 35mm prime.

 

[KmH]

If convenience is more important to you than image quality, yes, get the 18-200 mm. In other words, get the 18-200 if carrying 2 lenses and having to change them periodically is a pain-in-the-ass to you.
Lens makers sell a fair number of superzoom lenses, because for many consumer/hobbyist shooters the convenience is more important than image quality.

Any lens that can zoom more than 10x is known as a superzoom lens. 18-200 mm is 11x+. Many image quality design compromises have to be made to achieve a 10x+ zoom range, and making the lens is somewhat costly too.

So you wind up paying more, to have less image quality performance.

 

[edddial]

I would keep both the 18-55mm and 55-200mm lens as they produce better quality image.