kit lens war 18-55mm vs 18-105mm

domu221 · Jun 9, 2012

Ok i wanna replace my 18-55mm with a 18-105mm. Ive read tons of reviews about which one produces sharper images (using 35mm as focal length of comparison; and i dunno why 35mm is so golden). The reviews were mixed and m not sure which reviews are reliable. Can u guys share ur experiences wi with both lenses? Thx

zamanakhan · Jun 9, 2012

35 is the golden focal length on dx as it is the normal lens on dx. Save your money, don't replace the 18-55 with the 18-105, you won't gain much. Maybe get a 55-200 or one of the prime lenses like 35 or 50 1.8 instead. When I had the 18-55, I hated it at first, but after I got more experienced I realized I was just blaming equipment. 18-55 is a great lens.

Solarflare · Jun 10, 2012

Thanks to the 1.5 crop factor, a 35mm lens is on DX like a 50mm is on FX. And 50mm on full frame is the classic journalist / street photography / full body portrait lens.

Also, the 35mm/1.8 DX is the smallest DX prime. That means, its the most low light tolerant lens.

gryffinwings · Jun 11, 2012

zamanakhan said:
35 is the golden focal length on dx as it is the normal lens on dx. Save your money, don't replace the 18-55 with the 18-105, you won't gain much. Maybe get a 55-200 or one of the prime lenses like 35 or 50 1.8 instead. When I had the 18-55, I hated it at first, but after I got more experienced I realized I was just blaming equipment. 18-55 is a great lens.

I'll have to disagree. You gain more versatility with more focal length. I feel that I have to change lens more with the 18-55mm. This is why I'm changing to the 18-105mm eventually. Mind you, I have the 55-200mm lens already as well as the 35mm lens.

jake337 · Jun 11, 2012

Either will work just fine when provided with pleasing light.

FocusDave · Jun 12, 2012

Are you using any other lenses as well, or would it just be the 18-105? I replaced my 18-55 with an 18-200 (Tamron, not Nikkor), and it's great. I'd eventually like to get a dedicated wide angle and a dedicated telephoto, but for the price, the Tamron gets the job done pretty well.

mjhoward · Jun 12, 2012

Solarflare said:
Also, the 35mm/1.8 DX is the smallest DX prime. That means, its the most low light tolerant lens.

And here I was thinking that the aperture was responsible for the amount of light let in when all along it is focal length!

domu221 · Jun 12, 2012

Ok i get the 35mm on a dx now but... People say that the 18-105 has more moving parts so it produces less sharp images than the 18-55 (let alone a prime). Is there any sense to this argument?

And yes, i only plan on replacing my kit lens with the 18-105. I also have a 35mm 1.8 and am planning to buy a wide angle lens in the near future. I just plan to use the kit ls as a normal all around zoom lens.

And i have no intent to upgrade to fx

Mach0 · Jun 12, 2012

mjhoward said:
And here I was thinking that the aperture was responsible for the amount of light let in when all along it is focal length!

Lol!!!

greybeard · Jun 12, 2012

I have the 18-55 and if you stay between f/8-f/16 it is OK. I doubt the 18-105 is any better in the range of 18-55 as the well, 18-55. However I can guarantee that the 18-105 is far superior in the 55-105 range lol. From what I have read and have spoken to from professionals, the 16-85 that runs around $700 when you can find them, is the best Nikon (normal) DX zoom.

fjrabon · Jun 12, 2012

I had the 18-105mm for about a month, along with the 18-55mm at the same time.

I'd say that they 18-55mm was a *tiny* bit sharper at 30-45mm and f/8. I'd say the 18-105mm was a bit sharper from 50-55mm and f/8. Everything else was pretty close to equal.

the thing I didn't like about the 18-105mm from 55-105mm is that it wasn't really good at anything. It wasn't really fast enough for most wildlife, unless you got the animal just perfectly still and could snap a long exposure, or were in borad daylight (and if you're in broad daylight shooting wlidlife, why are you in broad daylight shooting wildlife?) the DOF control wasn't really good enough for portraits in that range, IMHO. Most everything I used from 55mm and up on it, honestly I would have gotten about as good of an image just cropping from 50-55mm.

Essentially, I found that from 55-105mm, the thing just wasn't good enough to warrant paying more to 'upgrade' to it. It's not a bad lens, by any means, but unless you are constantly needing to go from 30mm to 105mm, it's not really good enough at any one thing to view it as an upgrade. It's a great starter lens if you get it in your kit with your D7000, but that's what it is. I don't really see a need to ever go out and buy it unless you just get an outstanding deal and still feel you are in the 'beginner' phase. Your best bet is to find somebody who just upgraded all their glass on their D7000 and then talk to them about all of its shortcomings (which they will be very aware of) and convince them they don't need it any more. I did that, got it for a song, and I still found no use for it, lol.

FocusDave · Jun 12, 2012

I almost forgot, if you ever use manual focus or circular polarizing filters, you'll find that the 18-55 rotating the front element to focus a big pain. We use manual focus exclusively here at work, so having an actual focus ring on the 18-105 is great.

Alan92RTTT · Jun 12, 2012

To upgrade or not? Or is it even an upgrade? That's the real question.

What does the 18-55 do/not do that makes you feel you want to switch? I can't answer that for you I will tell you why I did.

I got the 18-55 and the 55-200 when I got my D5000. I never had an issue with image quality. I do this for fun and post the pics on the web. I don't need a $1000 lens for vacations and just walking around. I found it hard to manually focus. I hate the 55mm cutoff point. That is why I switched. If I went on a trip I was always switching between the 18-55 and the 55-200 to get the shot I wanted.

I like the 18-105 because of the longer reach. I went to Disney over Christmas and with the exception of Animal Kingdom I did not even have any other lenses on me. I like the actual focus ring and that I can be in auto mode, let the camera focus and then tweak the focus without changing from auto to manual.

I wish I had my pics from Disney online so I could post some of the pics I took with my 18-105.