Lens HELP! please.

[BPetrafassi]

I am looking to buy a new lens. A high quality zooming lens to take photos of animals with. I have a Nikon D3000 camera. Currently i am looking at:

AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

If you know another lens that is cheaper but just as good, feel free to post. Or another brand is suitable as well. I'm just more comfortable with Nikon.
Also, price isn't really a worry, as long as it's around 700-800; give or take.
I also don't mind buying from ebay

 

[SwiftTone]

If you are looking for ONE zoom that does it all generally well, the 18-200mm by Nikon is pretty good. People argue that the VR II isn't much of an improvement over the 1st version. If you don't mind spending a little extra, go for the VR II. Don't forget to factor in the price of a protective filter, which is around $100 for a good one

 

[KmH]

This is NOT a high quality lens:

AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

But, it is a convenient lens if you don't want to be bothered with carrying and changing among multiple lenses that cover the same focal range.

Many consider the AF-S 18-200 mm to be Nikon's worst current lens value.

It has quite bad, virtually unfixable barrel distortion, as well as soft focus when using wide apertures, at 18 mm. That barrel distortion does improve however as you zoom towards 35 mm where the distortion changes to pincushion distortion.

From 180 mm to 200 mm focus again become soft when using wide apertures.

Any super-zoom, regardless of make (10x+ zoom range) is a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none lens rife with image quality design compromises, so they can achieve their super-zoom range.

 

[Derrel]

Nikon 18-200mm VR II

Just get one. Or something similar. These lenses are about convenience and utility.

 

[Petraio Prime]

I am looking to buy a new lens. A high quality zooming lens to take photos of animals with. I have a Nikon D3000 camera. Currently i am looking at:

AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

If you know another lens that is cheaper but just as good, feel free to post. Or another brand is suitable as well. I'm just more comfortable with Nikon.
Also, price isn't really a worry, as long as it's around 700-800; give or take.
I also don't mind buying from ebay

"High quality" is not to be obtained with such lenses. These are lenses for convenience, for casual snapshooting. If if you want to do serious work, get primes.

 

[Overread]

As the others have said the 18-200mm type lenses are good for being an all in one zoom lens but when it comes to optical and image quality they are significantly lacking as a result of both their long zoom range and cheap price (And thus construction).

My advice - with your budget of around $700-800 (I assume US $) is to consider the following:
Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 DG HSM II
Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8D ED AF
Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED IF AF-S VR

Those appear to be around your price point (at least on amazon) and are in the nikon range (note the sigma is also made for other mounts so make sure you look at the nikon version).
Sadly I've not used any of these lenses nor am I fully aware of the nikon range on offer so there might be other options for you to consider in this range - also I have no way of telling you which of the above lenses will give you the best overall optical performance.

 

[Derrel]

"High quality" is not to be obtained with such lenses. These are lenses for convenience, for casual snapshooting. If if you want to do serious work, get primes.

Or, if you want some REALLY GREAT optics, look into the Nikkor 14-24mm zoom, which is better than almost every prime in its focal length, from almost any manufacturer.

Anyway...read what a real Nikon expert has to say about the 18-200 VR, the original version with the earlier Vibration Reduction. The article is subtitled, "Superzooms shouldn't be this good." 18-200mm AF-S DX VR Lens Review by Thom Hogan

Or check out Nikon expert Bjorn Rorslett's review
NRFOTO Bjrn Rrslett

 

[KmH]

The Nikon AF-S VR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED is one of Nikon's current best lens values.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

...look into the Nikkor 14-24mm zoom...

Unless the OP is shooting pets, this might be a bit short for animal photography

 

[JustAnEngineer]

What's the word for photographers who go on safari without a long telephoto lens?


Lunch.

 

[BPetrafassi]

Im thinking of purchasing the
Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED IF AF-S VR
it seems to be the best for me right now.
what I really want is the:
AF-S NIKKOR
200-400mm f/4G ED VR II


However, I don't have a couple "G's" to throw around. lol.

 

[KmH]

I use the Sigma 150-500 mm APO f/5-6.3 HSM DG OS that retails for about $999, new. (the only non-Nikon lens I own.)

If I ever decide to get the Nikon 200-400, I will just sell the Sigma and add to the proceeds from that sale, the necessary $$$'s for the 200-400.

 

[Lipoly]

The Nikon AF-S VR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED is one of Nikon's current best lens values.

+1

That is the conclusion I came to when shopping for a new lens...I ended up w/this one.