Lens question...

[NM Rich]

I need your thoughts on lenses if you have a couple minutes.

I bought a Nikon D90 that came with an 18-55 DX 1:3.5-5.6G VR lens and a 55-200 1:4-5.6 ED DX VR lens.

Recently I started seeing the Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX being talked about. I really don't like having to keep switching my lenses while shooting. I mostly shoot for fun at NASCAR races, landscapes, sometimes people or animals.

I don't want to step back in speed and clarity from what I have... Would the Nikon 18-200 lens be a good change?

Thanks for any insight you might be able to give!

 

[JerryPH]

The Nikon 18-200 is a nice walk-around lens, matter of fact, I would go so far as to say it is the best on the market, however, it is not a fast lens (not very good in low light situations unless you are using flashes), it is soft at both ends and vignettes at 200mm. Now, both of those things can be *easily* fixed in post process, and it does have VR that works VERY well. In between the 50-150mm ranges it is excellent... sharp and low in distortion. Compared to your current set of mid-range lenses, you are not losing out much in quality, IMHO.

I own the 18-200 and use it on a D200, and really do like it a lot as a walk-around lens, but when I want quality over convenience, this lens comes off and is replaced by either a Sigma 18-50 EX DC HSM F/2.8 or Nikkor 70-200 F/2.8.

You need to make that choice... best quality or lower quality and major convenience... that's the choice you need to make. If you want to see how the 18-200 works, here is a link to a time that I used NOTHING but the 18-200 at last year's St. Patrick's day parade. Make your own decision.

 

[sabbath999]

OK... I own all of the lenses involved.

You will have more convenience with the 18-200 VR, but you will get MUCH better image quality from the combination of the two lenses.

There is a significant difference in image quality, especially with the 55-200 range... the image quality of the cheapo 55-200 VR is absolutely outstanding.

My wife uses the 18-200 VR pretty well exclusively on her D80. Me, I hate the thing, and carry the 18-55 and the 55-200 on my D40 when I am doing my "vacation" thing.

On the D300 when I am seriously shooting I stick to my pro glass.

 

[NM Rich]

Thank you for your input! I really appreciate your thoughts on my lens decision!

 

[blash]

The 18-200 is the lens that a lot of pro's use as a walk-around lens and it is arguably the best out there. However, such a lens requires more elements and image quality goes down; also, the lens will "creep" if you point it straight up or straight down, which is to say that the barrel will zoom in or out on it's own purely by the weight of the lens, so you'd need to keep a hand on it (i.e. not good for telephoto work with carefully set-up shots).

If you're loaded with cash you should definitely pick it up for the convenience factor; but if you're not, you need to ask yourself if $600+ is really worth it for convenience's sake. I personally prefer to use primes at all times - very light and easily switched out on the go, superior image quality, and I've learned to zoom with my feet.