Nikkor 18-200 VRII Question

[Naicidrac]

Hello All,
besides it never being in stock I have a question about the lens if anyone knows or has experience with it. I am wanting to get this for my mother who will just use it as her primary never change it lens on her camera. She only shoots in automatic and never in manual. My question is about th evibration reduction technology and if it tells the camera it can shoot at slower speeds. I can't remember the exact numbers, but I have heard with the VR technology you can shoot like 4 stops less or something like that so will the light meter know that and allow you to shoot at slower speeds?

Thanks

 

[Snyder]

Im thinking around 2 stop average but if you have very steady hands you may be able to pull it off. I use this lense every so often, its nice for fast paced action that is going on and you need a wide variety of focal lengths. I use it for my aerail photography sometimes and events. The silent wave motor is great if you are auto focusing.

 

[sabbath999]

Actually, as strange as it sounds, the less steady you are the more VR helps. People who hold the camera steady anyway will get fewer stops worth of use out of the VR (or IS).

I have the lens, I like the lens. Having said that, it is not the lightest lens in the world and I frankly question what the point of owning a DSLR is if you don't change the lenses.

Anyway, if you are steady you can take some insanely slow shutter speed pictures with reasonable sharpness. Here is an example of something I shot this spring in Omaha with the 18-200.

From the EXIF data: 1/10s f/4.0 ISO1600 27mm (35mm eq:40mm)

 

[kundalini]

Not really sure what it is, bu......ooops.....never mind, I see the critters.

 

[Garbz]

It's not the sharpest or the highest quality lens. It will creep a bit if you point it down. It has quite a bit of vignetting at the wide zoom range, and distortion is pretty bad in certain positions too.

But that said. What ultra large zoom lens isn't? I mean it has an 11.1x zoom so that considering the lens is pretty good. I would say it's a good alrounder, but I don't own it simply because multiple other lenses do the same job better (except for the whole having to actually change them bit).