Nikon 18-300 vs 18-200 + 70-300

[Derrel]

Thom has recently eliminated some reviews because the newer DX Nikons have such high-megapixel sensors that he does not feel that the old reviews, many done back in the 6- and 10-megapixel DX era, are useful in today's world of ALL-24-megapixel DX bodies, and now the 36-MP D800 and D800e era. So....he might have reviewed some lenses you'd expect to see, but the data and comments and photos were from long-gone bodies, like say the D40 or whatever.

Interestingly, Thom is pretty down on the 18-140 DX lens on the new 24-MP small body Nikons...its corner performance is not that good, no matter if it's stopped down or not....it's totally "consumer", as he puts it. One thing is, a lot of people are not as picky as he is, and they are the target market for consumer lenses. The vast majority of people today want PICTURES, not test chart shots. And the vast majority of images are seen smallish, on screens. So, the flaws that many lenses have are not that apparent. Then we have the pixel-peepers who want to scroll around a mega-image and see what the corners look like at wide-open.

Again...we have convenience, and the ability to just zoom in or zoom out and get the PICTURE we envision, or fumbling around, swapping lenses, replacing lens caps, and re-bagging the removed lens, then repeating the process 25 times a day, just to get the best quality on our vacation or hiking snaps which we will see at 2 megapixel resolution on a computer screen. THis is the reason the wide-ranging 18-200 and 18-300 and 28-300 superzooms have been created. There are people who "get it", and who want convenience and ONE LENS so they need to carry only one lens, and do not need to swap lenses all day long. SOme people are not happy with the quality, and would rather carry three zooms, and make 30 lens swaps a day. It's really up to the individual user's needs as to what is the more important criteria: ultimate performance or convenience.

 

[colnago1331]

Psyphris, what it essentially boils down to is this.....
Single lens: incredibly convenient/easy but worse (though by no means unacceptable) image quality
Dual lens: better image quality across-the-range but less convenient/easy

in the end you have to decide what's more important to you and whether the trade-offs are worth it.