THIRD PARTY LENSES

[nicolene]

Hallo
Yes I do have the kit lenses, the 50mm Nikon as well as Sigma 70 - 300mm. What i would love is an all purpose lens that I can use when travelling and no need to tag all the excess baggage along. I must mention I suffer from a back injury (motor accident) and find to much baggage a hazzle. I know these lenses have their limitations and after reading the reviews of the Nikon lens, would love that one but the price tag is hectic. That's why I'm asking for advice. Buying lenses at the best is a pricey exercise, so would like to make the ultimate best decision, with all the pro's and con's taken into consideration.

Thanx to everyone for the feedback and advice, most appreciated.
Regards
Nici

 

[Solarflare]

These lenses (no matter who makes them) are very soft.

Well, I'm not interested in superzooms, and naturally superzooms are full of optical compromises, but the original Nikon ones are both expensive and quite tolerable in respect to image quality. Especially the new AF-S 18-300mm f3.5-5.6 VR DX gets good reviews and is also rather compact and affordable.

Unfortunately photozone hasnt tested the new f3.5-6.3 version yet, but they tested the f3.5-5.6 version and even that one already manages "very good" to "excellent" sharpness in the center of the image: Nikkor AF-S DX 18-300mm f 3.5-5.6 G ED VR - Review Test Report - Analysis

I would love an all purpose lens,

There is no such thing. A superzoom will neither give you macro nor will be any good in low light.

The best "all purpose" lens for Nikon are the 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 VR kitzooms, since they also give you quite a bit macro, unfortunately they arent very bright either though.

 

[shadowlands]

Don't do it!!! I moved on from those 18-200, 18-300 & 28-300 type of lenses many moons ago....

Don't get me wrong. I owned the Nikon 18-200 for years, and all in all, it served me well. But knowing what I know now, I would not go back.