Af-s Dx Nikkor 18-200mm F/35-56g Ed Vr Ii Review

• DX coverage
• Autofocus (in-lens focus motor), internal focus
• sixteen elements in 12 groups, 3 aspherical, 2 ED elements
• 7-blade aperture diaphragm
• smallest discontinuity is f/22 (at f/3.5)
• vibration reduction
• 72mm filter ring
• 1'7" (0.5m) minimum focus; 1:32 maximum reproduction ratio (at 200mm only)
• three.viii x 3" (96.5 10 77mm) long, bore
• xix.8 ounces (560g) weight
• included HB-35 bayonet lens hood, CL-1118 soft pouch, caps
• U.s.$850
• Model Number 2192

Nikon'due south Web page for the lens

Thom'due south Quick Review

Basics:The first thing you observe about the 18-200mm DX lens is that information technology'south rather small for what the specs say it tin can exercise. Where the heck is the 200mm and VR stuffed in? Afterward all, this is a lens that's smaller and lighter than most previous mid-range DX zooms Nikon has made.

The 18-200mm focal range gives you bending of views from eight to 76 degrees on a DSLR; it'due south effectively the same every bit using an 28-300mm lens on a 35mm or FX body. For some users, that'south a stay-on-photographic camera range. In that location's no denying that this is a much-asked-for focal length range.

This is a 2 ring pattern; like many contempo consumer Nikkors, the zoom band is the forepart most ring and the focusing ring is closer to the camera. Yuck. The lens does have a distance scale, but with no depth of field or infrared markings. For that affair, we only get 3 markings other than infinity for feet, and three in meters.

On the left side of the lens (from the dorsum of the camera) three buttons:

• Transmission Focus button: In the M/A position the lens works as usual (autofocus with manual override). In the M position, the lens focuses but manually.
• VR switch: VR tin be turned On or Off.
• VR blazon: VR tin can be set to Normal or Active.

VR is specified past Nikon as beingness VR Two—this new variant supposedly gives a bit more range to the VR usefulness. In Nikon'due south literature, they merits that VR II manages to become you four stops beyond what yous'd normally be able to handhold. As far equally I can tell, that's a valid merits at 200mm. Just, be forewarned that VR is often much less useful than you might think. When you lot start hand holding a lens at 1/30 or lower, you're definitely going to be fighting bailiwick motion. If your subject is admittedly static, fine, no problema as my South American friends like to say. Just virtually of the folk that'll exist using this lens aren't shooting completely static subjects with it, I think. The chief utilise for VR on this lens in my heed is to go along y'all from having to significantly boost ISO in common situations at 200mm (which would be f/5.6 maximum discontinuity). If the option at that focal length were between shooting at f/five.6, ane/300, and ISO 1600 versus perhaps f/5.6, one/sixty, and ISO 400 and I wasn't shooting a moving subject, I'd choice the latter just to keep noise under as much control equally possible.

What VR (or VR Ii) won't do is to allow you to shoot your daughter's night soccer game at 200mm and 1/15. That's a recipe for fuzzy players on sharp grass.

The HB-35 hood supplied with the lens is the bayonet type butterfly style. Information technology can be reversed onto the lens for carrying, but it adds meaning bore to lens when you practise so. Information technology's a bit shallow, so doesn't present a lot of shading for the forepart element from the sides, but it'southward far ameliorate than nothing, and it is more substantial than some of the butterfly hoods that have appeared for other Nikkor lenses. The lens itself uses 72mm filters, an odd size for Nikon and i that'll strength almost anybody to purchase a footstep-upwardly ring of some sort (I utilise a 72-77mm footstep up, every bit my main filter set is 77mm). For the consumer target of this lens, though, the filter size isn't a big deal, equally this is likely to be their simply lens, and thus they'll just buy 72mm filters.

You go AF-S focusing with this lens, and that'll take y'all downwardly to a bit over sixteen inches (.5m) at most focal lengths and a fleck over 14 inches at 18mm. For those of you who keep track by magnification, that'due south well-nigh 1:15 at 18mm and virtually 1:iv at 200mm, both pretty proficient figures for a superzoom.

The supplied lens cap is the pinch-front end type.

Finally, one discussion near focal length. Equally with well-nigh zooms, focus point shifts the focal length a bit. At infinity, the lens is 18mm at its wide cease, and I think a few millimeters short of 200mm at the tele finish (190mm or and then). At very close focusing distances, which is where I'm at about of the fourth dimension, the lens is about down to 17mm at the broad stop, with very niggling perceptible alter at the tele end. Perfect! Simply the way I want it to be.

Handling:Handling is not the strongest point of this lens, though expert enough for the target audience. The zoom ring is stiff and has a very different feel at different focal lengths (I should note that some users merits information technology is loose and subject to zoom creep; that isn't the example on my sample). As you zoom in to 200mm, the zoom ring has a sudden "loose point" but earlier you get to the maximum focal length. Zooming the other direction is smoother, though nevertheless what I'd telephone call rough. The barrel extends near two-and-a-half inches (6cm) at 200mm, so you're moving a fair amount of plastic and glass during the zoom. The barrel doesn't rotate during zoom, which ways that you don't need to readjust filters. The focus band is better than the zoom ring, though it's thin and has nothing to distinguish it in experience from the zoom band other than position and width. Recollect, the focus ring is not in a "normal" spot, and this takes some getting used to if you're coming from the standard 35mm Nikkor lenses.

Focal length changes slightly when you lot're shooting at close distances. Every bit with most modern "zoom" lenses, this is really a vari-focal lens, so you lot should be focusing after framing; I don't see this as a big deal.

Maximum aperture doesn't change the way you might wait with focal length. The relevant values are:

• 18mm f/iii.5
• 24mm f/3.eight
• 35mm f/4.2
• 50mm f/iv.8
• 70mm f/5
• 135mm and higher f/5.6

The 18-200mm is pretty small and calorie-free for its range. It balances well on the front of most DX bodies.

The switches are well located—as long as you can remember which is which—and can be easily moved from ane position to another without looking away from the viewfinder. Still, I would have liked a bit more differentiation in experience so that I could tell past touch which is the focus on/off and which is the VR on/off switch (the VR blazon switch is smaller than the other two). Even something every bit simple equally a round raised point versus an X raised betoken would have been welcomed.

Sharpness: Here's the thing, time has revealed the 18-200mm to be an under-performer. At the fourth dimension I wrote my original review, the 18-200mm matched up extremely well with the 6mp and 10mp cameras (information technology was introduced with the 10mp D200). Even with the VR II refresh, though, this lens shows some real problems with the 24mp DX DSLRs (and even the 16mp/20mp ones).

Middle frame operation is excellent out to about 100mm, and only very good beyond that. This lens is best at 18mm and worst at 200mm, with a slide downward in sharpness equally you zoom in. The problem with sharpness is that the corners are soft, and never accomplish the level of very skilful. In some cases—wide open equally you lot zoom in—I'd consider them poor on the higher megapixel DX bodies. The killer is that the 18-300mm DX lens does a meliorate chore from 18-200mm on these cameras (though it'southward a larger and heavier lens).

At 18mm, f/v.6 and onward are very skilful across the frame. At 24-50mm you'll need to exist at f/8 to go to similar levels of performance. From 50-150mm, only f/11 really gets shut to the maximum level this lens can produce, though past the fourth dimension you lot get to 200mm, f/viii is just as adept again. The problem, of course, is that at f/8 you lot're pushing at more than visible diffraction with the 24mp sensor DX bodies.

Distortion: this lens produces considerable distortion beyond the unabridged focal length range, with high butt baloney (four%+) at 18mm, moderate barrel baloney (1%) at 24mm, and moderate pincushion distortion from 50mm onward.

Vignetting: The only real problem is wide open up at 18mm, where you'll find a bit more than a stop of vignetting. At 100mm+ and wide open up, this drops to near two thirds of a stop. At well-nigh every focal length and aperture, vignetting is well controlled.

Chromatic Aberration: Persistent and visible CA is seen throughout the focal length and aperture ranges, ranging almost 2 pixels with the 24mp cameras.

Overall: The sad news is that time has passed this lens on. The 18-105mm, 18-140mm, and xviii-300mm all outperform it on 24mp DX bodies, and thus are meliorate choices. If you're still using an older 12mp trunk, you lot may discover the lens much more to your liking: most of the bug I draw are much more subdued and mostly ignorable (other than distortion, which is going to be the same no matter how many pixels yous accept).

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Source: https://www.dslrbodies.com/lenses/lens-databases-for-nikon/nikon-dx-lenses/nikkor-18-200mm-f35-56g-af.html

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