As a few of you know I purchased my first Nikon VR lens this week and took it out for a test spin last night. My town has a river which runs through it (sounds like a movie title! ;D) and over the last five years the town has created a lovely park, built an amplitheater and helped people renovate an old flour mill into an inn. They even found state money to put lights on the bridge which is supposed to sync with music during summer concerts. Not so sure about that but they were a changing last night! The lens is wonderful. Light and balanced on my D70 camera body even fully extended to 200mm. Focusing is as fast as the 50mm f1.8 lens. Indoors I can hear the lens but outside it's not noticable. Maybe if I was in a wildlife blind I'd hear it. My family couldn't hear it as I was testing it at home. I'll add more examples as I get time to shoot them. Shot of Old Glory blowing in the wind. The lens is very sharp, IMO. I have my camera set up to saturate colors. The 18-200 set at 200mm gave my camera what it asked for. Read where with this lens, you can get really close even fully extended at 200mm so you know I had to see if it could. Here's a vandalized duck egg I found (notice the bill marks). The front of the lens was about a foot from the subject. Taken at 1/5sec at f11 with lens set at 18mm. I did use a tripod for this shot. Here's an example of a shot I'd normally not get. Hand held at 1/30 and f5.6 at 18mm. I let my camera pick it's own ISO last night as a test from something I read on the Internet and it picked higher ISO's than I would have early on. I think I may have to take more control of that in the future. If you have a Nikon digital body and can afford this lens (and find it!), I highly recommend it. Except for portraits and very low light situations (when I'd use the 50mm), I will be keeping the 18-200 VR lens on the rest of time. For the more budget conscious, Nikon just introduced the 55-200 VR lens at a third of the price which is getting nice reviews from users.
Scott - great shots! I just got the same lens and am having a lot of fun with it. I am really looking forward to taking it do Disney next week and not having to switch lenses every 5th shot. Do you (or anyone else, Handicap18 maybe) have any good tips for using this lens? I read that you shouldn't use it on a tripod. I'm thinking that if I turn off the VR it'll be ok on a tripod. Anyone know for sure? I am going to take my other 2 lenses (18-55 and 55-200) but don't really know if there is any situation where those would be better than the VR lens. Thoughts on that?
I agree with you on the lens. I have enjoyed mine since I got it a few months ago- particularly places like Disney. I prefer a fast prime for inside or after dark- but for just days in the park it is hard to beat the versitility of the 18-200vr. I previously used a Tamron 18-200 and got mixed results with it. What always impresses me with the new one is the ratio of 'keepers'. BTW Barrie- Yes you should turn off the VR on any lens tripod mounted. It kind of works against you in that situation.
BTW Scott- It looks like you have some dust on your sensor in the upper right corner. Next you can review a Giottos Rocket Blower.
Yes, I know and it's a bit annoying as I had the camera shop, where I got the lens, clean the sensor. I'll be taking it back next week and show them lots of images where you can see it. Just added that little Giottos Rocket Blower to my Amazon wish list. Father's Day is coming, ya know? ;D
