Request views on Nikon 18-200 lens

I have a Nikon D80 with 18-135 kit lens (18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S DX
Zoom-Nikkor ) and also a 70-300 lens (70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S VR
Zoom-Nikkor). I am planning a trip to Greece in the spring, and a great
deal of walking will be involved. The 70-300 lens is rather heavy, and it
really would not be practical for me to carry two lenses and try to
constantly change them since I will be traveling with a group. So, I am
interested in a "walk-around" lens that will be more practical, be good
quality but not "break the bank" quality. Have any of you used the 18-200mm
f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom-Nikkor lens, especially in combination
with the D80? If so, I would appreciate your thoughts about this lens for
the purpose I described. I am an amateur photog, still in the process of
learning the features of this camera. I do also have a much smaller Nikon
camera (P80, not a DSLR), but I think I would be very disappointed if I had
that one and missed a lot of shots that I could have gotten with the D80.
Incidentally, I have gone to sites like dpreview, but I am interested in
also hearing personal responses from users.

Thanks,
MaryL

"MaryL" -OUT-THE-LITTER wrote in message
. ..
I have a Nikon D80 with 18-135 kit lens (18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S DX
Zoom-Nikkor ) and also a 70-300 lens (70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S VR
Zoom-Nikkor). I am planning a trip to Greece in the spring, and a great
deal of walking will be involved. The 70-300 lens is rather heavy, and it
really would not be practical for me to carry two lenses and try to
constantly change them since I will be traveling with a group. So, I am
interested in a "walk-around" lens that will be more practical, be good
quality but not "break the bank" quality. Have any of you used the
18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom-Nikkor lens, especially in
combination with the D80? If so, I would appreciate your thoughts about
this lens for the purpose I described. I am an amateur photog, still in
the process of learning the features of this camera. I do also have a much
smaller Nikon camera (P80, not a DSLR), but I think I would be very
disappointed if I had that one and missed a lot of shots that I could have
gotten with the D80. Incidentally, I have gone to sites like dpreview, but
I am interested in also hearing personal responses from users.

Thanks,
MaryL


http://www.flickr.com/groups/nikon_18-200_vr/

It's a fabulous walk around lens.

MaryL wrote:
I have a Nikon D80 with 18-135 kit lens (18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S
DX Zoom-Nikkor ) and also a 70-300 lens (70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S
VR Zoom-Nikkor). I am planning a trip to Greece in the spring, and a
great deal of walking will be involved. The 70-300 lens is rather
heavy, and it really would not be practical for me to carry two lenses
and try to constantly change them since I will be traveling with a
group. So, I am interested in a "walk-around" lens that will be more
practical, be good quality but not "break the bank" quality. Have any
of you used the 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom-Nikkor lens,
especially in combination with the D80? If so, I would appreciate your
thoughts about this lens for the purpose I described. I am an amateur
photog, still in the process of learning the features of this camera. I
do also have a much smaller Nikon camera (P80, not a DSLR), but I think
I would be very disappointed if I had that one and missed a lot of shots
that I could have gotten with the D80. Incidentally, I have gone to
sites like dpreview, but I am interested in also hearing personal
responses from users.

Thanks,
MaryL

I have the 18-200 with a D300 and love it. I bought the pair for
reasons similar to yours. I got tired carrying around 3 lenses. I have
used it with my D50 and it works fine so I would expect it would be fine
with the D80. Do reread the reviews and make sure you can live with the
faults. Expect quality similar to the 18-135, if you can live with that
then it should be fine. I must say, I find DSLR's a bit bulky to travel
with. Test the P80 in situations you expect to find on your trip and
evaluate if it would suffice. It would also be less traumatic if you
happened to "lose" it along the way.

Enjoy your trip,
Clair

MaryL wrote:
I have a Nikon D80 with 18-135 kit lens (18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF
AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor ) and also a 70-300 lens (70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G
IF-ED AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor). I am planning a trip to Greece in the
spring, and a great deal of walking will be involved. The 70-300
lens is rather heavy, and it really would not be practical for me to
carry two lenses and try to constantly change them since I will be
traveling with a group. So, I am interested in a "walk-around" lens
that will be more practical, be good quality but not "break the bank"
quality. Have any of you used the 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR
DX Zoom-Nikkor lens, especially in combination with the D80? If so,
I would appreciate your thoughts about this lens for the purpose I
described. I am an amateur photog, still in the process of learning
the features of this camera. I do also have a much smaller Nikon
camera (P80, not a DSLR), but I think I would be very disappointed if
I had that one and missed a lot of shots that I could have gotten
with the D80. Incidentally, I have gone to sites like dpreview, but I
am interested in also hearing personal responses from users.
Thanks,
MaryL

My wife has the 18-200 VR and has been very pleased with it. I happen to
have the 16-85 VR and 70-300 VR, but had the 18-200 VR been readily
available when I got my first DSLR, I might well have ended up with it
instead. Performance is fine, and the lack of lens changing is a bonus.
It's not as heavy a lens as I expected.

We also carry a very compact Panasonic with 28-280mm eq. zoom which can be
used for videos or as a "handbag" camera - a lot smaller than the Nikon
P80.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonictz3/

Cheers,
David

"MaryL" -OUT-THE-LITTER wrote in message
. ..
I have a Nikon D80 with 18-135 kit lens (18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S DX
Zoom-Nikkor ) and also a 70-300 lens (70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S VR
Zoom-Nikkor). I am planning a trip to Greece in the spring, and a great
deal of walking will be involved. The 70-300 lens is rather heavy, and it
really would not be practical for me to carry two lenses and try to
constantly change them since I will be traveling with a group. So, I am
interested in a "walk-around" lens that will be more practical, be good
quality but not "break the bank" quality. Have any of you used the
18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom-Nikkor lens, especially in
combination with the D80? If so, I would appreciate your thoughts about
this lens for the purpose I described. I am an amateur photog, still in
the process of learning the features of this camera. I do also have a much
smaller Nikon camera (P80, not a DSLR), but I think I would be very
disappointed if I had that one and missed a lot of shots that I could have
gotten with the D80. Incidentally, I have gone to sites like dpreview, but
I am interested in also hearing personal responses from users.

Thanks,
MaryL

Got one, use it as my standard, go anywhere, lens. Quality may not be as
good as some of Nikon's lenses, but it's swings and roundabouts; it's good
enough. Only real problem with this lens is that it has bad boke. That is
the highlights in out of focus backgrounds have hard edges.

PDM

It is the perfect travel "do everything" lens. I have use it as my main lens
in the D70 from December 2005 and after with my D300 The second is the
Tokina 12-24. When you will become familiar with the VR, you can have nice
steady shoots at 200mm with 1/16s and even at 1/4s, if you are steady
enough, you will have more than 50% success in steady subjects.

I wish you wonderfull vacations here in Greece ;-)
--
Dimitris M




I have a Nikon D80 with 18-135 kit lens (18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S DX
Zoom-Nikkor ) and also a 70-300 lens (70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S VR
Zoom-Nikkor). I am planning a trip to Greece in the spring, and a great
deal of walking will be involved. The 70-300 lens is rather heavy, and it
really would not be practical for me to carry two lenses and try to
constantly change them since I will be traveling with a group. So, I am
interested in a "walk-around" lens that will be more practical, be good
quality but not "break the bank" quality. Have any of you used the
18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom-Nikkor lens, especially in
combination with the D80? If so, I would appreciate your thoughts about
this lens for the purpose I described. I am an amateur photog, still in
the process of learning the features of this camera. I do also have a
much smaller Nikon camera (P80, not a DSLR), but I think I would be very
disappointed if I had that one and missed a lot of shots that I could have
gotten with the D80. Incidentally, I have gone to sites like dpreview, but
I am interested in also hearing personal responses from users.

MaryL wrote:
I have a Nikon D80 with 18-135 kit lens (18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S
DX Zoom-Nikkor ) and also a 70-300 lens (70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S
VR Zoom-Nikkor). I am planning a trip to Greece in the spring, and a
great deal of walking will be involved. The 70-300 lens is rather
heavy, and it really would not be practical for me to carry two lenses
and try to constantly change them since I will be traveling with a
group. So, I am interested in a "walk-around" lens that will be more
practical, be good quality but not "break the bank" quality. Have any
of you used the 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom-Nikkor lens,
especially in combination with the D80? If so, I would appreciate your
thoughts about this lens for the purpose I described. I am an amateur
photog, still in the process of learning the features of this camera. I
do also have a much smaller Nikon camera (P80, not a DSLR), but I think
I would be very disappointed if I had that one and missed a lot of shots
that I could have gotten with the D80. Incidentally, I have gone to
sites like dpreview, but I am interested in also hearing personal
responses from users.

Thanks,
MaryL



I have a D80 with the 18-200 lens on it. It is a good walking around
lens since you won't have to be changing lenses and it is lightweight.
However, I was disappointed with this lens because it has a lot of
barreling when shooting straight lines. Try not to zoom it all the way
and the barreling will not be a bad. For landscapes, it is really
pretty nice.

On a side note, this year, I upgraded my equipment and got a D300 with
the newer Nikon 24-70 lens on it and that is what I will take on our
next cruise.

--
Sheila
http://swdalton.com

"MaryL" -OUT-THE-LITTER wrote:

Have any of you used the 18-200mm
f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom-Nikkor lens, especially in combination
with the D80?

I traded in my Canon 20D for a Nikon D300 so I could use this lens. It is a
wonderful walking around lens. No, it is not the sharpest lens in the world,
but is plenty sharp enough.

-- Doug

I understand what you say. I have D300 with 18-200 VR for travel and I have
24-70 with D700 for pro work. You should not compare the world's best zoom
Nikkor 24-70 with the poor 18-200 VR that trys to do everything in light
weight and low cost.

As for the barrel distortion, if you step up just a little to 22mm it
disappears. But it's not that. I use this lens without the slightest
distortion in all the range from 18 to 200mm. How? I use the DxO software
that uses modelling for specific bodies and lenses that corrects
automatically any distortion, fringe, CA and reduces effectively softness.
The program is not expensive; I think must be around 120 euro's. In practice
I could say that this makes your lens to perform as a much better lens.
http://www.dxo.com/uk/photo/dxo_optics_pro
--
Dimitris M



I have a D80 with the 18-200 lens on it. It is a good walking around lens
since you won't have to be changing lenses and it is lightweight. However,
I was disappointed with this lens because it has a lot of barreling when
shooting straight lines. Try not to zoom it all the way and the barreling
will not be a bad. For landscapes, it is really pretty nice.

On a side note, this year, I upgraded my equipment and got a D300 with the
newer Nikon 24-70 lens on it and that is what I will take on our next
cruise.
--
Sheila

Dimitris M wrote:
I understand what you say. I have D300 with 18-200 VR for travel and I have
24-70 with D700 for pro work. You should not compare the world's best zoom
Nikkor 24-70 with the poor 18-200 VR that trys to do everything in light
weight and low cost.

Well, I also understand what you are saying but for travel I have
debated a lot with myself and I have decided if I'm going on cruises, I
want a camera and lens that can get the pictures that I don't have a 2nd
chance to get. I took my D80 and 18-200 lens on my last cruise and was
that convinced to upgrade. Maybe my disappointment came from having
prior used a D1x until it became too heave to carry all day, and my
hands are not a steady as they used to be.

I've just got a Canon G10 stashed away for Christmas which I will use to
keep in the car.


As for the barrel distortion, if you step up just a little to 22mm it
disappears. But it's not that. I use this lens without the slightest
distortion in all the range from 18 to 200mm. How? I use the DxO software
that uses modelling for specific bodies and lenses that corrects
automatically any distortion, fringe, CA and reduces effectively softness.
The program is not expensive; I think must be around 120 euro's. In practice
I could say that this makes your lens to perform as a much better lens.
http://www.dxo.com/uk/photo/dxo_optics_pro


I use PTlens for this, but then you can lose a lot of the photo when you
have to crop it after you fix the distortion. You're right the
barreling is better if not used at the extremes and for landscapes it's
pretty good.

--
Sheila
http://swdalton.com