Nikon Nikkor 18-200mm Camera Lens

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After many years of loyal service (and far too many bumps, nicks, and moments of unintended abuse to count) one tester’s loyal camera lens met an unceremonious end while at Muir Woods—a simple tumble and an off-angle impact snapped the plastic lens joint like a piece of kindling.  His first instinct was to replace it with the exact same one, until he discovered that Nikon no longer made 18-135mm lenses.  So started the great hunt for a replacement. The options quickly got complicated: go with two lenses (one 18-55mm, and another 55-200 mm) and endure the hassles of carrying all that glass and having to swap out constantly? Settle for the 18-105mm model and lose some zoom? Or go big and plunk down a grand for a massive 18-300mm lens? After loads of research, a bit of soul searching, and a brief flirtation with the 55-200mm lens that didn’t get him a wide-enough default panoramic (and had to be returned), there was a sobriety check with the savings account and he ended up with the to the 18-200mm, clinging to this sizable lens like a man to a sinking ship.

The result? This lens hits a sweet spot we didn’t know was possible in a high-end DSLR camera lens: pure versatility without the sacrifices typical with such a lens. This may be the best jack-of-all-trades travel lens on the market. The high-powered 200mm zoom (comparable to 11x zoom versatility) lets you get right on top of climbers on the other side of the valley, but the 18mm set is wide enough to capture a panoramic shot that felt crowded at 55mm. In other words, this lens gives you the framing you desire in just about any in-the-field travel situation.

The lens employs Nikon’s vibration reduction tool, which helps to stabilize the shot when you’re shooting from a moving vehicle, a feature you can toggle on as situations demand.  The autofocus adjusts rapidly, driven on a silent-wave motor that’ll keep your clandestine presence hidden, and the lens can also lock down at 18mm to prevent unwanted lens creep. Some off-site reviewers have experienced this when the lock isn’t deployed, but our tester had no issues when shooting from a tripod.

As you’d expect from most telephotos in this range, distortion creeps in when shooting wide landscapes at 18mm, but it’s easy to fix in Photoshop or Picasa, and the overall speed and sharpness of the lens has proven to be a vast improvement over its now-retired predecessor. Of course the expansive range also makes this a big, heavy lens. The connection point—the place of failure in the previous model after years of steady use—is made of plastic, but the overall connection to the camera body (a D80) feels considerably stronger, more a part of the camera itself, which gives us confidence.

Of course, it’s not the fasted low-light lens, but telephotos seldom are; if your intention is to shoot indoors in dimly lit settings, we say look toward fixed lenses with nominal zoom. (In-camera noise-cancellation is also improving drastically, which can reduce low-light graininess.) But for travel, it’s tops.
The telephoto lens is rated to f/3.5, and comes with a protective hood and a standard Nikon one-year warrant, complimented by a four-year extended coverage plan.