AF-S DX Nkr 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

There are a lot of reviews comparing every feature of the lense. They are long, detailed, but more confusing than helpful. So I'll try to keep it short.Let's say you a typical amature photographer. You take all kinds of pictures in all kinds of conditions. So what lense would be the best?You can probably live with some minor distortions but nothing gives you as much freedom as a wide range zoom. If you shoot inside a room, you really need 18 m on a low end. The smaller the number the wider the angle and the more people you can squeeze into the frame from the other side of party table. Every mm here makes a big difference. So 18 mm on the low end is pretty much a must have. On the longer end, well, the bigger the better. However, if you that also means heavier and it also means much harder to take good pictures because on a long zoom range the camera gets less light, it's sensitive to shaking hands and the lense distortion is getting worse. Also it's more expensive.So bottom line is - if you can afford the Nikon 18-200 mm lense - go for it. That will be your single all around lense and you won't feel sorry. If it's too pricey - check out the 18-105 mm one. Think about it this way - there are a lot of specialized lenses but really only a few all-around ones. So 80% people really need to choose between only 3: 18-55, 18-105 and 18-200 and the biggest factor here is how much you can afford. So it's actually not that complicated.I few side notes.It's tempting to buy a couple lenses instead of one. It looks like you're getting more for less, but in reality changing lenses is not something people do often. The extra lense is heavy, it takes time to change, every time you take a lense off, there is a risk you can get dust inside the camera - there are a lot of reasons why having two lenses is not the same as one.Other vendors. You can get much cheaper lenses from other vendors like Sigma etc. I heard mixed stories. Some people got lucky and got good glass, some were not. If you can try and buy, you may want to take a chance. But Nikon quality control is pretty good, so there is not much risk there.Protective filter. If you're planning to spend many hundreds on a lense, please, don't forget to buy a good protective filter. Something like UV(0) or clear glass. Once you try to wipe out the glass on the lense, the microscratches on surfice will cause all kinds of image defects so you should never ever touch the lense glass. The filter is way more forgiving and it can be replaced easily. A bad filter can ruine the quality, so don't be cheap, plan to spend somewhere in $50-90 range.And finally, why would you not buy this lense?1. Price. Most people say this lense is nice but too expensive. Since there are new better camera bodies for the same price coming out pretty much every year and the lenses hold value very well I'd suggest you to consider buying the best lense you can afford and maybe saving a bit on a cheaper body. The lense will likely outlast the camera.2. Weight. This camera is heavy. No DSLR will fit in a pocket but this lense on a camera will require fairly large bag to carry and holding it on your shoulder for a day could literally be painful.There could be some other reasons like if your requirements are very high and you need some specialized or professional grade lenses but if you're requirements are that high, I don't think that review will open your eyes anyway.Hopefully this review will help you.

There have been a lot of reviews from guru to new users, so I am just try to cover some points from my 2 cents. I am a new DSLR user just purchased the D7000 with this lens. I did extensive research on the Internet prior to getting this combo. My goal is to get an intro lens while learning DSLR photography and it turn out to be a very good choice.First and foremost, there has to be some sort of compromise when it comes to any "all around" stuffs. I believed most of the negative comments I've seen here are due to the wrong expectations and lack of prior homework. This lens is in the consumer category and not designed to match those at the Pro level, both quality and price wise. And I think it does just that and some more.Basically, each and every lens have specific goals such as landscape, portrait or macro, etc. But I am not sure I am going to shell out thousands of dollar and keep changing lens, not to mention hauling the gears on vacations. I'll leave that to the Pros.One thing for sure, this lens beats any point and shoot camera hands down in terms of picture quality and even give you minor bokeh effects. So I am very happy with it. A side note, make sure you get it from an authorized dealer which will give you a 5-years warranty, Nikon is know to be strict with this.Update: tested with the "zoom creep" somebody complains about. There is no creeping up to around 50 degrees up or down. Lens does creep at straight up or down but that's normal consider the glass is heavy. By the way, good glass is heavy and give you nice pictures. Now, what are the chances that you might be shooting in those positions? At wide open or close (at 18mm or 200mm), lens appears as lock so does not creep. The only occasion I use to shoot straight up is for firework, but then I want to fill the frame with the firework action, which means it will at 200mm and the lens stays. If you get a copy that creeps below 45 degrees, you might get a bad copy.Update 2: After 3 months of owning this and taken it to weddings and landscape shooting, I can safely say this is indeed the best "all rounder". It performs very well and takes very sharp pictures 80% of the time. There is an issue with low light situations such as wedding dinner. You have two choices, get a prime such as 35mm f/1.8 or a good flash such as SB-700. With a little post processing in Adobe, you can achieve result very close to the pro level. For example, I can underexpose 2 full stops and fix it in Adobe later, that equivalent to f/1.8 from f/3.5, the lowest aperture of this lens. One more thing, I have spent awful lot of time to research and review the various lens (Nikon, Sigma & Tamron) in the past few months to figure out what if other lens I should get. I believe a lot of people are just too obsessed about the technical details and forgotten the other aspect of photography, composition, in my opinion carries a higher impact in the overall picture. By the way, if you were to compare simply the picture quality of this with wide, prime and zoom lens, that is not an apple to apple comparison. Prime lens tends to provide better quality within their own turf, with the trade off buying, carrying and changing lens all the time, not to mention the chance to miss the shot when you have to change lens.