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18-200VR


bill_kleimen

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IMO, using zooms to avoid changing lenses so that you won't get as much dust on the digital sensor is a myth. I never hesitate to change lenses and dust has never been a major issue, and it is not all that hard to clean the sensor. Moreover, when you zoom, you also pump the air inside the mirror box, and that might cause its share of dust problem too.

 

The only reason I can think of for getting a super zoom is that you need to go from wide to super tele very quickly, but you pay heavily in terms of optical compromises and a small aperture on the tele end.

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You can't really clean the sensor in the field. I notice a lot of dust spots in pictures taken immediately after a lens change in the field on a windy day, and they somewhat reduce after a while - I guess some of the dust falls off the sensor! I'm talking about desert kind of environment.

 

I think the real myth is the sucking of dust while zooming and focusing. Never heard of that ever actually happening, tho theoretically it's correct.

 

And I think the price of missed shots while you are busy changing lenses can be heavier! :-) Sometimes image quality is not as critical as getting a decent picture and having the event covered.

 

I'm not saying superzooms are better, but they do have a reason for their existence. In fact many reasons.

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With the risk of offending some people, IMO super zooms exist because there is a fairly large number of people who only care about convenience. I would never buy a 200mm that is only f5.6 wide open. A slow lens like that has a lot of restrictions, e.g. in a darker environment, it may affect AF accuracy and force you to use high ISO and/or a slow shutter speed, etc. Keep in mind that VR can never stop subject movement.

 

I happen to have a lot of zoom lenses, but most of them are within 3x in terms of zoom ranges and most are f2.8. The widest range I have is the 17-55DX which is 3.2x. If I need to go from wide to super tele very quickly, I would rather carry two camera bodies and have a 17-55 on one and 70-200 on another.

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I'm not exactly what you'd call keen on zoom lenses - big, heavy, expensive, and usually slow and stupid, to boot. I prefer working with a single focal length - and even when I have a zoom on my camera I usually find 40mm and mostly leave it there. On the other hand, though, I can see the appeal of zooms in general - because I like traveling light; and because I don't always shoot at 40mm. If you were traveling for an extended period with a DX sensor camera, a kit consisting of this zoom plus, say, a 35/f2 (for low light and backup) could be just what the doctor ordered.

 

The ideal scenario, for me, would be for Nikon to offer a range of DX primes. I'd love to be able to choose between f/1.4 lenses offering an angle of view of, respectively, 24mm, 40mm, and 85mm. Even f/1.8 or f/2.0 would send a little tingle up my spine.

 

As it is, though, I think an all-in-one zoom that allows for 1/8 of a second handheld at 200mm is a pretty cool idea - as long as you have some idea what its limitations will be before you buy.

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I've always used primes; but if I decided to feel the advantage of a single hi-range zoom, I'd rather prefer to see a 14-150mm VR instead; because 18 on a DX camera is only 27mm equivalent, while 14 would start from true wide, and 150 (x1.5) would still have a good reach.

 

Imho, 18-200mm VR is much biased towards the tele end, while except for the 12-24mm, Nikon does not offer any lens starting from smaller than 17mm. There must be something, an allround yet good quality lens to fill the gap. Maybe 16-90mm VR (24-135mm eqv.)

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<i>18-200mm VR is much biased towards the tele end</i><p>

 

I agree with that, too. 14-120 would give an angle of view of 21-180, which is about as wide a range as we need, I think. What would really rule, though, is a 14-60 f/2.0 or f/2.8 DX zoom (giving an angle of view of 21-90). Now <i>that</i> I think I could get excited about.

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If Nikon is sticking with the DX format seriously they'd better (meaning I would like them to) produce "equivalents" for most if not all of their lenses. Like a 16-80 VR, cheap 30/1.8, both fisheye and recti wide angle primes, etc!
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