18-300mm versus 18-200mm Nikon lens for the D5100

alcalc
edited February 2015 Posted in » Nikon D5100 Forum
I'm considering either the 18-300mm or 18-200mm Nikon lens for my D5100. What have your experiences been about using one of these as a one lens solution?

Comments

  • edited February 2015
    I have both lenses and both are very good. With the 55-200mm I can take zoomed pictures without a tripod, however with the 55-300mm when I zoom to the maximum some pictures could be shaky and not completely sharp. In this case I would recommend using a tripod or a monopod.
  • edited February 2015
    But the question was about 18-200mm or 18-300mm!
  • alcalc
    edited February 2015
    I ordered the 18-300mm lens initially but found it to be too heavy and bulky for an all around lens and especially for traveling. I returned it and got the 18-200mm instead and now am really very happy I made the switch.
  • edited February 2015
    Just wanted to throw my thoughts in here about these lenses. These are what are known as superzooms or convenience zoom lenses. The appeal is obvious; they cover a huge focal range.
    You need to be aware of certain downsides with this type of lens:
    1. Your composition gets lazy. Rather than move for a potentially better perspective, you’ll just twist your zoom ring.
    2. Since you have every focal length covered, you’ll develop a reluctance in acquiring other lenses which are more specialized and better suited for certain situations. It’s even mentioned in the first post here that this is a “one lens solution”. Is it possible that this one lens is the only lens you’ll need? Sure, but is that what you want? After all, the appeal of a DSLR or any interchangeable lens camera system is the ability to use specialized lenses depending on shooting scenario. Something like an RX10 makes much more sense than to permanently mount a superzoom onto a DSLR. It’s smaller, cheaper, and the lens has a larger max aperture.
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