- Versatile, Ultra-High Power 16.7X Zoom Lens
- Nikon VR II (Vibration Reduction) Image Stabilization
- 3 Extra-low Dispersion (ED) Elements, 3 Aspherical Elements
- Silent Wave Motor (SWM)
- 77mm Filter Thread
This is hands down the best all-in-one Nikon lens for DX cameras. Well worth the price if an all-in-one lens is what you're looking for.
I bought the 18-300 DX for use on my D7000 as a replacement for my 18-200 DX and my 70-300 FX. With the 18-300, I can carry one lens instead of two, not worry about missing the shot because I have the wrong lens on the camera and minimize the number of times I'm swapping lenses and getting more gunk onto my sensor.
After real life usage of the 18-300 both on and off a tripod, I feel I am not giving up anything in terms of image quality with this lens over my 70-300. That's saying a lot, as the 70-300 in particular is a very high quality lens even though it isn't in Nikon's higher priced "professional" lens category. As compared to the 18-200, you do give up a bit of corner sharpness over the 18-28mm range, but gain center sharpness in that range, gain center and corner sharpness over the 70-200mm range and of course, get the extra 200-300mm range.
**** Overall handling ****
On a D7000, this lens feels well balanced to me. If you've used the 28-300 on an FX camera, it is very much the same feel, weight and size.
The lens handles very nicely. Good manual focus and smooth zoom with just enough stiffness that you really don't get much lens creep. There is a locking switch if you feel you need it (I generally haven't used the lock on my 18-200 VR II or my 28-300).
If you're used to the 18-55 kit lens, it's going to seem big and heavy, but after you get used to it, you'll love the range you're going to get and the image quality!
If you're used to the 18-200mm, it's almost an inch longer and 9 ounces heavier. If you don't need the extra 50% range at the long end, if you're happy with the 18-200 image quality and your primary goal is a small, light package, keep your 18-200. If you need the range and/or want higher IQ in the 70+ range and can afford the price, get the 18-300.
I'm used to the 70-300mm on my D7000 and the 18-300 is only 3 ounces heavier and almost one inch shorter.
The VR works well, just as it does on the 18-200, 70-300 and 28-300.
Auto focus seems to be accurate and fast in good lighting. Auto focus is a bit slower in marginal light, but no worse in my opinion than 18-200 or 28-300. The 70-300 seems slightly faster, but that is to be expected with the shorter focal range it has to travel.
****Real World Image Quality ****
I reviewed the MTF charts for the 18-300, 18-200, 70-300 and 28-300 before ordering the lens (see last section below). I've found that real world testing bears out the MTF charts. Here are my observations at comparable wide, middle and long focal lengths of these lenses taken with a D7000 on a tripod with the mirror up.
18-300 versus 18-200
---At 18mm and 28mm focal lengtha
------18-300 sharper in center
------18-200 sharper in corners
------
---At 70mm, 105mm and 200mm
------18-300 sharper in center and corners
------18-300 looks to have better bokeh
18-300 versus 70-300
---At 70mm focal length
------18-300 better center sharpness
------70-300 better corner sharpness
---At 105 focal length
------18-300 better center sharpness
------Same in corners
---At 200mm and 300mm focal lengths
------18-300 better center and corner sharpness
18-300 versus 28-300
---At 28mm focal length
------18-300 better center sharpness
------28-300 better corner sharpness
---At 70mm focal length
------18-300 better center and corner sharpness
---At 105mm and 200mm focal length
------18-300 better center sharpness
------28-300 better corner sharpness
---At 300mm focal length
------18-300 better center and corner sharpness
Note that there is more focus breathing with a lens like the 18-300, 18-200 or 28-300 than there is with the 70-300. This means if you're standing 5 feet away from a subject and you zoom to 300mm, your subject will appear smaller in the viewfinder with the 18-300 than it will with the 70-300. All the wide range zooms do this to keep the size of the lens as small as possible. At anything from about 60 feet to infinity, you will get the same size on both lenses. The difference in apparent subject size will increase between 60 feet (no difference) to 5 feet (70-300's minimum focus distance). If you can move closer to your subject, you will be able to get the same or bigger size picture of your subject with the 18-300, as the maximum reproduction ratio of the 18-300 is .32x versus .25x for the 70-300.
**** Laboratory Image Quality MTF Charts ****
The comparative MTF charts are posted as a Customer Image next to the image at the top of this page (note I have blacked out everything to the right of 14 mm on the 70-300 and 28-300 charts, as the DX sensor will crop that).
Notes for those unfamiliar with MTF charts:
Vertical axis = % of contrast achieved (perfect lens would be 100%)
Horizontal axis = Distance from center of image in mm (14 mm is corner of picture on DX)
Performance of FX lens over 14mm n/a, since not relevant for DX sensor size
Red lines (S10 & M10) = Contrast of the lens
Blue lines (S30 & M30) = Sharpness of the lens
S= Sagital M = Meridonial the closer these two are to each other the more pleasing the bokeh
Buy Nikon 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX Nikkor Lens Now
I just picked up a copy of this lens at San Jose Camera this afternoon (sorry Amazon, I would have bought it from you if I wasn't leaving for a trip this weekend). Given the super-duper zoom category this lens belongs to, I really was expecting sacrifices all over the place IQ, focus, etc... I figured I needed a lens for those occasions where making a lesser quality shot was more important than losing the shot because I was changing lenses.So far, I have snapped some random shots of my kids at tennis class and daycare, stills and videos and I have to say I am very pleasantly BLOWN AWAY!
(so far) this lens appears to focus very quickly, doesn't do a whole lot of hunting at least in good light, although it focused just fine inside the not brightly lit store as well. Image quality appears to be better than my 70-300 VR at the 300mm range not as sharp as the 70-300VR in the sub-200mm range, but then again, few lenses are. Colors appear nice, contrast appears fine. Nowhere near as sharp as my Tamron 17-50, but nothing to complain about at all.
Continuous focusing in video mode is lacking, but then again, I've never had much luck with anything but a wide-angle lens with video on my D7000. Focus motor seems pretty quiet too, the built-in mic only picked up a faint sound.
I don't know if it's because I had such low expectations that anything would have impressed me, but so far, I am feeling happy about my purchase.
Updates:
1)focus is great in poor lighting conditions even at long end
2)issue discovered. In-camera flash casts a huge shadow at 18-20mm or so range. Truly stinks if using indoors without external flash but lens is still a keeper. Also, auto distortion control did not recognize this lens, firmware update fixed that.
3) posted some random unedited snapshots from the coffee shop this morning, high ISO (sorry), but still look very decent. colors appear nice and VR works very well. still loving the lens.
4) finally took some real pictures in the "field" today. Here are my observations:
certain focal lengths are sharper than others, but overall sharpness is very good throughout for all practical purposes(so far)
because of the huge zoom range, I find myself forgetting to change settings that I use for wide/normal range and telephoto ranges, so I am taking wide angle shots with unnecessarily high shutter speeds and telephoto shots with speeds that are way too slow. Not the lens' problem but mine.
I broke down and pixel peeped and found some rare instances where there was some kind of funky Chromatic Aberration that the camera didn't/couldn't remove white helmet against a dark treeline in the bright sun. Nothing obvious at normal magnifications, but if you have to crop all the way down to the pixel level, then it's problematic.
Bokeh is not the prettiest in high contrast situations, but not horrible.
it's big and heavy but did not feel burdensome using it all day with a neoprene strap.
lens creeps a little if you aim downwards, but once you're aware of such a behavior you can mitigate it (hold on to the zoom ring).
nice colors
5) July 2012: I made a family vacation movie out of a series of totally impromptu handheld videos taken in a moving clunky old train through the Santa Cruz forest (didn't bring my camcorder kids insisted I make a movie). Set VR to "active", sometimes used AE lock, and just let it go. The results were surprisingly spectacular. I don't understand how it could be, but there was no bouncing around due to the train movements! (I did not apply any post-production image stabilization via software)(hint: don't mess with the zoom ring when taking videos not smooth, quite ugly. Also, full-time auto-focus is merely passable)
loving this vacation lens even more now!
Read Best Reviews of Nikon 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX Nikkor Lens Here
Wow, I didn't know this was possible. I loved my Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED IF AF-S VR Nikkor Zoom Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras, but I wished I could focus closer and go wider. I loved my Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom Nikkor Lens, but often wished it had more reach. After selling both to have an affair with the Sigma 50-500mm f/4.5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM SLD Ultra Telephoto Zoom Lens for Nikon Digital DSLR Camera, which while fun was doomed to be a short term thing. Anyway, I always wished there could be such a lens, and now it's here. Remarkably the length of time from first seemingly reputable rumor to announcement to being in my hands.Initial impressions:
It's large, though not exceptionally so (then again once you use a "Bigma", large is relative), and it's heavy. Not having my 18-200VR anymore it's hard to make direct comparisons, but suffice to say it's quite a bit bigger all around, but the proportions are manageable. It's shorter than my 70-300VR, though girthier and heavier. Build quality is excellent (Nikon's high end consumer grade), and everything has a tight smooth operation.
When mounted on my Nikon D90 12.3MP DX-Format CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 3.0-Inch LCD (Body Only) (freshly updated to correct for distortions with this new lens), it is relatively balanced, but having a grip helps. It quickly starts to extend, and when fully extended, the minimum focus distance isn't far from the front of the lens (that spec is based off of the plane where the sensor is, not anything on the lens). Focus seems a bit slower than what I'm used to, but still fast (more of an acute observance than anything problematic), but results are sharp and precise. VR works brilliantly (FYI, I believe it was off by default), and I get crisp results often at 1/60 when shooting at 300mm (or whatever the effective focal length actually is).
I haven't pixel peeped yet, but initial results are as I expected. Solid, reliable, and sharp. Contrast could be better, but that's compared to my primes, and it's comparable to what I got from my 18-200 & 70-300 zooms. The versitility is worth the trade off, but do know you're making one (as you do with any zoom). Where Nikon has blown me away is that the trade off is so minimal. I honestly don't see much more than you'd see in an 18-105VR.
Conclusion (for now):
It's an amazing lens that makes minimal and well measured compromises to enable awesome versatility. As with all zooms, you give up some light gathering ability, but unlike 3rd party choices (18-270 ones at least), you never go past f/5.6, which you hit around 100mm. You also lose some contrast, but no more than Nikon's other consumer zooms, and less than 3rd party choices. AF speed is slower than some lenses, but still what I'd call fast. Size weight are definitely in a whole new league compared to 18-x lenses, but not that bad by 300mm standards (weight is a bit high). Cost, well that's a tough call, but being a Nikon, it likely will hold it's value throughout it's life.
All in all, I love it.
7/1/2012 Update
Great results on my D90! While the somewhat slow aperture does require some flexibility in regards to shutter speed/ISO, VR and modern Nikon high ISO capabilities mitigate that limitation. Heck, throw this on a D5100 (or D7000), and you'll be able to handle most scenarios between the focal length versatility of this lens and the high ISO abilities of Nikon's best (in terms of ISO) DX sensor. For me, I'm quite happy with what I see on my D90. AF is definitely a bit slower than perfect (but definitely ideal) at 300mm indoors, even with the IR emitter on my SB600. Sharpness is excellent, even at slowish shutter speeds (sample uploaded). It's just crazy versatile, and honestly, as stated by another reviewer, it totally matches the capabilities of the 70-300VR, which is an excellent lens. This is Nikon's best super zoom, and the industry's best to boot. The 18-200VR was a compelling reason (one of my main reasons) to go with Nikon (when launched), and this a much better lens (if you're OK with the size/weight).
7/13/2012 Update
This lens is definitely as good or better than the 18-200VR and 70-300VR combined. It doesn't give up anything to either lens. That's absolutely amazing give the inherent compromises with zooms, let alone ultra-zooms, and even more so when you consider how great those other two lenses are. You don't lose anything optically, and the size and weight penalty isn't THAT bad when compared to them, nor is the price. This is Nikon's best consumer zoom, and honestly it's every bit as impressive (in a totally different manner) as it's legendary 70-200VR II or any other pro zoom (I'm not saying it's better at a common focal length, but it makes up for that in versatility, price, and size). Anyway, if you're tempted by this lens, go for it. You won't regret it.
Want Nikon 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX Nikkor Lens Discount?
Really don't think I can match the previous reviews; however, I will throw out a quick overview of my new baby from 1call. I also use a D7000 and formerly had an 18-105, 18-200, & 70-300... Sold all in order to snag this all-in-one. In love.First, I am 6'3" and athletic 210lbs. Do not be mistaken, this is a large and heavy lens. The 70-300 is a large lens, but this is definitely heavier & more thick in general. If you are a small person, opt for the 18-200... Seriously. Girlfriend shoots a D3100 with the 18-200 & bulletproof setup without killing her on a day hike, etc. Otherwise, this lens is the greatest all-around I could imagine.
Important note, you must update your firmware AND distortion control firmware. I use a Mac & this was an easy process, unsure what the PCversion would entail. Go to Nikon's website and do a distortion control search, should find what you need.
Lens creep out of the box, more so than 18-200 (18-50 or so)... Not bad though. With a lens of this weight, one should hold the barrel anyway so no issue and very tight build overall. I'm sure it will wear as the 18-200 did and become fairly loose, but to be expected and not an issue with a super zoom.
Also notice the shadow of the lens with the flash in low mm shots in low-light situations.
Lens distortion also noticeable over 18-200 in many instances. Auto distortion control eliminates a lot of it (note above). Manual correction after the fact (in-camera) will do the trick without question.
Overall picture quality close to equal to anything I've used at all focal lengths.
NOTES:
if weight is not an issue, you are not a professional, and take multiple shots at a time you will get quality images with this lens. Great all-around, no question. Only competitor is 18-200 due to smaller, more friendly size.
Would NOT mount this on anything less that a D90/7000, too heavy for a camera without an internal frame.
Not a camera with a lens, rather a lens with a camera... D7000, not huge camera, but no one would want to mount this lens on a full-frame and majority of options are of similar size to 7000.
As mentioned, multiple shots necessary as distortions/aberrations seems different shot to shot due to processing. This is likely a result of the distortion control; however, it definitely improves the pictures (have noticed minimal corner cutoff). Also, lag time for correction on D7000 is minimal.
Definitely not a professional lens, but fantastic for vacation/all-around and would consider using it for semi-pro work as long as you are decent with post editing software... High enough quality 90% of time, but for true perfection one must have FX array of lenses.
Must buy. Worth $. Benefits outweighs flaws for my size and shooting behavior... General photography with emphasis on landscapes/nature.
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So I'm another avid Amazon consumer that did not purchase this lens through Amazon. I was on a list at my local mom & pop camera store when I was called on June 28th. They called and I went running as I was about to leave for a few days of r&r in Kennebunkport, Maine, the summer white house of Pres. Bush 41. I wanted to mention this lens here because Amazon is the first place I go to research products and pricing, and to read seemingly unbiased reviews. If this review helps an Amazon vendor to make a sale, terrific. If it helps you to buy from Amazon, all the better.I'm not going to bore you with technical jargon you may not understand or care about. I shoot and compose as if I were painting a scene. Sometimes I get lucky. It always comes from my 62 year old heart. I'm not thinking about ISO this or aperture that. I'm an avid high-end amateur, that's why I shoot in the DX format. The equipment I used was the new 18-300 and the Nikkor 35mm 1.8 for the nightime shots. Part of Ken Rockwell's dream team for Nikon DX cameras. The camera is the Nikon D7000 and a circular polarizing filter was used in the day shots. A UV filter on the 35mm for the nightime stuff. I usually shoot in P and A modes. Sometimes S at night to darken down the exposure.
I have not yet seen any real-world (shooting with this lens)examples in the reviews currently out there, so for those of you who are curious, here's my link to my FB album just uploaded. You do not have to be a FB member to view the album. Let me also say, I shoot raw and the the post processing was done in Adobe Lightroom, the images on FB are compressed JPGs. I love high saturation and vivid settings when I do travel photography.So, I traded in my trusty 18-200 which served me well. No lens creep on the 18-300. Auto focusing is perfectly fast, and heavy with the D7000? Heck no! No big whoop. Use the right strap and you're good to go. I was and am astounded by the results. Screeamingly sharp; this lens has blown me away too! From far or near, you can zoom in on a flea sitting on the Bush's front doorstep. You can get close to the flowers, it's not a macro, but it comes close and the bokeh is tolerable.
So take a look and please note that the photos online are compressed JPGs. You should see them raw. ;-)
Boy am I glad I have this lens as my new walk-around. Light lenses are for sissies.
Nikon 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX Nikkor Lens
Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras
Nikon D7000 16.2MP DX-Format CMOS Digital SLR with 3.0-Inch LCD (Body Only)
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