AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

I really like this lens,
If I was to pick just one lens for travel this would be it. the optical quality is good for the cost, the range of zoom is very impressive.
The only thing is that there is a bit of distortion at 200mm right in the corners of the pic, but a light crop job take care of that.
It focuses pretty close as well, I have taken some really nice pic of insects that are 50% of a full frame before cropping.

I got this lens with my new D7000 camera in time for our Disney vacation. I took advantage of the $250 discount they were offering when I bought the camera. It is an excellent lens that takes good portriat and landscape pics. The VRII keeps me from having to carry around a mono-pod on zoom pics and it´s light enough to carry all day long. Shooting video with the camera, the lens stayed in focus as I moved the camera around. I am very satisfied with this purchase and it has become my new carry everywhere lens.

I do a significant amount of travel and photography and it is great to have to only take one lense. The versatility of the 18-200 Nikkor lense was the main reason for my purchase.

i bought this lens a couple years ago. the first one i got totally died within 2 weeks. total electronic failure. it was replaced and have used this lens a fair amount since then. its not super sharp, but sharp enough for the vast majority of work you will use it for. it has taken a fair amount of abuse and still kept on working. a very useful focal range to have in the camera bag. would be nice if it was a stop or so faster though. makes it less useful in low light situations as it is.

I have used this lens for a couple of month now. I am very pleased in the handling of the lens. The lens is very light, which is of a great advantage when shooting outdoor. The AF is fast very quiet and also seems to be very accurate. On another hand, the light indices are poor and somehow limited (contrast is too brutal). The definition of the lens is limited when zooming at 200 powers. The distortion of the lens bordure is acceptable when using the lens from 18 to 30 and become much better after these ranges. The protector front cat is tricky to place, especially when the lens is equipped with a filter. Overall, the lens is a very good adds for any amateur that which to reduce the number of lenses that he/she carry.

The premise of the lens is great. A travelers delight, moderate wide to moderate tele. In practice it should be shipped with a lifetime supply of duct tape or a warning beeper to let you know when the camera is not level and pointing down or up. If the lens is not fully zoomed to the widest the barrel will slip to the extreme on the other end when aimed down on a subject. Most inconvenient if you wanted to bracket long exposures without holding on to the lens......

When puchasing my Nikon D90, I evaluated the options and came down to either buying 3 lenses for $1200 dollars (for the ideal shots) or choosing a single lens and making some sacrifices, namely weight and performance. The lens was the right choice for my family since they can take the camera and get great shots without having to think about the lens.

Two reasons for giving this three stars:
1) I use a filters frequently because of indoor fluorescent lighting. When at the maximum zoom, I get rounding of the image corners because the filter ring is being picked up.

2) I had a problem with the lens that kept producing memory card errors. I spent 4 weeks bouncing between Nikon and the dealer as they pointed the finger at each other on who was responsible versus fixing the problem. Of course this happened between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

A friend referred me to a local authorized Nikon repair dealer. In under 2 minutes, this individual identified the issue as dirty contacts. Thirty minutes later, the lens was working and I have had no issues since. I wish that little detail would have been in the Nikon Tech database somewhere.

I use this lens a lot! It has great zoom and is also great for closer shots.

This lens is capable of taking very sharp photos with good color reproduction and fine detail. I love the focal range of the lens. However, the lens slides out when the camera is pointed down, thus changing the focal length. It is impossible to use the lens on a tripod and have the subject on the ground unless you hold the lens in place, which defeats the convenience of using a tripod.