Nikon 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED IF Autofocus Nikkor Zoom Lens

This is an excellent general purpose lens. This lens is always on my D80 camera. Whether I want to shoot group of people close up or pull in a shoot from farther away, this lens will do it all. For longer shots I use a 70 - 300mm on special occasion, but normally I use the 28 - 200mm.

If you want to get an ultra zoom, which despite their problems in quality arr useful if you want to carry only one lens, most people's first choice is the Nikon 18-200mm; if you can find one and afford it. The second is Tamron's 18-250mm lens. The last is one of the 28-200mm (Don't touch the 28-300mm lenses) like these. This Nikon is by far the best.

The reason why they're 28-200mm is because they were intended for film; where 28mm was a wide angle. For digital, with the automatic cropping because of the small sensor size, 28mm is at best normal. You will miss the 18-28mm range, so it's best to either have the cheap 18-55mm handy or get a 12-24mm if you can afford it.

This lens does gives good pictures, with barrel distortion at the wide end and occasional low contrast pictures where the back light overpowers the image, a problem I've seen in several ultrazooms. However, for most shooting conditions it gives what you need.

The only real limitation to this lens is the zoom motor, it's the old style drive gear using the camera's internal motor. It's slow, somewhat noisy like a small can opener, and D40 owners are out of luck. The lens won't work on this camera.

If you are like me, you really can't afford the 18-200MM VR Lens. Besides, the VR lens is sold out everywhere at this time. This 28-200 lens is really spectacular. Forget about people talking about barrel distortion, keystoning, etc. The images really speak for themselves. The human eye can accomodate small optical errors. Besides, who cares? The images from this lens are simply astounding. The lens is lightweight, very compact, sharp, and is an amazingly good value.

I simply cannot find anything wrong with this lens. Just buy one and you will see.

After I bought the D50--my first DSLR--I went on the hunt for a good all-around lens. I was upgrading from a fixed lens system with 10X optical zoom, so I would settle for nothing less than a lens with 10X zoom equivalent. Luckily, with the D50 having a 1.5x crop factor, a 200mm lens would fit the bill fine. I found this lens on Amazon, and things fell into place. The online reviews were usually very good, and doing a search on pbase.com for shots taken with this lens revealed some pretty impressive results. And best of all, the price didn't break the bank. I've since taken over a hundred shots with this lens at all focal lengths, and overall, I'm quite impressed. These are my finds.

As others have stated, the focus motor isn't exactly silent or quick. Thankfully, though, it isn't obnoxiously loud or slow, either. The motor noise is easily tolerable--unless you're spoiled by silent wave motors--and the focus speed only becomes an issue when it has trouble judging the subjet's distance. Then, of course, you wish the lens was a silent wave motor type, but the speed isn't unbearably slow. I haven't missed any shots yet because of it. When in doubt, set the focus switch to "Limit" to prevent it from scanning the entire focal range when you're using the long telephoto, or just switch over to manual focus if your hand is faster. Once it gets a good lock on your subject, the lens will very quickly compensate for recomposition if the change isn't drastic. Nine times in ten, the autofocus is sharp and right on the money. There is a slight falloff in image sharpness at 200mm, but it's nothing to pout about.

The ED elements result in shots that are virtually free of chromatic aberration. I say virtually because there is still minute color fringe on contrasting elements in the shot, in the right light conditions. Hey, no lens is absolutely free of it, and it's a drastic improvement over the aberration on many fixed lens systems.

Though the lens isn't macro rated, it might as well be. With a minimum focusing distance of just over a foot at full telephoto, who needs a macro lens?

My only real beef with this lens has been flare. I've gotten what I call "rainbow flare" when I compose the shot with brightly reflecting metal surfaces or when shooting in the sun's direction, but it's a non issue in all other situations. Again, it's impossible to find a lens that's completely free of it. Use the included lens hood to cut down on stray light rays. I surmise a polarizer filter would also help substantially with this problem.

Being a nature photographer, my true test for this lens will be shooting through the glass in zoo enclosures with a polarizer. It generally isn't a light hungry lens, but I haven't tried it with a polarizer yet. With any luck, I'll still be able to nail blur-free shots at maximum telephoto.

All in all, I am very happy with this lens. It provides all the reach I need, is easily portable (it's a wee bit heavy, but at least it's not a telephone pole on my camera body), and the optics are great. If only Nikon had built image stabilization into it, this lens would be darn near perfect.

I was looking for a do-it-all lens after I bought my D70 and took a chance on this lens. At $300 it's a great bargain. Yes, the focus is rather slow -- and noisy -- but photographic quality is still good. For anyone starting out from scratch with a DSLR with a limited budget, I highly recommend this lens. Then you can use the money saved for an ultrawide lens like the nikkor 12-24G, Tokina 12-24, or Sigma 10-20.

Note, however, that if you can afford a $700+ lens, you may wish to wait for the upcoming Nikkor 18-200G VR.