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 enlarge | Brand: Nikon
Category: Photography
List Price: $749.99
Buy New: $634.89
You Save: $115.10 (15%)
New (16) Used (7) Refurbished (2)
Avg. Customer Rating:  268 reviews
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Fragile: No
Batteries Included: No
Optical Zoom: 11.1
Maximum Focal Length: 200
Minimum Focal Length: 18
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 4 x 6 x 9
Warranty: 1 Year Warranty + 4 Years Extended Service Coverage - 5 Years of Protection Included directly from Nikon USA
MPN: 2159
Model: 2159
UPC: 182080215984
EAN: 0182080215984
ASIN: B000BY52NU
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Brand new in retail pack, shipping same day with ups.
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| Customer Reviews:
 A very dissapointing lens July 30, 2008
12 out of 17 found this review helpful
As ap semi-pro with photography, I moved from Canon equipment to Nikon specifcally for this lens. In the last two months I have shot over a thoursand pictures with my D300 and this lens. Several years ago I had a Nikon 8800 as a secondary camera that provided stunning pictures all be it an extremely slooooooow camera. I kept asking myself, what is wrong with this highly sofisticated camera and lens? I found that shooting with spot metering provided the best results but still not as sharp and popping as I am use to getting. I finally went back to Amazon and read the 1 and 2 star reviews only to learn that so many have experienced what I have come to realize. This is truly a soft focus lens good for 4x6 famly pictures but do not attempt to blow them up at all. I do a lot of macro photography and would say that 90% of the photos I shot were unusable! I moved to the Nikon 16 to 85 and it is a night and day difference. If you are interested in large format printing and want to see the veins in the pedal of a rose - run from this lens as fast as you can!
 Best LENS? July 25, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is my first lens, so it's hard to compare it's performance with anything else. But it is a really versatile lens that takes very nice pictures. There are better lens for specific items, i.e. speed, macro, zoom, but this is a good as it gets for having everything in one lens.
I recommend it, unless you have problems carring a heavier camera
Excellent Glass July 16, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
My goal was to find a lens offering a broad range of magnification and capable of producing excellent pictures. I was looking for the "complete package" for my Nikon D80 camera. A lens I could leave on the camera. I understood the lens would not produce a picture as "tack sharp" as a prime lens but I was looking for something close in quality. I opted to purchase this lens and I have to say I made a good decision. The range this lens offers is terrific, the focus is smooth and quick, the VR is great for low light conditions, and best and most important of all the quality of the photographs are excellent. If you are looking for an excellent all purpose lens look no further.
Back To The Drawing Board For Digital Zoom lenses July 13, 2008
6 out of 39 found this review helpful
I've been a professional photographer for 35 years - although for the past several years, I shot less and less and worked more and more in PhotoShop on Macs doing digital imaging. But since my entire career was with traditional SLRs several years ago, I missed the entire revolution of digital photography. So this is the very first digital lens that I have ever purchased (along with a Nikon D200). Every one of my professional friends has said to me that this lens is awesome. Every article I've read says that this is the best digital zoom ever created by ANY company. But I find this lens 10 steps backwards from the old days of fixed focal lenses.
I am now trying to relaunch my professional photography career - so I copped for a Nikon D200 and this 18-200 VR zoom lens. It is not sharp. There is no way that you can MAKE it sharp. Oh yeah... it's sharp enough for an amateur. It's sharp enough for a family photo album of 3x5 prints. It's sharp enough for Grandma. But... it... is... not... SHARP! I have had to sharpen every single image I have shot with this lens in PhotoShop. My little pocket Fuji ($175) is sharper. And amazingly, it's a zoom lens, TOO!
And automatic focus is the greatest leap BACKWARDS in photography that I have ever encountered. It's pretty much the equivalent of the difference between an automatic transmission in a car - and a standard transmission in a car. And... if you don't know how to drive the standard, then you don't know how to DRIVE! Do you? The same with an automatic lens. If you can't shoot manually, then you are NOT a photographer.
The other day I shot a portrait of a guy and his car. I had the guy up close in the foreground - and I had the car in the deep background 20-25 feet away. It was a bright sunny Florida morning - so I should have had depth of field all the way to MARS! Yet I could not keep both subjects in focus. (Forget SHARP! I'm just talking about acceptable focus!) I would focus on the guy and then pan to include the car - and the lens would automatically rack focus TO THE CAR! I must've done 30 shots in my attempt. So I said screw it and switched the automatic focus off - reverting to manual. But when I did that, it also killed the automatic exposure making every shot overexposed - and I can find no way to manually adjust the exposure - OTHER than through on the main menu - which takes time. So... if you're shooting on the fly in a variety of lighting scenarios - from light areas to dark areas - you can forget about it. You're doomed. You will never switch that main menu in time.
On the shot I just spoke about with the guy and his car, I ended up using one shot of the guy and one shot of the car and comping them in PhotoShop. That's the only way that I could get it done.
This whole digital zoom lens "thing" is BS! And when I talk to my Canon friends, they say the same thing happens with Canon as well. They also say that it took them all a CONSIDERABLE amount of time and experience to master these damned digital zooms.
So... Nikon and Canon... go back to the drawing board and develop true automatic FIXED FOCAL lenses that are actually SHARP!
 frustrating July 13, 2008
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
I was so very excited about this lens and it was the first somewhat expensive lens i purchased for my DSLR. I liked the versatility and the VR feature - hoping to protect my sensor from dust with fewer lens changes. The problem? I am about to send it away for it's second repair!
When first received it telescoped out badly, so that if, like me, you frequently photograph insects and flora at foot level - you loose your focus.
That's not all, after only a month the lens froze up (would not zoom or focus - even in manual.) I sent if for repair, it worked alright for a while, then in the middle of my first paid photo job, it jammed up again. (Good thing I brought back ups.) If you haven't already purchased this, I would advise sticking with separate wide angle and telephoto lenses until Nikon improves this lens.
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