Nikon 18-200mm VR

SonicStates

SonicStates

Well-known member
So, I'm slowly entering the labyrinth of lenses...I want to shoot a short in a couple of months but I would prefer not to have a bag of primes dangling precariously around my next in a forest...so I thought to save time I would get a zoom lens...Any thoughts about the [FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Nikon 18-200mm VR[/FONT]? In fact, I'm looking for any pretty reasonable zoom lenses...budget for the lens portion of this short 1,000 ~ 1,500 (US). I will also be using the vario kit lens that came with the GH1.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Sam.
 
Sam,

You won't have any control over aperture with any "G" lens as they have no manual aperture controls. Obviously, you will not have the VR function either. IMHO you'd be much better sticking with the kit 14-140mm lens for a zoom.

Cheers,
 
The Nikon brings absolutely not a shred of benefit over the kit lens and all has a list of disadvantages longer than my arm!

The GH1 already has a VR super zoom - the kit lens. That Nikon - Is it especially fast? No. Would VR work on the GH1? Nope. There isn't any electronic contact between the GH1 via the Nikon lens adapter to the lens.

AF? No. Aperture control? No. For same reason.

Would it be expensive? Yes!

Would it be wide? No. The Nikon would be 36mm at wide angle on the GH1. The kit lens is 28mm (35mm equiv.) I'd steer clear of the Nikon and get a fast prime, especially as the woods are usually pretty dark :)

The Nikon is an expensive lens, mainly as it has VR - so a waste of money. Even the longer throw of 200mm compared to the GH1's kit lens 140mm would be wasted, via the lack of operational optical stabiliser on the GH1.
 
If you need something on such a long end the Olympus Zuiko Digital 70-300/4,0-5,6 with 4/3 mount sound like a better option than that Nikon to complement the kit lens. You still need a adapter but the aperture will be controlled from the camera. Neither one is on the speedy side though.
 
SonicStates said:
So, I'm slowly entering the labyrinth of lenses...I want to shoot a short in a couple of months but I would prefer not to have a bag of primes dangling precariously around my next in a forest...so I thought to save time I would get a zoom lens...Any thoughts about the [FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Nikon 18-200mm VR[/FONT]? In fact, I'm looking for any pretty reasonable zoom lenses...budget for the lens portion of this short 1,000 ~ 1,500 (US). I will also be using the vario kit lens that came with the GH1.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Sam.
Click to expand...

This is a very valid concern, and in fact I would be looking for something faster than the kit lens.

If possible, instead of trying to get just one zoom, get a wide zoom and a telephoto zoom. And don't hesitate to go outside of Nikon or Canon branding to something like Sigma, Tamron or Tokina. They're generally priced used at about 350 - 500 a piece, so that means you could definitely afford two if you wanted. I specifically suggest two because a superzoom like the 18-200 (and even the Kit Lens for the GH-1) will find more points of suffering trying to cover the range. Instead, you can get two faster zooms that perform better as a pair than the Kit Lens itself.

They all have F2.8 Max aperture zooms with manual iris rings for Nikon mounts.

1000 - 1500 will surely get you at least two zooms if not two zooms and a fast 24/1.8 from Sigma (I want tihs one bad, but still haven't gotten it for some reason).
 
Just a word of caution on the f/2.8 zooms: A lot of the new lenses designed for the crop format will not have the aperture ring. This includes third-party lenses. When Nikon started dropping the aperture ring on more lenses the third-party makers followed suit.
 
Thanks for all your input.
This place is like an information Santa Claus...wake up in the morning and the stocking is looking gooood.
Actually I wasn't particularly enamored with Nikon VR, knew it was pretty much out in terms of all the features you get but can't use (with the GH1) just used it as an example of the kinds of lenses I am considering.
My real concern is that the locations could eat up my light as we are in forested areas a lot of the time. In that respect, faster would be better.

vslee - thanks for the warning...Kholi are these the types of lenses you are using your patented Q-tip manouver for?

I haven't got anything against primes per se, but as a relatively inexperienced shooter I want to try and cover my a$$ by having a larger shooting range to draw on...plus time is a factorr and I would prefer not to be switching out lenses a lot.

I'm liking the fast wide and fast tele option thanks Kholi. I think that's where my direction is heading now. Sneak the 24 in aswell if I can.

Cheers everyone.
 
Actually, the Tokina AT-X AF PRO 828 for Nikon has an Aperture ring, and so does he Redline version before it.

vslee is right about that in regards to the newer Tamron 70-200/2.8, which doesn't have an aperture ring.

I've been hunting for a great 80-200 solution myself and really want a Tokina AT-X AF PRO 80-200/2.8 in nikon mount because of the aperture ring.

If you end up getting one without, though, you can definitely use a Q-Tip or find a way to drill a hole and use a screw-pin solution to lift the aperture tab.

Ebay is your friend!
 
Going to go looking in some camera shops downtown to see what I can dig up...my mind is literally melting with decision paralysis caused by the slew of options!!
 
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