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Quick zoom,beautiful pictures

Heavy

The Nikon AF-S DX 18-300mm f3.5-6.3 is the lens if you just want an all purpose lens especially for travel. Many customers I have spoken to don't want to keep swapping lenses over to avoid missing that special shot or simply for convenience. It has plenty of zoom, compact and not too heavy.

The world is full of amazing views-some right in front of us, others far in the distance. Capture all of them beautifully with a single lens, the outstanding all-in-one telephoto zoom AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3G ED VR.

I've now taken hundreds of shots with my Nikon D7100 to compare the A. 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3G DX with B. 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6G DX and C. 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G FX, chosen best of three in all categories and carefully compared them. Here's what I've observed: 1.

Impressive focal length range; handy size; saves having to change lenses in the field

Vignetting at 18mm; not super sharp; focus breathing at 300mm with close subjects; significantly overpriced

The test results of the Nikkor AF-S DX 18–300 mm f/3.5–5.6G ED VR were just average and didn't impress us; I suppose they could be the main reason of a speedy launch of another model with similar parameters but more affordable price. Let's check what the new Nikkor 18-300 mm has to offer.

very useful focal range; good resolution in the frame centre at all focal lengths; proper correction of coma at longer focal lengths; moderate vignetting at longer focal lengths; slight astigmatism at longer focal lengths; good performance against bright light; quite silent and accurate autofocus,...

weak image quality on the edge of the frame at all focal lengths; high lateral chromatic aberration near the maximum relative aperture of 200-300 mm focal lengths; significant barrel distortion at the wide angle and distinct pincushion in the 35-100 mm focal range; modest standard accessory kit

The AF-S DX Nikkor 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3G ED VR is Nikon's second 18-300mm lens for DX-format cameras. More than 30% lighter than the existing AF-S DX Nikkor 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, the new lens has a brand new optical formula comprising 16 elements in 12 groups (including 3 ED and 3 aspherical lens...

The Nikkor AF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED VR II is a hot seller already but the competition has been pushing the zoom ratio further than that already. However, Nikon wouldn't be Nikon to leave the situation as is so they came up with the Nikkor AF-S 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED VR (16.7x zoom ratio) - a...

This super-zoom lens for Nikon DX format DSLRs covers a huge 16.7x zoom range, equivalent to 27-450mm on a 35mm camera. It sports internal focusing, and Nikon's Vibration Reduction system.

Gary Wolstenholme reviews the compact super-zoom Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3G ED VR lens.

Good sharpness in the centre; especially when stopped down; Extreme 16.7x zoom range; Effective VR system; Good build; Relatively compact and lightweight

CA levels towards edges of the frame are high; Performance towards the edges of the frame could be considered disappointing at 18mm and 300m

Nikon's AF-S Nikkor 18-300mm F3.5-5.6 VR lens offers the longest zoom range currently available for any interchangeable lens camera system. But this comes with all of the usual optical compromises associated with a superzoom, in a large, heavy package.

Huge 16.7x focal length range (while maintaining F5.6 aperture at telephoto); Good image quality in the wide to short telephoto range; Fast; quiet autofocus; Good build quality; smooth zooming action and no zoom creep; Decent close-up capability; Nikon DX SLR owners looking for the longest possible...

Very soft results at telephoto; Extreme distortion across most of the range (but can be corrected in-camera with recent SLRs); Image stabilization not as effective as on similar lenses; especially at telephoto end; Flash shadowing at wideangle on smaller SLRs; Large; heavy and expensive compared to...