Good lens? Nikon 18-105 AF-S VR for $259

JPerkins

Hey guys, want to tap your knowledge again.

Abes of maine is having a sale on the Nikon 18-105 AF-S VR ED for 269 with free shipping and coupon code of Loyalty10 gives you 10 off.

I'm wondering if this would be a good walk around lens and if anyone has any experience with either the lens or the vendor. Seems too good to be true. The cheapest one I can see on Amazon is $360 plus shipping.

Thanks for your advice.

Qarik

This was the kit lens for the d90. It is an okay lens and the price about average for that. The d90 kit sold for about $1300 and body only was about $1000. The difference might be a good starting point for that lens. I know that many folks got the kit and then sold the lens becasue that zoom range was covered by their other lens or becasue the lens reviews were not stunning.

It is a fine walk around/starter lens in that regard.

jthomas

I've had very good experience with my 18-105VR. I recently traded another lens for the much more expensive 16-85VR and I've been comparing the two. To my surprise, in resolution tests there is very little difference. The 18-105 has more distortion at 18mm, and more chromatic aberration, both of which can be corrected in post-processing. At $269 it is a very good buy.

Look at the reviews at SLRGear.com and Photozone.de.

JPerkins

Yeah, it does look like a good deal. Now I'm wondering about Abes of Maine. Ive seen a few bad reviews and reseller ratings gives them a 7.7

LifeandLens

I like the Nikon 18-105VR
I got this lens with my D90 (backup to my D700). I've used it with both cameras and am a big fan. I like it's size/weight, smooth action, VR capability, and I have found the image quality to be commendable. I use it when I don't want to carry around the much heavier and bigger Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8.

You mentioned a "walk around lens". YES! This is the purpose of this lens.

- Tom

JPerkins wrote:

Hey guys, want to tap your knowledge again.

Abes of maine is having a sale on the Nikon 18-105 AF-S VR ED for 269 with free shipping and coupon code of Loyalty10 gives you 10 off.

I'm wondering if this would be a good walk around lens and if anyone has any experience with either the lens or the vendor. Seems too good to be true. The cheapest one I can see on Amazon is $360 plus shipping.

Thanks for your advice.

hobbyist

jthomas wrote: »

I've had very good experience with my 18-105VR. I recently traded another lens for the much more expensive 16-85VR and I've been comparing the two. To my surprise, in resolution tests there is very little difference. The 18-105 has more distortion at 18mm, and more chromatic aberration, both of which can be corrected in post-processing. At $269 it is a very good buy.

Look at the reviews at SLRGear.com and Photozone.de.

I have used the lens last week.I found that on wide angles the people at the edges had distorted faces.Is this spherical aberration? If yes then it is a serious drawback.Secondly in the Auto setting the camera many times tries to manage without a flash but the pics get blurred if there is even a slight camera movement.So this may be the camera is not sensing well or the lens VR feature is not enough.Any comments?

jthomas

hobbyist wrote: »

I have used the lens last week.I found that on wide angles the people at the edges had distorted faces.Is this spherical aberration? If yes then it is a serious drawback.Secondly in the Auto setting the camera many times tries to manage without a flash but the pics get blurred if there is even a slight camera movement.So this may be the camera is not sensing well or the lens VR feature is not enough.Any comments?

Welcome to the forum.

Yes, edge distortion is the one glaring weakness of the 18-105VR. I hadn't discovered this when I made my post back in March '09 (which you are quoting). It is very sharp in the center, and the edge distortion is not serious if you zoom in a bit. But I do prefer the 16-85VR overall.

Also, the 18-105VR has Nikon's VR I system rather than the more effective VR II. This just invites you to improve your camera-holding technique!

chuckinsocal

JPerkins wrote: »

Hey guys, want to tap your knowledge again.

Abes of maine is having a sale on the Nikon 18-105 AF-S VR ED for 269 with free shipping and coupon code of Loyalty10 gives you 10 off.

I'm wondering if this would be a good walk around lens and if anyone has any experience with either the lens or the vendor. Seems too good to be true. The cheapest one I can see on Amazon is $360 plus shipping.

Thanks for your advice.

B&H has the imported version for $320, the White Box version for $330, and the USA version for $360, so $269 including shipping sounds like a really good deal (assuming it's for real).

I bought one about a month ago and after about a week I sent it back. Couldn't put my finger on it but it just wasn't giving me the results I thought it should. Strong bokah at wider apertures, which is good for some people but not that good for what I shoot plus I wasn't convinced that the VR was working that well.

The good news is that B&H gave me a full refund, no questions asked, so all I lost was the shipping.