Nikon 18-300mm f3.5-5.6 AF-S ED VR Lens

Comments about Nikon 18-300mm f3.5-5.6 AF-S ED VR Lens:

Rather heavy but versatile lens.

Comments about Nikon 18-300mm f3.5-5.6 AF-S ED VR Lens:

Super-zooms are strange beasts, offering an extraordinary super-wide to telephoto range in one lens. This was my first. "Was" because I sent it back (thank you WEX!)

To explain: I was naively thinking that this would be lens nirvana for me - just one "do everything" lens on my D300 would mean not missing that shot while changing lenses, less chance of getting dust on the sensor & less chance of dropping & breaking something expensive. But the reality was that there was SO much distortion (pincushion, barrel and especially chromatic aberration at all sorts of focal lengths - I learnt a lot on this journey) that it turned out to be a real jack of all trades & master of none for me.

HOWEVER I would still recommend this to anyone lucky enough to own a newer Nikon DSLR (especially with DX sensors), as the new firmware automatically corrects most of this distortion and CA inside the camera for you. These are the DX ones you need to have to make this lens work: D90, D3100, D3200, D5000, D5100 & D7000. (You need the latest firmware too - v1.006 with "distortion control data") From results I've seen using these cameras, it's a fabulous lens, because it's amazingly light (considering what it can do), works really quickly & quietly (autofocus & vibration reduction work really well) and can do incredible things - 18 to 300mm is some focal range!

So in summary, if you're prepared for the inevitable compromises from a super-zoom lens, this is definitely one of the very best. But I would say that all that's true only if you have one of the above cameras.