Nikon AF-S DX VR 18-200mm f3.5-5.6G IF-ED

Pros: Great range, VR very good, Light weight

Cons: Variable aperture, plastic filter threads, soft at 200mm.

Summary: I've been using this lens since the beginning 2007 on a Nikon D200 and then the D40x. This is a great 11x range lens for all day use inside or out. I've carried it for hours through parks and woods and used it for simple family gatherings. This lens is almost a permanent fixture on my Nikon D40x now. The VR is fantastic when shooting at or close to 200mm and it even works great for tracking shots of flying birds.

It can be very soft at 200mm and you need to watch your parallel lines at 18mm. But what the heck, for every day shooting it beats replacing the lens every 10 minutes.

A constant 2.8 aperature would be nice but it would probably push the cost up another $500 or more like the 70-200mm AF-S VR G. I would have liked a little more metal up front for the filter threads. You need to be very careful when changing the filters on this and all Nikon lenses with those nasty plastic threads. And watch out for temps below 20 degrees F. The AF-S lens motor sounded like a death rattle when I was shooting at my favorite lake with a temp at 12 degrees F.

But all in all I really like this lens, especially on a light weight camera body like the Nikon D40x. It can hang around my neck all day long without being a drag. And it makes pretty decent images. 11x power, VR up to 3-stops, light weight, pretty fast autofocus... not too many variable aperture zoom lenses can do it all but this one comes very close.