Here you can also see the rubber 'O'-ring that surrounds the mount to protect against dust and moisture getting into the camera. is this lense's sweet spot, with sharpness good from centre to the edges. but that's at 5.3 maximum aperture. who wants to be limited to shoot 50mm @f5.3? The 18-300mm uses Nikon's 'Silent Wave Motor' for focusing, which is reasonably fast and near-silent in normal operation using the optical viewfinder. We saw no evidence for any systematic focusing errors during our real-world shooting, but using the D3200 as the test body, we saw a certain predisposition towards random misfocusing towards the telephoto end of the zoom. As usual, though, it must be noted that focus speed and accuracy is dependent upon a number of variables, including the camera body used, subject contrast, and light levels.

Overall, the lens sharpness is not bad for a superzoom when compared to the 18-200mm, but certainly nowhere close to the sharpness and contrast of pro-level lenses like Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G or Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II. You can see lens sharpness tests with comparisons to the 18-200mm and 28-300mm later down in the review. Color rendition is pretty good, I would say on par with the 28-300mm. NIKON D800E + 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 300mm, ISO 100, 1/250, f/8.0 Vibration Reduction – VR II The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution. The taller the column, the better the lens performance. Simple.

Nikon offers two DX “super-zoom” lenses that cover the 18-300mm range. That’s roughly the equivalent of a 27-450mm lens on a 35mm (FX) camera. This huge range is incredibly versatile for photographers who are traveling light and don’t wish to carry (or change) multiple lenses in the field. Both of these lenses offer image stabilization (VR), relatively fast internal focusing, and the use of Nikon’s extra low-dispersion (ED) glass. F. Finally, I rented A hoping to like it and eventually to buy one. I now have no intention to buy one, even when they become much cheaper, which they will when the news spreads.

Closest focus distance is 48cm, and focusing is performed internally, so the 67mm filter thread does not rotate, which should make this lens ideal for use with graduated filters and polarisers. E. At 300mm the lens zooms out so far that I'd worry about damaging it with even a slight tap against something out there.This is an in-depth review of the Nikon 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G DX ED VR lens that was released in June of 2012 along with the Nikon 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED VR lens. Thanks to the popular demand of the 18-200mm and the full-frame Nikon 28-300mm VR lenses, Nikon decided to add another superzoom to the DX line. Color fringing is most noticeable at the short end of the zoom range, becoming fairly negligible in the mid-sector and rising a little again at the long end. Even so, fringing is fairly minimal for a superzoom lens. Clifton Cameras is a credit broker, not a lender and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN728300). We do not charge you for credit broking services. We will introduce you to Finance available from a number of our partner lenders. Again, nothing to be excited about. For these kinds of wildlife shots, I would rather shoot with my favorite Nikon 300mm f/4 AF-S. It is significantly sharper even with the TC-14E and it produces absolutely beautiful bokeh. Vignetting

Interesting to read that you play down the concept of such a lens. Then you look at it and can’t really fault it.Nikon offers two 18-300mm zoom lenses for their DX (APS-C) format cameras. I had the brief opportunity to compare them and report my results. Specifications