18 - 105mm lens

M

MrTeatime

Suspended / Banned
Messages
1
Edit My Images
No
Hi all,

Am very interested in getting the D7000 as a camera I can come to as a beginner and learn about the craft with over the years.

I think I will buy it with the standard 18-105mm lens - just was wondering if people thought this was a good idea? Is it a decent lens for a starter? The alternative is to buy the body only and get a lens separately, but I imagine that would make it a lot more expensive...

Cheers.
 
I have that lens and find it very good.

If you look at my Flickr account all the pictures have been taken with it. The only problem I have with it is I sometimes feel like I need a bit more reach with it thats why i'm looking at the 18-200 or the 28-300.

I just noticed that the Virginia water photos on my flickr say that they are from a iPhone but thats because they were copied to it then uploaded from the iPhone so it removed the proper exif data!!!
 
Last edited:
I have the 18-105VR on my D90 and it is a nice sharp lens. It is light and has a good range, and the VR works well. It does distort at the limits of focal length and has some CA, but both these are dealt with in body if you shoot jpeg, or in PP if raw.
Some folks crticise the plastic lens mount, but if you do not treat it roughly it is fine. Mine is 2 years old now and no signs of wear, despite changing lenses a lot. If it does break it is fairly easy and cheap to replace, you can even do it yourself if you are brave.
 
I second that I am a beginner and think this is a good all rounder
 
I have just brought a vr one for my d90 and am very happy with it.

As above a great light weight lens i find
 
I have the lens on my new D90 and I'm pleased with it so far
 
Its not so good lens but if is what money can buy, its an very wide and tele lens. able to do everything. But you will see in the quality of the photos, the quality of the lens.
 
For starting out the 18-105 is a good choice as it covers a good range and is pretty sharp. It isn't the best lens out there but that's to be expected at the price point. When starting out it is worth investing time rather than lots of money to see what sort of photography you really want to do, what focal lengths you use most etc. This will then inform future purchases much better rather than getting lots of kit in the beginning and never using a lot of it.
 
it performs much better on the d90 than the d7000
 
I have it on my D90 as my every day lens and I am very happy with it. But then again what do i know I only took up photography 2 weeks ago :lol:
Gary
 
assuming you will end up later getting a 55-200, or 55-300 or 70-XXX

I feel it would be more sensible to start with a decent 18-55 or 17-70

never had a 18-105 [and lotsa posts above love it..:D] but it is reported as being soft

Ken Rockwell..........''here''
''but if you're looking closely, the 18-105mm is Nikon's fuzziest lens in the corners at 18mm. Even the $100 18-55mm is better.'' (c)

and thom
''The corners never get terrible, but they barely rise above what I'd call average at 18mm''..(c)

have a look at reviews for the Sigma 17-70mm 2.8-4.5 DC Macro HSM
the HSM is the motorised version for Nikon D5000 et al
I've had one for a year - my lens of choice for walk-about
and on a tripod for landscapes the 17mm is stunning

budget-wise you could start with a used Nikon 18-55 AF-S DX VR
a super little lens which can be quickly sold on later
 
I have it on my D90 most of the time and im pleased with its performance.
 
Yes i would highly recomend the lens, however i do not know how the camera itself goes with the lens as i cant say ive used it. Thank you.
 
The lens is the limiting factor on the D90 (but not by too much) and on the D7000 it is definitely the limiting factor as you need really good glass to get the best out of 16mp but this is only really a problem if you're cropping.

That said, for the price it's great as a beginners lens, I rarely want more reach for general shooting (and typically you know if the situation will require more reach so attach an appropriate lens beforehand).

Nikon obviously thinks it is ok for the D7000 as it's their kit lens for it, you'll be able to get perfectly decent shots with it and it will do most things you want as you're learning.

You could just buy the body and get a 2nd hand lens, they hold their prices really well (well, Nikon ones do anyway, less so Sigma et al). That way if you don't like it you can sell it on without much loss.

To give you an idea, here's about a 50% crop from my D90 + 18-105 shot at 105mm:

Peru%20%28534%20of%20573%29.jpg


And here's one shot at 19mm f/6.7 (not the best example but was in the same album), sure it's a little soft in the corners if you look at 100% but typically wide angle shots aren't for pixel peeping. The distortion and vignetting bothers me more (which is much more than the 18-50) but that is easily corrected in Lightroom.
Peru%20%28302%20of%20573%29.jpg
 
I have to say that I cant see much wrong with either but then being a noob that doesn't mean diddly ;)
 
davep90 said:
it performs much better on the d90 than the d7000
Click to expand...

That's an interesting comment; why would that be?

For the benefit of the OP, I also find the 18 - 105 to be good.


Ernie
 
latercomer2 said:
I have to say that I cant see much wrong with either but then being a noob that doesn't mean diddly ;)
Click to expand...

The Chiller said:
:lol: I was looking an thinking the same thing Allan :lol:
Click to expand...

There isn't, that's the point. People are saying that the lens isn't that great but in reality you can still get good shots that are more than sharp enough, even with cropping.

ernieh said:
That's an interesting comment; why would that be?
Click to expand...

It's not that the lens gets worse, it's that the higher resolution of the D7000 shows the flaws more when you zoom in to 100% (but not at normal viewing sizes).
 
i loved my 18-105 vr , wished i'd not sold it tbh , nice lens to use
 
RookieCaptain said:
I think you could get a 50mm f1.8 Lens for general use which doesn't cost much at all.
Click to expand...

I would go for the 35mm f/1.8
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top