Nikon 18-105 - plastic or metal mount?

Steelfish

Steelfish

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Should be an easy one to clear up. I bought a Nikon d90 at Dublin Airport last year, with the included 18-105 kit lens. Now I sold the 18-105 to a guy at work to fund a prime purchase a long while back - but as I remember it, the lens had a metal mount (I remember being chuffed with it over the horrible plastic mount of the 18-55 I also had at the time).

I've checked several times with the guy that bought it since, and he also swears it has a metal mount. He's an experienced photographer with a huge variety of lenses so knows the difference between a metal mount and plastic mount. We both do.

Why then, does every reference to the 18-105 now seem to say it has a plastic mount? Am I going mad?

The reason I'm asking now is I quite fancy another zoom lens for my latest d90 - but I won't be buying anything with a plastic mount. So can we clear this up, have any of you got an 18-105 with a metal mount?

Thanks.
 
Oh well, I'll have a look at sigma then for a shortish zoom then. They look like nice build quality.
 
is that the VR version? i remember it being metal mount as well but i could be wrong. For AF-S lens the only lens i remember being plastic mount is the 18-55 AF-S VR (cheap kit lens), but someone can correct me on that if i'm wrong.

If i reading the facts correctly that nikon do most of their lens on metal mount except a few but they can easily spotted .......
 
badboy1984 said:
is that the VR version? i remember it being metal mount as well but i could be wrong. For AF-S lens the only lens i remember being plastic mount is the 18-55 AF-S VR (cheap kit lens), but someone can correct me on that if i'm wrong.

If i reading the facts correctly that nikon do most of their lens on metal mount except a few but they can easily spotted .......
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I'm sure it was the VR version as I'm not aware that Nikon ever did the 18-105 in non-VR. This was only last year as well when I bought it new, And like you say, the plastic mount lenses are so easily spotted. The 18-55 and I think there's also the 50-200 that's also plastic mounted.

This is bugging me now, I'll ping my workmate and get him to send me a pic of the mount on my former 18-105. Could be just the Irish market where they come as metal mount?
 
I had one and the mount broke within two days of buying it. It only seems to need a light knock on the lens when it is mounted on the camera. A small piece of plastic broke off and it no longer fitted securely. Luckily I bought it from that fine photographic retailer Argos, so they gave me a new camera and lens.
 
Brave man! Yeah you're right, just got a pic from the guy and it is plastic mount. Shame that as otherwise i quite liked the lens.
 
For Nikkor glass, the 18-55, 55-200 and 18-105 are plastic. Oh, and the 18-135 too. All the other ones are metal though, if I recall correctly.
 
Buy yourself a Nikkor 18-200 VR a really good all round lens for a crop sensor camera.
I have a D3 and a 70-200 2.8 VR2 but if I go out and not sure what type of photos I will be taking I use the 18-200VR on my D300. I pretty well have everthing covered with that combo. It is either that or two cameras.
 
Well I tried the budget route for 18 to 200 in the form of a sigma lens two days back. It was awful. Horribly soft at anything other than near wide angle. Fully zoomed out I found only every other pic was usable. I do love Amazon's return policy!

I hear the 18-200 nikon lens is a lot sharper, and correspondingly more expensive. I may give that a go.

It's a toss up whether I was going to upgrade the d90 body to the latest sensor in the form of a d5100 or d7000 versus getting a new nikon zoom though.
 
Steelfish said:
Well I tried the budget route for 18 to 200 in the form of a sigma lens two days back. It was awful. Horribly soft at anything other than near wide angle. Fully zoomed out I found only every other pic was usable. I do love Amazon's return policy!

I hear the 18-200 nikon lens is a lot sharper, and correspondingly more expensive. I may give that a go.

It's a toss up whether I was going to upgrade the d90 body to the latest sensor in the form of a d5100 or d7000 versus getting a new nikon zoom though.
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They always say invest in glass,and I am not sure if the the 5100 has a built in focusing motor or not. I think it would be a retrograde step to go from a D90 to a D5100.
Hope you are happy with whatever choice you make.
 
The D5100 doesn't have a built in focus motor. It may be newer and smarter, but in terms of features, I would say your D90 is better.
 
In no way that matters is the D5100 an upgrade from the D90 (other than video), always invest in glass - you could buy yourself a D3x and it would still look crappy without good glass.
 
Nawty said:
In no way that matters is the D5100 an upgrade from the D90 (other than video), always invest in glass - you could buy yourself a D3x and it would still look crappy without good glass.
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Yep you're right when I think about it properly. Busy trying to get a decent 16-85 or 18-200 in the classifieds now.

Thanks to all for the advice.
 
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