Nikon Lens Review

If you’re buying a new Nikon digital SLR you have the choice of getting either as a body alone or in a kit with a lens. These kit lenses traditionally are budget models designed to get you started. But some of the options give you better features and better quality. Since most digital SLR owners actually keep holding that kit lens for some months or even for the entire life span of the camera itself it’s clearly important to choose the right one from day 1.

Nikon Lens Review Video

Nikon Lens Review’s First Stop – Nikkor 18-55mm:

This is the cheapest and most basic of the Nikkor kit lenses and it’s the model that you generally find bundled with Nikon’s entry level digital SLRs like the D3100. It offers the basic 3 times general purpose optical zoom range and like most standard 18-55 optical zoom lenses the barrel actually retracts and extends as you go through its range.

Here it is all the way zoomed out to 18mm and you can see the barrel slightly extended here. As I zoom in though you’ll see the barrel retracts and then extends again to the 55mm position. (see video)

Also like most of the 18-55 kit lenses this end element rotates as you focus. You can see that happening here. Now this does not make a great deal of difference for normal photography but if you’re using a polarizing filter it could be a little bit frustrating.

The manual focusing on this lens is not the easiest or the most sophisticated that you’ll find. You have to hold on to this little section at the end and rotate it like so. Again you can see the end element rotate and also the barrel extend as you focus.

But to be fair this kind of lens is not designed to do a lot of manual focusing. It’s designed as an entry level model to get you started at the least possible cost. It actually performs better than a lot of other rival 18-55mm lenses from other manufacturers. The picture quality is better and in terms of focusing, it’s a lot quieter and a lot quicker than some rival models.

Nikon Lens Review’s Next Stop – Nikkor 18-70mm:

This lens is designed to step up for people who demand better quality from their kit lenses – they offer more benefits over the standard 18-55mm. First, there’s a slightly longer focal range of 18-70mm. It gives you better flexibility.

The maximum aptitude is also brighter than the other 3 lenses on test here. When they’re all zoomed in they open to a maximum of 5.6. This lens opens to a maximum of 4.5 when it’s zoomed in and that could be handy if you want a greater blow to background and portraits or work under demean conditions.

The build quality is also so much better, and you can feel that the instant you pick up this lens, maybe heavier than the standard 18-55, but it feels much more solid and confident in your hands. As well, the zoom ring feels much smoother, here you can see it’s extended fully to its 70mm length and back again to 18mm. You’ll also notice there’s a proper manual focusing ring and even a small window to actually show the focusing distance here. So if I turn that you could see those figures change.

You’ll also notice that the end element isn’t turning when I do the manual focus or in fact obviously with the auto focus. This is very useful if you’re using a polarizing filter. So all in all several benefits are going for the 18-70. It’s a great step up if you demand a better quality kit lens.

Nikon Lens Review’s 3rd Lens on Test Here is the Nikkor 18-135mm:

This lens was introduced with the Nikon D80 and it’s the most popular kit lens option for that body. Since then however it has also become available as a kit lens for other Nikon digital SLRs so it’s an interesting option to consider.

In our Nikon lens review, the first thing we notices is what you get is a much, much longer optical zoom range. If you look at it from the side if you zoom in it goes from 18mm in this position all the way to 135. And you can see that barrel does extend quite a long way during that process. Now when you are zoomed all the way to 135mm you have to watch out for camera shake. This lens doesn’t feature any kind of stabilization so you have to make sure you’re using a sufficiently quick shutter speed to avoid any wobbles in your pictures.

This lens range however is very, very flexible in use and it’s so much more so than the standard 18-55mm in our previous Nikon lens review. The built quality is also better than the 18-55 and if you’ll have a look at the front element it also doesn’t rotate when you focus the lens. There’s also a decent manual focusing ring here although it doesn’t have the focusing distance marks of the 18-70 or the 18-200. In terms of built quality it’s roughly between the 18-70 and the 18-55 so it’s better than the cheapest option but it’s not quite as good as the better Nikkor zoom lenses that are out there. If however you’re after just that bit extra focal range it’s a great option to go for.

Nikon Lens Review’s 4th and Final Entry we’re looking at in this Feature is the Nikkor 18-200mm VR:

Now strictly speaking it’s not a standard kit lens but it’s one that we’ve seen in many stores bundled with Nikon’s high end digital SLRs like the D700. It’s so popular that many people buy the Nikon digital SLR bodies alone and then buy this lens just to go with them.

The reason they’re doing that is because of its flexibility. This lens offer everything from 18mm wide angle all the way to 200mm and you can see the barrel extending there by quite a considerable amount. This just gives you such enormous flexibility that allows you to get very close to your subject and instantly zoom back out to wide angle to capture that bigger picture.

Of course when you’re zoomed in to 200mm, camera shake becomes an even bigger issue but to combat that this lens comes with optical image stabilization. Nikon calls this vibration reduction, and in practice it’s very, very effective.

We found unless you hand hold pictures at 3-4 times slower exposure than normal and that could really save you when you’re shooting with this lens. It’s also better built with quality even with the standard kit lenses and much better than the 18-55 and it’s also better than the 18-135 although it’s roughly similar to the 18-70.

It is, however, worth pointing out that it’s a heavier lens, and as such, it surface slightly from what is known as creep. This is when the lens can actually extend or retract slightly under the weight of the components within.

Here’s a demonstration (see video). With the lens fully extended to 200mm you can see it’s fixed in this position, there’s no problem. But if I zoom out slightly to the 100mm mark and then let go, you’ll see the lens actually retracts and falls down under its own weight. This also happens when you hold the lens upside down like this. If it’s pointing down you can see the lens barrel extending slightly.

Now as we’ve described in our Nikon 18-200mm lens review, this is par for the course for a lens of this build quality, which is of this weight. It’s inevitable, however, what’s worth knowing about, if you do take a lot of photographs perhaps with a tripod with the lens pointing all the way up or all the way down, you will notice a little bit of creep extending or retracting the barrel.

Nikon Lens Review Summary

So there are pros and cons for the 4 lenses. The final choice all boils down to a great deal of how much money you are willing to spend. But there are benefits again for the cheapest model than just price. The 18-55 is the smallest and the lightest among the lenses here and if you want the smallest and the lightest Nikon kit then this is the lens to go for especially if you attach it to a D40 body.

If you’re after a real step up in terms of quality from the standard kit lens the 18-70 is a great choice. However it doesn’t offer the focal range flexibility of the 18-135. And it’s really nice to see Nikon introduced this kit lens as an affordable option for people who want that bit longer reach. Most of the manufacturers after all stopped at 55 or 70mm on their kit lenses so to go for 135 it’s a really great benefit. When you’re all zoomed in to 135mm though do watch out for camera shake because you’re quite susceptible to it to that focal length under demean conditions.

Now of course that’s not such a big issue if you got the 18-200mm with its vibration reduction facilities and this lens is unsurprisingly the most desirable and the most flexible of all 4. It is also the biggest, the heaviest and the most expensive. But if you don’t mind the size and weight and you can afford it it’s definitely the one to go for. You could fit this lens to almost any Nikon digital SLR and very rarely take it off again. It really will cover you for almost any situation.

If you would like more information than our Nikon Lens review has provided, please watch the video above.