At about 180mm, straight on shot of rectangular item, resulting image is bowed in on all sides as if a black hole in the center is sucking the sides in. Is this to be expected? I've never seen this on the D70 or with this lens before.
Are those photos flat against the wall or are they hanging with the top leaning out a little. It almost seems like an illusion that could be caused by the way the photo is hanging. I haven't really had this happen with my 18-200 at any range with my D-200.
Nikon AF Zoom-Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S DX VR II
I've been preparing to buy this...is this the same lens you are comparing?
What are the opinions of this lens?(I'm looking for an all-purpose lens...one that I don't have to carry my various lenses just for a family day or a travel day)
At about 180mm, straight on shot of rectangular item, resulting image is bowed in on all sides as if a black hole in the center is sucking the sides in. Is this to be expected? I've never seen this on the D70 or with this lens before.
This lens does distort a lot! I use it pretty extensively for travelling for which it is superb. However, the sheer range over which you can zoom means distortion will be introduced at most focal lengths. If you want to make record shots with little or no distortion a prime lens would be better as these introduce far less (ie almost none) distortion.
If you do a series of shots of this subject keeping them the same size in the frame, but varying the focal length of the lens, I suspect you will be able to see distortion in all of them...
Is essence - a cracking lens because it's small and light and covers a vast range of focal lengths, but not, unforuntately, because it's optically very good...
Here's a review of the lens. If you go to page two you'll see a distortion chart. Looks like the pincushioning you're seeing is normal for this and similar lenses (although the reviewer notes 'All in all one of the worst performances here.')
I did do some experiments at varying focal ranges and same frame size of the rectangles.
Yuppers, this baby does some serious pincushioning and distortion at all ranges.
I still love it for my main traveling lens, but will be working more with primes when the situation allows me time to switch them out. Thanx for all the posts.
Yes - but with reservations. It's brilliant for travelling light but it's definitely not perfect at all the focal lengths it covers.
When I've used it there have only been a very few shots from the several thousand I've taken with this lens that I've noticed any distortion with at all. I know it's there but usually it's not noticeable.
This is the only lens I currently own and I love it. It does have some edge softness especially at wider apertures however it is not severe imho. The stabilization works well, takes about 1 second to counter movement, shooting before this point can cause worse blur. Very fast AF. The manual focus ring is just slightly sticky so you might slightly overshoot your mark when turning and need to turn back but again very minor. It does seem to lock the zoom at the longest range and shortest ranges to prevent lens creep.
Mine does not suffer from lens creep when facing down, however it does while aiming up, which again is pretty standard for mega-zoom lenses and can be fixed with a $2 rubber o-ring around it (instructions here pictures here). I have heard there is a newer model of the same lens which does not creep so your mileage may vary and you might get lucky.
If aiming down, it can be difficult to zoom out, the lens fights back a good deal but if you help it by relieving some of the weight with your other hand it isn't a problem, zooming out while aimed up is easier with some increased resistance.
As for chromic aberration I cannot tell you since my D300 removes most/all of it. :)
Over all I love it, it is great for pulling the camera out of the bag and taking some great shots. I do plan to buy other lenses, such as a macro, a dedicated wide lens, f1.8, and dedicated telephoto 300mm or more, however I already know that this lens will spend most of the time on the camera. :)
Very thorough lens description togtog....thank you...
and Nald....thanks for the crop factor explanation....besides not understanding the crop factor I also didn't know if the DX part of the lens changed anything regarding that.
I ordered it...now to just wait for the brown truck!
And Arcanist, I don't have the names handy but there are a few programs in which you can specify your camera model, lens model, focal length, etc. and it can undo the pincusion. I have yet to try them but from what I have heard they can do a good job.
Very thorough lens description togtog....thank you...
and Nald....thanks for the crop factor explanation....besides not understanding the crop factor I also didn't know if the DX part of the lens changed anything regarding that.
I ordered it...now to just wait for the brown truck!
No problem, DX just means that it's designed to cover the smaller sensors in Nikon's prosumer line up. The higher end glass (ED and FX) will work on MOST of the prosumer line up with the exception of the D40.
