Which Nikon lens?

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 >> Stay informed about: Which Nikon lens? 

On 2008-01-01 14:57:08 -0800, "Sosumi" <sosumi.DeleteThis@home.nl> said:

> I'm a little confused by the stories and tests on the net: which lens is
> better. the 18-70mm or the 18-135mm?
> Some say one, some say the other.
> I know the 18-70 has metal connection, but I don't care.
> I don't care for the bigger range, just the sharpest lens.
> Are they an improvement over the 18-55mm kitlens?
> Most pictures that are not real zoom, are made with that 18-55 at the RR
> station. Looks pretty sharp to me.
>
> Happy New-year!

I don't have the 18-135. I like the 18-70. It is a very nice lens for
the money. Ken Rockwell hates it because he thinks the rings are poorly
placed. Bah.

You shoot mostly handheld, you know, so the difference in sharpness of
any of these lenses is a moot point.
--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor
 >> Stay informed about: Which Nikon lens? 

If you do not already know the answer to your question you will be happier
with the 18-135. It is a fine lens for its purposes and, for its price. The
18-70 is the great bargain of the otherwise overpriced Nikon lens catalog
(along with the 50 1.. Technically the 18-70 is a better lens at the wide
end than the 18-135 but I would not lose sleep over the difference.
Ultimately minor to moderate differences in lens quality are often
meaningless because of digital post processing apart from severe chromatic
aberration. Regardless of capture medium the talent/craft of the
photographer will always be more important than minor to moderate
differences in gear technical quality.
 >> Stay informed about: Which Nikon lens? 

"Sosumi" <sosumi.TakeThisOut@home.nl> wrote in message
news:KtmdncYE87PbWOfanZ2dnUVZ8s2mnZ2d@novis.pt...
> I'm a little confused by the stories and tests on the net: which lens is
> better. the 18-70mm or the 18-135mm?
> Some say one, some say the other.

Get both. I did.


> I know the 18-70 has metal connection, but I don't care.
> I don't care for the bigger range, just the sharpest lens.
> Are they an improvement over the 18-55mm kitlens?

Get that one too. I did.

Seriously, I think all three are great. The 18-55 doesn't have much range
but it's compact, very light weight and surprisingly close focusing. I love
the range of the 18-135, though it would be nice if it weren't f/5.6 or
close to it for so much of that range. At the 135 end it's about as long a
non-VR lens as I can hand hold comfortably on a DX camera. The 18-70
obviously is 2/3 stop faster at the long end than the other two and to me
has more of a quality feel, but I have no complaints there about the other
two. It also has a distance scale which the other two don't, which looks
classier but since I rarely look at it it doesn't really matter much to me.

Optically I haven't really noticed any difference between 'em, though I'm
sure that people who obsess over such things must find some differences. I
think all three are wonderfully sharp. Like you, I don't care about the
mounts of the 18-55 and 18-135 not being metal. I'm confident that Nikon
designers know what they're doing when they decide to use a non-metal mount.

The fact is, I have the 18-70 because it came with my D70s. The 18-55 came
with my D40 and the 18-135 came with my D80. If I only had the latter two
lenses I think I'd be satisfied and probably wouldn't feel the need for the
18-70, though I might buy one anyway because I really enjoy buying Nikon
lenses.

Neil
 >> Stay informed about: Which Nikon lens? 

On Jan 1, 5:57 pm, "Sosumi" <sos... DeleteThis @home.nl> wrote:
> I'm a little confused by the stories and tests on the net: which lens is
> better. the 18-70mm or the 18-135mm?
> Some say one, some say the other.
> I know the 18-70 has metal connection, but I don't care.
> I don't care for the bigger range, just the sharpest lens.
> Are they an improvement over the 18-55mm kitlens?
> Most pictures that are not real zoom, are made with that 18-55 at the RR
> station. Looks pretty sharp to me.
>
> Happy New-year!
>
> --
> Sosumi

Get the 18-70mm, get better images and get closer to subjects if 70mm
isn't enough. Long range zooms = glorification of laziness.
 >> Stay informed about: Which Nikon lens? 

"Sosumi" <sosumi RemoveThis @home.nl> wrote in message
news:KtmdncYE87PbWOfanZ2dnUVZ8s2mnZ2d@novis.pt...

> I don't care for the bigger range, just the sharpest lens.
> Are they an improvement over the 18-55mm kitlens?

Unless you use a tripod most of the time, the biggest improvement for the
price over the 18-55 kit lens is likely to be the new 18-55 VR kit lens.
 >> Stay informed about: Which Nikon lens? 

Andrew Koenig <ark.RemoveThis@acm.org> wrote:
> "Sosumi" <sosumi.RemoveThis@home.nl> wrote in message
> news:KtmdncYE87PbWOfanZ2dnUVZ8s2mnZ2d@novis.pt...

>> I don't care for the bigger range, just the sharpest lens.
>> Are they an improvement over the 18-55mm kitlens?

> Unless you use a tripod most of the time, the biggest improvement for the
> price over the 18-55 kit lens is likely to be the new 18-55 VR kit lens.

Does that mean that in at least the more common Nikon bodies, the
general default settings the camera chooses in the point-&-shoot auto
modes don't select fast enough shutter speeds and ISO settings to
freeze blurring due to camera shake if you're not using an image
stabilisation system?

--
Chris Malcolm cam.RemoveThis@infirmatics.ed.ac.uk DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]
 >> Stay informed about: Which Nikon lens? 

Chris Malcolm <cam DeleteThis @holyrood.ed.ac.uk> wrote:
>Andrew Koenig <ark DeleteThis @acm.org> wrote:
>> Unless you use a tripod most of the time, the biggest improvement for the
>> price over the 18-55 kit lens is likely to be the new 18-55 VR kit lens.
>
>Does that mean that in at least the more common Nikon bodies, the
>general default settings the camera chooses in the point-&-shoot auto
>modes don't select fast enough shutter speeds and ISO settings to
>freeze blurring due to camera shake if you're not using an image
>stabilisation system?

Now, that is a 'resourceful' interpretation of Andrew's comment. It is
amazing how some people can twist words.

jue
 >> Stay informed about: Which Nikon lens? 

On 2008-01-07, Chris Malcolm <cam DeleteThis @holyrood.ed.ac.uk> wrote:
> Andrew Koenig <ark DeleteThis @acm.org> wrote:
>> "Sosumi" <sosumi DeleteThis @home.nl> wrote in message
>> news:KtmdncYE87PbWOfanZ2dnUVZ8s2mnZ2d@novis.pt...
>
>>> I don't care for the bigger range, just the sharpest lens.
>>> Are they an improvement over the 18-55mm kitlens?
>
>> Unless you use a tripod most of the time, the biggest improvement for the
>> price over the 18-55 kit lens is likely to be the new 18-55 VR kit lens.
>
> Does that mean that in at least the more common Nikon bodies, the
> general default settings the camera chooses in the point-&-shoot auto
> modes don't select fast enough shutter speeds and ISO settings to
> freeze blurring due to camera shake if you're not using an image
> stabilisation system?
>

No. It means Andrew Koenig thinks that the biggest improvement for the
price over the 18-55 kit lens is likely to be the new 18-55 VR kit lens.
But he also points out that VR is useless if one shoots on a tripod.

--
Chris Savage Kiss me. Or would you rather live in a
Gateshead, UK land where the soap won't lather?
- Billy Bragg
 >> Stay informed about: Which Nikon lens? 

Chris Malcolm wrote:
> Andrew Koenig <ark.RemoveThis@acm.org> wrote:
>> "Sosumi" <sosumi.RemoveThis@home.nl> wrote in message
>> news:KtmdncYE87PbWOfanZ2dnUVZ8s2mnZ2d@novis.pt...
>
>>> I don't care for the bigger range, just the sharpest lens.
>>> Are they an improvement over the 18-55mm kitlens?
>
>> Unless you use a tripod most of the time, the biggest improvement
>> for the price over the 18-55 kit lens is likely to be the new 18-55
>> VR kit lens.
>
> Does that mean that in at least the more common Nikon bodies, the
> general default settings the camera chooses in the point-&-shoot auto
> modes don't select fast enough shutter speeds and ISO settings to
> freeze blurring due to camera shake if you're not using an image
> stabilisation system?

I wouldn't have put it that way, Chris. In P mode, there's no restriction
such as a 1/FL rule (i.e. never select lower than 1/55s when using a 55mm
lens). Whether you allow the ISO to increase is, in any case, an option
which you may not enable. So it's up to the user to judge whether a
tripod is required or not. I'm not aware of there being any difference in
what the camera selects whether VR is enabled or not.

I just checked in Auto mode (which I've never used before) and there slow
shutter speeds result in the flash being raised.

I think what Nikon have done is to recognise that IS/VR can add additional
capabilities in reduced light levels, even with wider lenses, so they now
provide their customers with that additional capability.

Cheers,
David
 >> Stay informed about: Which Nikon lens? 

Chris Malcolm wrote:
> Andrew Koenig <ark.TakeThisOut@acm.org> wrote:
>> "Sosumi" <sosumi.TakeThisOut@home.nl> wrote in message
>> news:KtmdncYE87PbWOfanZ2dnUVZ8s2mnZ2d@novis.pt...
>
>>> I don't care for the bigger range, just the sharpest lens.
>>> Are they an improvement over the 18-55mm kitlens?
>
>> Unless you use a tripod most of the time, the biggest improvement for the
>> price over the 18-55 kit lens is likely to be the new 18-55 VR kit lens.
>
> Does that mean that in at least the more common Nikon bodies, the
> general default settings the camera chooses in the point-&-shoot auto
> modes don't select fast enough shutter speeds and ISO settings to
> freeze blurring due to camera shake if you're not using an image
> stabilisation system?

I don't think any of the auto modes take the focal length into
consideration. I could be wrong. For example with auto ISO you can set
the minimum shutter speed before ISO gets boosted but you have to change
that for each lens or change in zoom.
 >> Stay informed about: Which Nikon lens? 

Jurgen Exner <jurgenex RemoveThis @hotmail.com> wrote:
> Chris Malcolm <cam RemoveThis @holyrood.ed.ac.uk> wrote:
>>Andrew Koenig <ark RemoveThis @acm.org> wrote:
>>> Unless you use a tripod most of the time, the biggest improvement for the
>>> price over the 18-55 kit lens is likely to be the new 18-55 VR kit lens.
>>
>>Does that mean that in at least the more common Nikon bodies, the
>>general default settings the camera chooses in the point-&-shoot auto
>>modes don't select fast enough shutter speeds and ISO settings to
>>freeze blurring due to camera shake if you're not using an image
>>stabilisation system?

> Now, that is a 'resourceful' interpretation of Andrew's comment. It is
> amazing how some people can twist words.

Apologies for my clumsy phrasing. I did not mean to imply that that
was what Andrew Koenig meant. I was asking a genuine question about
how Hikon cameras do their default auto shutter speeds when a) image
stabilisation is turned on, and b) it is turned off or absent. I've
seen reports that in some other cameras that the auto-selected shutter
speeds are not always good enough to ensure top sharpness when image
stabilisation is switched off or absent.

--
Chris Malcolm cam RemoveThis @infirmatics.ed.ac.uk DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]
 >> Stay informed about: Which Nikon lens?