18-200mm lenses

[kaixax555]

When I asked my friend for an opinion he said that 18-200mm lenses contains too many lens elements and will bring down the quality of the images produced. What is your opinion? Have you used the Canon 18-200mm lens before?

[Anson]

The Canon 18-200mm is my kit lens.... so far so good... :)

[espn]

A bit late...

It's not how many elements that causes the image to be detoriated before reaching the sensor. It's the bulid of the elements that matters.

For the 18-200, it is a power zoom lens which will have it's aperture stepped down during zooming out, which signifies that the elements are not perfect at the outer sections at max aperture so the aperture needs to close down to focus the light to go through only the center as zoom out.

It's capable enough for a walk about kit lens and general usage. Image quality will be quite subjective as your tolerance for colours/sharpness/contrast will differ. Evidently, you cannot expect the best in this lens but I'm sure it won't be too bad either.

[Anson]

Have been testing the Canon 18-200mm lens for a while, below are test shots that I made a while back to test how well the lens' IS perform with its small aperture in slow shutter speed & long focal length. Hence I had decided to use a classic waterfall & oil lamp shots for this lens' test. ;)

Both shots below were taken handheld using Canon 18-200mm F3.5-5.6 IS (EXIF is shown below the photos):


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3474/3372858182_b5b27756d9_o.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3547/3372038195_fd61b708fa_o.jpg


Waterfall's EXIF
Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 80.0mm (35mm equivalent: 128mm)
Exposure Time: 0.100 s (1/10)
Aperture: f/9.0
ISO equiv: 200
Exposure: shutter priority (semi-auto)

Oil Lamp's EXIF
Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 200.0mm (35mm equivalent: 320mm)
Exposure Time: 0.017 s (1/60)
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO equiv: 200
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)

Constructive criticisms & comments are welcomed... :cool:

[Zero]

Nice shot there, hmmm its should be a nice walkabout lens, but is it heavy? :confused1:

[kevinpeter]

My 18-200mm VR is more than just a new lens. It's changed the way I live and make photos. Some reasons my 18-200mm VR has changed my life are:

1.) No more camera bag! For casual trips I wrap this and my D200 in a sweatshirt and throw it in my carry-on bag. This saves a bag and keeps it hidden.

2.) No more tripod! VR obsoletes tripods. Now I only bother with a tripod for night photography. See Why VR is Important.

3.) My bag weighs less when I do carry it. This and my 12-24 mm do everything. I used to tote an F2AS and 16 fisheye, 17 Tokina, 24 f/2.8, 35 f/2.0, 50 f/1.4, 55 Micro, 105 f/1.8 and 180 f/2.8 ED manual-focus AI-s Nikkors everyplace I went. My 18-200mm VR is sharper, especially hand-held in low light.

4.) I can leave my macro at home. My 18-200mm focuses as close as I need without clumsy macro settings. My first 200mm lens, a manual-focus T-mount Vivitar, only focused as close as 12 feet! My 80 - 200 AFS only makes it to 5 feet. Today my 18-200mm VR focuses as close as 8 inches from the front of the lens at 200mm! Nikon's spec of 20" is the distance from the subject to the image plane, which is the back of the camera, not the front of the lens. At 200mm the lens extends almost to the subject!