Nikon 18-105mm Vr Lens

I've been using the Nikkor 18-105mm Vr as a walkaround lens for my Nikon D40 for a consolidate of months.

[b]Lens[/b]

I was seeing for a lens that I could keep on my camera all day long, with a 28mm equivalent wide angle and a bit of tele, and most importantly: vibration reduction. Basically, I wanted the equivalent lens on the D40 that I had previously on my contract big zoom camera.

My first conception was to save up and get the Nikkor 18-200mm Vr lens. That lens has a indeed useful focal length range and is quite expensive. Unfortunately, when I tried it on my D40 at a camera shop, I found that it was very front heavy on the D40. It threw the equilibrium of the camera wholly off.

Then I started seeing at the 18-55 Vr and 18-105 Vr. The 18-105 was only a bit more high-priced than the 18-55 Vr. Trying it out at the camera shop, the size and weight was a good match for the Nikon D40. surely much more grand than the kit lens, but nicely balanced. The zoom range gives the equivalent of 27mm to 157mm. In the time that I was seeing for the new lens, I spent a lot of time with the 18-55 (non-Vr) kit lens and found that I did not miss the tele end that much. The reduced tele compared to the 18-200 was obvious, but with the affordable price, I was sold.

Coming from the kit lens to the 18-105 Vr, the Vr makes itself immediately obvious. In low light, it feels like it makes a difference of about 2 stops. But even in good light, the Vr lets you take sharp photos even if you are sloppy or rushed with your handholding. Yes, in good light you can have as good or best photos with the kit lens, but it takes much more exertion in low light.

I find the focal length of the lens very useful. Obviously, I would like longer reach, but I am not willing to carry nearby a much heavier lens to get it. After all, I can all the time crop to get the same image (albeit with less megapixels).

One of the disadvantages of this lens is the heavy barrel distortion at the wide end. It can sometimes be quite distracting. It has much more noticeable distortion than the kit lens.

A minor niggle is that it lacks a focus length scale. I think it is quite useful to have one, also because the focus ring takes quite a lot of turning to convert the focus distance.

Another problem is that it looks worse than the kit lens at the wide end. I do not care much about lens sharpness, and I don't go seeing for lens flaws in my photos. But seeing at the photos from the kit lens and this one, the ones from the kit lens sometimes are noticeably better.

But the biggest problem with this lens is the minimum focus length of 45cm. Sometimes it will fail to focus on objects that you think are perfectly ok to shoot because they are only 40cm away. Very frustrating. In fact, the kit lens can focus down to 28cm, which is much better.

Despite its shortcomings, I am quite happy with the Nikkor 18-105mm Vr. If you are seeing for an affordable walkaround lens for your Dx Nikon camera, the Nikkor 18-105mm Vr is a good selection with a few drawbacks.

The good:

- Very useful zoom range

- Nice size and weight, good companion for the D40

- Vibration reduction

- Only a slight bit more high-priced than the 18-55mm Vr for duplicate the reach

The bad:

- Heavy barrel distortion at the wide end

- Slightly softer at the wide end than the D40 kit lens, sometimes noticeable

- No focus length scale

The ugly:

- The minimum focus length of 45cm

Nikon 18-105mm Vr Lens