xip 0 Report post Posted May 10, 2006 About the new Nikon 18-200 VR lenses.Anybody has tested it?This glass seems to be a little slow, only f3.5 at 18mm and f4.5 at 200mm.Is the VR system really working?Nikon claims you can shoot four stops slower than normal lens.I don't understand how this system could perform in sports, or with low light but objects moving. These are also a DX lens. This means they are not full frame but APS sized.Is this the return of vignetting?Unfortunately there is no stock yet in the place where I live. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yordan 10 Report post Posted May 10, 2006 only f3.5 at 18mm3.5 is rather a good aperture.However, this info is not enough.You have to see what is stated by "normal" lenses.f3.5 gives far more light than f5.6 or f8 or f11 or f16. So, you must know what is stated for "normal" lenses.The second point is, f3.5 is a ratio from focal to aperture, so if you don't know the focal size something is missing. The absolute value for the amount of light entering the the total size of the objective aperture. A lot of "standard" cameras have a quite small objective aperture (five millimers sometimes, one or two centimeters diameter most of time). My camera has a five centimeters main lens diameter, which allows a lot of light entering, which allows you to have small exposition times, which means taking good pictures of moving objects.However, I don't have a Nikon 18-200 VR, so my experience is not really worth for your precise question. Nevertheless, keep in mind that f3.5 may be a rather main lens diameter meaning rather high light incoming, meaning rather short exposure times.By the way, the aperture just above f3.5 is f2.8, this is quite huge and very few current systems have it, and they are really, really expensive.Hope this helpedYordan Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
miCRoSCoPiC^eaRthLinG 0 Report post Posted May 10, 2006 By the way, the aperture just above f3.5 is f2.8, this is quite huge and very few current systems have it, and they are really, really expensive. Hope this helped Yordan Yep - right.. the lenses that support that kind of apperture are titled the ED series... for Nikon and almost for all other brands universally. They're so expensive coz they have to have a special arrangement of expensive lenses to capture objects utilizing such a large apperture and yet maintain as much clarity as possible .. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xip 0 Report post Posted May 10, 2006 Yep - right.. the lenses that support that kind of apperture are titled the ED series... for Nikon and almost for all other brands universally. They're so expensive coz they have to have a special arrangement of expensive lenses to capture objects utilizing such a large apperture and yet maintain as much clarity as possible .. Yes, I think this lenses are ED. The nikon reference for this lens is AF-S NIKKOR 18-200 f/3.5-5.6G ED DX VR IIIt is a pretty long name ! I missed to say that this lens are for reflex cameras. Regarding the four stops question, the Nikon propaganda claims you can shoot four times more slow and the photo is not blurred. But I cannot understand this at all, how it can work if the subject is moving. Or is only for steady shots at night? but if is this, is really useful to shoot at not moving things when is dark? Anybody have idea? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yordan 10 Report post Posted May 11, 2006 Nikon propaganda claims you can shoot four times more slowWe should see the context, in order to understand what they do mean saying that. The reason is probably coming from something else than the lens. For instance if they use a curtain as shutting mechanism, this is probably true, because the total exposure time is slow (time for the curtain to scanning the whole sensing area) whereas the local speed is high (if the curtain is rather shut each part of the sensing area sees very few time, so a moving object moves really not at all).This techniqui is mainly used on reflex cameras, which seems to be the case for your device.RegardsYordan Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xip 0 Report post Posted May 17, 2006 Finally I managed to have one of these lens in my hand !They look great ! the VR option finally means they have an image stabilizer inside, so you can shoot by hand with slow shutter speeds and the picture do not get blurred. Also is quite huge, lens has a very wide diameter (72mm) and their fastest aperture is f:3.5Surely Nikon has hit the nail with this lens, but the worse part is the price. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yordan 10 Report post Posted May 18, 2006 but the worse part is the price.Such is life, man, really useful and uncomparable quality things are unfortunately very expensive. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
