nikon d80 with 18-200 lens

[urbandreamer]

Hello, i am an beginner in the digital slr world but i do not want to waste my money on a camera that will not last or does not have the features that i need, what i am deciding on is a nikon d80 body only and a nikon 18-200 lens, but i am wondering if this would be a good all around lens for all situations and would my wife be able to handle this, also will it autofocus? i will be using this camera for everything, nature, urban landscape, and family pictures, please help.

 

[GoCubsGo]

Punctuation is a lost art.

The D80 is a perfect choice for someone who would like to take advantage of newish technology alongside of a nice price tag. The 18-200 lens is a consumer-grade all around lens. Meaning, you will find some really fantastic photos out of it but at it's widest wide and it's longest length you'll see deterioration of quality. This happens in most lenses that try to couple super wide with super-ish zoom. The 18-200 is adequate, passable, tolerable, fine for general photography. I seriously doubt you'll be sad and your prints will be quite nice if you focus right. Yes, it has auto focus as well.

Your wife should be fine handling this. The body+lens will be slightly heavier than I think either of you are accustomed to, but it's manageable as a walk-around lens. This is a good starter lens. If you wind up getting more into it you'll soon replace it with a mid-range zoom and a super wide no doubt. Either way, you really cannot go wrong with that D80 Kit.

 

[iBookG4user]

The 18-200mm is a very decent lens that will give you good results, although as is true with most all "vacation" lenses it does not excel as would lenses with a lesser zoom range. You would get sharper and more pleasing results if you purchased a lens such as the Tamron 28-75mm/17-50mm ƒ/2.8 and Nikon 70-300mm ƒ/4.5-5.6 VR/Nikon 180mm ƒ/2.8 and a cheaper zoom telephoto to fill in the gap.

 

[ChrisA]

... i will be using this camera for everything, nature, urban landscape, and family pictures, please help.

Yes the D80 and the 18-200 lens will work together. It's a very common combination used by many vacation snapshooters. I think you may do just as well with the much less expensive 18-135 or the 18-70.


That's what everyone wants: Just one lens that can "do everything" and at an affordable price. the 18-200 tries to be just that but of course all design work is a compromise. The engineers at Nikon had to give up something to gain something. If what they gave up is what you don't need then the lens is a good match to your use. For other people what they let off is a deal breaker.

The lens covers a good range of focal lengths from "fairly wide" to a very long telephoto. (Longer then most people need, I think.) They also limited the max f-stop to only f/5.6. Likely to keep the cost down. Most low priced lenses are f/5.6 The lens has some geometric distortion but you may not care about it You will likely want to buy a second or third lens for the times the 18-200 is not the best match to your subject.

 

[tiggle]

The D80 and the 18-200 are a great combination. I have a whole bunch of ‘professional’ caliber lenses, but I wouldn’t be without the 18-200. For a carry around lens it will meet most of the situations you will ever need. You really can see the difference with “professional” lenses. Better contrast, out of focus rendition, lower light cabability and so on. But if the subject matter and composition are good, I don’t think it really matters what the lens is. Some of my favourite shots have been taken with the 18-200, and I would have missed some of them by changing lenses. I think you will really enjoy the combination