Nikon AF-S DX 18-70G lens

[khinmarn]

First Impression
When Cathay contacted me that the D70 is in, but only in the kit version. I thought ya right, Nikon is cashing on the D70 lauch to force me buy an unessential lens. But since I am all excited with the media hype, I reluctantly accepted to buy it now rather than to wait out for later shipments.

When I first laid hands on the AFS DX 18-70 (35mm equivalent to 27-105mm lens). I thought, how good can this kit lens which is Made in Thailand be? I was a skeptic when I read the initial reviews. I already have several lenses around this range, the 24, 18-35, 50, 60 (micro) and 85mm.

The packaging is what you come to expect from Nikon. However, the first impression of the lens is the quality of the finish and the solid feel. It weights 390g, bearing in mind this is a compact sized DX lens or only 25g less than the regular sized AF-S 24-85mm lens!


Lens specs
The 'substantial' weight is due to the use of 15 elements in 13 groups comprising 3 ED glass lens elements, and 1 aspherical element (probably plastic).

Compared to the 18-35mm it has only 11 elements and weights 370g. Against the AFS 24-85mm, it has 15 elements/ 12 groups but only 1 ED element and no asperical.

MA - Auto focus with manual focus override - This is an excellent AF-S lens feature. It would be useful if incorporated in Micro lenses. It focusses down to .38m (1.2 feet).


Performance
The second impression is the speed and silence of the focussing. It measures up to the expectation of AF-S (Silent Wave Motor), equating to silent, smooth and swift.

The optical quality are in no way compromised compared to the regular (non-DX lenses) and has good flare control. The manual states that the use ED and aspherical element "ensures sharp pictures virtually free of color fringing".


Field Tests
Flare control wasn't as much of a problem as I thought it would be, even pointed towards the sun's direction.
Lens resolution is without complaints but contrast wise is slightly soft beyond 50mm. Barrel distortion is better than I would expect at 18mm, the curvature is prominent enough at the top and bottom but it is non worst compared to 18-35mm.


Shortcomings

• The slightly narrow zoom ring is hard to use, but it cannot be faulted as the lens is compact. But the zoom felt a little stiff, and not quite up to the usual Nikon feel.
• Zooming from 18mm to 70mm looses 2/3 f/stop, the steps are as follows:
  18mm - f/3.5
  24mm - f/3.8
  35mm - f/4.2
  50mm - f/4.5
  70mm - f/4.5
  I would prefer if they had made this a fixed f4 lens. This would have been a pro-grade lens.
  
• This lens is incompatible with all Teleconverters, Extension tubes and Bellows focussing attachments.
• No depth of field scale, again probably a constraint of the compactness of this DX zoom lens.
  

Recommendation
This lens is a ideal mate for to the D70. It shall be attached to my D70 for general shooting.


Reference
I uploaded some sample shots but it will be there only for 1 month until I figure how to post in CS itself....
http://www.pbase.com/khinmarn/galleries

[nolongerloner]

Yes yes, it was also stated that itwas IDEAL for D70, just curious whether it would be suitable for D100 as well?

Any menbers tried before?

[espn]

Originally Posted by khinmarn First Impression When Cathay contacted me that the D70 is in, but only in the kit version. I thought ya right, Nikon is cashing on the D70 lauch to force me buy an unessential lens. But since I am all excited with the media hype, I reluctantly accepted to buy it now rather than to wait out for later shipments.

This set is for those without lenses and want to kick off on a SLR system, I don't see how Nikon is forcing you to buy as they also announced they would be selling the D70 seperately, you succumbed to temptation yourself, blame yourself, don't blame others.

Originally Posted by nolongerloner Yes yes, it was also stated that itwas IDEAL for D70, just curious whether it would be suitable for D100 as well? Any menbers tried before?

Yes, it is fully compatible across all the Nikon DSLRs, D100 inclusive.

[chyeo]

Originally Posted by nolongerloner Yes yes, it was also stated that itwas IDEAL for D70, just curious whether it would be suitable for D100 as well? Any menbers tried before?

yes it's compatible. using it with my d100 now.

[gadrian]

Originally Posted by espn Yes, it is fully compatible across all the Nikon DSLRs, D100 inclusive.

Nikons consistency is something that I truly have to admire. And yes I have done several shots of the 18-70 on the D100.. and it works beautifully.

[nolongerloner]

Thanks to all for the clarification.

[SMC]

Do you guy experience the barrel of the lens shakes? Or is it just mine?

Originally Posted by nolongerloner Thanks to all for the clarification.

[Jed]

Originally Posted by khinmarn When I first laid hands on the AFS DX 18-70 (35mm equivalent to 27-105mm lens). I thought, how good can this kit lens which is Made in Thailand be?

Oh dear, I hope you realised before you bought the D70 that it too was made in Thailand? Oh dear oh dear, how good can this digital SLR which is Made in Thailand be?

(To all Thais, there's absolutely no ill intent in that sentence, it's called parody)

It weights 390g, bearing in mind this is a compact sized DX lens or only 25g less than the regular sized AF-S 24-85mm lens!

Actually, that's not much of a surprise at all. At the shorter focal lengths, size is not as greatly related to focal length.

The 'substantial' weight is due to the use of 15 elements in 13 groups comprising 3 ED glass lens elements, and 1 aspherical element (probably plastic).

The 17-55/2.8DX has 14 elements and 10 groups comprising 3 ED elements, but weights approximately twice what the 18-70DX lens weighs.

The 500/4 has 11 elements in 9 groups comprising several ED elements, but weighs approximately 10 times what the 18-70DX lens weighs.

Yup, you're right, the weight is clearly due to the large number of elements and groups then.

MA - Auto focus with manual focus override - This is an excellent AF-S lens feature. It would be useful if incorporated in Micro lenses.

Doubt it. Extra features are always welcome of course, but very few people would find this feature something they would upgrade for.

I would prefer if they had made this a fixed f4 lens. This would have been a pro-grade lens.

I would as well, but I cannot imagine how making it a constant f4 lens would make it a pro grade lens.

A 50/4, barring speciality use, would not be a pro lens. On the other hand the Canon 35-350L is a variable aperture lens which most would categorise as a professional lens. And don't forget the venerable and legendary 1200-1700/5.6-8P. Six figures in value, but oh dear it isn't pro-grade because *gasp* it's not got a constant aperture. Hmm...

No depth of field scale, again probably a constraint of the compactness of this DX zoom lens.

No. I cannot even begin to fathom the real reason, but I can tell you it has nothing whatsoever to do with the compactness of the zoom lens. A DOF scale doesn't take much if any additional space at all to include. Nikon and other manufacturers have just stopped providing DOF scales for many lenses. Primes get fairly feeble DOF scales, with only two or even one aperture marked out. Modern zooms tend to have none, even a big and uncompact zoom like the 70-200 VR.

DOF scales are far more easy to implement on push pull zooms that older zooms favoured, and harder to implement on two ring designs, but definitely by no means impossible. In this day of electronics, surely the lens can communicate DOF information to the LCD of the camera for instance. Which can be far more accurate than the old method. And also provide hyperfocal distances for those so inclined.

Even IR focus marks, which are just a matter of painting onto the lens barrel, are left out of most lenses these days, big or small. Compactness has nothing to do with any of this.