Any user of 18-200, 55-200 & 55-300


cjtks

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Hi
I wanna buy a zoom lens but is facing selection difficulties. I have the following in minds but need fellow user's recommendation. FYI, I'm now using a kit lens of 18-55 on my D5100.
Which of these do u recommend ? :think: I'm very particular on IQ though. ;)
a) 18-200
b) 55-200
c) 55-300
Regards & thanks. :cool:
 

I used to own the 55-200 and like yourself, i wanted to add zoom capabilities with my D5000 + 18-55mm kit lens.

I found the 55-200 good enough for "holiday capturing images for memory" use back then when i was in NZ South island on a holiday 2 years ago. Only kick back i had was having to change lens every and and then because there were quite a fair bit of wildlife in NZ south island adjcent to the amazing landscape and not having a 18-200 zoom was a tad annoying but every compensated the inconvinence for what i recalled was 800 bucks difference in price.

Let me link some photos. but do take note the photos were taken in present mode (Portait/Landscape) and no post processing done.
 

I used to own the 55-200 and like yourself, i wanted to add zoom capabilities with my D5000 + 18-55mm kit lens.

I found the 55-200 good enough for "holiday capturing images for memory" use back then when i was in NZ South island on a holiday 2 years ago. Only kick back i had was having to change lens every and and then because there were quite a fair bit of wildlife in NZ south island adjcent to the amazing landscape and not having a 18-200 zoom was a tad annoying but every compensated the inconvinence for what i recalled was 800 bucks difference in price.

Let me link some photos. but do take note the photos were taken in present mode (Portait/Landscape) and no post processing done.
Great, cant wait for yr pic ! So u recommend me for 55-200 ? I also wish for a 18-200 but afraid IQ will not be as gd as 55-200.
 

cjtks said:
Great, cant wait for yr pic ! So u recommend me for 55-200 ? I also wish for a 18-200 but afraid IQ will not be as gd as 55-200.

The image quality of the 18-200mm is inferior to the 55-200mm, in my opinion.

I used to own a 55-200mm and it was good enough for its price.
 

Great, cant wait for yr pic ! So u recommend me for 55-200 ? I also wish for a 18-200 but afraid IQ will not be as gd as 55-200.

Do take note that the photo was shot wide open at f/5.6 and as it was already evening, lighting was not so good. To add on to the fact that i knew nothing about "A" mode, metering, shutter speed for wildlife photography back then, that was all i could muster.

A little processing using ViewNX/LR4.0 and it should look better

Picture_464.jpg
 

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Do take note that the photo was shot wide open at f/5.6 and as it was already evening, lighting was not so good. To add on to the fact that i knew nothing about "A" mode, metering, shutter speed for wildlife photography back then, that was all i could muster.

A little processing using ViewNX/LR4.0 and it should look better

Picture_464.jpg
Hi
Wat setting is for tis pic ?
 

200mm, f/5.6, 1/500s, ISO 200 but it looks soft as it was Portrait mode and since it was jpg, very limited post processing options. Unlike if shot in RAW (NEF) where a lot more can be done in under 5mins to make it look very very pleasing for personal use.
 

200mm, f/5.6, 1/500s, ISO 200 but it looks soft as it was Portrait mode and since it was jpg, very limited post processing options. Unlike if shot in RAW (NEF) where a lot more can be done in under 5mins to make it look very very pleasing for personal use.
Thanks for sharing so are you happy with 55-200 ?
 

Thanks for sharing so are you happy with 55-200 ?

After Sharpening and tone adjustment using windows

Picture_4641.jpg


I definately was happy considering that i spent only like 250 bucks and caught pictures
like that on a holiday. I sold the lens at about 180 bucks earlier this year
 

After Sharpening and tone adjustment using windows

Picture_4641.jpg


I definately was happy considering that i spent only like 250 bucks and caught pictures
like that on a holiday. I sold the lens at about 180 bucks earlier this year

Then why did you sell it away ? What is yr replacement ?
 

Selling the 55-200mm was to do with moving from a DX camera to a FX camera

I now use D800 and the 70-200 f/2.8 VR II for similar purposes.

If i had continued to use my D5000, the light weight 55-200mm would had followed me along with the 18-55 on my travels.
 

Hi TS I'm using the D5100 and the 55-300mm lens complements my kit lens very well. I decided to go for the 55-300 instead of the 55-200 because of the extra reach and also build quality is better. Here are some photos that were taken at the Bird Park under various lighting conditions using the 55-300mm lens. It has great colours, accurate but slightly slow autofocus.







 

Selling the 55-200mm was to do with moving from a DX camera to a FX camera

I now use D800 and the 70-200 f/2.8 VR II for similar purposes.

If i had continued to use my D5000, the light weight 55-200mm would had followed me along with the 18-55 on my travels.
Thanks ! But I dun wanna dream of upgrading as I juz started, haa...
 

Hi TS I'm using the D5100 and the 55-300mm lens complements my kit lens very well. I decided to go for the 55-300 instead of the 55-200 because of the extra reach and also build quality is better. Here are some photos that were taken at the Bird Park under various lighting conditions using the 55-300mm lens. It has great colours, accurate but slightly slow autofocus.

...
QUOTE]
Did you do any editing ? Ok noted, u recommended a 55-300.
 

No editing was done. Those photos were taken in jpeg and straight from the camera. I would say I'm very satisfied with my 55-300mm lens :)
 

To: TS

A note to share is that when shooting at long focal lengths, to prevent camera shake, while VR can help, a steady hand holding posture and technique is crucial to preventing blurry pictures.

Also, dont short change yourself by shooting in JPG because of storage capacity issues. For other reasons or personal preference, no comments from me. Because, RAW NEF allows you to tweak more parameters of the photos after downloading from the camera to PC and the ViewNX 2 (Free from Nikon) is itself good enough to tweak the parameters from your images. Post processing doesnt mean editing, it can be but not limited to tweaking parameters like sharpness, contrast etc to bring out the photo.

Sometimes, a photo may look over exposed or under exposed or soft. For most budding photographers, it may be and more often than not, attributed to not using the correct "Picture control" or Metering. Picture control manages things like contrast, sharpness and a whole bunch of stuff. So, dont delete those pictures if you shoot in RAW as these pictures if not severly over/under exposed or softness can be recovered in ViewNX to a certain extent. However, camera shake and out of focus cannot be recovered.
 

cjtks said:
Hi
I wanna buy a zoom lens but is facing selection difficulties. I have the following in minds but need fellow user's recommendation. FYI, I'm now using a kit lens of 18-55 on my D5100.
Which of these do u recommend ? :think: I'm very particular on IQ though. ;)
a) 18-200
b) 55-200
c) 55-300
Regards & thanks. :cool:
imho Sir if particular abt iq, maybe u should just Bite the missile,Close 2 eyes ,get.the Bulky afa vr2 70.200 f
/2.8g
 

To: TS

A note to share is that when shooting at long focal lengths, to prevent camera shake, while VR can help, a steady hand holding posture and technique is crucial to preventing blurry pictures.

Also, dont short change yourself by shooting in JPG because of storage capacity issues. For other reasons or personal preference, no comments from me. Because, RAW NEF allows you to tweak more parameters of the photos after downloading from the camera to PC and the ViewNX 2 (Free from Nikon) is itself good enough to tweak the parameters from your images. Post processing doesnt mean editing, it can be but not limited to tweaking parameters like sharpness, contrast etc to bring out the photo.

Sometimes, a photo may look over exposed or under exposed or soft. For most budding photographers, it may be and more often than not, attributed to not using the correct "Picture control" or Metering. Picture control manages things like contrast, sharpness and a whole bunch of stuff. So, dont delete those pictures if you shoot in RAW as these pictures if not severly over/under exposed or softness can be recovered in ViewNX to a certain extent. However, camera shake and out of focus cannot be recovered.

Hi, thanks for you inputs, appreciate it ! :D