Versus 70-300 VR top
Intro Images Comparison Table Recommendations
The 70-300 VR is a different lens for a different purpose. Compared for sharpness, they are about the same at 105mm, the 70-300 is a little better at 200mm, and the 18-300 is a little better at 300mm.
If you want something significantly better at the long end, look at the 80-200mm and 70-200 VR II lenses instead, or even Nikon's fixed lenses. At 200mm, my NIKKOR-Q 200mm f/4 from 1970 is sharper than any of the super zooms or 70-300 VR, and sells for only about $75!
Comparison Table top
Intro Images Comparison Table Recommendations
All work on DX cameras.
All have:
VR: Vibration Reduction
Instant manual-focus override with a fingertip.
Made in Thailand.
Optical tricks that shorten the effective maximum focal length at close distances in exchange for being able to focus so close. At infinity, all give their rated maximum focal lengths.
All have the same:
Minimum focus distance.
Maximum aperture.
Nikon 18-200 VR DX, 28-300 VR and 18-300 VR DX. bigger.
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Introduced |
2005 Nov & 2009 July (II) |
2010 August |
2012 June |
Work on FX and 35mm? |
NO |
Yes |
NO |
Filter size |
72mm |
77mm |
77mm |
Maximum repro ratio |
1:4.5 |
1:3.2 |
1:3.2 |
Weight |
19.9 oz./565g |
28.1 oz./796g |
29.213 oz./828.2g |
Price, 7/2012 |
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Recommendations top
Intro Images Comparison Table Recommendations
These all do about the same thing optically. At normal shooting apertures in the center, they are all about as sharp as each other and the reference lenses at most focal lengths.
They cover different ranges and are different sizes and cover different formats. Nikon makes no 28-450mm zoom for FX, which would have been the analog to the 18-300mm DX lens.
All these lenses can make knockout photos 5-feet (1.5 meters) wide, seen at the same distance as your computer screen. People who spend a lot of time worrying about lens sharpness rarely spend time worrying about what makes a good photo, so they rarely do. Don't become one of them, get out and shoot!
When I spend more time looking at the master files for thee shots on my dual 30" monitors, I realize that as plastic zoom lenses, there is often more variation from shot-to-shot with each lens than any consistent and absolute variation from one lens to another.
All these zooms are made using the same technology, and pretty much make the same pictures.
Your choice is easy:
FX and 35mm
Of these three zooms, only the 28-300 VR works on FX. Done.
DX
All three work on DX.
The 28-300 VR loses all of the wide-angle range compared to the 18-300 VR. They are about the same size, weight and price, so unless you expect to be shooting FX and 35mm as well, forget the 28-300 VR for use on DX.
This leaves us with the 18-200 and 18-300 for DX. Their similar performance makes the choice easy, since the 18-200 is smaller, lighter and less expensive, but the 18-300 goes to 300mm. Do you really want to pay the cost and and have to carry around the big 18-300 all the time just for the times you'll use 300 instead of 200mm? For me, I prefer the 18-200 , and if you really need and use 300mm, go ahead and get the 18-300 — just be forewarned that it's too big and heavy to enjoy carrying it all day.
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