Camera Labs

I thought that after all those lens reviews from me with Siemens-stars, white dwarfs and other dubious test-shots, it would be nice for you to see some of the test applied to my trusty old Nikon VR 18-200mm.
So here's the truth about this famous lens in a way that you can compare it to my Big ultra-long zoom review and my Big ultra-wide zoom review!

Resolution at 18mm: left=100% centre-crop, right=100% upper-right-crop; first f3.5:


...then f8 (click through to the original pic):


The grey disk diameters turn out to be
at 18mm f3.5 centre 7mm, corner 7-8mm
at 18mm f8 centre 6mm, corner 6.5-8mm
Also you can see some slight deterioration in contrast of the corner-crop against the centre-crop, but that looks quite ok.

As to the tele-quality, here is the shot that can be compared to the other long lenses albeit being only 200mm where the other lenses have been shot at 400mm (first at f5.6, then f8):

In this case the Nikon VR 80-400mm really shines, but tstill the VR 18-200mm can give you some decent tele-shots.

Now on to flare and ghosting. Worst case with this lens is contra-light dead on and you will see (at 18mm f4) that this situation has to be avoided at all cost, as the flare is with the worst of all tested wide-anle lenses! Whereas when the light-source (aka sun) is off-centre, flare is well under control:

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Well to be precise, here are some shots at the long end: 200mm. I went for f8. See the centre-crop and the lower left corner. Camera was at 5m distance from the subject so it's around 1:25 magnification. So this is clearly no longer close-up.

The grey disk in the centre is about 11mm and at the corner around 12mm. So the lens clearly loses at the long end.

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

tombomba2,

Wow another review!

I wish to know if you are using mirror lock up and self timer remote shutter release as well a tripod?

Thanks again.

As I'm very lazy I just use a tripod and a remote. No mirror lock up. But even a manfrotto 055pro might shake at these magnifications, so yes the small astigmatism in the pic my in fact be a little residual shake. But then, what's the chance of getting this combination perfectly stable in the field? So I think the Siemens-star is practically showing the limits of this combo.
But hey, I could have used flash and reduce the shutter another 4 stops

_________________
Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses