18-135mm or 55-200vr

This has probably been asked before, but i can't search....

I was just curious on your opinions for a second "all around" budget lens.

Nikon 18-135mm or 55-200vr.

any opinion welcomed!!

I'm also mildly curious about this and the tamron 18-200mm... I've got the basic kit you can see in my signature image but i find myself never putting the 18-55 kit lens on and hardly ever whipping out the heavy sigma 70-300mm apo. the 55-200 vr seems like a nice lens along with the 18-135. Since I've got the sigma 10-20 i feel the wide angle is fairly taken care of, the 50mm seems to work very well for portraits but id love a walk-around lens!
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http://www.thorberg.com - My world

I was almost sold on the 55-200vr. Price is great, and size good...and fantastic reviews, but....for my use, I think it's necessary to keep just 1 good lens on most of the time. With that in mind, the wide range of 18mm is a common shot for me...so, I really need an 18-200vr. Ouch....over $700. for that lens. Much more than the D40 that I own, and not a chance I can get the approval from spouse.

I then thought about the 18-135, but, even though it might get a purchase approval here @$300., I think I will be disappointed without the extra zoom to 200. I also don't see that it has the VR, and that's pretty necessary.

So...no help here...just more questions about what to do. Until then, it's the 18-55 that will stay attached.

I bought the D40 with kit lens but realised, quite quickly, I needed more reach.

I wanted a 'walk around' lens and chose the 18-135mm ( but I still kept the 18-55mm kit lens ) and here's a link to a previous post of mine from a similar thread which has some sample pictures I took with the 18-135mm, showing images at different ranges:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1034&message=24511620

It has proved to be an excellent combo for me and hope the above is of help to you. Good luck with your decision making.
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Cheers, Peter

I bought a d40 with the 18-55 + 55-200, rapidly grew weary of seemingly having to swap lenses every other shot [not always the most convenient thing to do outdoors, in UK weather], so replaced the 55-200 with the 18-135.

It's not been off the camera since: imho way sharper than the other pair, I can travel light when required rather than dragging 2 lenses about, the 135mm telephoto is a useful focal length so I only occasionally miss the 200mm. If only it included macro...

I use a combination of 18-70 and 70-300VR.

The 18-70 covers most of my needs, its faster then any of the other lens over its range, the others close down more quickly as you zoom out.

And yes you will need VR above 70mm in a lot of circumstances unless you raise ISO or are in good sunlight. Its arguably better built.

When I don't need wide angle I use a 28-105.

I personally don;t mind swapping lens as I have been doing it for a long time, and although I'm now used to 18-70, for years I got buy on a 28-80 before switchng to digital (equiv to 18-55 with crop) with no problems. DX does spoil us with the longer range available in lens.

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Bluenose

I actually have both which I use on my D80. I use the 18-135 as my general-purpose lens, but switch to the 55-200VR when I need to shoot handheld in low light (I take pictures inside churches a lot, and the VR really helps). At night I use a tripod, so the 18-135 is better for that.

If I had to choose one or the other, I'd pick the 18-135, personally, because the range is so much more useful.

I also have a 50mm 1.8 which I use for taking portraits of my niece and nephew...so your choice of lens will depend on what you want to use the camera for.

Good luck!

Jason

I assume you own the 18-55 as your first lens. I don't think it is practical to live without this range, so the 55-200VR would probably not be a good replacement if lens switching is your concern.

However, if it was me, and I already owned an 18-55, I would compliment it with the 55-200VR or the 70-300VR and eventually replace the lower end with better quality down the road (ex. Sigma or Tamron 18-50 2.8)

On the other hand, if lens switching is your primary concern, the 18-135 is a fine choice. I own this lens in conjunction with the 70-300VR and find the overlap minimizes lens switching while providing me with a decent quality, and a 18-300mm range.

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Doug