AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED - Reviews by PhotoCamel Members

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Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED

Reviews	Views	Date of last review
2	487	Thu June 2, 2011

Recommended By	Average Price	Average Rating
50% of reviewers	None indicated	7.5

supersize

Description:	ED glass and hybrid aspherical lens elements Ultracompact dimensions of 69 x 74mm (2.7 x 2.9 in.) and just 210g (6.8 oz.) in weight Incorporates a newly developed compact SWM (Silent Wave Motor) for quiet focusing Seven-blade rounded diaphragm Enables focusing from as close as 28cm (11 in.) from the subject through entire focal range Available in black and silver
Keywords:	Nikon, DX, ED, 18-55, G

Author

cyclohexane

Photocamel Master

Registered: October 2005
Location: SARATOGA, Calif., USA
Posts: 8580

Review Date: Mon February 28, 2011

Would you recommend the product? No | Price you paid?: None indicated | Rating: 5

Pros:	Very low distortion at 18mm, optically excellent, especially stopped down, fairly compact
Cons:	hood not included, plastic lens mount, overall poor construction, no manual focus override

Used this on D40 and D50 cameras.

I'm not sure it's worth buying on its own, even if you don't have anything like this for whatever reason; I'd recommend saving for a better lens right off the bat if you don't have this.

Optically, there's nothing to complain about. The lens is okay wide open, and very good when you stop down. Color and contrast looks pretty good, certainly at least as good as all the other kit lenses from Nikon. Chromatic aberration is very well-controlled.

The construction of this lens stinks. It holds up well for plastic, but the entire thing, minus the glass, is made of plastic. There's no real manual focus ring- you just grab the front of the lens barrel and turn the textured portion. The lens won't stay in place without a piece of gaffer's tape holding the barrel in place, so precise manual focus work is near impossible with this lens.

There is no instant manual focus override as offered with most AF-S lenses, as the Silent Wave Motor (SWM) in this lens is the cheaper variety. Focus speed is pretty average.

If you must have this, get the newer VR version of this lens instead.

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-Michael
Nikon V1 (Black), Nikon V1 (White), Nikon J1/WP-N1 (Red) , Nikon Coolpix AW100 (Orange) and Apple iPhone 4 (White)
Find me on the web: Michael Chen Photo |Blog ("coming soon" since before the dinosaurs roamed the Earth)|SportsShooter | California Wildlife

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Eero Makela

F1 Camel

Registered: June 2008
Location: Toronto
Posts: 2665

Review Date: Thu June 2, 2011

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: None indicated | Rating: 10

Pros:	Very Light, compact
Cons:	No Hood

Lens was the kit with my D50, hence price unknown.
I rate the lens excellent due to the price and over all quality of the photos it produces.
If I were to compare it to my 16-85 I would rate it much lower like a 6.
Very good for a plastic lens, goes well with the plastic D50. However once I got the D300 it felt like a toy lens as it did not add weight to the front of the camera. On the D50 it feels well balanced.

The manual focus is not that useful feature as it is easy to change focus once you set it.
You can purchase a hood for it however it is not one of the petal design, So I never got one for it. There is a web site that has PDF files you can download and make your own hoods for most lenses using card stock. (I was thinking about it but never did make one. it is one of those DIY sites)

The best review I read on this lens and how good it is in regards to CA and other distortions was on our friend Ken Rockwell. If you can trust him he states this lens has less distortion then the flagship 17-55 f/2.8. Also that there is a Pro shooter that uses this and another cheap lens as their main lens.

The focus motor is silent as stated by the name SWM. I never had issues with it, the lens still works today same as it did in 2005 when it was new.

The images from this lens are good to very good, when I switched from the D50 to the D300 and still used this lens I noticed that my photos were even better, never really thought of the real reason why. You would think with 12mp vs 6 you would notice the lens faults more but I sure did not. It is possible the the CA correction that the D300 is suppose to do on all lenses really does make that much of difference.

Would I recommend this to anyone yes as a starter lens if on a budget, is the VR version better image quality no idea. All I know is that this lens is very good for the price.

I mainly used this lens for vacation/personal and in later years as a night club photographer. The best part of using this lens in a club you really don't have to worry about it getting banged up as it is so cheap you just buy a replacement for less then it would cost to repair a semi-pro or pro lens.

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Eero Makela
Photographies des femmes pour les hommes.