
This lens is an good "walk-around" lens, which is per se a little bit problematic. A walk around lens needs to be small, lightweight, still reasonably fast, and should range from medium wide to short tele. Nikon's kit lenses have all incorporated these features more or less. The problem is that the demanded verstility and portability requires sometimes ugly compromises in terms of image quality and built quality.
Therefore I keep asking myself the question, if it would be better to spend money on point-and-shoot cameras instead of spending it on compromise lenses. We all bought SLRs for a special purpose, and kit lenses most likely defeat that purpose, whatever it was.
Anyway, this lens does it's job pretty well. In my opinion it has the perfect range for a walk-around lens. It's small and lightweight.
Compared to other available "compromises" there are some pro's and con's:
Pros:
- optically maybe Nikon's best kit lens according to various tests on the web.
- longer telephoto reach than the cheaper 18-55 mm lenses.
- better built quality than almost all Nikon kit lenses (metal mount).
- with f/4.5 at the long end it's faster than other kit lenses and Nikon's 16-85 VR (which is otherwise in a different class for price and built quality).
- way lighter and cheaper than pro alround lenses (17-55 f/2.8)
Cons:
- no VR.
- funny built: the mount is high quality and the lens body seems strong. but the front element that pumps when zoomed wiggles losely, the zoom action is very uneven.
- some people report dust-sucking problem.
In summary, I have mixed feelings about using a all-in-one lens in general, because on today's point-and-shoot market smaller cameras might be able to outperform a kit lens at a much lower price. But if you need one, I think this is one of the better ones, at least optically.
I think Nikon discontiued it's production, thereby forcing customers to step down to full-plastic-lenses or step up to better built alround lenses at $600 or more.Get more detail about
Nikon 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G ED IF AF-S DX Nikkor Zoom Lens.