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lens question

merc141

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 24, 2007
Messages
194
Right now I have a Nikon D90 and was thinking about a new lens. I have 35mm 1.8 prime and the 18-105mm kit lens. I was wondering the differences between:

18-200mm 3.5
70-200mm 3.5

the 70-200 2.8 just seems so huge. Are there differences in autofocus between them? Any suggestions would be great I am new to this.
 
I think you have a typo on the "70-200 3.5". 3.5 should be 2.8?

What do you intend to should with the extra reach?

The 70-200 2.8 is huge and has the same 2.8 aperture from 70 to 200, vs the 18-200 3.5 -> 5.6. An aperture of 2.8 lets in 4 times as much light as 5.6, and has a much slimmer infocus depth of field. If you are in dimly lit areas the 2.8 of the 70-200 is going to be an advantage for light gathering and for focusing. The 70-200 will autofocus faster, due to the f/2.8 and a more robust motor. The 70-200 really is big. I'd recommend going to a professional camera store and holding it before buying. It'll dwarf your other lens, and then you'll need a bigger bag, and more muscles to carry it!

The 18-200 is much more flexible in it's focal range and is meant for those times when you only want to carry around 1 lens. Due to the massive zoom, there is always compromises and that results in the variable aperture and images that are not as sharp as the best lenses. You'll notice the sharpness difference between these two lenses if you are taking closeups of birds for instance because the feathers won't have as much definition on the 18-200. 200 isn't that much reach though, so you'll have to have some understanding birds that don't get frightened.

There are other options like the 70-300 and the 55-300 which are cheaper, and would give you more reach.
 
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