Nikon 18-55 mm f/3 : Four Stars

I bought the original af-s dx 18-55 i when i was just getting into photography and upgraded to this lens, massive improvement in image quality and speed. I have a longer telephone and a prime lens in my kit, this lens fits in well, performing better than both when you require vr and a bit of focal length variability around the 20-40mm range. My only gripe is that it takes longer to spot meter because the af struggles to focus on a pure white background, i didn’t have this problem with a prime lens or longer telephoto so it does seem to be a weakness of this lens.

Even though i like this lens and it’s definitely not worse than its bigger predecessor in terms of optical quality, i want to put a big warning here. The thing is that this lens is going to work with the latest nikon cameras only. I bought it right before a vacation and after unpacking it discovered that not only it was not working with my d3100, but even firmware upgrade didn’t guarantee to fix this issue. Worse yet, i wasn’t even able to manually focus it – the focus ring was rotating but focus wasn’t changing. Switching to mf in camera didn’t help either. Desperare and close to panic (as i didn’t have time to replace the lens and didn’t have anything wider than 30mm), i noticed that the lens was obtaining focus when rotating a zoom ring. Alas, even in 18mm position, focus was too close to be practical for taking pictures of landscapes (even with the largest aperture value set). Surprisingly, i discovered that focus still can be obtained in a position beyond 18mm (on the way to ‘l’, parking mark), where an indicator on d3100 starts to say ‘f–‘ (no lens attached). Even better, autofocus confirmation dot was working.So i focused on hyperfocal distance (0.

‘super quiet’ auto focussing. That’s the claim for nikon’s new stock lens, and super quiet it is – in fact ,’close to silent’ would be a better description; and, on top of this, it focusses noticeably faster than the 18-55 af-s lens it replaces. So, as most of the other changes are primarily cosmetic and picture quality appears, to me, to be very similar (although others claim some improvement) are these features worth the upgrade cost?well, if you’ve tried using any existing af-s lens for casual (i. Non-staged) video sequences where regular & rapid refocussing is needed – for example, most family videos – then you’ll know just how much the whirring of its focussing motor while it seeks to lock onto a subject can wreck your audio. You can try to get round the issue by focussing manually, which is pretty impossible on a small lcd screen in fast moving situations, or, you can carry an external microphone with you – an expensive, bulky and often impractical option. You can get this af-p lens and reduce any focussing noises to a level where, in all but near silent ambient noise conditions, they’re virtually ‘invisible’ in audio terms while, at the same time, getting faster focus locks on moving subjects. Mount this lens on your nikon d5500, d5300 or d3300 body (at the time of writing the only models that nikon says it’s fully compatible with) and what it does is allow you to switch your camera from being a high quality dslr into an equally high quality and wholly usable hd camcorder – instantly and with no add-ons. A first for a nikon lens and something that, if you want to use your camera for casual video shooting, makes it a ‘must have’ upgrade.

Having tested and sold dozens of the original offerings from nikon, 18-55, 18-55 ii, 18-55 vr standard zooms. This is far sharper and so beautifully silent than the older versions. The previous versions are very variable in quality, from excellent to average. I have standard test shots i take with all of the many lenses we handle and sell and under 100% magnification this is pretty sharp and can take selective enlargements very well. We are not pixel peeper/ lens chart testers here, but look at real life pictures and enlargements in a variety of lighting conditions and environments. We feel the is more relevant to photographers who buy budget lenses. For the price it is exceptional value. We love the compact nature of the retracted lens and the short zooming action when in use. You can focus very close as with the previous versions and that is a great bonus. The build quality seems better than the older lenses as well.

When i first opened the box i saw that it doesn’t have the a/m button but then realised it’s built in different and the images come out a lot more clear than my old lense. Good quality product and worth buying.

It was reboxed but lens itself was in perfect condition. Works on my d5200 with firmware upgrade. I bought it to replace the older version as the auto focus motor broke. Autofocus is so much quieter and quicker.

Nikon 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6G VR AF-P DX Nikkor Lens for Camera

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• First “AF-P” lenses for Nikon digital SLR cameras
• Use of two aspherical lens elements has resulted in superior optical performance
• compact and lightweight in design

Works great on my d5300, would recommend for landscape photography.

This is the lens that came with my d3300 which i thought was a cheaper version of the vr kit that i had seen in all the reviews online not realizing it is actually a brand new af-p lens with stepper motors for quite af and it is silent and focus is almost instant. I have nothing to compare it to but this lens has taken some fantastic pics. I love macro photos so this is the area i would like to get into. I know its not the best lens for macro but for my first time ever with a dslr i think this camera and lens are awesome. I have some extension rings coming as well so hoping for some great macro shots.

Definitely a very good lens for the price. But check the compatibility before purchasing. I realised that it is not compatible with my d3100 only after receiving it. It is very compact and lightweight. I didn’t want to return it, but had no choice. I would like to thank the seller for the support and good refund process.

Don’t underestimate this lens.

Great low form factor lenses.

Not sure if it’s my camera or the lense but not quite what i was expecting.

It is sharp, light, the af is instantaneous and almost silent but it suffers from one glaring problem that nobody, including nikon, seems to want to publicise: it doesn’t work with almost all nikon cameras out there. The nikon documentation that comes with the lens mentions only 4 cameras that it works with, these being the d3300, d5200, d5300 and d5500. The list that it does not support extends to more than 23 digital nikon cameras. My guess is that it will work with nikon dx (aps-c) format cameras released after the 4 supported cameras were released. However, unless you know for sure, assume it won’t work with your camera. On unsupported cameras it won’t even manual focus making it completely useless. Oddly, it does work on the nikon df which was released as long ago as 2013 – go figure.

Arrived on time and as described.

Thanks got it today fine and if someones saying it dont work on all nikons maybe there different fitings a thay are for f mount these lens thay wont fit any camras thay are good lens thow.

Lightweight and good quality results. Looking to reduce bulk and weight of my camera so that i can carry it around with me all the time on holiday and use it in cycle tours. This is a fantastic lens which does all i need it too.

6g af=p dx is a general-purpose zoom lens featuring a retractable barrel for a compact, lightweight lens. The lens has a zoom range of 18-55mm 3. It as a retractable design that makes it easier to store and carry than standard lenses. The lens takes super sharp pictures and is super fast and silent to focus. I am pretty blown away with the quality of this lens costing around £100. I had the lens as a kit lens with the d3300 and not sure of it’s backward capabilities with the other d 3### series cameras. You can pay up to and over £1,000 for a camera body, but it is only as good as a good lens and this is very good.

Nikon 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6G VR AF-P DX Nikkor Lens for Camera : So quite i thought it was not working and very fast focusing,.

For this price the lens is amazing. Produces nice images, af is almost silent and very fast. Very light being plastic construction. Warranty registration accepted by nikon uk.

This really is a superb lens – sharp across its entire range, very quick to focus, produces stunning pictures, while being lightweight and compact. It’s the perfect partner for nikon’s dx cameras; even with the bottom-of-the-range d3300 i am extremely happy with the image quality i’m getting. I recently bought a nikon 50mm f/1. 8 prime; i sent it back after one day because the 18-55 is better. Sure, the prime has 3 stops advantage over the zoom at 50mm, but when i tested at equivalent settings, it simply could not match the af-p’s pin-sharpness, and there was significant ca too which the zoom does not have. Plus of course the zoom’s vr goes some way to compensating for the longer shutter time. The only other lens i have to compare it against is the nikon 55-200mm f/4-5. Not really a fair contest, they do different jobs, and they’re both good lenses but the 18-55 produces noticeably sharper images. The 18-55 does have significant barrel distortion, but on the rare occasion that this matters, it can be corrected either in camera or software.

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