[kts262]

...prepare to hate me.







Ordered it Thursday, got it yesterday. I had been expecting a 2+ month wait.

(For those who aren't in the know this is THE lens for Nikon peeps these days. It was introduced over a year ago and it's still almost impossible to find anywhere and a 2+ month wait to get one. Between this and my 12-24 I should be set for life.)

Finally got off my lazy butt today to take a few pics at dusk.

Took these at about 7:30 so it wasn't dark but it was getting pretty close. No flash, VR was on.

My interior is blue!


I has an intercooler!






Played with a few different shooting modes and was trying the photos of the STi intercooler in P mode at 1600 ISO which is why they are a big noisy. I'm not sure how to try to de-noise them with The Gimp.

Also to show you the cameras range:

18mm:


200mm:


I took these with my back against my front door which is probably 15 feet away from the car.

I also played with both VR off and on. VR does make a difference but in dim light I'll still need a tripod.

[Parker]

it is a nice lens but be very careful shooting with the VR on...you can say bye bye to your battery life!

[762x51]

Originally Posted by kts262

...prepare to hate me.

Ordered it Thursday, got it yesterday. I had been expecting a 2+ month wait.

(For those who aren't in the know this is THE lens for Nikon peeps these days. It was introduced over a year ago and it's still almost impossible to find anywhere and a 2+ month wait to get one. Between this and my 12-24 I should be set for life.)

Congrats.....certainly is a great zoom range. I wish Canon had a similar offering. Not sure why you say it's hard to get though.....they can be fairly easily found online. Beach Camera has them in stock right now for $899.

Originally Posted by Parker

it is a nice lens but be very careful shooting with the VR on...you can say bye bye to your battery life!

Interesting to hear. I'm a Canon shooter of course, but I don't see a huge difference in battery life shooting my IS lenses with IS turned on. How many stops does Nikon VR give you?

[kts262]

Originally Posted by 762x51

Congrats.....certainly is a great zoom range. I wish Canon had a similar offering. Not sure why you say it's hard to get though.....they can be fairly easily found online. Beach Camera has them in stock right now for $899.

MSRP on it is $699, however most shops are charing $749 for it. If I was willing to drop $900+ for it there are some places that sell it for way over MSRP, or I could go the eBay route but to get it from a reputable dealer for the price it should be it's normally a long wait.

Originally Posted by 762x51

Interesting to hear. I'm a Canon shooter of course, but I don't see a huge difference in battery life shooting my IS lenses with IS turned on. How many stops does Nikon VR give you?

From what I've heard the VR doesn't drain battery life too much but I'll have to check that out and report back. Even with VR on I should still be able to get a full day of urban exploration done with it (400+ shots or so) and still have plenty of battery left which is more than enough for a typical day of shooting.

[rv7]

I was playing with my friend's 18-200 VR just the other day and decided that I needed to have one. I ordered it two days ago on Ebay ($899, reputable seller, US market) Since I was in a spending mood, I then ordered the SB400 flash, some 77mm filters, and a step up ring. It was a costly 30 minutes on the internet, but it will be nice to have some new toys for my honeymoon. Nice lenses (the 12-24 is next on my list), what body are you using?

[ghibli99]

^^^ I love those kinds of days.

Wow, nice range on that lens! I'm guessing VR is similar to IS? IS seems to be good down to about 1/8 sec when I use it, which is pretty good, and depending on how stable your hands are, probably even better.

-Mike

[rv7]

Originally Posted by ghibli99

^^^ I love those kinds of days.

Wow, nice range on that lens! I'm guessing VR is similar to IS? IS seems to be good down to about 1/8 sec when I use it, which is pretty good, and depending on how stable your hands are, probably even better.

-Mike

Yep, VR is Nikon's "IS". They say it allows you to take it down about 4 stops. Check out http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/18200.htm for a good review of the lens. Ken Rockwell's site is a great for reviews and other photo-related articles. Although predominantly a Nikonian, he has started reviewing Cannon's stuff as well. www.KenRockwell.com <-- One of the many sites I check daily.

[kts262]

Originally Posted by rv7

I was playing with my friend's 18-200 VR just the other day and decided that I needed to have one. I ordered it two days ago on Ebay ($899, reputable seller, US market) Since I was in a spending mood, I then ordered the SB400 flash, some 77mm filters, and a step up ring. It was a costly 30 minutes on the internet, but it will be nice to have some new toys for my honeymoon. Nice lenses (the 12-24 is next on my list), what body are you using?

You'll like the 18-200, I'm loving the range in the little bit I've used it so far.

You will also love the 12-24. I highly recommend the Tokina 12-24. It's half the price of the Nikon and just as good.

I'm using a D50.

Originally Posted by ghibli99

Wow, nice range on that lens! I'm guessing VR is similar to IS? IS seems to be good down to about 1/8 sec when I use it, which is pretty good, and depending on how stable your hands are, probably even better.

Yes VR is Nikon's version of IS. A friend who has one says he can get good photos at 1/10sec when he uses VR. A lot of it is keeping still, when I did that they came out a lot better.

[DARKSTI]

Very nice!

[ghibli99]

^^^ Thanks for the feedback, guys! I really would like to learn more about the Nikon side of things.

-Mike

[Parker]

Originally Posted by kts262

MSRP on it is $699, however most shops are charing $749 for it. If I was willing to drop $900+ for it there are some places that sell it for way over MSRP, or I could go the eBay route but to get it from a reputable dealer for the price it should be it's normally a long wait.



From what I've heard the VR doesn't drain battery life too much but I'll have to check that out and report back. Even with VR on I should still be able to get a full day of urban exploration done with it (400+ shots or so) and still have plenty of battery left which is more than enough for a typical day of shooting.

I saw my battery drain much quicker after using the 70-200 f/2.8 VR but that was on an older D70. Maybe the D50 handles power better...

[ebelp]

Originally Posted by ghibli99

^^^ Thanks for the feedback, guys! I really would like to learn more about the Nikon side of things.

-Mike

Ready to come to the darkside???

I'd love to have that 18-200VR for traveling/walk-around shooting. Although I've become pretty comfortable using the 12-24 as a walk-around lens.

OP: Let's see more samples!

[stretch]

I have one of those lenses. It's great for everything but action shots in dim light, but even then it works well with Nikon's flashes. You're gonna love it. I own it and a Sigma 30mm F1.4 which I use when I need natural light shots of moving objects.

Nikon's Creative Lighting System is still my favorite Nikonion feature, though- the D80 can act as a wireless flash controller. I normally hate flash photography, but with the wireless flash, it just makes everything look more dramatic. Here's two candid samples from a recent wedding, I just threw the flash on the floor and snapped a shot (no really, it was that simple):

[kts262]

Originally Posted by ebelp

OP: Let's see more samples!

I haven't had much time to use it unfortunately. I plan in doing a nice shoot this weekend after I get the Subie cleaned up and go to a big meet in VA. I also might take a few shots at this weekend's 1st auto-x of the season.

[rv7]

By the way, it's nice to see some other Nikon users. From reading this forum, one might think that the only camera is existence is the Rebel XTi.