Review on New Nikon 18-105mm Vibration Reduction π· Zoom Lens with Auto Focus for Nikon DSLRs by Alexander Bambang α
I'm satisfied with it, there are only some small flaws.
The lens takes getting used to and learning what can and cannot be done with it. After the first landscape photos, I was disappointed, because when comparing pixel-by-pixel, the quality turned out to be worse than from my old Samsung NX11: the frames were less sharp both at the wide end and at the telephoto end. But it was enough to reduce the photos to the size of the NX11 frame to make sure that 18-105 was at least as good. For some time, sharp pictures were not obtained at 105mm - the photos were a little blurry / doubled. Then I discovered that the stabilizer was to blame for this, which worked out so incorrectly at shutter speeds longer than 1/250. Now at 105mm I set the shutter speed no longer than 1/320, aperture 7.1 and I always get sharp pictures. In principle, if the hands are not trembling, then you can get a sharp shot at a shutter speed of 1/160, but the stabilizer must be turned off, otherwise tree branches and other narrow objects will slightly double. At 18mm, I have not yet found how to get pictures of the same sharpness as at 105mm - at the maximum approximation, the photos still seem a little soapy. I solve this issue for myself by reducing the photos in the raw editor to ~ 14MP and then applying a weak sharpening filter. For the same reason, I set the jpeg shooting in the camera at once in the size M (14MP), and not L (24MP). But I appreciated the capabilities of the stabilizer, which, if you get the hang of it, allows you to shoot static at 18mm with a shutter speed of up to 1/4 without losing sharpness (relative to what would have happened at a short shutter speed without it). At 105mm during the day, unfortunately, the stabilizer almost does not help due to the previously mentioned "micro-lubrication". But for close objects with insufficient lighting, even at 105mm, it is sometimes possible to get a moderately sharp photo at a shutter speed of 1/4. The last point that I don't really like is the instability of focusing on the horizon at 18mm, because of which I have to double-check every landscape frame. There is also no possibility to quickly set the focus to infinity manually in the lens. In general, after some communication with the lens, I changed my opinion about it, and now I rather like it than not.
- 1. Sharpness at telephoto. 2. Good stabilization in wide angle. 3. Fast and quiet focusing. 4. Precise autofocus at telephoto. 5. Relatively low price.
- 1. Not as sharp at wide angle. 2. On multi-pixel matrices, the stabilizer works, but leaves a slight blur / doubling at shutter speeds longer than 1/250 in the teleposition. 3. If you look closely, the edges of the frame are noticeably less sharp than the center. 4. When trying to focus on the horizon at wide angle, autofocus sometimes prefers closer objects, and there is no way to quickly set the focus to infinity manually.
