Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II DX AF-S Nikkor

Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II DX AF-S Nikkor User Reviews

• 10 out of 10 points and recommended by moose (21 reviews)
  Lightweight, fast and sharp as a tack

  none

  Nikon professional user. This lens is a little cracker! Every camera bag should have one. Great on the D40, D300 and D200 if you want a portable bit of kit.

  reviewed November 28th, 2009 (purchased for $150)
• 6 out of 10 points and recommended by Niel (12 reviews)
  Cheap

  Construction

  Bought mine dirt cheap with the usual broken mount, replaced the mount off an earlier version that had fallen apart (front assembly fell out one day) and its fine.
  Replacement for my original D50 kit non-AF-S lens its AF-S motor makes it quieter and faster to focus, still has that plastic mount though, D50 wears a Tamron 18-200 now, but this one still gets used by my son on my D1h, better he breaks the lenses mount than the camera!

  reviewed August 29th, 2009 (purchased for $25)
• 0 out of 10 points and recommended by GroZZ (2 reviews)
  Cheap and light, VERY sharp when stopped down, autofocus relatively fast&quiet

  Slow max. aperture, bad build quality, low contrast at 18 mm f/3.5

  photozone.de claims that "you may find the resolution figures of this lens astonishing and maybe hard to beleive". I didn't beleive that either... Until I've made some portraits at 55 mm, F/8. Had to soften the images in Photoshop a bit because this lens seems to be too sharp for portraits - it actually outresolves a 6 MP sensor of my D40. There's some barrel distortion at the wide end, but it's no big deal for me. CA is nothing to worry about, too (esp. compared to Canon S3 superzoom I previously had). AF does hunt sometimes in low light (especially at the telephoto end of the range), but this issue has been solved as soon as I bought an SB-600 with its dedicated AF assist.
  
  Yes, the buid quality is so-so, and this is not quite an AF-S lens (no AF override), but for the price, you'd get EITHER decent optics OR good build quality. Among Nikon lenses at this focal range, only AF-S 17-55 f/2.8 (which is pricey) can be considered as a significant improvement in terms of IQ. AF-S 18-70 doesn't seem to be much better in this regard.
  
  I'd probably keep this lens and get a fast prime for low-light shooting (like the upcoming Sigma 50mm f/1.4 HSM).

  reviewed March 23rd, 2008
• 7 out of 10 points and recommended by Keyroo (8 reviews)
  Cheap, better that canon kit lenses, very clear for a low end lens

  very loose, cheap construction, blurry around outside of picture, slow autofocus

  For a kit lens this thing is great, much better than the kit lenses that come with the rebel xti etc,
  i found the autofocus to be quite slow and hunts a lot in low light (the body i'm using doens't help that though)
  one thing i did find very impressive on this is close ups, the focal distance for close ups, (bugs etc) is closer than nikon claims.
  the construction is very loose and rattly but it is just a entry level kit lens,
  great for getting started and learning about photography.

  reviewed October 22nd, 2007
• 9 out of 10 points and recommended by Razzd (4 reviews)
  Fantastic Kit lens, quiet and relatively fast

  If tele end were higher than 55mm, it'd be an outstanding kit lens

  Fantastic kit lens, works well out of the box with my D40. Far better than my previous kit lens that came with my Canon Rebel XT (350D). Focuses relatively fast for a kit lens, image quality is more than acceptable across the zoom range. Can't ask for more.

  reviewed February 9th, 2007
• 4 out of 10 points and not recommended by TorontoJim (3 reviews)
  Image quality at middle range is very good

  corner vignetting at 18mm is terrible, lens stay protracted when turned off, focussing ring is tiny

  This lens came with the D50 kit.
  
  It is lightweight and build quality appears good. However, I don't think it will withstand the test of time and frequent use. It is clearly meant for the average consumer who will keep their camera in their bag, take some shots on a vacation or at a wedding, or carry around their neck. That's no slight at all to the people who photograph as such, but just to separate this lens from the genre of Nikon amateur/professional lenses. It's a kit lens, and you get what you pay for.
  
  Images come out sharp at the middle ranges of the zoom at at higher f-stops. With the aperture below f-8, I found the images to be a bit soft. The zoom mechanism is not the fastest, but it is quiet and mostly accurate.
  
  The manual focussing is a ridiculous little grooved ring at the outer end of the lens. Perhaps Nikon has assumed that users of this lens will use autofocus most of the time? One very irritating function is the retraction of the lens when you power-off. The inner barrel of the lens stays in it's positioned based on where it was focussing on. To really close the lens down to it's retracted position, you need to switch the lens from A (auto) to M (manual) using the little toggle switch on the side, then manually rotate the focussing ring to close the lens fully.
  
  It's a Nikon lens, that is better than many other kit lenses of this zoom range. However, you should consider looking at just buying the body for the D50 and testing other lenses. If you already have a body and are considering this lens, you would be better off buying another zoom range that has a better quality.

  reviewed January 15th, 2007
• 9 out of 10 points and recommended by cvizler (10 reviews)
  Cheap, light, sharp

  Has a week point at 5.6/55 mm

  Optical quality: Not bad at all. I am a big fan of normal zooms, previously I used Canon FD 3.5-4.5/35-70, 3.5-4.5/35-105, 3.5/35-105, SIGMA 3.5-4.5/28-70 for Canon FD, Zeiss 3.5-4.5/28-70 for Contax and Canon EF 3.5-4.5/28-70 II for EOS, and it beats them all, except for the not widely known and truly superb Canon EF. Distorsion is not bad for a zoom starting at the equivalent of 28 mm. Flare control is better than with most 35 mm amateaur zooms. At the wide end it is fairly sharp wide open and reaches its optimum at F8. At 55 mm it is visibly less sharp until stopped down to F11, where it becomes really good.
  
  It is small and light, but not very solidly built. The AF is not fast, although it is is quite silent. For the price I would not expect better build quality, although the specific hood should be included.

  reviewed January 8th, 2007
• 8 out of 10 points and recommended by archaney (7 reviews)
  Lightweight, queit, quick autofocus, good general purpose lens

  Small manual focus ring, play in manual focus ring

  This lens is an excellent inexpensive general purpose lens that will fit the needs of most casual shooters. The lens offers quality images thoughout its zoom range, focuses quick and is virtually silent.
  
  I have used the lens with good results for both landscapes and for portraits where the space was too limited for shooting with longer lenses.

  reviewed December 11th, 2006
• 6 out of 10 points and recommended by Nix3210 (1 reviews)
  Quality

  none

  Great kit lens better than other brands kit lens

  reviewed December 5th, 2006