Ken Rockwell on Nikkor 55-200 DX

[birddog114]

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/55200.htm

[joolz]

Interesting review. At least he has handled one this time, even if it was pre-production.
It's disappointing to hear that the mount is plastic, but I guess it is light enough & in a cheap enough market segment to not really matter.
Ken sounds quite optimistic about the image quality - it remains to be seen.
The most curious thing about the lens I find is that it is made in Japan, where few things are manufactured, least of all a cheap entry level lens like this one. I have a (probably irrational) bias towards Japanese made products, but it likely will have little impact on the image quality.

Joolz

[kipper]

"don't embarass yourself and purchase the silver lens"

lol

[birddog114]

"don't embarass yourself and purchase the silver lens"

lol

silver is far better than black

[skyva]

I don't see much difference between this new lens and the existing 28-200 Nikkor, which (generally) gets pretty good reviews. The main differences I see are that:
the 28-200 has better apertures (3.5-5.6 > 4-5.6) and range;
the 55-200 has af-s, which I thought was good for fast focussing, but I read that Rockwell says it focusses slowly. I have not heard many complaints about the 28-200 focussing slowly or being noisy, although not being af-s perhaps people didn't expect any better.
the 28-200mm is not a dx lens, so it is useable on full frame cameras.

I am looking at getting a 28-200 nikkor in the near future and was interested to see if the new lense is any better. Hopefully someone will do a comparison with photos soon. Perhaps the 55-200 will be better at the long end.
Anyone notice any other major differences or know of comparisons?

[sirhc55]

Skyva - check out this site if you wish to see photo examples taken with the Nikon 28-200 http://www.pbase.com/cameras/nikon/28_200_3556g_af

[rathalian]

Nice pics posted there - I have a couple here (I am in the process of setting up my photo album)

I have the nikon 28-200G and have been very happy with it so far.

http://photos.oneorzero.com/index.php?cat=10002

[skyva]

Thanks guys, will do. I was going to get the 28-200mm as the shots I have seen are pretty good quality wise and it seemed like a good walkaround lens. As I have the kit lens I wasn't overly worried about the new dx lens missing the 28-55mm range, although the wider the zoom range the less you have to change the lens. I would have thought that the new lens, with a shorter zoom range, may be better quality and it seems to be wroughly the same price. I don't want to wait too long as I don't want them to stop production of the 28-200mm lens in the meantime.
I am not sure if it is the same with lenses, but the only reason a company would replace a good lens was if they could make another one that made them more money. More profit sometimes means lower quality, so I will wait to see some definitive comparisons.
If it is anything like the 12-24mm tokina, the reviews came out well before the lens went on sale in any quantity.