Most suitable lens out of Nikon 18-105 / 18 - 140 / 18 300 Lens

Question

I have Nikon 18-55 and 55-300 mm lenses, and I am looking for an alternate of these two.

There are the lens of the following lenses for the replacement:

Nikon 18-105Mm F/3.5-6.3G - Rs. 19540 (INR.)

Nikon 18-140Mm F/3.5-5.6G - Rs. 24000 (INR.)

Nikon 18-300mm F/3.5-6.3G - Rs. 43000 (INR.)

Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G - Not available on Amazon/Flipkart

How is the 18-300 mm lens? I heard that the picture quality is ok-ok, not enough sharp photos I will get from this.

Given the price, I am finding 18-140 suitable for the comparative price and zoom range.

I) How is this lens in comparison to 18-300 mm lens? Is quality-wise it better than 18-300 lens or not? if it is of the same picture quality, then I may prefer 18-300 mm lens.

Any comment?

I am failing to see how a 18-105 could be considered "comparable" to a combination of lenses which gives you a range of 18-300mm. Could you please edit your question to clarify? — Philip Kendall, Aug 07 '23 at 13:48
I've owned these lenses. The 18-300 is noticeably sharper than the 18-200. The 18-105 is a pretty poor lens as far as I remember and the 18-140 has similar quality to the 18-300, but doesnt have the zoom range — David Wilson, Aug 07 '23 at 18:50
@DavidWilson Please put your answers in the answers section, even if they're short — Philip Kendall, Aug 07 '23 at 20:10
It's Canon instead of Nikon, but the general principle holds. The wider the zoom ratio between the shortest and longest focal lengths, the lower the overall image quality, particularly with lower priced consumer level lenses. You give up IQ to go from an 18-55mm + 55-250/300mm vs. an 18-200/300. Why prefer the 18-55mm and 55-250mm lenses vs 18-200mm? — Michael C, Aug 08 '23 at 10:48
I've been immensely impressed with the (not on your list) Tamron 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di III-A VC VXD. It equals or betters the best things I read about it in reviews and is as good a "travel lens" as any I've met. Obviously anything with such a wide zoom range has limitations, but, do try one. May not be in your target price range. Mine has a Sony mount . — Russell McMahon, Aug 15 '23 at 07:59

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 08 '23 at 05:05

It sounds like you want to get one lens so you don't have to change lenses on the camera. The 18-300 will give you all the range you have now without changing lenses. I wouldn't worry too much about image quality if you are displaying your pictures on phones/tablets/laptops. You will only notice it if you want to print 16x20 or something like it. The downside is that it is far larger and heavier than your current lenses and harder to handle. The 105 and 140 sacrifice a lot of your current range. If you get one of those you should think about whether you will carry the 55-300 and switch to it or not. If so, you have added weight to your kit to reduce the number of lens changes. If not, you have eliminated the ability to take photos at the longer focal length. The iPhone 14 has a 77mm effective lens among the choices. There are good reasons to want a camera with only a 105mm, but you should evaluate your own use case. Why not use the phone and crop when required? Then you don't have to carry a camera at all.

I think my experience speaks to what you are asking. I have been primarily a bird photographer so need a lot of reach. My bird camera is a Nikon P1000 with a 24-3000mm 35mm equivalent lens. With that zoom range it is not the best lens but it can put a lot of pixels on a small subject and meets my needs for that very well. Because the sensor is so small the f/stop won't go below f/8 because you will get killed by diffraction. For a lot of walking around I still love it because I always have the right lens on (I can't change it). I also have an art camera, a Canon M6 II with an APS-C sensor and lenses 11-22, 15-45, 55-200 giving a 35mm equivalent range of 17-320mm. If I want fine control this is what I want and changing lenses is quick compared to the time spent choosing the shot.

There is no simple answer. It depends on the photos you want to take. For me, the prime reasons to have a camera instead of a phone are long focal lengths and depth of field control. You should look at the photos you like to take and think about what equipment will make it easiest to take them.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 07 '23 at 19:17

Normally for sharper images you do not jump to a bigger range zoom lens, but prime lenses.
You can read several reviews/opinions on this page: https://www.dpreview.com/products/nikon/lenses?subcategoryId=lenses&page=1
You can also make some 1 vs 1 comparation by googling something like https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=nikon+lenses+sharpness+test . Finding specific comparations between all the lenses you want can be impossible.
Normally it is a good idea to get new lenses for specific reasons. Sharpness is one, but it can be practical, speed, specialization, etc. It is difficult to find a perfect alternative, especially if you do not give clear reasons why you want to change the options you currently have. Portrait? Landscape? Travel?

Most suitable lens out of Nikon 18-105 / 18 - 140 / 18 300 Lens

2 Answers2