Distortion: Nikon 18-200 VR

[mikelong]

Here's an example of the distortion I'm experiencing with the Nikon 18-200 VR lens. You'll see the image is blurred on on the right and left, but sharp in the middle.

http://www.pbase.com/mikelong/image/88053155

[dang]

Hi Mike,
Have you tried stopping down a couple to see if it helps?
Nice shots, btw.

[mikelong]

Hi Mike,
Have you tried stopping down a couple to see if it helps?

It definitely improves when I stop down beyond f11, but I don't experience nearly the same distortion at larger apertures on my other lenses. With this lens I'll have to always remember to shoot at smaller apertures, or crop the blur out of the shot in post editing.

[ride_the_spiral]

Perhaps you have a bad copy of the lens (this seems a little extreme to be normal)? Have you noticed similar problems in other peoples' sample photos with this lens?

[ride_the_spiral]

Check out this review and MTF + distortion graphs.. http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/lenses ... /index.htm

It does tend to reflect what you've been seeing.. 'excellent' centre sharpness at f5.6-f8 and only 'good' to 'fair' corner sharpness at 22mm..

[mikelong]

It does tend to reflect what you've been seeing.. 'excellent' centre sharpness at f5.6-f8 and only 'good' to 'fair' corner sharpness at 22mm..

Thanks Tim, that about sums it up.

Center sharpness is acceptable at all apertures, but lousy corner sharpness at the smaller apertures.

Time to dump this lens and find something better.

[dang]

Hi Mike,
It's not a lens I have, but I've been looking toward getting something similar for a walk-around in a Tamron. I was expecting a bit of softness at the ends, since it tends to be a fairly common problem with such long zoom range lenses. If it sharpens a fair amount when stopped down, I could live with it. But I'd want to be sure it was typical of the lens. I've always felt it was worth the trade off, but I'd only be using it rarely. Of course, that's only personal feelings, and something we each have to decide for ourselves.

[mikelong]

Hi Mike,
If it sharpens a fair amount when stopped down, I could live with it. But I'd want to be sure it was typical of the lens. I've always felt it was worth the trade off, but I'd only be using it rarely. Of course, that's only personal feelings, and something we each have to decide for ourselves.

Thanks for your thoughts. I've found that edge to edge sharpness is pretty good at f11 or smaller. But I'll continue searching for a combination of two or three higher-quality lenses that cover the range of this zoom. Heading to the USA next month, can buy them over there and take advantage of the weak dollar.

[mikelong]

Perhaps you have a bad copy of the lens (this seems a little extreme to be normal)? Have you noticed similar problems in other peoples' sample photos with this lens?

I'll check into that. Haven't taken a close look at shots from other photographers using the same lens or read any similar complaints from other pbasers yet.