Nikon Nikkor 18 mm-70 mm F/3.5-4.5 Lens

I paid just over $100 for this lens. It had a little dust so I took it in to the Nikon Svc Ctr and had it cleaned for another $25. It was in just as new condition after the cleaning. I say these things to be relitive to condition. The lens performs absolutely wonderfuly. I have many lenes that work on my D5100 18-55 vr, 55-200, 70-300 vr and many AF and manual Nikkor lenes. This is the lens I prefer on my camera, even over the 18-55 vr. I wish it was vr but I cannot really tell. I prefer the 18-70mm to the 18-55mm because it is more usable indoors. Before I had this lens I was using the 18-55 which is excellent but I would have to change to the 55-200 to shoot at a wedding I attended because 55 just did not get close enough. The 18-70 is nearly perfect in zoom range and the pictures are extremely sharp. If the pictures are bad it is because of the Photographer (ie Me) not the lens. Because of this I have learned a great deal. I also LOVE the metal mount. I have always grabbed my cammeras by the lens which you should not do with the plastic mounts. The color, contrast and all the other technical stuff are superb. I like to take macro (close up) pictures and this does well. It is a DX lens and does not work correctly with film or FX digital cameras. It used to cost about $350 but with used (make sure in excellent shape and with camera stuff on e-bay ALWAYS insure) ones running just over $100 get one. It will be your lens of choice for many years unless you get one of those f2.8 $1000 Nikkor lenses. Operation and erganomics are wonderful. The combination D5100 and this lens is nearly perfect in all conditions. I wish this was the lens (with VR) in the kit. I think it is a full stop faster at the high end than the 18-55 which means alot. It is plastic but feels very professional in quality. To sum up the good:
Metal mount
Acurate AF
f3.5-4.5
Outstanding picture quality
18-70mm
Profesional feel
and the bad:
Plastic (but all new lenes are)
No VR
DX format (cannot use this excellent lend with my other film cameras, bummer)

Purchase used on eBay for $165.
Took it out of the box, notice this version of the lens has Nikon Corp, Japan written on it and not Made in Thailand. I am starting to believe I got an earlier version that was made in Japan. The lens is small, can almost cup it in one hand.
It feels slightly heavier than the 18-55mm VR. Not too much difference.
When mounted on my D80, the first thing I notice is the very fast autofocus, and did I mention very quiet, silent autofocus. When using manual focus, it is a bit uncomfortable because the lens barrel is so short and the focus band is very close to the zoom band. It takes a bit of getting used to.

Overall, as much as I like the VR on the 18-55mm, this lens is much nicer, because of its metal mount and sharp pictures. And since I do make use of my monopod, I don't feel losing the VR is a big deal. This lens and the 70-200mm VR completes my bag and make me a very happy person.

This lens is extremely sharp and quick focusing. Easy to manual focus when doing closeups and for a zoom, grabs focus in dimly lit areas.

A good lens. I bought it to replace the 18-55 kit. Focuses twice as fast, make great portraits. The compact size, large aperture. A good lens. I bought it to replace the 18-55 kit. Focuses twice as fast, make great portraits. The compact size, large aperture.

Item was good. But it was very weighty. but when i went to camera stores, i saw 50-200 VR nikkor lens for S145.00. and at walmart for 130.00. I should'a got that instead of this. more zoom.