cannie Loc: Snellville, Georgia

I have a D7000 with a Nikon 18-200 AF-S 5.6G ED, DX, VR lens. I do mostly Nature & Landscape, love to do close ups of flowers, occassionally take family pictures. My photo's are just not as CRISP (tack sharp) as I would like them. I am not into carrying several lens, can someone suggest a better carry around lens? Maybe I need better glass. Is there such a lens that is FX with a zoom? Sorry to ask so many questions, but you guy's are my only photography friends!! :-D

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

Quick test of your lens:
Set camera on a tripod;
Set lens on manual focus;
With brightly illuminated subject, go to Live View;
Push "+" button several times to maximum enlargement;
Manually focus image on "Live View";
Take photo.

This procedure bypasses your eyepiece, which may need adjustment. If image is sharp, your lens is fine, but you need to adjust your eyepiece diopter setting to match. If image is still not sharp, you may need to custom-adjust your D7000 until it will take sharp photos.

craggycrossers Loc: Robin Hood Country, UK

Hi from the UK Cannie,

I'm not a "pro" but I do know, and you will hear from many members here, that you can't ask too much from a lens with the extreme focal range of your 18-200mm lens. I have a Nikon D300 (your camera is supposed to be on a par) and I use a Sigma 17-50mm f2.8 OS as my "carry around" lens. I'm a Brit, but you can discover what "one of your own", the well respected Thom Hogan (http://bythom.com/) thinks of this lens with a DX camera like yours and mine. Take the time to look at his site, see what he says about your camera and the best DX lenses for it. You may be surprised. I hope this helps, and good luck with your search.

Bret Loc: Dayton Ohio

I use the ranger finder on my D5100 to adjust the diopter..not sure if the D7000 has that or not. Also....maybe post a photo...one you mite have a problem with sharpness.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Also keep in mind that sharpness is a function of the LENS, not of the camera body. My favorite walk-around lens is the Nikon AF-S 28-300mm VR II, its an FX lens and will produce extremely sharp images on your DX body. I recommend it highly as I have seen nothing in its price range that can produce better results.

cannie Loc: Snellville, Georgia

Thank you for all the great suggestions and things to look into and try. I can always count on UHH to help me out.
BRET: oh ya the DIOPTER........... First time I used the camera was at my son's wedding, I only had the camera for a week, couldn't figure out why everything looked fuzzy LOL it was a CANON guy that showed me where the diopter adjustment was......talk about feeling like a dummy...

Gots2learn

Cannie do you post to flickr? Or can you post a few shots here. I also use the Nikon 28-300 vr on a D7000 and it is sharp, but I would imagine that the 18-200 would be just as sharp but may have some issues at the wide and at the full zoomed range. You can also check for the focus zone if you use the Nikon view NX2. It might just be that your camera is choosing the focus points that you do not want. with some samples of your shots we will be able to tell you if it is a focus issue or possibly a camera shake issue. If you look at the exif data what is the shutter speeds that you are getting the blurry or out of focus shots. If you are using high f stops and long shutter speeds you might be experiencing camera shake instead of OOF. You can download the free lens calibration template and then set up some controlled shots to see if you have a lens that may be forward or backwards focusing which is possible.
Other thing to look for is post process. sometimes you may just need a few tweaks in photoshop or lightroom to bring out the snap in your photos. Are you shooting in RAW.

krispix Loc: London - UK

You could try checking the focus on the lens. Quite frequently lenses are very slightly off the mark, but modern cameras have the facility to adjust this.
You will need a chart of some description which you can pay money for or use the attached.
Set your camera up as close as you can on a tripod and carefully focus (manually) on the centre of the chart at the largest aperture (smallest number). take a picture and zoom into the result on your LCD display and find out where the actual sharpest point is. Consult your manual for the method to adjust the camera to suit the lens. Your camera will be able to 'remember' quite a large number of lenses and will adjust accordingly every time you change a lens.

Attached file:
(Download)

Brucej67 Loc: Cary, NC

I had to auto-focus fine tune my 18-200 before it would focus good. Below is an example taken with the 18-200 lens taken in low light and only cropped in CS6.

Low light focus

mcveed Loc: Kelowna, British Columbia (between trips)

I would recommend the 16-85mm DX lens. It has better IQ than the 18-200 but doesn't go as long. Another zoom that really works well with the D7000 is the 24-120 FX lens. It functions as a 36-180 on a DX body but it is really sharp.

coffeestain

I attended a training session last weekend and she stated the diopter was only to focus the setting markings on the screen. Had nothing to do with the focus for pics. Am I attending the wrong classes?

krispix Loc: London - UK

Your teacher is correct. The viewfinder correction (otherwise known as the Diopter Correction) is only for adjusting the viewfinder to your eyesight. It has no effect whatever on the lens or camera.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

If you are trying to manually focus it WILL have an effect !
I use and can recommend the Sigma 17-70 2.8-4 which does 1:2.7 macro at 70mm. Cost ? $about 429 new if you shop.

Brucej67 Loc: Cary, NC

You talked me into it MT, just ordered Nikon AF-S 28-300mm VR II from Amazon (boy is the wife going to be mad). I have the 24-70 2.8, but would like just more general coverage as a go-to.

coffeestain

thanks everyone.. guess I'll go back for more training :)