CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Try modeling good online behavior, like not hijacking someone else's thread with your own problems ...

Ritag55

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amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Up front let me say I don't use either lens. But I can point you to some resources online that might help, in addition to some that have already been suggested.

I'm also going to assume the 18-200mm you are considering is the older, original one introduced in 2005... The current "II" version update was introduced in 2009. For comparison, the Nikkor 18-140mm is a bit newer, introduced in 2013.

The-Digital-Picture.com website is primarily about Canon gear. It offers in-depth reviews and extensive testing of most Canon products as well as other brands made to fit and work on Canon. However, Bryan also does some testing and supplies some info about Nikon and other brands.

He has a full set of image quality (sharpness and chromatic aberration) test shots done with these lenses that can be displayed side-by-side for comparison, so you can see for yourself what to expect:

https://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/ISO-12233-Sample-Crops.aspx?Lens=916&Sample=1&FLI=0&API=0&LensComp=672&CameraComp=614&SampleComp=0&FLIComp=0&APIComp=0

Those test shots are somewhat magnified, as you can see here where the entire lens test target is shown: https://www.the-digital-picture.com/Help/ISO-12233.aspx

He also has comparisons of other image qualities such as flare, vignetting and distortion, if you want to compare those too.

Plus he has complete specifications for both lenses, which primarily tells us the 18-200mm is a a little, but really not very much bigger and heavier than the 18-140mm.

https://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Lens-Specifications.aspx?LensComp=916&Lens=672

I also notice in the specifications that the variable apertures of these particular lenses tend to mirror each other... Sometimes one variable aperture zoom stops down to smaller apertures much sooner that others, at shorter focal lengths. This can become a problem when lighting isn't great. But both these particular lenses are very similar in this regard.

At The-Digital-Picture.com, Bryan Carnathan is a professional reviewer who has been doing this for many years and across nearly all brands, so info he provides is pretty reliable. Too often other online reviews are piecemeal and more opinion than fact. How many people actually buy both of those lenses and use them side-by-side for valid comparisons? Many of the "reviews" are just the person justifying their own purchase. You also don't know what level of experience a lot of online reviewers might have. To them a lens might be the best they've ever used.... but does that mean everything else they've used before has been real cheap junk, or are they comparing with truly premium gear they've used? Have the been taking photos for 20 years or 20 weeks? What do they do with their images: 16x20" prints or 400x600 pixel display on Instagram? Too often we just don't know.

Years ago I avoided zoom lenses like the plague. Most of them really sucked. My how things have changed... Today's zooms are pretty amazing. I still like using prime lenses, but also have a number of zooms now. Good zooms come surprisingly close to the quality of an excellent prime lens, though the zoom will be larger, usually won't have as large max aperture and typically costs more (well, at least the good zooms tend to cost a lot more)... but they're convenient, can even be essential in a lot of fast moving situations.

I still generally stick with zooms that have relatively narrow range of focal lengths: 2X, 3X, 4X and maybe 5X (approx.) The range of any zoom is found by dividing its longest focal length by its shortest. So a 16-35mm lens is approx. 2X... a 24-70mm or 70-200mm is about 3X... a 70-300mm is approx. 4X.

An 18-140mm is more than 7X and an 18-200mm more than 10X. These aren't the most extreme zooms, by any means (some are 20X and even 22X). But neither would be my choice, although lenses of this type are the best they've ever been.

joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

My hero

Ritag55

Looks like the equipment did a great job. The colors are NIKON brilliant as well!
Thanks for the post👍