Woodworm65 Loc: Lombard, IL

Looking for feed back on the Tamron 18/400 lens, if any UHH members have one and what are the pros and cons, looking at purchasing it for a D750 for upcoming Alaska trip.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

An 18-400 lens is a DX lens. The lens will have a dark black circle around the edge of the frame on an FX camera. After you crop that away, or have the camera auto-crop, your 24MP full-frame camera yields 10MP images (max 3936x2624). You want an FX lens, and those lenses never have such an extreme focal length zoom.

cedymock Loc: Irmo, South Carolina

Having a senior moment are we, "dark black circle around the edge" the D750 will change to DX crop.

niteman3d Loc: South Central Pennsylvania, USA

I'm willing to accept compromise and there are several, but it's my 'go-to' lens for nature hikes (and most everything else). Kind of soft usually due to higher ISO's forced by adequate shutter speeds for a shaky old man (not a low light lens). Heavy-ish at over a pound and a half (730 gr). My main targets of choice are flower/insect closeups and wildlife. This lens does a more than adequate job for that and it suits me for most other uses as well. I also got a good deal on it as I recall without looking it up, so there is nicely priced as a plus. If you're a pixel peeper looking to replace five prime lenses, this lens won't work, but I don't know of any one lens at any price that will do that. For a great walk around lens that suits my purposes, this is it for me. YMMV

niteman3d Loc: South Central Pennsylvania, USA

Thankfully you had more than just me to help as I missed the D750 altogether. I'm using a D7500.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

I've seen plenty of excellent results from the 18-400. Granted, they were experts in both shooting and processing, but they showed the lens was not the limiting factor. One needs to work around the overall slower aperture of the variable aperture zoom, maybe even stepping down further for sharpness, and carefully working with their shutterspeed and ISO settings to maximize the out-of-camera results.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Buy or rent a Sony RX10 IV .... and ENJOY your trip.
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PhotoPhred Loc: Cheyney, Pa

It is on my Nikon d7100 90% of the time.

ELNikkor

I have a D750 and thought I might use some of my DX lenses on it, as 10mp is enough for most of my shooting. Turns out, when I could buy a real nice Nikon 70-300 f4-5.6 AF-S lens in excellent condition for $125, I didn't see any reason to compromise my sensor size. These 70-300 FX lenses have got to be the best deal on the market, as now I see many for UNDER $100! My suggestion would be just get one of these and put it on when you are doing your longer range shooting; it only takes seconds to change lenses, and will save you a bundle over other options.

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

Excellent all around lens for those that don’t want to change lenses in the field. Shoot wildlife and flowers with decent results. From the Glades to Yellowstone, my wife has thousands of keepers!

D7100 and D7500.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

The Tamron 18-400 mm it's probably the best affordable super zoom lens currently available. But it is not without serious flaws. You cannot purchase a lens with that focal range and at that price and expect perfection.

Even stopped down it tends to be soft towards the edges of the frame at all focal lengths. It also tends to be soft even in the center as you get towards 400 mm. Chromatic aberration is pretty well controlled for lens of this type but it is still there. As also expected for a lens of this type there is barrel distortion towards the wide end and some pin cushioning as you zoom in.

Many of the limitations of this lens can be at least partially corrected in post processing. However, if somebody plans to buy this lens instead of a good quality 100-400 mm lens for birding and other fast moving distant photography they are likely to be very disappointed unless they are willing to accept compromises, especially with the sharpness.

Having said all that, it is a generally excellent choice for casual non-critical photography, especially when carrying or changing several lenses is not practical or desirable. For many people it may be the perfect choice for vacations and other outings. I suspect that most casual shooters will never notice its flaws.

One last caveat is that compared to all the other crop sensor designed superzoom lenses the Tamron 18-400 is very noticably longer and heavier, and depending on the body it is mounted on, some people might find the combination two large and heavy to carry around all day.

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

I use the Tamron 18-400mm on both a D7200 and D500. It is light and compact making it perfect for long hikes and you cannot beat the focal length range. I’m happy with the lens, but it does have it’s quirks. For example, the focus ring spins when the camera AFs, so you have to be careful how you hold it. It is not what anyone would call super sharp, but I get good results with it, especially given modern PP software like Topaz sharpen AI. I use it for family vacations because of it’s versatility being the only lens I need.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

I agree with your comments but must add that while the Tamron 18-400 mm lens mounted on a Nikon D500, makes it light and compact on a long hike for you, other people might not find that to be the case even if they are in good physical condition. It's all relative.

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

There are many shoulder straps, etc, for comfortable carry to help alleviate such issues. Or get a relative to carry it.

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

Alas, one of the advantages of a DX camera is the ability to use these high zoom range lenses which are not recommended for FX cameras. One choice for a Nikon FX camera is the AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Lens.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/729950-USA/Nikon_2191_AF_S_NIKKOR_28_300mm_f_3_5_5_6G.html