bobburk3 Loc: Maryland

I'm looking for a good lens to use on my Nikon D7200 for general landscape and some sports. I have a AF-S Nikkor 70-200 1:4 G ED which I like for sports. But I find it too long for some of the landscape shooting I do and for team pictures. I'm thinking the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR Lens might be the perfect lens. I want distant objects to be sharp as well as fairly close objects. I want it to have VR. I prefer to buy used since I can't really afford to pay thousands of dollars for a lens that I use as a hobby. But I want sharp images. Any ideas?

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Years ago I bought a Sigma 18-200 that lives on my camera.
Works for me.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

The 24-120mm and 24-85mm are good options, but don’t rule out a good prime lens. A prime will be smaller and lighter than a zoom, and that would be an advantage when walking around for landscapes. And with a DX camera you will probably want a max aperture of 18mm or wider for landscapes.

RolandDieter

I'd take Longshadow's above recommendation. The 24-120 is most likely not nearly as wide as you'll want. It's equivalent to about 36mm in full frame, which for me is not nearly wide enough. You may easily find that his recommended Sigma will do double duty for both landscapes and sports.

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

You might want to look at Tamron's 18-400mm DX zoom lens. I've had mine since they came out and have gotten very good results with it on both my D7200 and D500. I really like it for family vacations where I don't want to be carrying and fiddling with lens changes. The versatility is unsurpassed, but I usually take along a 35mm or 50mm f/1.8 for those low light situations. The IQ is very good, but not at the same level as, say, a 70-200mm f/2.8. In discussions like this, most forget that there are much more important things to taking good photos than having the best quality glass and camera, which won't make them better photographers.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

My widest on my film cameras was a 28, and I also have an APS-C body, so the "29" (18x1.6) is just fine for me.
If I REALLY want wider, I'll take two shots (left and right), stitch, and crop accordingly. But that hardly happens.
As for the 200 end (≈"320"), if I "need" more than that, oh well..... crop....

R.G. Loc: Scotland

The only lens I ever had for my D5200 was the 16-85mm - which gives the equivalent of a 24-120mm on an FX camera. I've seen more than one person say they prefer it over the 16-80mm 2.8. The 16-85 is sharp, has good contrast and very little fringing.

Vault Loc: Gig Harbor, WA and Yuma, AZ

The Nikon 18-200 DX VR-II is an outstanding do everything lens. Wide enough and fast enough at all lengths.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

For a cropped body, a DX lens that is 18mm to something would be a better choice.

BebuLamar

It's up to you OP but if I were you definitely the Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8G but perhaps Nikon doesn't make it any more I don't know.

mikee

2nd vote for 18-200. Great "happy medium" lens. Good (not great) IQ, and lighter than an 18-300.

bobburk3 Loc: Maryland

Lots of food for thought. Thank you everybody.

SX2002 Loc: Adelaide, South Australia

I have a Nikon 18-140 and a Sigma 18-200...both work very well...

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

I have been using the 24-120mm f/4 Nikkor as my 'default' lens for a little over four years. I started using it as an alternative to the 17-55mm f/2.8 on my D500 first, then bought a second one a year ago as an alternative to the 24-70mm f/2.8 on my D850. The first one was bought used at my local camera store for $425. (I had to order a hood for it.) The second one was a refurbished lens bought from NikonUSA on sale for $499.

I have used these lenses for just about everything on both cameras, and they have delivered great results. While the 24-120 is a "Gold Ring" lens, I have found that it does not deliver quite as much color as the premium lenses. This is easy to deal with by adding a notch of saturation in Picture Control. It might be a little short for some sports, but 24mm has not been a problem on the D500. Just move to portrait orientation and click off a two or three shot panorama. Stitching is easy, and current software will even let you do it hand held with just a little bit of care.

The 18-200 could also be an option, but it's nowhere near as good a lens as the 24-120. It's quirky and slow and has a history of internal ribbon cable failure. I've been trying to get mine fixed, but all three donor lenses I've found have the same problem. I used mine in a gym to photograph a robotics competition before it failed, and it worked fine. Not sure it would have done as well if it had been basketball instead.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

The Nikkor 24-120 f4 has worked for me for close to 20 years, I also use a nikkor 12-24 if I need to go wider.
Neither are cheap but I feel worth the money,
You could checked for used to stay within your budget.