Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G VR IF-ED Lens

I bought the lens mainly to use the vibration reduction function for hand-held indoor shooting without a flash, rather than for long telephoto. It's very effective for this, particularly for architecture - the VR allows comparatively long exposures, so the shots tend to be beautifully lit, without the artificial feel of HDR post-processing. The controls (zoom and focus) are well placed, and the autofocus works fast and accurately. The resulting shots are sharp even in the few long telephoto shots that I've made.

There are four minor disadvantages. Firstly, it's a fairly large lens, and it does make the camera awkward to carry, which matters more than for most lenses because this is a "holiday lens" - i.e. a general purpose lens you're going to leave on all the time and carry everywhere. Secondly, there is no brake on the telephoto, so will slide out too its full length under its own weight if you walk vigourously. Thirdly, the lens will cast a shadow with the built-in flash on my D40X, even at the wide (short) end of its travel. Not a big deal as you can crop the bottom of the photo, but you need to bear it in mind when framing the shot. Fourthly, there is a fair amount of barrel distortion at the wide end. it's not prominent unless you photography something with parallel lines, but if you do, it's conspicuous (I sometimes photograph the signs at places I visit as a note to myself, and this shows up the problem). It is possible to find software to correct the image, and it only matters on the few shots where the effect is visible.

All in all, it's a great lens for what I do and I'm pleased I bought it, but you would need to be sure that you need that much zoom or the VR function to make it worthwhile for you as it's necessarily a fair wad of cash.