Nikon AF-S Nikkor 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF Lens

Having sold all my heavy Nikon D70 gear on Ebay my Cadiologist decided it was time for a change to lighter stuff - so I invested in a D40X. I found that I missed the long telephoto shots and looked for a digital equivalent of a 200mm lens.
And this 18-135mm lens is a cracker! It's light, it's sharp, and above all, it's within budget. If you're either a budding pro or just an old amateur like me then rush out and buy this lens. You'll not regret it

I already have some Nikon pro lenses, but I then realised that bringing all of them on a holiday trip is like carrying a kitchen sink. I need an everyday all range zoom which I can carry around when I'm on a holiday trip. My first choice was the 18-200mm VR, the VR is fantastic. But it was too expensive for me.

Luckily, when I searched on eBay I spot a second hand 18-135mm. The price seemed ok to me. After I searched the review of this lens, some people criticised the lack of VR (vibration reduction) on this lens. Unlike the 18-200mm, this 18-135mm has no VR. Lack of VR doesn't make any problem for me, because I wouldn't need VR when there is enough light. Even in a low light condition, it's not a big problem for a non-VR lens because I can use flash to boost the shutter speed or a tripod to prevent the camera shake.

This lens is a great all range zoom lens (from 18mm wide to 135mm mid tele), bokeh is fatastic, image is sharp, the color is also lovely. Now I can enjoy my holiday trip without a backpain. Thanks Nikon for producing this lens and sell it at an affordable price.

Please be aware that this lens is a DX version, which means it's designed for the APS-C sized digital camera sensor. When mounted on a film SLR, it will show you an ugly dark color around the image. It's also an AF-S (Autofocus-silent) lens, which means that the autofocus mechanism is powered by a built-in Silent Wave Motor (SWM), the autofocus will work on Nikon D40,D40x and D60 but not on Fuji S1-pro (Nikon mount).

After buying a D40 through eBay I was finding that the supplied lens (the 18 - 55mm) was not giving me the zoom capabilities I'd had with cameras I had previously owned. Therefore I looked at the available Nikon lenses and quickly cut my options to 2 lenses, the 18 - 135mm and the 18 - 200mm, after checking the availability and prices the 18 - 135mm was a great lens at a good price. I checked Ken Rockwell's reviews on both lenses and eventually cost was my deciding factor. The 18 - 135mm lens is absolutely fantastic, it gives me the availability of a very wide lens at 18mm (27mm for the film camera users due to D40's sensor size) all he way through to a very good 135mm (202.5mm). The images are always clear and detailed and the lens range is superb from family portraits through to landscape scenes. My old 18 - 55mm is now consigned to my camera bag collecting dust and I don't see any reason to change that.

This lense is fantastic,Depending on what you want it for i.e sports landscapes,portraits,I use mine mainly for sports and its a good solid performer,You dont need the vr in moving images thats why i went for this lense im glad i did now,,This is better than the nikon 18-105mm vr lense,And on ebay you can get it cheaper for some reason,It has a better focal range and is a really fast accurate lense.
hope this helps anyone who is deciding between the two,
Thanks

I HAD WANTED A WIDE ANGLE DIGITAL LENS FOR SOME TIME, AND HAVING STARTED AT UNIVERSITY,LAST
SEPTEMBER, ON A COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHY COURSE, I KNEW THE TIME HAD COME. MY CHOSEN COURSE IS EXPENSIVE SO I NEEDED TO BUY SECOND HAND. HAVING LOOKED FOR MANY WEEKS I FOUND THE ONE THAT I COULD AFFORD, AND BOUGHT IT. I USE IT QUITE A LOT ESPECIALLY FOR CLOSE IN SHOTS,
THE BEST THING ABOUT THE LENS IS YOU CAN FINE TUNE THE FOCUSS, THE DOWN SIDE IS IT IS HEAVY DUE TO IT BEING GOOD QUALITY AND QUITE CUMBERSOME IF YOU WANT TO LEAVE IT ON THE CAMERA BODY.

THAT SAID I AM REALL Y GLAD I BOUGHT IT AND IT IS AN INVALUABLE ASSET TO MY EQUIPMENT.

Got this lens as part of a kit with my first nikon D-SLR (D80) about 18 months ago. It's been a superb all-rounder with a versatile zoom range and reasonably small size and weight.
Given the zoom range it has surprisingly good image quality throughout esp. if stopped down one or two notches.
Works really well on both my D80 and [acquired later] D200 bodies; copes well with flare and ghosts when shooting in to the light.
It's not the most robust of lenses with some 'play' in the zoom mechanism; I think it's got slightly worse over the 18 months I've had it; but it has been very well used with about 10,000 frames captured with it in that time. Neither does it appear to affect image quality - and I have a stunning 900x600mm print on the lounge wall.
Would I buy one now? Difficult question, with a couple of answers...

1 - Given I have a D80 & D200, then probably not - because I'd go for the 18-105DX VR instead! With a maximum aperture of f/5.6 I miss VR in low light.
2 - If I had a D300 or similar with better noise reduction at high ISO ratings then the lack of VR is less of an issue; and the extra 30mm zoom is always useful.

Go on, get a used one off of eBay, you know you want one...

Focusing is a bit slow although quite quiet, not silent however. Pictures are a bit prone to CA (blue/purple) in high contrast areas (if your are looking for it) but have excellent sharpness and look great. Pleased with the zoom range, light weight and price. A very convenient lens.

I bought it for somebody else as I have exactly the same one on my own and use it with Nikon D50. It's a great lens with big zoom and works very well with all sort of photographs which makes it suitable for a wide variety of situations ranging from tight sports, action and portraits to wideangle landscapes. Nikon's exclusive compact SWM (Silent Wave Motor), which is built into the lens, offers smooth and exceptionally quiet and fast autofocus performance. At the beggining you may find it slightly noisy but that's nothing to worry about, it just needs some time and after a while it will get really quiet. You can use it in automatic or manual mode, depends on your needs. Great thing is ED glass and two hybrid aspherical lens elements which minimize chromatic aberration, astigmatism and other forms of distortion, while ensuring high resolution and contrast. You can find all those informations and more detailed and professional description at producent's own specification of this lens. After all I can say that definitely you won't be dissapointed with that lens and you'll definitely enjoy takeing photos!

Very versatile lense providing amazing picture quality. Great on close-up and telephoto. Highly recommended.

The purchase proved to be excellent value for money and the buying process was very convenient. I was pleased by the speed of communication with the seller. As always, there is a question over the cost of postage, often inflated to patially make up for the lower price achieved on the sale although I can´t remember if this was so in this particular instance.

Like the ability to take distant shots and turn them into attractive photographs. This has greatly widened the scope over the original lens as fitted to the camera when purchased.

Wikid lens, would not change this for thwe world, the photographs im able to get with this lens is out of this world. Highly recommended.

I bought this lens to replace my 18-55 DX lens. This is my first time to try this type of lens, though I have read so many reviews about it, and it really is working great. The IF works faster than my previous lens, silent motor and pictures are so great. It is really a great value of money. I am glad I have this lens.

Met my requirements.Missed out on two others and was at a reasonable price which is a good addition camera equipment.The lense included its lense hood and cap but unfortunately no protective lense cover for storage.Tested on camera no problems found in picture taking.

My new lens arrived in perfect condition and very quickly. It is just as described and is working well on my camera. Altogether, I'm more then pleased with this purchase.

Beautiful lightweight zoom autofocus lens that covers the full frame 35mm film focal lengths of 28 - 200mm. I still own a Nikon F2 film camera and 28 - 200mm Vivitar zoom from the mid-eighties and that set up doesn't hold a candle to the ease of use I get with this lens and my Nikon D60. Taking really great photographs has never been so much fun.