Nikon Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED AF-S DX Lens

I bought this lens not realising that it had a plastic mount. In fact if I had realised that, I probably would not have bought it. What a shame, as I would have missed out on a good lens. The performance against cost really is quite astounding if you have paid an eBay price like me (£135). If you have paid the high street price of around £179, then perhaps it is not quite as spectacular a bargain, but it is still very good value.

Focussing is fast and almost silent, The zoom is smooth and accurate, there is no zoom creep when the lens is pointed down (at least not on mine) and it is very light. Perhaps for a heavy body like mine (Fujifilm S5 Pro) it is a little too light as the camera is not particularly well balanced with this lens on it. It would be much better balanced on something like a D40 or D40X as their bodies are much lighter.

The optical performance whilst not startling, is very good in my opinion and the lens is sharp at all but its widest aperture, so from around f5.6 upwards, it works really well.

It is a nice touch to get a lens hood included on a lens at this price point and it works well, enhancing the contrast and allowing you to avoid flare.

This is a good additional lens for the nikon 18-55mm standard lens.it is a simalar size and weight to the original lens so fits nicely,not nose heavy.
Works very quickly on auto focus and takes very nice sharp shots.All in all a good inexpensive lens.

I bought this lens - at a bargain price, I might add, to use with my newly purchased Nikon D40. I was looking for a general purpose zoom lens for use in wildlife photography and photographing my wife riding horses. I knew it was going to be solid coming from Nikon, and the zoom capability for the price is excellent. The autofocus is speedy and quiet, and the added functionality of Vibration Reduction just makes this an even better buy. I can't recommend this enough - unless you have money to burn, in which case you should probably be looking at the 18-300mm Nikkor - but this is plenty good enough for me!

I love it. I'm a bit of an amateur when it comes to photography but this makes my photos so clear and it's great to zoom so much. I take lots of photos out at sea and need to be able to zoom onto a dolphin or seal without having to get too close and frightening them.

nice lightweight very compact lens. when used with small dslr like d40 makes nice combination for travel photography. image quality is very good sharper than you would expect. heard a lot of people giving bad reviews of this lens but i found sharpness comparable to my other more expensive lenses and it weighs less and is a lot smaller. its lacks VR but VR only gives you an advantage when shooting still non moving subjects.

Much better colour than my previous lens.
Auto focus could be quicker.
Excellent zoom range and quality.
Anti-vibrate/shake is of limited effect if at all.

Excellent value for money for those that can't stretch to the 18-200 lens - I got an 18-70 as well as this lens, and the combined cost was half that of the 18-200. I think a small price to pay for a lens change here and there. Anyway why get a DSLR if you aren't prepared to switch lenses. VR works brilliant, image quality is excellent and after my first holiday I would say I am very happy and satisfied with this lens.

Lightweight lens, but doesn't seem fragile (time will tell!). Balances nicely on D40x. Good performance for a mid-price zoom lens. Autofocus performs well, as does anti-vibration feature. Results are very acceptable.

I chose this lens because i was going to buy one 18-200VR but due to the elevated cost I opted to buy this one 55-200VR and also to 18-55VR.

After some time in inquiry and to have come to the conclusion that the images of both superiors to of 18-200VR.

At the moment I am very satisfied.

I've wanted the 'budget' VR 200mm from Nikon for a while now, but couldn't justify the expense, so it just sat on my "want list".

When a pal bought a new D40 body and was talking lens' he stated that he was looking at the non VR 200mm from Argos at £150. Not bad I thought; I was tempted too. Looking on ebay, though it became apparent that the VR offering (which I had priced at well over £200 in early 2007) was now up for grabs for well under £120 via ebay!!! I can't resist a bargain. So we bought one each.

What can I say. The VR (Vibration reduction) system from Nikon really is the business; free standing shots at 200mm work well with VR on. Not something I would try without VR(I've made that mistake before!)

OK, it's not as good as more expensive pro Nikon lens' with VR, but it is miles ahead of the bundled lens (just feel the weight) or the non VR 55-200. If you want to extend your camera use to further afield distanmt objects then take a look. For the price this lens cannot be beaten IMHO and makes this Nikon kit price comparible against Tamron, Sigma, etc kit. Those that state that you can't buy cheap Nikon quality lens so go Canon are wrong. This proves that good quality mid range kit is now affordable.

Not only will this lens work well with the D50/70/80/100/200/300 or pro bodies it will also work with the D40 and D40X; hence the AF-S autofocus function.

If you are half serious about photography and have a Nikon DSLR then you need this lens'. At just over £100 you can't not buy it, that would be a crime...

The question everyone will ask is if an cheaper telephoto zoom AF-S lens can be any good. Well its not quite as good as everyone was hoping for, but it's pretty decent.
The 55-200mm focal range gives you angle of views from ~8 to 28 degrees (diagonal) on a DSLR; it's effectively the same as using something like a 80-300mm lens on a 35mm body. For some users, that's "the standard telephoto zoom." There's no denying that this is a popular and much-asked-for focal length range. But I'd also contend that the other specs don't fully match up to user requests. Still, coupled with the 18-55mm, you have a pretty full range of focal lengths available in two lenses.
You get AF-S focusing with this lens, and that'll take you down to a bit less than a meter (3.12 feet) at all focal lengths.
Handling
Handling is not a strong point of this lens. Indeed, it's a very weak point.
The zoom ring is stiff, but good. The barrel extends about an inch-and-a-half at maximum, with the minimum point being at 55mm. The barrel doesn't rotate during zoom or focus. The focus ring is terrible, being only a slight ring near the front of the lens. Worse still, even though this is an AF-S lens, you cannot manually override focus without flipping either the camera or the lens to the manual focus position. Coupled with only five autofocus sensors on a D50 or D70s or three on the D40/D40x, not being to override focus makes this not really much of a wildlife or sports friendly lens
Positives
Very good optics. Other than that vignetting, no fatal flaws worth mentioning, actually. Considering the price, good performance, and probably well-matched to the D40, D40x, D50 or D70s, or even D200 purchaser. The VR version is preferred, but the original is no slouch (and now an excellent value).
The 80-300mm for the digital world. Yes, the low-cost telephoto zoom is back in full force. If that's what you want with your DSLR, this is a lens you should consider. Just don't expect 70-200mm type autofocus performance.
Price/Performance exceeded . This is a sharper, more featured lens than you'd expect for the money.
Drawbacks
Vignetting. We'd forgotten about it when we moved to digital SLRs, as the older lenses had much larger image circles than necessary, but with a small DX lens that barely covers the APS-sized sensor, it's back.
Variable aperture. The big issue is that at 200mm this is an f/5.6 lens, which means that autofocus in low light can be compromised slightly.
Build quality. Build quality doesn't exceed the price point.
What happened to AF-S? Much slower to focus than most AF-S lenses.
Where are we? No distance scale.

Having bought myself a brand new Nikon D40 digital SLR camera, and found its limitations with the lens which came with it, I craved the next lens size up, which would give me more telephoto capabilities.
I saw the price of new ones in the camera shops, and shuddered somewhat at the price (having only very recently bought the camera, of course)
I decided to look on ebay for maybe a nearly new one, and, lo and behold, there was one up for auction. I made a bid on it to the maximum I wished to pay and left it to take its course. The arrival of an email telling me I had won the item duly arrived. I paid instantly by Paypal, and within two days my lens arrived.
It was exactly as the vendor had described. It was in perfect condition, and a quick trial on the camera confirmed all was well. The lens is just what I wanted, the condition and price,superb. The whole experience went like a dream.

Great lens. I have used this along side my friends camera running the same lens with the VR option. For outdoor photography you will not notice at all that this lens has no VR. Pictures are pin sharp through out the entire focal range.
Great addition to any kit bag

Being new to DSLR I wanted another lens to compliment the 18-55mm lens that came as standard with the camara.
The lens I got was second hand but in as new condition.
The construction feels solid yet light weight.
The drawback with this lens is theres no apiture ring on the lens so you have to use the camara toggle to adjust.
Picture quality through out the range is good and clear.
I'm told that G series lenses are the cheaper lens produced by Nikkor, they might be cheaper but they still have the biuld quality you would expect from one of the top lenses manufacturers.

I usually favour wide angle shots but wanted to replace my old 70-300 Sigma lens. It was too large and heavy to take out on a whim deapite hving excellent image quality..
This seemed an ideal compromise. Good price and lightweight with small overall size.

It does not have VR but I was not bothered I wanted the small size more.

I took it to Turkey a couple of weeks back and I can confirm it suits me just fine. Image quality is great.

another great value end lense from nikon found it works very well and gives crisp shots that you would find from some of the more high end lenses,

only down side can be a little slow on the focusing but i can live with that for the price

Perfect lens to accompany the Nikon D40 + standard lens. Great value. I now have everything I need to get snapping, apart from the skill!

I didn't expect this to be a bad lens: it's a genuine, new Nikkor zoom lens. Not surprisingly therefore, it is excellent. My very first shot (a squirrel nibbling on some birdfood in my garden) surprised me with its sharpness. It was only a casual hand-held snap taken in haste and without any special care. I'm guessing the anti-shake facility had something to do with it. If so, this is a fine piece of technology.
It's also completely compatible with Nikon's cheapo SLR, the D40 - which is nice.
The main surprise was that I could get the genuine article at the price I paid but that's Ebay for you.

This lens has allowed me, as a newcomer to digital SLR photography, to expand my kit with a very economical way.

Nikon Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED VR AF-S DX Lens.
Pros - Image quality, Price, VR, Lightwieght.
Cons - Cant think of any
You can buy this lens for a very reasonable price. This is not a pro built lens, however it is an absolute bargain. It does have a plastic mount but these have been around for a long time and seem to have stood the test of time. It's light wieght with vibration reduction and takes very sharpe images, especially on the move. A super "walk about" lens and highly recommended.

I have had two of these 50-200mm lenses and found them very poor. First one i stumbled and the front of the lens made a very light impact into soft mud. Next time i used the lens i found the outer tube was broken. Number 2 purchased as thought i had been unlucky. Had a month suddenly stopped focusing horrible grinding noise, off to Jessops £25 just to look at it at least £100 to repair they thought a gear had stripped?? Both of these lenses were secondhand from e bay as i have now lost in the region of £150 i wont bother again. Photos when they worked were very good in fairness. wished i stayed with canon

Although I am new do d-SLR's and this is my seconds lens it is truely great. The focusing is quieter and faster than the standard kit 18-55mm lens. At 200mm you can see detail (because you're zoomed in) that you would completely miss out on with a standard kit lens. It comes with a lens hood and a soft nikon lens bag. The lens grows from c.11cm @ 55mm to c.14cm @ 200mm without the hood. It does feel heavier than the 18-55mm but that's what you'd expect, although it still balanced very well on my D60. VR function is great, especially when at 200mm hand-held. The only limitation I have so far is that you the minimum focus distance is around 1m, but after all it is a zoom lens!

Not had much of a chance to give it a real test, but tried some shots in low light to push the VR. I managed to get not pin sharp but acceptable A4 print of the neighbours cat at 1/25 sec hand held at 200mm. Well my neighbour liked itinanyway. It is quick to focus,well built, with the usual Nikon quality. At the price you can get it on ebay you can't go wrong. Only slight drawback is it does drain the camera battery when you use the VR a lot. Which is probably due to my advanced years and not having as steady hands as I used to. I use it on a D80 and find it to be a good all round lens. So far no negatives.