Nikon 55-200MM F/4-5.6 AF-S VR DX Black Lens

As a D40 owner, i was somewhat disappointed to find that i was limited by which lenses i could buy. Thankfully most of the zoom lenses that Nikon produce are AF-S and thus will autofocus fine.

Now, i was sorely tempted by a 70-300mm VR lens, but the price was simply to high to justify (as a keen amateur!). So, i ended up getting one of these instead - and it's possibly my favourite lens at the moment (i also have a Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8, Nikon 50mm f/1.8 and the Nikon AF-S 18-55mm kit).

I didn't have much chance to mess around with it at home (not much to shoot) so i took it with me to London this week to see how it performed. The first thing i noticed was how sharp my pictures were coming out. I've had a lot of use focussing manually with the 50mm, so nice automatic focussing was a pleasure! It's not the fastest in the world to focus, but it's good enough to get a bird in flight without too much of a problem.

The actual zoom range is great, if you hunger after something a bit longer than your kit lens then you won't be disappointed. With a zoom of around 4 times, if you own the 18-55 kit lens you'll have 10x optical zoom to play with, (200/55 = 3.6). Whilst the actual magnification isn't a large number, the actual focal length trounces most consumer cameras. Put simply, i was getting a bit of flak from my friends about "only having 3x optical zoom and not being able to 'get in further'". This lens shut them up nicely.

Get VR if at all possible, it compensates for your hand shaking slightly when you take your photos and lets you get down to slightly lower shutter speeds/smaller apertures if you need them.

Size wise it's small, a bit longer than the D40 kit lens and it comes with a handy lens hood. You'll need to get a clear filter to protect the front element - it'll take a 52mm diameter filter.

If you can afford it then i'd say get the 70-300, but this is stonking value for money!

I am strictly an amateur photographer who likes to record my real passion, travel, so I bought this lens 2 months ago. I can't comment on long term durability, however I have just come back from 2 weeks travel in Alaska where it performed faultlessly. It was constantly swapped with the standard lens on my D40 which I used to shoot over 1100 images of landscapes and wildlife. The lens coped well with experimental shots of birds in full flight at maximum zoom and produced suprisingly sharp images. Bears, seals, moose and other more static subjects filled the viewfinder nicely and left me in no doubts that I had done the right thing to buy this in addition to the standard 18 - 55 lens (which is great for the huge landscapes and close shots of plant life). My only regret is that I can't afford the 300mm VR Nikon lens but for half the money this is a real bargain.
Lens changes were quick and the plastic lens mount won't be a problem if you are careful and patient with your equipment.
The bigger lens does add some weight to the camera but I found the VR system worked well to stabilise camera shake even on maximum zoom. The lens' AF worked well even on the camera's auto settings; I am still exploring the manual settings being a DSLR newbie. Overall I am really happy with the lens and would recommend it to other amateurs looking to extend their camera's (and their own) repertoire.

If you own a Nikon D series SLR with its stock autofocus DX series zoom lens rated at 18-55mm new style (equivalent to 27-83mm old style), this is the obvious next step purchase. Rated at 55-200mm new style (83-300mm old style) it's small, light and really does cut out camera shake to allow genuine "point & shoot" at its higher focal lengths, giving you a "tripod-less", perfectly matched combination of two autofocus Nikkor lenses covering a full 18-200mm (27-300mm old style). Just perfect... and, for the price, stunningly good value.