Zoomed in to 55mm, this gives you decent close-up photography (near macro magnification) possibilities. Fast and easy trade in service ensures your old gear is collected efficiently and you are paid quickly! When zooming in to capture a photo, you can bring subjects into focus instantly and with absolute precision. Lens sharpness used to matter with zooms in the 1960s, but today, all Nikon's lenses are sharper than most photographers ability to elicit sharpness from them.

It doesn't cost you anything extra when you use these links, but it does support the site, helping keep ePHOTOzine free to use, thank you. For less money, the B+W 55mm 010 is an excellent filter, as are the multicoated version and the basic multicoated Hoya filters, but the Hoya HD3 is the toughest and the best. Select NIKKOR lenses have a focusing mode which allows switching from automatic to manual focusing with virtually no lag time by simply turning the focusing ring on the lens.I love shooting against the low sun, so one of the very crucial features is how a lens can handle direct sunlight or any other strong source of light. One genuinely desirable, but difficult to measure aspect of a lens's performance is an ability to deliver smoothly blurred out-of-focus regions when trying to isolate a subject from the background, generally when using a long focal length and large aperture. Other brands are softer, and no other 18-55mm offers autofocus anywhere near this fast or has instant manual-focus override. The orientation is difficult since there are eight different versions of this lens (in five generations, the last three of which are either stabilized or non-stabilized).

Even if this lens does not feature any high-end Nano Crystal Coating, it still does a great job dealing with direct light. The 18-55mm VR performed pretty well in our studio tests, at least on a par with the other kit lenses we have tested.I've never had a problem with any of my plastic-mount lenses breaking in the ten years that I've owned them. As usual, stopping down beyond F11 causes the image to degrade due to diffraction, and anything below F16 starts to look distinctly soft. A retractable barrel keeps the lens extremely compact, and its sleek, lightweight design perfectly complements Nikon's latest DX-format DSLRs.

The most difficult thing for a zoom to do well is to be sharp at its tele setting wide-open, and here the 18-55mm AFP is wonderfully sharp.

This should allow shooting in a wide range of low-light situations which would previously be impossible.