Nikkor 18-55 DX VR lens
If necessity is the mother of all invention then poverty should be the father of all ingenuity. For those who cannot buy or are just starting out in photography, kit lenses are the way to break ground. In my opinion kit lenses are only complementary to the DSLRs we buy. Some make good kit lenses, some don’t. The Nikkor 18-55 is definitely not the greatest but it’s not the worst either. For a beginner starting in photography, if some intelligence is applied the kit lens could be your best buddy. In good lighting conditions any lens will work well.
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This Nikkor 18-55 is the third variation of Nikon’s proprietary kit lens. The earlier ones being the Nikkor 18-55 ED and Nikkor 18-55 ED II. VR has been added to the present version and it’s beyond me how effective it is at the long end of this lens which is just 55mm. May be it is effective but I am not sure. It should also be noted that the ED element has been removed from this version (bad move), which somewhat produces less contrasty images.
I suspect all or most of the optical elements in the kit lenses are acrylic/synthetic. May be that is also the reason why they are advertised as "light", "tough" and "unbreakable". Their optical qualities are not similar to glass. That is the reason they are so cheap to buy and do not produce anything photographically extraordinary. They are there to fill the void and should be treated as such. Better quality lenses in Nikkor cost a lot more. This lens I bought very cheaply for INR 4,800 around $90.
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This lens is definitely not an all-rounder. It falls short at 55mm (all kit lenses do). This lens is especially useful for studio, shooting products etc. Not the best lens for portraits in the studio (the results were less than alright) however when I used this lens along with D200 body and shot a portfolio in daylight the results were very satisfactory. Like I said if you use some intelligence, this lens can work great for you. Cheers and goodluck.
--Viisshnu Vardhan--
--Viisshnu Vardhan--