16-85mm f3.5-5.6G ED VRII Lens

[chromance]

I Am thinking about making the D90 purchase and was wondering if
I would be better suited to but the 16-85mm kit over the 18-105mm kit lens?
Is the 16-85mm worth the extra money? I plan on shooting a mixture of indoors and outdoor pictures. I figured the 16-85mm would be a good start and just add lens at a later time.

[XaiLo]

16-85mm is a solid lens it gets my vote.

[Rooz]

if you have a limited budget then my vote is no. the 18-105 is a fine lens. not as good as the 16-85 sure but the price difference, (over here anyway), is huge.

[britkev]

I agonized long and hard over the same decision about a year ago.

I plumped for a "used" 18-105mm from someone who had bought a D-90 kit before it was available body only but didn't need the lens. I'm not sorry about my decision.

I'll yield that maybe the 16-85 might be just a little sharper, but not as much as the price differential would suggest, in my humble opinion.

[Rooz]

just to clarify, the 16-85 has the better VR system, (1 stop better), and its a better built lens with things like the sealed metal lens mount vs plastic in the 18-105. thats why its pricier. if it were me, i'd fork out the extra money for the 16-85 but on a tighter budget the 18-105 is a bargain imo.

[photowerkz]

I've got the 16-85 on a D300 body, and I can nothing but recomend it. It's VERY sharp. The last 3 rows of pictures on my homepage are all shot with the D300 + 16-85: http://www.mariusaasheim.com

[K1W1]

Love mine. Pricey but worth it IMO.

[tim11]

I could buy 18-105 VR for one/third the price of the 16-85 since it comes as kit lens but I chose the wider one instead; otherwise I would also have a hard time deciding. A lens of 16 mm wide is rare.
As for the difference in VR and VRII I'm not sure if there is much difference. The VR switch was OFF the other day and I didn't notice any reduced in sharpness after a shooting session. The VR thing maybe over rated.

[D70FAN]

The VR thing maybe over rated.

Only if you have good steady hands. When I was 35 or 40 I would have agreed with you, but now, for me, the more stops the better as I have been developing hand tremors as I get older (yes it sucks)... this is not an uncommon problem... hence the popularity of image stabilized cameras and lenses. :)

[tim11]

I'm not sure about that D70Fan. I get sharp image when I concentrate. For other times when I'm careless I get blurry images. So I often wonder where and when does VR kicks in for me?

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

Pricey and flares badly but if you keep the sun off the front it works a treat for me. I love the sharpness.

I really notice VR on the 70-300 but don't see it make much difference for me on the 16-85. I forget to turn it off all the time for tripod work too.

Never tried the other lens but I generally just follow Rooz' recommendations when buying:)

[DiamondSCattleCo]

Never tried the other lens but I generally just follow Rooz' recommendations when buying:)

Hey Rooz, would you mind recommending that Dread buy me a 16-85?

Please?

[erichlund]

I'm not sure about that D70Fan. I get sharp image when I concentrate. For other times when I'm careless I get blurry images. So I often wonder where and when does VR kicks in for me?

For those of you who haven't played with VR much, there is technique to shooting VR. Some of you use a two button focusing technique, but I just use the half button depression to pre-focus, so that's what I'll go with here.

To shoot VR, I depress the shutter button half way, watching the viewfinder. The image will vibrate a bit and then become steady. If it's not noisy, you can also hear it (With the 70-200VR, you can hear it anyway...that camera has very noisy VR, at least with the sample I shot). Once the image stabilizes, as viewed in the viewfinder, then - and only then, should you depress the shutter fully to take the shot. Otherwise, you risk having VR induced blur.

Now, I understand, you can use the AF-ON button as your prefocus, and if that works for you, that's great. You can even set up the camera so that this button is the ONLY way to prefocus. My old Canon A-1 didn't know about that stuff, and my Coolpix 990 didn't have the AF-ON. I'm getting old, and I don't feel like learning the new trick. The half depress of the shutter works just fine for me.

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

Good point Eric, my long shots improved heaps after you told me this in another thread.

Even so, I never notice reduction in motion on anything less than my 70-300 lens.

And very funny Diamond.:o

[tim11]

Thanks for the tip Eric. I think I know what you mean by VR induced blur. I think I experienced it the first time I use the lens.

[K1W1]

Now, I understand, you can use the AF-ON button as your prefocus, and if that works for you, that's great. You can even set up the camera so that this button is the ONLY way to prefocus.

As I understand things the AF-ON button does not cause the VR mechanism to work at all. VR is only activated when the shutter is half depressed.

[erichlund]

You may very well be correct. I don't use the method, but some people do. I seem to recall seeing Rooz say he uses that method, though not in relation to VR, but just as his focusing technique.

[Rooz]

i use the af-on button but i never noticed VR working or not. i generally dont shoot at shutter speeds so low.

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

Next time I've got the 70-300 on camera I'll test it.