Nonetheless, when shopping for a DSLR or mirrorless, you will find some models that come bundled with high-quality lenses that can produce professional quality images. They are technically kit lenses as well. As of December 2006, this Nikon 18-55mm lens has been superceded by the almost identical Nikon 18-55mm II. Most people who buy this will never get any benefit from VR, however if you're reading this review, you probably are the sort of person who learns his camera and will.

If you have a five-in-one reflector you can opt to use the silver or the gold side. The silver side creates a cooler result, and the gold side creates warmer light, so we'd recommend using the silver side for your winter portrait shoot. You may find it useful to get an assistant to hold the reflector for you, as this will leave your and your model's hands free. When you're using a reflector make sure the light isn't shining directly into your model's eyes, as you don't want them to be squinting.The 18-55mm VR has superb optics in a plastic mount for light weight and low cost. What you lose for paying less than one-third the price is durability, instant manual-focus override and zoom range. The lens unsurprisingly features only a plastic barrel and mount. To me, this is no issue at all. The plastic barrel is not the most vulnerable part, given the extending front element. I crashed my camera on a tripod with the 18-55mm VR II AF-S lens attached (previous generation lens, featuring almost identical design), and the lens got damaged by distorting the front element, not by breaking the barrel.

In the range of 18-55mm, VR doesn't do anything unless you take the camera off its green AUTO setting or turn off the flash to get longer shutter speeds in dim light. If you always use a tripod you don't need VR. In these cases, forget this VR lens and get the otherwise identical non-VR 18-55mm to save money. Silent stepper motor, super-fast. If you're in a silent environment and hold your ear to the lens, you will hear a slight hum as it focuses. Around the front element, there is a thin manual focusing ring, usable both in autofocus (AF) and manual focus (MF) modes. To switch between those modes, you must use the DSLR internal menu, as there is no mechanical button/switch on the lens tube. This is identical for all DX AF-P lenses. If you’re a beginner, I would highly recommend Mark Hemmings as your instructor (specifically, the Digital Camera Mastery course). Below the focus mode selector is a similar sliding switch for the Vibration Reduction system. Nikon claims an advantage of “up to four stops” for the Vibration Reduction II system employed in the AF-S DX Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR II lens - and while such good results are probably the exception rather than the rule, we had no problems taking sharp hand-held shots with the lens mounted to a Nikon D3300 body at shutter speeds at least 3 stops slower than the focal length would allow.

Usually, the trajectory of lenses after the kit lens starts with a 50 mm prime lens. It is definitely better than a kit lens, and it is also affordable. The retractable design enables a small carrying size of 65x63mm, although even that looks relatively large compared with the new Z DX 16-50mm for Nikon’s mirrorless Z system cameras. It’s also worth noting that the competing Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/4-5.6 IS STM is pretty much the same size and weight, without resorting to a retractable mechanism.

Katie and gumdrop at lunch, 02 August 2016. Nikon D3300, Nikon 18-55mm AF-P at 55mm, f/5.6 at 1/100 at Auto ISO 800, Perfectly Clear. bigger or full-resolution file (after Perfectly Clear) or camera-original file (before Perfectly Clear) to explore on your computer.

The 18-55mm VR feels perfectly matched to the weightless D40, D40x, D60 or D80. It doesn't feel bad on my D3, either. It's light but solid. The zoom ring is damped perfectly. This new Nikon 18-55mm AF-P is a significant improvement over the old 18-55mm VR II, and it's better than any other 18-55mm because no other 18-55mm is sharper, it focuses essentially silently, and most importantly it focusses instantly and has instant manual-focus override. Other brands are softer, and no other 18-55mm offers autofocus anywhere near this fast or has instant manual-focus override. AF is essentially instantaneous, possibly the fastest focussing Nikkor I own, and it's this fast even on the basic D3300. Just because it is inexpensive and does not take high-resolution images does not mean it is useless.