Nikon 18-135.

[brianw999]

A couple of years ago I managed to break my trusty old Nikon 18-135 when it fell from the boot of the car at Amsterdam. I replaced it with a Sigma 17-70 which is a cracking lens but it doesn't quite have the reach that I want for medium distance work.

Then.... last week I saw an 18-135 at a reasonable price on Ebay. In excellent condition and a reasonable price of £120 inc. p&p and insurance so I bid on it and won.
The 18-135 isn't the fastest mid range zoom around (f3.5-5.6), it doesn't have VR and it has a plastic mount.......but by God is it one sharp little lens ! The silent wave motor is quick enough me and is what it says...silent ! One handy little feature is the ability to manually override autofocus simply by moving the focus ring. A tap on the shutter button re-establishes autofocus.
At full zoom it does suffer a little from corner vignetting but that's nothing that can't be adjusted out in post processing.

The 18-200 VR is a logical but more expensive option. If Nikon were to reintroduce the 18-135 with VR and its existing optics then I'd be the first in the queue.
Just because a lens is some years old doesn't mean that it's out of date !!

[J.Louwen]

Lucky you!

I can see the smile on your face (on the picture left anyway)!

[seahawk]

Well the Sigma 18-125 OS is a more than decent replacement imho.

[WestjetterO]

How did the lense fall out of the trunk of the car? That sounds like an interesting story.

What do you think of the Sigma 17-70 (I know it only has a 70mm reach, but other than that)? I've heard good things about it, although I've also heard some concerning things about Sigma's lense Quality Control. I ask because I am looking for a replacement for Nikon's 18-55 Kit lens. So far my options are the Sigma 17-70/17-50 (somewhat dependent on price) or the Nikon 16-85. Did you ever consider the 16-85 as a replacement for your 18-135?

[brianw999]

I had the camera bag in the boot which was flat floored all the way to the bumper. Didn't realise that it was unzipped, pulled it to the rear bumper, lid flopped open, bag overbalanced, camera fell out, lens broke apart mid barrel, .......air was filled with EXTREMELY bad language !!!!

I needed to replace it fairly quickly but couldn't find another 18-135 in the timeframe. I tried the 18-70 and liked it very much, well worth the £300 odd that it cost. Very sharp through the whole range, no barrel creep and very well built. No VR on this model but I don't really need it up to 70mm.

....and I didn't consider the 16-85 only because it was out of my price range at the time. The VR would have been nice though.