Is the 18-140mm worth the upgrade?

Hey Crew:

I currently have D7100 and one of my lenses is a Tamron 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di-II Macro Lens. I am considering "upgrading" to the Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 18-140mm f3.5-5.6G ED VR Lens. Am I crazy for considering this change? Will I lose anything besides distance? The price difference tells me that the Nikon should be a far better lens but I need some help.
[h=1][/h]Thanks for your help!

Re: Is it worth the upgrade?

I would say it is definitely an upgrade for the VR and probably IQ since it is a tighter range. What other lenses do you have?

Re: Is it worth the upgrade?

If you can sacrifice the higher 35mm, then go for the 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 and with the money you save pick up a 35mm or 50mm f/1.8G and still have change left over to get you >90% of the way towards a Yongnuo 565EX flash.

All depends of course what's in your arsenal already

Re: Is it worth the upgrade?

I currently have the kit NIkon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR AF-S DX, the Nikon 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED AF-S DX and the NikonAF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G Lens. I also have the Yonguno 565EX flash.

Sam... Would you recommend the 18-105mm over the 18-140?

Re: Is it worth the upgrade?

Bob, if you already have the 18-55, 55-200 and an 18-200... I would say there is no need to go any further with lenses that fill these ranges. Unless you are planning on selling all of the lenses you currently have just to get a lens that would be a decent walk around.

Personally for me, the 18-105 would fit my needs as I hardly ever find myself going up that high, unless I plan on shooting with my 70-210 F4 or 70-200 F2.8.

Re: Is it worth the upgrade?

skene said:

Bob, if you already have the 18-55, 55-200 and an 18-200... I would say there is no need to go any further with lenses that fill these ranges. Unless you are planning on selling all of the lenses you currently have just to get a lens that would be a decent walk around.

Personally for me, the 18-105 would fit my needs as I hardly ever find myself going up that high, unless I plan on shooting with my 70-210 F4 or 70-200 F2.8.

Click to expand...

Skene, I am planning on selling my d3100 with the kit 18-55. After doing that, I wanted to get "better glass". I guess i'm wasting money.

Re: Is it worth the upgrade?

Price difference is not always a measure of quality difference, so I would ask if there's something about the Tamron that you feel falls short? I doubt that you'll see enough of an IQ difference between the Tamron and Nikon to justify merely replacing what you already have. I would say having VR at the long end of that zoom would likely help, but perhaps that means that you might want to consider spending your money on something like a 70-300mm instead? This way you extend your range instead of limiting it, and get VR in the range where you likely really need it. After that, you can spend $$ on either an ultrawide, or replace the lower end with a nicer normal range zoom.

Re: Is it worth the upgrade?

Thanks Jake,My Tamron lens works just fine and IMO the IQ is fine. I guess you covered my main question by saying that there will not be much difference in IQ.

Re: Is it worth the upgrade?

In my opinion, this is about equal to trading in a Ford for a Ford with air conditioning. It's more of a quality of life enhancement versus any kind of real performance improvement. This isn't a trade-off I personally would consider.

I think Jake has offered some sage advice.

Re: Is it worth the upgrade?

I find that I hardly use my 55-200mm and when I do it's usually in the 150-200mm range.
But I did find that with my 18-55mm I was forever using my feet to get closer to a subject but more often than not it was becoming increasingly difficult to do so without disturbing other people.
Hence I went for an 18-105mm for those times when my feet couldn't do the zooming for me

Is it better than the 18-105mm? I have no idea to be honest, but ask yourself, is the cost difference between the 2 really worth it, or could you do with the 18-105 and let your feet zoom for you?

You have a pretty decent amount of kit already, so my only other suggestion is, look into things like tripods, flash triggers etc.... but all depending where you want to take your photography

I just received my 18-140 lens today, and it kicks ass.