Nikon 18-140 vs. 16-80

Smorton

Senior Member
Greetings,

I bought a D5600 due to it's rather small size just for travel. Would like to use it for general travel purposes. Stuck between the Nikon 18-140 vs. 16-80 as a general all purpose lens. Image quality is important.

Any opinions. Somewhat of a price difference but I can get a refurbished 16-80 for at a fair discount from a major retailer.

Any input is highly appreciated or ideas of other lens in this general focal distance is appreciated.

Thank you.

SM
 

Mark F

Senior Member
I shot with the 16-80 and absolutely loved that lens on my d7200. Its a little over priced, but if you hunt around you can find a good deal.
I liked shooting between the 16-18 range. A little wider which is where most of my shots are. I never missed the 80-140 range. Plus its a 2.8-4 lens so its a little better in lower light. Between the two that I had, I found the 16-80 just a little sharper throughout the range corner to corner
 

Smorton

Senior Member
I shot with the 16-80 and absolutely loved that lens on my d7200. Its a little over priced, but if you hunt around you can find a good deal.
I liked shooting between the 16-18 range. A little wider which is where most of my shots are. I never missed the 80-140 range. Plus its a 2.8-4 lens so its a little better in lower light. Between the two that I had, I found the 16-80 just a little sharper throughout the range corner to corner

i shot with the 18-140 on my D7100 and if I were to go back to shooting DX I would get that lens again. The range is nice and the quality is good.

the 2.8-4 seems like an attractive feature. I also want to get the 35 f1.8. Refurbished okay?

thanks

sm
 

Bikerbrent

Senior Member
Welcome aboard. Enjoy the ride.
We look forward to seeing more posts and samples of your work.

You can't really go wrong with either lens. I actually use a Japanese made (vs. Chinese made, and yes it does make a difference) Nikon 80-200mm plus a Tokina 12-24mm lens on my D7200 for light weight travel and am thrilled with the performance. A would greatly miss the 80-200mm and 12-18mm range.
 

Smorton

Senior Member
Welcome aboard. Enjoy the ride.
We look forward to seeing more posts and samples of your work.

You can't really go wrong with either lens. I actually use a Japanese made (vs. Chinese made, and yes it does make a difference) Nikon 80-200mm plus a Tokina 12-24mm lens on my D7200 for light weight travel and am thrilled with the performance. A would greatly miss the 80-200mm and 12-18mm range.

Thank you.

When I travel, I only like to take use one lens for the most part. The reach of the 18-140 makes it very tempting. Also the price is one half of the 16-80. I wonder how close the image quality is. I would switch to 35mm 1.8 for indoors (contrary to my one lens statement).

Is there a way to make sure the lens you buy is made in Japan?

Thanks again.

SM
 

Bikerbrent

Senior Member
All lenses I have seen are marked somewhere as "made in ???" or just "???" (country name). On the Nikon 18-200 the marking is on the bottom of the lens near the camera mount. Also the "VR" logo is red for Japan and white for
China.
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor

Mark F

Senior Member
Not to be negative on refurbished items.. but you need to watch who you buy refurbs from. BH Adorama and Nikon are good. I bought a refurb from elsewhere and turned out it was very used lens and all they did was clean the front element and rubbed armorall onto the rubber and call it a refurb. Buy from big stores that have 30 day return policy and you shouldn't go wrong.
 

Texas

Senior Member
For posting on the internet or printing 5x7's, you won't be able to fault image quality of any new or used properly functioning lenses as long as you avoid the really old stuff. (or Sears re-branded, etc.)

Some of my favorite lenses are 20 year old Nikons.

IQ, meaning resolution numbers by most folks, is way overrated.

There's lots of truth in the old saying: "F/8 and be there"
 
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Smorton

Senior Member

Texas

Senior Member
KEH in Atlanta, GA is a bit pricey on some things but I always get something better than expected from them and have never had to return anything.
 

Smorton

Senior Member
For posting on the internet or printing 5x7's, you won't be able to fault image quality of any new or used properly functioning lenses as long as you avoid the really old stuff. (or Sears re-branded, etc.)

Some of my favorite lenses are 20 year old Nikons.

IQ, meaning resolution numbers by most folks, is way overrated.

There's lots of truth in the old saying: "F/8 and be there"

I used a D5600 and two lenses in a camera store-16-80 and 18-400 (Tamron). Nothing scientific but images from 16-80 look softer. I have located focus points in LR and just can't figure this out. The photos are similar enough that there is a little validity to the test. Maybe a bad copy of 16-80? Makes me think 18-140 might be best.

Thanks
SM
 

SHAkers718

Senior Member
I used a D5600 and two lenses in a camera store-16-80 and 18-400 (Tamron). Nothing scientific but images from 16-80 look softer. I have located focus points in LR and just can't figure this out. The photos are similar enough that there is a little validity to the test. Maybe a bad copy of 16-80? Makes me think 18-140 might be best.

Thanks
SM

I currently own the 16-80 https://www.amazon.com/Nikon-16-80m...8&qid=1530732614&sr=8-2&keywords=nikkor+16-80
and it is really a wonderful lens. I owned the Nikkor 18-140 lens as well that was a kit lens with my D7100. I didn't use it much, but it was surprisingly good for a kit lens, and what a versatile range. I ended up selling it, but it was very good and I am attaching a photo of a moth on a thistle that really surprised me because conditions weren't great as the flowers were swaying in the breeze. One thing I did notice right away with the 16-80 was it had some barrel distortion when used at the widest end, but I had lens correction on import turned on in Lightroom. Just give yourself some breathing room in the framing of the photo so once you constrain the crop you don't lose anything.
Lr6-4925-2.jpg
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
Y

Yes, B&H is my go to place. Great service.

SM

If you decide to go the refurbished route, in addition to the stores already mentioned, there have been several people here who have purchased refurbs from Cameta Camera. Although I've never used them, you can always do a search here for Cameta to read what they said.

https://www.cameta.com/
 

Texas

Senior Member
I've had the 18-70, 18-105, and 18-140. Still have the original, early, 18-200 which is not worth trading off, its just too good to sell for small money.

Even though the 18-70 was inferior (if you read the reviews) my best pics were made with it.

The 18-140 gave me some very detailed landscape shots, some I printed large, others just for pixel peeping to see details I missed on site. Really, that one surprised me with its wide angle performance.

I enjoy fooling with all brands of AF and MF Nikon mount consumer grade lenses, and have limited myself to 10. That means I need to sell one, but can't decide which. Thinking of limiting myself to 12.
 
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captain birdseye

Senior Member
The 18-140vr is a great budget lens whereas the 16-80vr is a great but overpriced lens.
Have you looked at the older 16-85vr as an alternative? Users seem to rate it quite highly ad it can be picked up for a reasonable price on the used market.
 
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