Nikon AF-S DX 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR £880/$995

It’s overweight in every way

A big bruiser of a lens, this 83x120mm superzoom is more than twice the weight of the Tamron 18-200mm, and feels a mismatch for lightweight bodies like the D3400 and D5600. It’s heavily priced too, costing about twice as much as the competing Sigma 18-300mm and Tamron 16-300mm superzooms.

Predating the other Nikon 18-300mm lens, this has the more usual configuration of VR II stabilization, with a secondary Active mode, as well as a focus distance scale. Both lenses feature three ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements in their optical paths, but this one has three additional elements in total, and a better-rounded aperture based on nine, rather than seven, diaphragm blades.

Performance

Along with faster AF and better stabilization when shooting from a vibrating platform, this lens retains better sharpness than Nikon’s newer 18-300mm lens at zoom settings of 100mm and above. The flip side is that it’s not so sharp for wide-angle shooting, although distortion at 18mm is slightly less noticeable.