Good vibes for Nikon's 18-55mm lens
Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6G VR lens.
(Credit: Nikon)As an increasing number of competitors add sensor-shift image stabilization to their consumer dSLRs--Olympus and Pentax, to name but two--OIS diehards Nikon and Canon have to keep up by moving lens-based stabilizers farther down their product lines. Earlier this year, Canon updated its staple f3.5-5.6 18-55mm kit-optimized lens with the IS moniker and technology, and now it's Nikon's turn to follow suit with its AF-S DX Nikkor 18-55mm f3.5-5.6G VR lens.
For those of you who lack the Nikon lens-speak decoder ring (though there seems to be an e-version on bythom.com), the lens features run as follows:
- AF = Autofocus
- S = Silent Wave Motor, dubbed USM (Ultrasonic Motor) by Canon and SWM (Silent Wave Motor) by Olympus
- DX = designed specifically to match Nikon's APS-sized sensors.
- G = no aperture ring
- VR = Vibration Reduction
I consider the slow 18-55mm lenses the kittiest of kit lenses. And by that, I mean they're perfect for the work I do--photographing cats in cages--where I don't have a lot of latitude on distance, and where the relatively narrow maximum aperture won't accidentally widen--I shoot shutter priority--and deliver a rather disturbing depth-of-field. (I love the fast lenses, but I end up with shots of a sharp eyeball and the rest out of focus.) The moral: Sometimes the cheap solution is the appropriate one. And cheap certainly applies in this case--it'll cost a mere $199 when it ships in December. A nice little gift for your favorite D40x shooter, perhaps?
Senior Editor Lori Grunin has been covering digital imaging for two decades, but her memory's kind of sketchy on the details. You can hear about it every week on Indecent Exposure, the podcast she co-hosts with Matt Fitzgerald. 
