D-SLR's Capturing light !

Adam i guess you are referring to the phenomenon called 'lens creep'-this is not a flaw but an aspect of super zoom lens.

The reason for the same is the weight of the front lens elements moving with gravity. Dont know if you are referring to the 18-200 lens or not.

There is no lens creep with the 18-105.

Those so called "lens creep" were only reported in Nikon 18-105 and none with other brands. 18-200 is one of the best lenses out there.

Have a look at the review of the 18-200 by dpreview(i guess reviews dont come better than them)-scroll down to the 'zoom creep' subheading.

Here is a youtube video on the same.

Superzooms like the Sigma18-200/Tamron 18-270 etc have a separate switch that locks(called the zoom lock) the lens at 18mm to prevent the lens creep.

Also could you please provide the link for the 18-105 with lens creep.

Also here is the review of the 18-105 by bythom and he reports no lens creep at all.

18-105 is not a mega-zoom or something and I strongly feel that lens creep should be far lesser than the other super-zooms such as 18-200, 18-250, 28-300, 18-270 etc. My gut feel, not too sure.

By the way, Binoy I find it extremely interesting to know that Nikkor 18-135 lens sells for over $500 today while it was available for as low as INR 13k when I bought my camera. What makes this lens so superior over say 18-105 that it's selling for almost double the cost. And the cost wasn't even half a year ago? I didn't buy that lens as I didn't know a thing about DSLRs then.

Another thing, is Nissin a good brand for flash or do we have good VFM options available? I think I need to buy a flashgun super-quick, Have got an occasion wherein I wish to play groom's personal photographer role!

I have personally played with the 18-200 and the same have some serious creep between 35-150mm, may be the creep becomes evident as the the zoom ring is used more and more.

About the Nissin-absolute value for money and is highly recommended. The other suspects in the same price range are the sunpak and sigma flashes. Sunpack is an underperformer, the Sigma(especially the DG series) are great but the price tends to be near the SB600 range(12K).

The Nissin costs about 7K and am totally happy with the performance, exposures are spot on all the time, the downside i can think of is the lack of CLS and the relatively longer recycle time of about 3-4 secs on fresh batteries.

Ban- about the lens, have a look at the ebay prices for the 18-135 and that of the 18-105 is about the same. Both 330$ or thereabouts.

At the telephoto end VR does help, but not otherwise.Do note that i have no idea about how the 18-135 performs.

The 18-135 you have provided link of is non-VR and after reading your comments, I am adamant on buying a VR lens.

And by the way your Nissin is Di622? And by the way how useful is the CLS (Creative Lighting System?)? I can live with 4-5 secs recycling time.

Ban am not aware of a nikon 18-135 with VR at 500$ price. Have you seen the same anywhere? Nikon lost 30mm so as to incorporate the VR mechanism in basically the same shell.

Here is some info on VR(incidently the pictures for comparison are taken with the 18-135 and the 18-200).

Yes my flash is the very same Di622. CLS is important for studio photographers and professionals. My rationale was that i wont be buying another flash unless the current one goes caput, so why the need for the CLS. Do note that the Nissin will work as an optical slave, is more powerful than the SB600(at nearly half the price) and has a fill card and a diffuser.

Another aspect of the nissin was the availability of the fill flash card that was inbuilt and also the flash has a zoom range of 18-105mm which perfectly complimented my Nikon 18-105 lens.

Always wanted to have a good bag for the camera. Had something in mind like this.

The only hinderence was the price-something like the Aero 75 above or the Lowepro fast pack 250 would cost about 6K!!

So though about modifying a regular laptop bag to take the camera and accessories also.This is what came about!

This is a regular laptop bag-cost-800/-

The front compartment is open and the separation from the main cavity opened:

The raw materials needed-thermo col,knife and tapes:

Templates are cut according to interior dimensions:

Templates are taped over and some sponge added for contact areas(that is also taped):

Template in the bag:

Camera and gear inside for check:

This is work in progress and i plan to cover the templates with soft cloth and add velcro!

Binoy, I know 18-200 has those "Lens Creep" but the issue with 18-105 was some defect in mechanical motor ring. This was personally showed by the Nikon service guy when I had gone there to get my 70-300 cleaned. They said only a limited imported batch had this issue although this was the case in Feb not sure about latest situation. Assuming you are buying a preowned lens so please make sure you crosscheck this fault. However I will try to find out the source on which series serial had this and post it here