Nikon 20060 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-P DX Nikkor Lens for Camera, Black

This really is a superb lens - sharp across its entire range, very quick to focus, produces stunning pictures, while being lightweight and compact. It's the perfect partner for Nikon's DX cameras; even with the bottom-of-the-range D3300 I am extremely happy with the image quality I'm getting.I recently bought a Nikon 50mm f/1.8 prime; I sent it back after one day because the 18-55 is better. Sure, the prime has 3 stops advantage over the zoom at 50mm, but when I tested at equivalent settings, it simply could not match the AF-P's pin-sharpness, and there was significant CA too which the zoom does not have. Plus of course the zoom's VR goes some way to compensating for the longer shutter time. The only other lens I have to compare it against is the Nikon 55-200mm f/4-5.6G VRII. Not really a fair contest, they do different jobs, and they're both good lenses but the 18-55 produces noticeably sharper images.The 18-55 does have significant barrel distortion, but on the rare occasion that this matters, it can be corrected either in camera or software. I have yet to feel the need to do this.Mine did not come with a hood (possibly because I bought it as part of a D3300 kit, rather than on its own) - I strongly recommend getting one for protection (as well as using a UV filter), although you will have to remove it if using the builtin flash.I chose this lens over the older AF-S because it supposedly doesn't have as much focus noise when shooting video... however, it turns out the D3300 is not really any good for video anyway (the focusing in Live View is simply not up to the job), so that's a moot point, but I'm very happy with the lens's quality for stills.One downside with this one as opposed to the AF-S is the lack of switches for MF/AF and VR on/off. You can of course override AF just by grabbing the focus ring, or set fulltime MF easily enough by pressing the 'i' button, but switching VR on and off requires menu-diving (I try to keep it on the "recently used" menu at all times for easier access). That said, I'm not entirely sure there's any harm in keeping it switched on all the time. On my longer zoom it does seem to impact on quality so is best switched off unless required, but on this one, I'm pretty sure I've accidentally left it switched on from time to time and not noticed any reduction in quality. (This requirement for menu support limits the compatibility of this lens - make sure your body is compatible.)Only other complaint is the lack of focus stop at infinity, which makes it very difficult to manually focus at infinity in the dark for photographing the night sky. However this seems to be quite common, not specific to this lens.The attached photos are all straight from the camera in jpeg; I picked them not because they're the "best" but to give you an overview of this lens's capabilities.

"Super quiet" auto focussing... that's the claim for Nikon's new stock lens, and super quiet it is - in fact ,"close to silent" would be a better description; and, on top of this, it focusses noticeably faster than the 18-55 AF-S lens it replaces. So, as most of the other changes are primarily cosmetic and picture quality appears, to me, to be very similar (although others claim some improvement) are these features worth the upgrade cost?Well, if you've tried using any existing AF-S lens for casual (i.e. non-staged) video sequences where regular & rapid refocussing is needed - for example, most family videos - then you'll know just how much the whirring of its focussing motor while it seeks to lock onto a subject can wreck your audio. You can try to get round the issue by focussing manually, which is pretty impossible on a small LCD screen in fast moving situations, or, you can carry an external microphone with you - an expensive, bulky and often impractical option. Or... you can get this AF-P lens and reduce any focussing noises to a level where, in all but near silent ambient noise conditions, they're virtually "invisible" in audio terms while, at the same time, getting faster focus locks on moving subjects.Mount this lens on your Nikon D5500, D5300 or D3300 body (at the time of writing the only models that Nikon says it's fully compatible with) and what it does is allow you to switch your camera from being a high quality DSLR into an equally high quality and wholly usable HD camcorder - instantly and with no add-ons. A first for a Nikon lens and something that, if you want to use your camera for casual video shooting, makes it a "must have" upgrade.

Bought this as a present and they seem happy with it. However, it is an all-plastic body and the reason for buying this was to replace a previous one which had been broken by the user. It has to be treated delocately otherwise it is quite fragile.

Nothing wrong with the lens, the problem is the information. It should be made very clear that this lens is not compatible with 3100, the autofocus won’t work, in fact it says in the instructions not compatible with any 3 series so surprised a review says it works with 3300. My advice, not all lenses are the same, be very careful in choosing online.

This lens is really good. It is sharp, light, the AF is instantaneous and almost silent but it suffers from one glaring problem that nobody, including Nikon, seems to want to publicise: it doesn't work with almost ALL Nikon cameras out there! The Nikon documentation that comes with the lens mentions only 4 cameras that it works with, these being the D3300, D5200, D5300 and D5500. The list that it does NOT support extends to more than 23 digital Nikon cameras. My guess is that it will work with Nikon DX (APS-C) format cameras released after the 4 supported cameras were released. However, unless you know for sure, assume it won't work with your camera. On unsupported cameras it won't even manual focus making it completely useless. Oddly, it does work on the Nikon Df which was released as long ago as 2013 - go figure.

Wish I’d read all the previous reviews first. Despite using the Amazon app first, which showed the lens was compatible with the Nikon D3200, sadly it isn’t. A real shame, as it was delivered two days early and looked great. Couldn’t wait put the lens on the camera and start shooting, it fitted like a glove, so you can my dismay when the display stubbornly said the lens was not fitted and refused to work. Used “Pass my Parcel” to return, which was really easy. Refund issued the same day. Disappointed yes, but grateful to Amazon for dealing so quickly and easily with the return and refund.