Excerpt from Scott Kelby's Digital Photography book, Chapter 3, The Truth About Lenses—When Should You Use an All-in-One Zoom Lens?
When Should You Use an All-in-One Zoom Lens?
The most popular lenses from Nikon and Canon are their 18-200mm lenses because they can do it all. They cover everything from a beautiful wide-angle shot to a telephoto shot, without changing lenses. Best of all, they are compact, fairly lightweight, and even relatively inexpensive compared with some zoom lenses that have a smaller range.
They are ideal for travel (if you do not want to carry a camera bag around all day), hiking, city photography, and even landscape shots made with a tripod. I own one of these 18-200mm lenses myself, and frankly, it is very dear to me.
Some photographers on internet forums claim that these lenses are beneath them because they produce less-sharp images, are not as refined as more expensive lenses, and so on. Do not let that mislead you. Of all the photographers I know who own a lens like this, not one of them does not love it. When it is on your camera, you will never say, ‘Oh, that did not work. I had the wrong lens.’ This lens does it all.
As for quality, a vacation photo I made with this lens hangs above my sofa, printed at 70 by 100 cm. Everyone loves it, and the entire photograph is perfectly sharp and clean. I immediately reach for this lens when... I go on vacation.
