How much better is a 70-300mm camera lens than a 18-200mm lens?

Question

How much better of a zoom will a 300mm give me if I upgrade from my 18-200mm lens?

Answer 1

Well it will give you an extra 100mm in focal length which could be usefull. As to which one is better this depends on which 18-200mm lens you have and which 70-300mm lens you buy.

There are several choices for each and it really depends on which models you choose.

Answer 2

We are talking about Nikkor lenses… right…    

the new 70-300mm VR  is a great lens with it’s I.5 it goes all the out to 105-450mm …..

also try the 16-85mm VR…. This combo is unbeatable  

If you want  add Sigma’s 10-20mm

Answer 3

There is no reason to upgrade from your 18-200 mm lens, you will be losing all the focal lengths from 18-70 mm and unless you buy the 70-300 mm VR, the VR aspect as well.

The question is do you really need the extra reach of 300 mm?

Take your camera and lens into a camera store and look through both lenses.  See for yourself

I just sold my old 70-300 mm ED.   I didn't need it anymore after I acquired the 18-200 mm VR and I have a 400 mm f/2.8 for a longer reach.

When you say upgrade, do you mean you are going to sell your 18-200 mm VR?  Or are you just planning on adding the 70-300 mm VR to your system?

Answer 4

18-200mm is 11x zoom

70-300mm is 4.3x zoom

Zoom factor is not very descriptive in SLR lenses. It's the actual focal lengths on short and long end...

So 70-300mm is 50% better on the long end than 18-200mm. It's going to bring your subject a lot closer, so if you shot sports, wildlife, and such, it's a lot better. Ideally if it had the VR like your 18-200 (I'm assumming nikkor, since it's the only one I know with this zoom range).

On the wide end - 70-300 is about 4 times worse than 18-200, it will be pretty useless for landscapes, architecture or photographing groups of people.

Then again - if the 70-300 is not a genuine Nikkor glass, it is probably not going to be as high quality optically as the nikkor one. Tamron, Sigma and the likes are very budget and cheaply built lenses, so don't expect them to produce the same quality levels as the real thing.

There may be other factors, depending what specific lens is in question. There are so many.

All in all 70-300mm is hardly and upgrade from 18-200mm... Nor it is a downgrade... They are two different lenses used for different applications. 18-200 is a good all-around super zoom good from landscapes to moderate telephoto. From architecture to sports. 70-300 is a better telephoto lens but with no wide capabilities, it is mostly designed for those who need to zoom in, but not out. Sports, paparazzi, wildlife and such... Both are very useful lenses when used for the applications they were intended for!

LEM.