How does the Nikon 18-200 VR lens perform on the D70?

Question

I like to shoot without flash in low light like for weddings and in churches. I am an advanced amateur user. Am I better off getting a fixed focal length lens like a f2.8 or f4? Are the fixed length lens faster than the VR lens?

Answer 1

The 18-200 is a great all-in-one lens but it's not really suited for low light situations. VR lenses don't reduce the shutter time. Instead, they let you take hand held shots with relatively long shutter times. Look at VR as a substitute for a tripod. This is okay if you're shooting church interiors, but it doesn't really help if you're focussing on people. Everyone that moves/ twitches while the shutter is open still turns out blurry, and the longer the shutter is open, the bigger the chance of that happening.
If you want to keep the shutter time down, you'll need larger apertures. An f/2.8 zoom is twice as fast as f/4 and four times as fast as f/5.6. If that's not good enough, an f/1.4 prime is 8x faster than f/4 and 16x faster than f/5.6. These are lenses that get the job done.
I'm an amateur photographer myself but I regularly shoot in churches and other poorly lit places. I use a D200, a Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8, and a Nikon 50mm f/1.4. With ISO 800 (the ISO dial goes up to 3200, but image quality suffers) I can usually use the f/2.8 zoom... but the 50mm has come in handy on several occasions.
You can look into the Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8 ($1200), the 70-200mm f/2.8 ($1600), the 50mm f/1.4 or f/1.8, the 85mm f/1.4 or f/1.8, and the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 ($500).
If you don't do a lot of low light photography, perhaps get the 18-200 and get a 50mm f/1.4 AF as an emergency backup for around $200 used.

Answer 2

I have not used the 18-200 on my D70, but I have used it a fair amount on the D200. I have not used it in very low light situations like inside a church, but I have used it after sunset and I find the results are satisfactory. Here's a shot I took half an hour after sunset - hand held - for your inspection. I did reduce this quite a bit (120 ppi) for quicker download, so please do not judge the quality on that basis.

http://www.members.aol.com/swf08302/Sunset20060225.jpg

This little dotted lines in the sky are geese.

Ken Rockwell loves this lens. Okay, it's not perfect with zero distortion, but it is easy enough to fix any distortion in Photoshop, if you need to. I use Photoshop Elements 5.0 and it is super easy to make these corrections.

I believe the Nikon claim that this will add 3 effective f-stops to your shooting range, so the f/3.5 becomes more like an f/1.4. Okay, let's say it's "only" an f/2.0, it's still pretty good.

A great lens in the 17-55 with a fixed aperture of f/2.8. On a digital Nikon, it is quite nice in most indoor settings, although you probably would not be happy trying to take a shot of the altar area from the back of the church. Rockwell is not as taken with the 17-55, but OMG will also agree that this lens is a work of art.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/18200.htm
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/1755.htm