Vibration Reduction Lenses

In case you haven't tried one or are a little sceptical about their value or how well they work!

While I have been using my Nikon VR lens with my D200 for some time, an arictle I read not long ago concerning Nikon VR lenses not working on 3 AF sensor cameras, startled me as I recently purchased a Nikon D40 and had been using my Nikkor 18-200VR on it and loving the results - but had never really used it for extreme shooting conditions and so never paid attention to whether the VR (which is on all the time) was making any difference or not. 

What got me questioning the accuracy of the comment, was the fact that Nikon has introduced an inexpensive zoom with VR right around the time the D40 was released and in my view were marketing it to work with the D40/D40x. A fast check on Nikon's site did not resolve my concern. Well there's no sense asking or wasting my time checking all over seeing if it is true or not - - - -I just had to take a couple quick shots, one with VR on and one with it off - to see if the statement I read was indeed true. And so that is what I did tonight as I was putting my shoes on to head out for some night time shots around the countryside. Across the room was one of my coding books sitting on the floor which with its  bold contrasty title letters, would be a perfect for identifying any movement. AND YES - VR WORKS ON 3 AF SENSOR CAMERAS LIKE THE D40/D40X!

There is no doubt that VR is indeed impressive and even with a slower 5.6 wide open lens like the 18-200 can result in far superior images. I should note though that even with VR engaged, it still requires good handholding technique (stablizing and breathing) to get good shots at slow shutter speeds. These 2 are straight out of the camera  with no cropping or adjustments - only resize and sharpen for web use. They were shot Jpeg Basic for nice small 800KB full rez files.

Doing my best job handholding at the 170mm end of my zoom - without VR obviously.


I did my best to maintain the identical position and breathing as above - but with VR NORMAL engaged.



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Good comparison.  The Nikkor 18-200 VR is sold out everywhere here (at least I think it still is, haven't checked in a bit).

It's not off topic for you and me Ryan!  I figured you'd catch that title.


It has rather limited scope for me - but valuable. I purchased it mainly for a couple of tips it provided for ideas that I was wanting to use on my non-photography websites. The main one being controlled and documenatble downloads of my phpCrazySite and security by storing it outside the root folder.  It also decribes a few methods to forge or hack security attempts on forms, sessions, cookies  and SQL injections etc - -  which I want to know so that I can make my scripts more secure. It is where I got my .htaccess tip for fixing a vulnerability with password data stored in text files. There are sections about extracting links from Yahoo, Google, MSN etc - - - which I am interested in if I want to create some typr of directory in the future. Those couple of things make it valuable for me.

PHP Security & Cracking Puzzles - - - A-LIST, LLC publisher - - - http://www.alistpublishing.com

Antoher book that I have enjoyed and benefitted from is "PHP HACKS" by Jack D. Herrington. A lot of help with GUI's and interfaces and integrating or building Google type Maps into your site, extracting data from Excell uploads, accessing iPhoto pictures with PHP, skinable interfaces and   shopping card and other database concepts.

I'm sure I could (and have) found much of the same on the web - - - I just find that I like having the odd reference book to grab quickly when I am coding, and also to take with me when I'm visiting the relatives and want to head of to a secluded place in the house to get rid of them and read.