The first of these, the Nikon 18-200 is an amazing lense. Only for digital cameras, it is the only lense that most folks are going to need most of the time. Cost is high, but the quality is very good. $800 buys a lot. Plus it is image stabilized and paired with the Nikon d40x, it is an amazing camera.
Sigma has launched a very similar lense for just $500. At least Popular Photography says it is quite nice. Just about the same specs as the Nikon, but quality varies a lot more from sample to sample, so caveat emptor. Most importantly, it comes in Nikon and Canon mounts so us Canon users have an option.
Tamron also has a 18-250 F3.5-6.3 Di II AF LD (what a name!) which Popular Photo named a “Best oBuy”:http://www.popphoto.com/cameralenses/4430/best-buys-lenses.html at $500 street. It has good photoquality and it is very compact. 4 inches and under a pound. Got a good “popphoto”:http://www.popphoto.com/cameralenses/4110/lens-test-tamron-18-250mm-f35-63-di-ii-macro.html review. They found that SQF was excellent in all focal lenths and good on distortion. Main thing it lacks is optical stabilization.
Final lenses that is way more expensive is the Canon EF 28-300MM F3.5-5.6L IS USM which costs $1500 but is a true professional lense. “Luminous Landscape”:http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/lenses/Canon-28-300.shtml so most folks won’t use it. It shipped late 2004. It has Internal Stabilization as well. It is also big and heavy at 1.6Kg so not exactly like the ultralight Nikon or Sigma. Like the Canon 100-400 which I also have it uses a push-pull for focus and that is a bit tricky to get right. Still it is a full frame lense and performance is just decent. “The-Digital-Picture.com”:http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-28-300mm-f-3.5-5.6-L-IS-USM-Lens-Review.aspx which does mainly Canon reviews found it to be good in quality. Main issue again is that it is so big.
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