Chris,
Thanks for those links - first thing I found on Thom Hagen is a write-up of the included lens - seems to think it's pretty good:
18-200mm AF-S DX VR Lens Review by Thom Hogan
And thanks all; seems I've overspent (there's a surprise) but it's a good package. I was looking at Nikon (D70/80) and Canon (Rebel XTi) originally and didn't intend to go up to the D200 or anything like that ... but the 18-200 lens performance swung me. Apparently that lens is sooo back ordered (on eBay the few that exist are priced above MSRP!)
Looking at all the stuff Adam carried Sunday confirmed to me that I prefer a "one size fits most" lens to carrying 4 or 5 different ones - but as you say Gavin, at least now I can get a lens instead of a camera to address some percieved limitation.
I've not really touched the D200 yet (waited for the battery to charge); I took a quick couple of shots late last night at home, with lights turned down - without flash it took I think a 3s picture of the wallpaper, but I was astounded that hand-holding it, there was still almost zero blur! I don't know how VR works, but it seems incredible; I'd expect hand holding the much heavier D200 to be worse than hand holding the previous ones I've owned.
Clarification please on "f" numbers ... how do they relate to shutter speed?
Josh, you say this 18-200 lens is 3.5 at wide and 5.6 at zoomed - what does that mean for shutter speeds?
(sorry I bet I could Google it, but I have a wealth of expertise right here
)
