Nikon 28-300mm VR

This 28-300mm VR replaces an entire bag of lenses or zooms. No longer do I carry any other lens in this focal length range. This 28-300 really does replace every other wide, normal, tele, macro and zoom. It's Nikon's newest and best. It is superb for photographing anything that holds reasonably still.

Just as the 18-200mm VR saved us from having to carry an entire bag of lenses for DX cameras, the 28-300mm VR again saves us from carrying multiple lenses for our 35mm and FX cameras. There's no longer a need for a camera bag, since we no longer need to haul anything else. If I need an ultrawide, my 16-35mm goes in a pocket.

The 28-300mm VR is super-sharp, easy to zoom and focus with instant manual-focus override, and its vibration reduction really works to allow low-light hand-held shooting at 300mm at 1/4 of a second, presuming you know how to shoot a rifle well. (VR can't stop active subjects, but it does stop hand-held camera shake.)