Conclusion

A consumer lens with a zoom ratio of almost 8:1 is never going to be as good in the optical department as primes or short-range professional zooms, and the Nikon AF-S Nikkor 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR certainly doesn't challenge that paradigm. That being said, this lens still managed to exceed our expectations in terms of sharpness, particularly at the long end where many all-in-one zooms tend to suffer. Centre sharpness in particular is good to very good at all focal lengths, with the edges being quite decent too, especially stopped down to f/8. The lens is also very well corrected for chromatic aberration – you have to look real hard to find any trace of it, even along contrasty edges. Geometric distortions are slightly more prominent – especially the barrelling at 18mm – but are no worse that you'd expect of a lens of this class. Close-up performance, on the other hand, is nothing to write home about – with a maximum reproduction ratio of 1:4.4 and a close-focus point of 0.45m, the Nikkor 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR certainly won't double as a macro lens.

The lens is very fast to focus on the Nikon D7100, making it capable of shooting fast-moving subjects. The internal focusing mechanism makes the use of polarisers and graduated neutral density filters easy, as it keeps the filter thread from rotating on focus. The VR system allows the use of shutter speeds that might otherwise result in blurry photos, although it does not feature the Active VR mode found on some more expensive VR lenses. Generally speaking, a few more features – such as a distance scale and a focus limiter – would be more than welcome.

Priced at £459.00 / $495.95 in the UK and the US, respectively, the Nikon AF-S Nikkor 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR is certainly not the cheapest lens in the market, but its wide zoom ratio, better-than-expected optical performance and excellent auto focus speeds make it a great all-rounder if you do not require true macro capabilities. Adding an inexpensive 35mm f/1.8 or 50mm f/1.8 lens to your kit for low-light work might still be a good idea if you're worried that the 18-140's relatively slow maximum aperture may limit its utility for that kind of photography, but apart from that there will be very few cases when you'll want to put a different lens on your camera.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	4
Features	3.5
Ease-of-use	4
Image quality	4
Value for money	3.5