The Andy Aupperlee Explosion 5000

My Nikon AF-S Zoom-Nikkor D 18-200 mm f/3.5-5.6G DX ED IF VR lens is fucked. About two months ago I was camping in Ozette, WA with Sharat, Caitlin and Emily. We climbed up on a rock that dropped off a good 160 feet into the ocean. To take a few pictures of Caitlin and Sharat sitting on the edge of the rock, I decided to use my 35mm f/1.8 lens and hastily put the 18-200 in my bag. Forgetting that I placed it in an unzipped pocket, I unknowingly knocked it out of the bag when I changed my camera battery. After taking a few more shots, one of the annoying little kids up on the rock asked, “Hey camera guy! Hey camera guy! how many lenses do you have?”

“I have two. The one on my camera and one in my bag.”

“No you don’t. You only have one. The other one rolled off the edge.”

“My other lens what?!”

Oops. Apparently a group of 4 or 5 boys watched the lens roll off the edge of the cliff. Just as I realized that I accidentally kicked my lens off of a 160 foot drop, one of the boys showed up with it in his hand. He chased after it for me and rescued it from the beach. As he handed it over he said, “looks like it’ll still work.”

Not exactly. The UV filter is completely smashed, and some of the glass in the lens is cracked. It is stuck at about 35mm and will not telescope in or out. Part of the plastic casing cracked, exposing a circuit board and some electronics. The focus ring cracked and won’t move. Not really working condition.

As I backpacked the corpse of my beloved lens to our campsite, I thought about all the good times we had together. It was absolutely indispensable when I was in Vietnam and Cambodia. Every picture I made on the trip was with that piece of glass. Many of the iconic images I captured at the World Series of Beer Pong IV in Las Vegas were with this lens. It is also the lens I used for countless sunsets, cityscapes, sports and people shots. I learned a lot using this lens.

As valuable as the 18-200mm was, at some point it stopped being the MVP in my camera bag. It was the Swiss Army knife of lenses—the proverbial jack of all trades, master of none. If I did not need the range and flexibility it offered, I preferred to shoot with one of my more specialized, faster lenses. Using my extreme wide angle zoom and fixed focal length lenses forces me to think critically about composition—I can’t just twist and zoom for the shot. Of course the real test came when I flew to California the weekend after smashing the 18-200mm. Normally I’d rely pretty heavily on that lens, but mixing up the 35, 50 and 11-16 turned up some pretty good results.

Rest in peace, Nikon 18-200mm VR. I bought you in February of 2008 from Glazer’s Camera because Ken Rockwell said you were awesome. You served me well. At least you went out in a blaze of glory, and didn’t break in some lame way like slipping on snow in the street. I will send you to Nikon to see if they can replace you, but I kind of think they’re going to say I’m fucked. Oh well. If you’re interested in how I photographed this lens for this post, check out this setup shot.