Their Backs

For a while I had a Zoom-Nikkor 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens. It had been introduced as the kit lens for the Nikon D80. There were plenty around secondhand shortly after that, so I guess the pair were marketed in combination at a price too good to resist. On the web it didn't enjoy the best of reputations. Distortion was a common complaint; also, it had a plastic mount which was pooh-poohed, and people compared it unfavourably with the 18-70mm which didn't distort half as much, had a steel mount, was better built, and had a significantly faster aperture ending at f/4.5. The 18-135mm was however respected for its ability to make a very sharp picture.
Briefly I owned both. The 18-70mm was indeed better. But it didn't zoom out to 135mm. I reasoned that I had other lenses which would cover the telephoto and sold the 18-135mm.
Even all these years later I still miss that lens. It didn't weigh much and it covered pretty much everything I wanted to photograph.