very sharp and contrasty.

Not sharp enough.

It's a wonderful lens, period. It doesn't offer the best qualities(sharpness, contrast, etc) you find in those prime lenses, but it's very close. Compact, light-weight, an excellent choice for everyone.

Relatively small and light compared with the Sigma 15-30mm lens. Possibility to use filters, that cannot be done easily with the Sigma lens. Seems to be mechanically a more robust construction. Acceptable price.

It seems to me, that this lens got a problem with chromatic abberation at the corner of the image; at least in combination with the Fuji Finepix S2 camera. Did anyone observe this effect with usual analog film too?

I have used this lens with a Fuji Finepix S2 digital SLR camera. I'm happy with the image quality at 35mm at all apertures, but at lowe focal lengths like 18mm and especially also with aperture open up wide I see a lot of chromatic abberations at the corners on my digital photos if I look at the digital image with 100% magnification. I have also tried the Sigma 15-30mm EX DG lens with my Finepix S2 and I can say, that this lens also shows a little chromatic abberation (you can see small blue and yellow lines around areas with high contrast like for example trees at the corners of the image) at lower focal lengths, but the image quality of the Sigma lens seems better to me - at least in combination with the Fuji Finepix S2.

Customer Service

Not needed.

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 15-30mm AF EX DG.

image quality controled contrast fast af controlled flare 18mm! Performace wise, an umbeatable lens at this price. (since tamron 20-40 cost slightly more new, but tamron costs far less second hand) Overall i Very very satisfied with the performance nice hood

Feels like plastic junk kinda slow.. f3.5 max fstop if im not mistaking. Tamron has 2.7... no biggie though

Is it just me or does this lens feel like plastic junk? Dont get me wrong, this take vey beautiful images that are sharp, controlled contrast, controlled distortion, very mild flare. (I love the images from this lens) However, I think my nikkor 50mm af non d, which costs about $85 has a more durable feel than this lens. Im at a love/hate relationship with this lens. Beautiful lens vs. feels like a toy. Considering this costs about $450.. i dont know. I loved my tamron 20-40 before i sold it to raise funds for the nikkor 18-35. Tamron did have as much range, but almost equal on image quality (nikon with slight edge), but tamron feels rock solid. It makes me chuckle to see the 18-35 on my nikon f4e. Rock solid all metal tank of a camera with a plastic lens. Too bad i cant afford the 17-35afs, but im sure most of you are in the same shoes.

Customer Service

Expensive and have to repeat requests in order to get things done. (from past experiences) I have not had any probs with lens.. except when i was dropped. Whoops!!

Similar Products Used:

tamron 20-40 nikkor 20mm af

Sharp, compact, nice range

None.

An outstanding wide angle bargain. very sharp, minimal light fall off. I have owned the 20-35 and the 28-70 AFS lenses, and this is just as sharp, in my view. Very high value for money. Sure AFS is nice, but it adds weight. Build quality is pretty good, particularly at the price.

Customer Service

not tried

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various

Extends to 18mm - which is plenty wide for creating real drama. Very sharp stopped down. Has that ED "pop" to the colors and contrast. Light, and relatively well made. Very little detectable distortion - if you know how to use it - for a lens this wide. Realtively little light falloff noted in my sky pictures at f8 and slower. Not too expensive.

Slow. Why couldn't this have been f2.8 at the 18mm end, and f3.5 at 35mm? I'd have paid $100 more if it was. Had a little flare in some into-the-sun shots, but that was more user error than lens problem. Admittedly, didn't shoot this wide open very often, but on interior shots, wide open, it performed well enough.

I use this lens primarily outside, and at the wide end, you get a lot of sunlight. As such, I can almost always stop this lens down to f8 or slower. At those apertures, it produces incredible results. I can't tell the difference between this lens and my wide angle primes in terms of contrast and color. I'm not an insane sharpness nut - but sharpness is very good at f8 and slower. It is relatively well made, and easy to carry and use,...and an amature can afford it. It was my most used lens on my recent trip to Phoenix. Because of the "wow" perspective of 18mm, this lens makes average photos good, and good photos great. I have a lot of nice "big sky" shots from the desert. Its also great for interior shots, especially on a tripod, because you can capture an entire room in one frame - though light does fall off in the corners with flashes that can't reach that wide. This lens balances nicely on my N80's and focuses very fast. I'd recommend it to anybody, unless you need the faster aperture and internal motor of the 17-35 AFS lens.

Customer Service

Not needed.

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20mm f2.8 and 24mm f2.8 primes. Very similar results stopped down, but far less convenient to use.

Price Sharpness, weight

little bit plastic

I think the previous reviewer should go back to the basic photo school to learn what is the "light fall off" means. This is an excellent lens for the money. Compare to the 17-35 mm it is Much lighter, it still contains one ED element. Compare to the pictures taken by both 18-35mm and the 17-35mm,you will have hard time to find the difference between them.

Customer Service

none

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17-35mm

Zoom range. Cheaper then the expensive 17-35mm.

Horrible light fall off at all focal lengths. Wide angle end is worse and isn't even corrected at f8. At f8 at 18mm there is much fall off and at 35mm it is better, but still noticeable. Sharpness is bad too. The center is ok at f5.6, but corners are still soft at f8.

This lens has a nice zoom range that is fun to have, but has some serious problems. If you think this lens is better then the 24-120, you will be disappointed. After a roll of test shots this lens was sent back. Save your money and get the 17-35mm.

Customer Service

Trying to get through to them can be a 30 min. wait on some days. Otherwise very friendly and helpful.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 24-120mm (Junk) Nikon 80-200mm f2.8 (Excellent)

good range; very funny; light and relativly compact; excelent color saturation; very sharp when stopp down 2stops. A bargain (the best lense for this price)

distortion (definitly this is not the best lense to use in arquiteture); collect dust very easy. (it don''''t provide the same protection of the big brother 17-35/2.8)

This is probably the best consumer lens in the market. Excelent color saturation. You rarely will need to use the circular polarizer when you shoot with velvia. To get the best sharpness you need to shoot in f/8 and up. Side by side test with the nikkor 24/2.8: The prime have a better (not higher) contrast. The 18-35/3,5-4,5 has a higher color saturation (you need to pay attencion when use the Polarizer to avoid overpolarization). the zoom need to stop down 2stops to obtain the same level of the prime wide open. the distortion control of the prime is excellent. The distortion control of the zoom horrible.

Customer Service

fine in brazil.

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50/1.8; 24/2.8; 80-200/2.8 (all nikkors)

Build - very solid Range (Fun!) Speed (3.5 wide open at 18mm, 4.5 at 35mm) Focus speed - the throw is very short, and even on the N80 the focus is lighting quick, on the F100 almost instantaneous. 77mm filter thread lets me use one filter for most of my lenses.

There''s distortion, so don''t buy this for architecture shots or anythign else that requires perfectly straight lines.

An excellent, funm well-built lens. Stopped down it becomes very sharp, but even wide open the center is tack sharp with some softness n the corners. One of the best-built consumer lenses I''ve handled, and great for the price. Tends to flare, which is not unusual for lenses with an exposed front element this size. Being a zoom also contributes to that. The lens hood looks cool, and it does actually seem to help.

Customer Service

not needed

Similar Products Used:

none in this focal length

- Colour is better than my Nikon 28-105 F3.5-4.5D - Focus down to 33cm. Creat exaggerative effect when combined with 18mm. - AF is very fast. - MF is good. Need to rotate the focus ring for high degree. That''s easy to fine turn. - With hood that really works. - Light weight. - Build quality is better than I expected.

Common wide angle zoom weaknesses: dark corner, vignette and distortion. Every wide angle zoom in the market suffer from these. It is better than Sigma 17-35 F2.8-4 that I have tried.

This is the most important reason for me to choose Nikon system. Only Nikon offer me such an excellent ultra-wide zoom at a affordable price.

Similar Products Used:

F80, FM2 Nikon MF 28mm F2.8 Vivitar MF 28mm F2.8 Sigma 17-35 F2.8-4 Sigma 24-70 F2.8 (82mm filter for both sigma,I hate that)