Contrast Build quality (feels like it is not plastic) Sharpness Silent motor Inner focus

Nothing in photography but the size, diameter.

I bought it with my D70. Nikon rulez! I think this is the best digital SLR in the entry level market. This kit lens is the absolute number one in its class. It makes great images, very colorful and sharp. I have a good copy, I think. If you want to have the best results you will stop it down to f8, and take pictures in NEF format.

Customer Service

not needed

Similar Products Used:

Canon 300d + 18-55mm (average); Canon 20D with Sigma 18-50mm (this lens is awful)

AF-S is nice! Surprising performance A real general purpose gem

Reversal of zoom ring and focusing ring is sometimes a problem for trained hands used to the "old" convention

I got this lens together with the D70 and so far I am very impressed with it (in fact, both). I wanted a combo that enables to do the same as the 28-105 on my F80 and it does the job even better. Maybe I am lucky and received a good sample. Besides its relatively low aperture, it leaves nothing to desire for the kind of photography I do. Up to now I have not been able to convince myself of buying a 17-55. I strongly recommend this lens to all folks that are not in a "need for speed".

Customer Service

Flawless up to now

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28-105 and lots of other Nikon gear

+ Decent quality + Zoomrange + Fast & Silent zooming + Nice Lenshood + Built quality

- Focussing ring bit not that sturdy - No aperture ring

One of the first digital lenses that give a good compromise for prosumers. Good quality, lightweight, ample zoomrange, good value. Shame on nikon that they have removed the aperture ring.

not too bad photos, okay focusing (with d70)

distortion at wide m/a button stiff/trickey to use

good value for money but compromises too much, i end up using photoshop to fix the distortion with most pictures. most photos are taken with this lens

Customer Service

n/a

Super sharp. Good color. Excellent price. Fast focus. Quiet and fairly fast.

Bit of lens flare if you are not careful. Doesn't like too many filters. Could vignette a bit. Not serious unless you like to use a 82 with a graduated and polarizer but we don't like people like that anyway.

As a working photojournalist you will carry cameras until you think your back might break. That and all of the associated equipment makes a chance to cut down the load pretty attractive. I know, I'm supposed to keep up the image and only carry Nikon fast glass and I have it but...boy do I hate carrying the weight. So..I thought I would give this light weight lens a try. After all, for newsprint we don't need to quibble over a bit of sharpness. A quick call to the excellent folks at Cameta and here it came. Get one of these lenses and keep it on your camera. At F3.5 to 4.5 it can't be called slow. The focus is quick and silent. The zoom range is just what the doctor ordered. Alright we all want a 12-300 but there just aren't any. The quality of the photos is very, very good. Can I tell the difference when I put on the Nikkor 2.8s? I couldn't swear to it. Color rendition is excellent, sharpness is super and distortion quite acceptable. Less distortion than I expected. It is a bit "plasticy" but the controls are precise. And did I mention its light? You should have this lens and use it proudly. If you want to look like a pro to the masses, use your flash outdoors in the daytime. It is, after all about optics and this lens has them in spades. It is a wonderful value.

Customer Service

Nikon has 24 hour customer phone support. FREE! I have not used their repair facilities. What does that tell you about their quality? Cameta Camera is super. Inexpensive, honest, fast and friendly. How do they survive in NY.

Similar Products Used:

A boat load of Nikon professinal and consumer lenses.

fast focusing, lightweight, versatile

f stop

This is a very versatile lens and I've had some great results with it. If you're curious, you can find a sample of images taken with this lens at http://www.pbase.com/ccraft/nikkor_1870mm_afs_dx_f3545g_ifed_

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 28-70mm

5 year warranty Fast quiet autofocus. Front element and focus ring don't turn when autofocusing. Can focus manually at any time even with autofocus engaged. Very very sharp end to end Almost as sharp wide open as stopped down to f8

67mm filter size is not common to many other lenses

My evaluation samples are at: http://www.pbase.com/hsandler/tech

Similar Products Used:

Minolta A1

- Whisper quiet autofocus. - Truly perfect focal length for casual use. - Light for its size.

- Awful vignetting wide open with circular polarizer, to the extent that some of my images are not usable. - Barrel disortion when wide open, but only noticeable for architectural shots.

I'm on the fence about this lens. This was the first lens I owned for a dSLR, since it came as part of the kit for the D70. I remember thinking when I took my first pictures with the D70 and the kit lens, "for all this money is this the best images I can get?" There are some things to like about it: - The autofocus is whisper quiet. I didn't fully appreciate this until I bought the Nikkor AF 85mm f/1.8D which is not equipped with the AF-S technology. While the 85mm takes much better pictures, it's noisy as heck. - With 18-70mm Nikon picked the perfect focal range. I can truly say I seldom feel the need for a shot outside this range (I like close-in people pictures and don't take many pictures of birds or sports). The 18-70mm range is absolutely perfect for travel, or walking around. - The lens is relatively light for its size. But there's a lot not to like as well: - The image quality just isn't that great. The contrast and colors are not eye-catching, especially in bright outdoor light. - The vignetting is truly terrible if you have a polarizer on and you shoot at 18mm. Maybe that's an issue with shooting at 18mm, but it would be nice to have a zoom where you could leave the same filter on throughout the entire range of the zoom. You can't do that with this lens, which limits its utility as an all-purpose travel lens. - It doesn't perform well in low light. Rereading this review, it sounds like "I want a short zoom, I want it to be fast, I want it to be cheap (part of a kit), and I want high image quality." I'm not sure that beast exists. For my shooting style and needs, I have a strong preference for the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D. This means that I have to walk around a lot more to get the shot, and there are a few shots I simply can't get -- BUT the image quality is appreciably better than the kit lens. This lens might be OK if you're realistic about its limitations. It's not a bad lens per se, but it sits in my bag most of the time.

Customer Service

unknown (haven't used it)

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor 24-120mm AF-S VR Nikkor AF 50mm f/1.8D

Light AF-S low cost decent zoom range Sharp Good contrast

Vignetting when using filters at wide angle, wide open settings

I must say I approched this lens with some trepidation. I had been using a Nikkor 18-35 IF ED up until now (a marginal lens on 35mm but stellar on digital)but this lacked the focal range that I wanted. So I gave up the 18-35 for lent and bought the 18-70. Note, I didn't go for the 17-35 or the 17-55 because, again, the lack of zoom range and the exorbitant cost of these lens. I found, pleasently,that the 18-70 is a wonderful lens, although still lacking in focal length range (a Nikkor AF-S 16-127 would be nice). The AF-S is quick, quiet and deadly acurate even in low light situations and the results are exceedingly sharp. I did have have vignetting in the corners while at 18mm but this quickly dissappeared once I removed the haze filter. This is one of the downsides to this lens. Because of fall off it is impossible to use a polarizer zoomed back and wide open, though I didn't find this to be a huge concern if you using polarizers to darken the sky, or get better contrast as this lens is already high in contrast. Reflections will be another matter. All in all this lens was worth every penny paid for it and is an excellent investment. I'm sure a lot of pros will turn their nose up at this lens but they don't know what they are missing.

Customer Service

None yet

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor 18-35 Tokina 19-35 (evaluation) Nikkor 12-24 Nikkor 28-200

focal length Price AF-S sharpness colors contrast no ca

DX (ok, not really) same design as 24-85 AF-S, might like some dust (cleaning is about 20€) and also not really an issue distortion quiet heavy at 18mm, getting better until 30, beyond its ok little vignetting at 18mm

This makes a nice walkaround, AF-S, reasonably fast f/3.5~4.5, low weight and small with good results. For the price a true winner. The 17-55 DX gives better colors, contrasts and bokeh, but needs 4 times the money and doubled weight and size. I wanted the Sigma 18-125 for more focal range as walkaround, but the Sigma is a cheaper class (no AF-S, f/5.6).

Similar Products Used:

AF-S 24-85 (sold) AF-S VR 24-120 (sold)