Zoom focal lenght-
Compact-
Soild Build-dropped several times to the ground when shooting nothing broke.

Filter size
Soft wide open f/2.8, good at f4, best f/8-16
Significant distoration at 24mm.

A good travel or studio lens. Does have some drawbacks that should be considered before you buy this lens. This lens does not make a wide- angle or low light lens w/o flash. You need to stop down to achieve best results. Overall a nice lens.

Customer Service

Never Needed

Similar Products Used:

24-50mm, 75-300mm, 70-210mm

Great zoom range; good contrast and beautiful color; sharp (but not crisp), the 9-blade apperture ring gives a beautiful background, and reasonable macro.

distortion; price (before rebate); not as sharp as the 24-50mm.

This is a very good all-purpose lens. It is highly versatile and the images that it produces are pretty good. The aperture ring is made of nine blades, which apparently work well to create a soft and smooth background. This helps to make your subject stand out. The resulting images by an large are sharp (see below) and their color rich. I also tried the macro at different focal length at f16 or higher. I found that at 50-70mm, the results are quite good, but at 85mm, it is just OK (not sharp enough, say, for a naturalist to document a specimen). When I bought this lens, I already have a zoom, 24-50mm (Nikkor), which has a limited range but I love its sharpness. Even though I did not compare these two lens in a scientific way (i.e., shooting under identical conditions), I believe that the images that I get from the 24-50mm are a bit "crispier." The images obtained by the 24-85mm, by contrast, are a bit "soft." The difference may not have anything to do with the quality of the optics but with a subjective preference of what is perceived to be sharp by my eyes. Because my tests aren’t scientific, I welcome you to correct me because I really love the versatility of this lens and would like to own it as a general purpose lens. Finally, after trying it for 2-weeks, I decided to keep my 24-50mm because I do not want to pay more to get a more expensive lens that does not deliver the sharpness that I "prefer." However, I strongly suggest those of you to try it out and see if the versatility and optical quality of this lens can satisfy your needs.

Customer Service

Never needed.

Similar Products Used:

105 f2.5; 50 f1.8; 24-50 f3.5-4.5; 80-200 f4.5; FM2

Sharp wide-open at 85mm
Fast focus
Excellent macro
Solid feel

Soft wide-open at 24mm
(Sharp w/1-2 stops)
Hood not quite enough to prevent flare

Great lens if you are not expecting prime-lens quality of other f/2.8 lenses. Excellent quality for a zoom and a great complement to the 18-35 for travel purposes. Wide open at 24mm it is soft, but at f/4 acceptable and f/5.6 it is quite sharp and has very good contrast. At 85mm wide-open f/4 it is sharp with very good contrast. The focus is really quick and I've had tack-sharp results on my D1 bodies. This is my new favorite "walking around" lens and it works great with the SB-28. Even though it is high quality plastic, it feels very solid and smooth in its movement. There appears to be some sample variation based on other comments I have read. I'm very happy with mine.

I don't think it is worth $600, but with the rebate it is more attractive, certainly worlds better than the 24-120. There is a macro switch and in macro mode, I can get so close that I worried about bumping the lens into my subjects!

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 18-35 ED f/3.5-4.5
Nikon 80-200 EDIF f/2.8
Nikon 300 EDIF f/2.8
Nikon 70-300 ED f/4-5.6
Nikon 28-70 f/3.5-4.5
Nikon 20 f/2.8
Nikon 50 f/1.8
Nikon 85 f/1.8

Oustanding sharpness
Solid feel
Good contrast
Good sharpness wide open

Price
Flare a problem at times
Softer image when extended past 50mm+

A fine quality lens from Nikon for the midprice buyer. Great image sharpness, tonal range and contrast when used under 50mm. Wide open or closed down this lens performs well. The problems start when you get out over 50mm. Almost like two different lenses. After 50mm the image gets very soft and contrast goes way down. I would expect better from Nikon in a lens in this price range. Most of my shooting will be under 50mm, so this is not a major liability. Lens should perform better thru entire range. Flare also a problem with the included shade. Perhaps a better shade will make a difference. Overall a solid feel and smooth operation make this lens a decent buy. Demo your lens first as perhaps I got a bad sample.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Many different Canon lenses

Excellent close and fast focusing and 2/3 stop faster than most zoom in this range. Depending on f stop suitable for some critical work. Nice colors and low flare/dist

Weight, soft edges wide open at 24mm

This is second review for second lens. I bought this lens, returned it and tried another and kept it, but still had a little buyer remorse (see Tamron 24-135 review). However, what I found out it that this lens is so sharp in the center( 85+ lines of resolution) that it make the edges look softer that they really are( at 24mm you do need 1+ stop to clean up the edges). I checked it out against my Nikon 28-105 and the original Japan made 35-80. In the center, it beats them both at most focal lengths. What surprised me is the operational characteristics of this lens. As you stop down, the center does not really get sharper, but the edges improve considerably. Image a circle of image quality getting larger and larger as you stop down. On my other Nikon lens, I do not notice this effect as much. Most of the lens are not as sharp in the center but tend to have a overall flatter image. So the new Nikon design for zooms seems to be extremely sharp centers and softer edges wide open. Also, if you look at some of the resolution test, the lens sweet spots are very narrow and tend to be at most 1-2 stops down, sometime only one stop down. This effect was most noticeable on testing against a Nikon 50F1.4 lens, it looked soft wide open center to edge compared to the 24-85 lens. Only stopped down to F4-F5.6 did it really start competing with the zoom. I was shocked. So depending on you subject, this can be perfect or a disaster especially wide open.

Customer Service

Never used.

Similar Products Used:

Most Nikon zooms and primes. Some Tamron zooms including 24-135 and 28-200.

Nice range and fast aperture. Sharp at center over all range! Quite solid feel. Fast focus. Not bad for D1 users.

Distortion at 24mm (barrel) and from 50-85mm (pincusion); Very soft at edges at 24mm, almost unusable.

I shot a roll of slide of brick wall with this lens and my 35/2D, 50/1.8AIS lenses (Nikon F5, Fujichrome Provia 100F). First of all, the worst image is at 24mm wide-open, image quality is close to unacceptable -- apparent barrel distortion, extremely unsharp at corners, and maybe 2/3 stop light-fall-off. (However, center part of the image is incredibly sharp!) Stop-down to f/5.6, corner sharpness becomes acceptable.
At 35mm, there is slight pincusion distortion. Wide-open edges are still very soft but better than 24mm. Except the edges, surprisingly its distortion and center sharpness are better than my 35mm prime.
At 50mm, noticeable pincusion distortion and soft edges wide-open (but much better than 24mm). Comparing to 50/1.8AIS, the prime lens beats the zoom at every aspects -- everyone should own a 50/1.8, it has the highest value among all lenses and it's so compact!
At 85mm, very noticeable pincusion distortion. When wide-open, its edges are the sharpest among all zoom ranges.
In conclusion, considering its zoom range and fast aperture, this lens is not bad to have for traveling and general shooting. Avoid using it at 24mm wide-open. More suitable for D1 users because of D1's smaller "film" size.

Customer Service

Haven't tried.

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor 35/2D,
Nikkor 50/1.8 AIS.

-good range
-2.8 f stop

I took this lens on a long trip and was very disappointed with the results. Distortion is a major problem with this lens; mostly barrel at the 24 to 35 range. Centre sharpness was decent but the edges are poor.

I sold this lens and returned to the 28-105 that I had used succesfully for some time. The 24 to 85 range was what attracted me to the lens but the poor edge results and high distortion was very disappointing. the 28-105 seems to have much better edge sharpness and much less distortion at all focal lengths, compared to the 24- 85.

Similar Products Used:

28-105 AF

Great range and good speed. Sharp and contrasty enough.

Sample variation is a problem.

Wonderful for travel photography. A good range and fast enough to use 100 speed film most of the time outdoors. I took on a recent trip to Paris and didn't miss my other lenses. Sample variation is problem. Don't be shy about sending it back if you're not happy. I've written more about this lens and have some sample photos on my site if you'd like to research further.
http://www.jimtardio.com/24-85.html

Customer Service

Would rather use a private tech.

Similar Products Used:

24-50, 24-120, 28-105...all Nikons.

Zoom range.
Good wide, although variable aperture.
Good colour.
Cut above consumer lenses.
Twist zoom, not a push/pull.

Aperture ring is not at all smooth to turn, maybe you are meant to use on Program mode.
A very plasticy lens - not like Nikons of old.

I bought this lens after a huge amount of deliberation. The others I was considering were Nikon 35-70/2.8, and the Tokina 28-80/2.8.

In use I have found this lens to be sharp when used on F8 and F11, and when in the range 50-85, which is just what I wanted it for. I always use the lens hood provided. Used on F5.6 or similar results in the edges softening up. I use irt on aperture priority all the time.

The colours it gives are the same as my supertative Nikon 80-200/2.8, and so I can use it with confidence.

Regarding sharpness, I would say that it is very sharp, but not the sharpest. At F8 and F11 it is just below the results from my Nikon 50/1.8 and Nikon 80-200/2.8.

So in summary, it is sharp in very specific circummstances, and if you can use it there then fine. Not a very cheap lens - seems that Nikon have just done enough to justify the high price they ask for it. You may tell that this is not a lens I drool over!

Similar Products Used:

None