I decided to purchase this lens after reading many reviews online. I wanted to replace a Sigma 28-105 lens after I noticed a lack of sharpness when moving it from my N80 to my D80. I wanted something that would maintain that 'walk around' zoom range and be inter-changeable with FX and DX. This lens is sharp, focuses quickly and has great contrast and color. It really becomes apparent when I use it on my Fuji S-3 Pro, due to the improved dynamic range available with that camera. It's a keeper, as I also use a standard 3.5 version, the 18-55 VR lens, 50mm 1.8, the 70-210 F4 and the Tokina 16-50 F2.8. The new G lenses are okay, but I have sold mine and gone back to the early models for flexibility and variety on all three cameras. I am currently looking for the Fuji S-5 to round out my fleet. If you find a good deal on one of these, grab it. I got mine from a great ebayer who got it to me very promptly, and it looks like new!Read full review
This is one of my favorite focal lengths for just "walking around" shooting. It can produce images that show a definite wide-angle effect or totally normal appearing ones, depending on how the photographer aims it! e.g., It is wide enough to begin to bring out the sweep of clouds in the sky in landscape photos, or hold it level and vertical lines look normal. I also like that this more affordable lens is less prone to distortion than some zooms that would include this focal length. The f2.8 maximum aperture is bright enough for normal use as well. I have used an older version of it for many years and wanted one more appropriate and better coated for both my film cameras and digital SLR. So far it is working out just fine.
I've had this lens for more than a year now and taken a few thousand pictures with it. It blows my old Tamron zoom completely away. 24-85mm is a huge range. It's just so darn convenient to zoom instead of changing lenses. The color is excellent with only a little aberration noticeable with extreme contrasts. It's certainly bigger and heavier than a point-and-shoot camera, but it delivers the same kind of instant flexibility. The "macro" switch is a little cumbersome and mine broke off after a while. I have other lenses for macros so I put a piece of tape over it and haven't missed it. It takes sharp photos, but certainly not as sharp as my Nikkor 60mm f2.8D macro. My biggest gripe with this lens is the barrel distortion at the wider-angle settings. I can never seem to fully correct the distortion in Photoshop and on architecture shots I could spend forever trying. I hardly ever use the 85mm end of this lens and over half the pictures I take (on my D50) are at 24mm. I've never tried the Nikon 17-55mm, but it is highly rated and I sometimes think of trading this in for one. But that lens is much more expensive. Heck, if money was no object, I'd hire a porter to carry around a bag of prime lenses and clean each one every time I switched. But in the real world, this is a great all-purpose lens in its price range. Not to mention that leaving a lens on the camera eliminates the chance of a piece of dust landing on the sensor.Read full review
Modern DSLRs with zoom lenses are way too large to carry around easily and I wanted a small prime lens for my Nikon D90 to make it as compact as possible for use as a carry-around camera. I have a 35mm lens but that focal length is too long for scenery. The Nikkor 24mm f/2.8 Lens is perfect for a DX camera; it is exceptionally sharp edge to edge, and doesn't seem to be affected by flare. It also has the advantage of being usable on a full frame Nikon, should I decide to move up to FX. There are only 2 minor disadvantages: at f2.8 it's a little slow; and it's not an 'S' lens, so has no focusing motor (cannot be used on a D40). I love this lens!
At some point in any photographer's evoloution we all need to make a decision - am I a zoom or fixed focal length shooter? For the type of photography I enjoy, and for the purposes I use my photos for, are the tight tolerances and distortion controls designed into most professional level fixed focal length lenses necessary? Do I need the faster apertures - really? Do I mind carrying around several lenses, each weighing half to one and a half pounds, to cover the focal lengths I most frequently use when shooting and do I mind having to reach into my bag to change lenses again and again during a shooting session? Or do I prefer carrying one, or at most two, overlapping zooms covering the same range? If the answer to this question is the latter, then you should read no further and consider purchasing one of the many zoom lenses available that include the 85mm focal length. You should especially do so if you are a digital shooter. For you, the fast aperture of f/1.8 is meaningless, since most of your SLR's start with a sensitivity of ISO 320, and corner sharpness is useless since your sensor is only "seeing" the central portion of the circle projected by this lens. Having said all that, Nikon's 85mm f/1.8 AF lens is one of the finest optics it has been my pleasure to own. Designing short telephoto's is, admittedly, easier to do well than say superwides but this lens is, nevertheless, a jewel among short telephotos. Distortion is virtually nil and the lens is sharp at all apertures, especially at f/1.8. Build quality is excellent, being mostly metal and the lens has metal filter threads (which you will learn to appreciate the first time you cross thread a filter on a lens with plastic threads). The internal focusing mechanism and short movement required to focus to infinity makes autofocus on the lens as fast on my F100 and D100 as my lenses with the AFS motors. Slides taken with this lens are contrasty and sharp at all apertures with no vignetting - even with the lenshood on over a thick filter mount. The lenshood itself is a welcome departure from some of the plastic horrors Nikon has come out with in recent years, being an all metal screw in type. So if moody portraiture with soft out of focus backgrounds on ISO 50 films are your thing - this is your optic and it's a bargain even at full price. If you are a contemplative one lens shooter, who spends the time setting up a tripod and then moving it about until your angle and framing are perfect, then you could not do much better than this little gem (But why are you working in 35mm and not large format?). Even a working pro, who occasionally needs a little more reach and speed would be happy with this lens and can be confident that the results will not let him down. It just that the rest of us, with limited budgets, who take pictures for our own pleasure and not for resale, would probably be better served spending the same money for something a bit more versatile.Read full review
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