Have had the lens for a few years and probably 15,000+ images on 3 Nikon cameras. No repairs or apparent wear, it is tougher than it looks, even dropped it once, no problems. Excellent color rendition, Contrast and sharpness for the price. While the build and quality not quite up to the pro lenses, you get quite close to their quality for half the price, especially with digital cameras. Beautiful lens allowing a great variety of shots from family gatherings to landscapes, it serves as my prime lens unless I am going for the greatest possible detail such as large landscape prints but that is not to say this lens will not provide snappy 8 x 10 and larger, it does!
I wish it had a little more range than 18-35, but then I always want more, but could not get it with this kind of performance and price.
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
Wide but distortion, Thursday, 27 August 2009
Overall rating (weighted)
3.8
Sharpness
4.0
Build Quality
3.0
AF Speed
4.0
Value for Money
4.0
I got my 18-35mm just yesterday and used it today for real estate. I bought it used for 200 USD so there is no chance I would regret it. I use it on a Nikon D700 FX so it gets REALLY wide. The lens is pretty sharp even in the corners, though you will notice that they are less sharp especially wide open. The build quality is mediocre and it feels like most cheap plastic zooms from Nikon. If you are a haptic it is not so nice but if you are looking for something light weight it is great. I handle my glas with care no matter if it is plastic or metal so I don't really worry. I use it with a Hoya UV filter which does not cause any Vignetting/dark corners. The only problem is that this lens hast quite some distortion at 18-24mm. I tested the Nikon 20-35mm before which has almost no distortion but is not as wide, costs more, weighs more and is not as sharp. So this lens is probably the best compromise if you don't want to spend a lot of money on a 17-35mm or even 14-24mm.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Good lens for price, Saturday, 07 February 2009
Overall rating (weighted)
4.8
Sharpness
4.0
Build Quality
5.0
AF Speed
5.0
Value for Money
5.0
Lightweight lens at a reasonable cost... Quite sharp, a Bit of distortion though. Overall not bad.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
A sweetheart! A versatile performer, solid and fu, Friday, 10 March 2006
Overall rating (weighted)
4.3
Sharpness
3.0
Build Quality
5.0
AF Speed
4.0
Value for Money
5.0
This is just a plain sweetheart of a lens. It covers the useful 18-35 mm range (which is 27-52mm on a Nikon digital SLR, which is a VERY useful range). This lens costs less than half the price of the (expensive) professional Nikon 17-35, and does almost as nice a job. Sufficiently nice, in fact, that most amateurs will not discern much, if any, difference. While not built like a tank, I think that the quality of construction on this one is excellent, and more than adequate for enthusiastic amateurs and even some pros.
On a Nikon digital SLR, which will use the center portion of this lens (due to the size of the sensor in the SLR) you can expect excellent, even spectacular results. This is a fabulous lens for landscape and nature shots, portraits, or just plain walking around taking pictures. Someone who only wanted one lens that was not a telephoto could do much worse than to select this excellent, versatile lens. This one is great for parties, vacations, and the works.
The images I have shot with this lens have all featured superb contrast, are very sharp, and have beautiful color rendition. There just is not a lot not to like about this lens. I give it 4 stars for overall performance, but 5 stars for value and price/performance. Some lenses just get it all together and work and become keepers. This is one of those.