My 18-70mm is the only one of the 18-xx zooms that is pin-sharp over its entire fl-range, even wide open (if not counting the extreme corners). In the center it's even approaching the resolution of my 55mm Micro-Nikkor. None of the other 18-xx zooms can do that, and they are all more than f/5 before reaching 70mm, and they are bigger/heavier. (The 18-105 is only sharp in the center and has bad distortion, the 18-135 is even worse an lacks VR, the 18-200 has more distortion and just average sharpness, and the 18-300 has heinious distortion all over, and is not more than average sharpness on any focal-lenght). It just goes to show that zooms with bigger ratio than 3-4 are not really possible to do well. The 18-70mm is the sharpest, has only mild distortion, and is just short enough to not really require VR. That makes it the only logical walk-around DX-zoom of the lot for me. Even the new AF-P 18-55mm kit-lens has way less distortion and more sharpness than the others, and would be my next choice.

Being a small, cheap and light lens, it is of course designed close to the limits, meaning that vignetting, distortion and corner sharpness will be worse than with bigger more expensive lenses. But the important thing is that stopping down fixes the small problems it has wide open.. The amount of performance at this size and pricepoint, makes it clear 5!

Really good lens for it's price
Stable to find focus
Reliable
Usable range 18-70mm

Dust collector :)

I've got this lens as a part of my D70 kit more than three years ago. I like this lens, it is fast enough to focus, rather quiet, rather stable in terms of finding focus. To my taste it gives a little bit of blue cast in colors, but that is really minor and can be easily fixed in post-processing.

Unfortunately, this lens broke after 3 years of usage, but this I consider to be pure tear-and-wear. Some mechanics broke inside, so first the zoom jammed at around 40-70mm, and then focus went off (also, mechanically). As I did not put too much care into handling the lens, I reckon at least half the blame on myself and my heavy hands.

Apart from this there were no significant problems with this lens.

It's not on the warranty any more, but probably I will go on to repair it, for it is really good everyday lens.

The 18-70mm range is usually nice for wandering around. It's a light lense so you won't have a sore neck/ arm at the end of the day. Quick autofocus. Well placed controls on the lense.

Noticeable distortion at the wide and tele ends, but easily correctable in PS. It is no the most solid lense with lots of plastic, but the mount seems to be solid. My lense hood has become somewhat loose after many cycles of attaching and reversing. The zoom is not even. It shifts slightly at about 50mm. Zooms quickly at the wide end and slowly at the long. But accurate zooming is still possible.

A useful prosumer lense that does what it says is should do.

Customer Service

none needed as nikon makes great products.

Great Nikon optics as always. Sharp at all focal lengths with distortion at the extreme ends (18mm and 70mm). Contrast good. AF is fast and quiet.

Build. Lens hood feels fragile to the point where it can easily be broken in the area where it attaches itself to the front part of the lens. Vignetting and light falloff at 18mm wide open. Pricey for a 'plasticky' lens but good enough to be taken as a backup lens during shoots.

Very fast AF. The contrast and sharpness of the pictures I have taken with this lens in conjunction with my D80 and D200 is superb. If you can get past the cheap build (it feels like a super-sized 18-55mm rinky dink nikkor), this lens is a keeper in my bag when doing shoots. The range is perfect for my style of shooting. I would avoid taking pictures at this zoom lens' extreme focal lengths (18mm and 70mm) due to distortion, but this is a trait that most lenses I own have anyway regardless of how much or how good the lens is. If you are in debate whether to go with a 18-55mm or 18-70mm nikkor as a casual lens or kit lens, definitely go with the 18-70mm. I wasn't disappointed at all. In comparison with taking photographs with the 18-55mm and with the 18-70mm, there is a huge difference in image quality. Despite the cliche-like term: You get what you pay for. In this case, you're paying for the great optics (but definitely not the build). It's a keeper.

It's a bargain. Images are very sharp. It's light. I love the AF-S focus ring, which allows fine tuning of the focus with out turning AF off.

It's plastic. Image distortion is obvious at the wide end of the zoom. Not very fast....

Nothing that isn't expected for a zoom in this price range.

First, the price listed is for the D70s kit, not just the lens.

I've only used a few lenses, so the most important part of my review is the customer service section.

I go this lens about 6 months ago. I have been very impressed with the sharpness and color rendition of the images I get with it. It seems to do well through out the range between f5.6 and f16, and not bad outside that range. Image distortion (I don't know the correct terms) is evident mostly at the wide end, but there is also some at the long end.

Customer Service

During a vacation in Europe something happened to the zoom ring...I'm guessing some dirt got lodged inside it, because at a certain point, around 24mm, the zoom ring would stick. You could push past it, but it made me nervous. Also, after a few months I noticed there were dirt/dust particles under the front lens element. They weren't too bad, and didn't seem to affect my photos, but they were obvious under a light. I sent the lens to Nikon to repair the zoom ring, but I also asked them to clean under the lens. I got it back in less than 2 weeks from the time I dropped it off at UPS. They fixed the zoom, completely cleaned the lens and checked the focus accuracy. The lens is as good as new. I can't believe how fast I got it back. Of course, there was no charge because it was under warranty. I'm very pleased with the customer service.

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor 28-105 F3.5-4.5 (on a film camera).
Vivitar 28-105 (on an old Minolta).

Useful 18-70mm range. Unbelievable value! (Come on! Only 300 bucks! Just give up Starbucks for 3 months a get the lense. Well worth it!). Reasonable build quality. Very good optics.

Some distoration at the low end. Some vignetting with a Moose filter.

For the price, this is an excellent lens with really unbeatable value. However, it is important to conceive of this lens as a "prosumer" lens, and one should not expect the optical quality to approach that of the 17-55 mm f/2.8 or any of the other pro Nikon lens. While quite sharp generally, my sample is soft at the low end. Above f/8, the images as very, very shart. In addition, I agree with some of the other reviewers who found that the colors are not as rich on this prosumer lens. At f/3.5, it's not a particularly bright lens. One would appreciate the f/2.8, but obviously this would drive the price considerably higher. The build quality on the 18-70 mm f/3.5 is sturdy and reliable; is lightweight and very mobile; but lacks the solid build quality (and weight) of the 17-55 mm. The distortion at the 18 mm end is definitely there, but I can definitely live with it. There is some vignetting with a Moose filter.
One leg up on the 18-70mm is the range. I don't understand why Nikon designs a range of pro lenses (17-55 mm f/2.8 and 70-200 mm f/2.8) that leaves the 55 mm-70mm completely uncovered.
This is an excellent choice as a general stay-on lens. However, I wonder if the 18-200 f/4-5.6 VR makes more sense as a general stay-on lense, both because of its (amazing) range and VR. I have not tried the 18-200, but based on its favorable reviews, it may replace my 18-70.

Similar Products Used:

17-55 mm f/2.8, 80-200 mm f/2.8 VR

First lens I've had that you can use at all focal lengths and apertures without noticing any difference in the performance.

Get some vignetting and light falloff sometimes at the wideangle end, but this may be because I've had to fit a non-standard rubber lens hood. I dropped camera + lens on the floor once which broke the lens hood and now I can't find another one.

I bought this lens with my D70 18 months ago and I forgot to review it. I tested it a bit at first compared with my 28-70 f2.8 and with my 28, 35 and 50mm primes on the D70. I couldn't see any difference in terms of definition, even wide open. Recently I compared my F100+50mm prime+Velvia+Coolscan IV with the D70+18-70 - no way I can make film look better. It's a struggle to make it look as good. I stll prefer the 28-70 f2.8 because the colours somehow seem richer, but it's hard to explain why.

Customer Service

Not needed

Similar Products Used:

17-35 f2.8 28-70 f2.8 28-70 f3.5-4.5 24-85 f3.5-4.5

Weight, optics between f5.6 and f22

Build quality, and I think for the price there are so many better quality third part lenses out there with a prime lens constant F2.8.

I had this lens for just over 7 months and have already had to get rid of it. I found the manual focus was to sensitive (obviously a lens built for the auto-focus generation) and the images were always unship using the lens wide open, I know that this is the case with all lenses, that they do not work at there best optical quality wide open but for the price a third party 2.8 lens could easily out perform. I also found that the bayonet mount was a little louse and that the front element could be 'wobbled' a lot more than it should. So over all build quality was not up to much.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 35-70 Sigma 28-70 Tokina 28-70

For a reasonable price, this lens is a good working lens for digital cameras whose focal length magnification factors are appoximately 1.5. It is the equivalent of a 28-105 lens for full frame format, but this lens is not meant for full frame cameras. Most on-line retail merchants explictly state such about this lens. It feels quite rugged and hefty, despite the fact that the lens barrel is not made of metal. And like I stated above, I found the lens to be quite sharp.

The zoom and focus settings are reversed as stated in another review, but once you get used to such this is easily overcome. Also stated in another review, this is a "one filter" lens, i.e, you can only use one filter at the 18mm setting. If stack filters, then the filter ring shows up in the exposure. Again if you are aware of this limitation and are willing to work around it by changing filters, there isn't an issue. O, just don't use the 18mm setting if you stack filters. The low end of this lens does show some barrel distortion so it would not recommend it for photographing architecture, obviously this lens will not produce the same result at this setting at the Nikon 17-35. I would not mind paying a little extra money if this lens could be a constant f/2.8 or lower. I really enjoy working with low apertures and very limited depth of field.

After reading the posted reviews and talking to other photographers about this lens, I hypothesize that when one purchases this lens, one either gets a very good lens or one that leaves much to be desired. Luckily, my lens falls into the first category. For a kit lens, I have found it to be quite sharp at low and high focal lengths and aperture settings respectively. I like this lens so much it is my working lens. If I go somewhere and the "one camera one lens" rule applies, I would bring this lens.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 18-35, Nikon 50mm f1.4, Nikon 70-200, Tamron 28-75

weight, versatility

unacceptably soft at 18mm through any f stop range

Nice versatile lens, especially for social and event photography. Unacceptable abberations around the 18mm focal length. Edges are soft and just yucky through any f stop range. Surprised at this for a NIKON lens. many examples of travel pictures on michael edwards photo.com

Similar Products Used:

12-24 sigma 15-30 sigma