I bought this as a result of a recommendation from a Nikon School instructor to fill the need for a fun travel lens for my D70 cams. I mainly used medium zooms and wides, and for the longer end had a 300f4 and an 80-200/2.8. They were great lenses, but a pain for travel and fun situations. At $300 at the time of purchase, it didn't make too big a dent in my wallet and saved wear and tear on my bigger lenses and was just the right ingredient for an impending cruise.
Although I had been cautioned not to expect too much from this one compared to its more professional counterparts, it brought me many more winners than expected, including the best shot of the entire cruise -- Charlotte Amalie at Sunset. It proved itself again during a video assignment to record a local kids league game. I placed it on a D70 to occupy my son, 15, who is not an experienced photographer. He had a blast and provided me with a collection of shots that were so good, I decided to feature them as a montage in the video.
This lens fills the need for a tele to round out my collection, but in keeping with the practice of limiting lens changes in order to prevent sensor contamination, it can stay on for wider shooting. However, the wide end is somewhat limited, being like a 44mm on a film SLR. It also has a nice macro function.
My typical travel bag is one D70 body with SB800 flash, 10.5 fisheye, the 28-200 mainly as a tele, and either the 18-70 or 17-55 as medium zoom workhorse.
While not specifically marketed as a pro's lens, I feel that it is capable of producing professional results that would please my event clients.
At the time of purchase, I had a legacy 28-105 lens left over from my film days. I sold my film SLRs but was not ready to part with the 28-105. Once I got the results from the 28-200, the 28-105 went up for sale.
Strengths:
Compactness, economy, versatility, excellent performance given its size, weight, and cost.
Weaknesses:
Plastic construction probably limits durability, plastic mount would probably fail if dropped, limitation of wide end, 1-1/2 stop loss in zooming from wide to tele.
The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is the design limitation at this price point.
Similar Products Used:
18-70, 28-105.
Customer Service:
Got excellent response from OneCall, which is consistent with my earlier experience with them.
I was hesitant to purchase this lens primarily because of the plastic construction, and plastic lens mount. I finally decided to give it a go largely based on the reveiws I read here.
When I did get this lens, I was both surprised and extremely happy. This lens may be of plastic construction, but it is quite solid, and heavier than I expected. The plastic mount is extremely well constructed, not at all like some of the other consumer lenses Nikon produces (28-100 gag).
As for optics, again I was amazed at the sharpness, color and brightness. This lens is everything one could expect, and more from this price range.
Strengths:
Sharpness-exceptional from F-8 on.
Build-solid, even the plastic mount.
Guess I have a good copy of this lens. =) Have no problem with sharpness but wished for better colors. In short, in par with bang for the buck kit lens 18-70. Definitely worth the money spent compared to other brands' mid zooms.
Strengths:
Very small and light, good price, quite sharp even at full open, close focus, convenient carry around lens.
Weaknesses:
Color far from 35-70 f2.8 class level. Plastic mount looks like it will fail in time.
Similar Products Used:
Nikon 18-70f3.5-4.5 (great value), 35-70f2.8 AFD, 50f1.4 (fast, sharp and colorful). Sigma 28f1.8 (soft, not recommended)
I don't know if the particular sample I had of this lens one a bad one, but my unit was really bad in every aspect. Sure, it's a cheap lens, but I've had cheaper which performed much better than this one. It seems Nikon is not going in the right direction if the whole new range of lenses for D SLR's are the same "quality".
Strengths:
Cheap, small and light, useful focal range. Looks not bad, operates smoothly and zoom lock to prevent zoom creep.
Weaknesses:
Performance ! The AF is maddeningly slow, when it's achieved, that is, I have had occasions when the lens would simply NOT be able to focus (and under not really bad conditions either). Awfully soft pictures until you use really small apertures, which makes lots of photgraphic situations undeable with. Overall extremely disappointed with this product.
Having previously used many Nikkor prime and zoom lenses over the past 35+ years, I didn't expect much from this plastic bodied/mount lens. I have been very pleasantly surprised at the quality of the photos & the fit and finish of the lens. The zoom range is ideal for an all-purpose lens, as I find no need to lug around a tripod for daylight shots. The maximum f-stop could be faster, but that would negate the ease of use by making it larger & heavier, not to mention much more costly. I'm not concerned about the durability of the lens because I'm careful with my equipment and it's made well enough not to wear out with use for a long time. Nikon seldom makes a lens that's inferior and this is no exception.
Strengths:
Size & weight, zoom range, fit & finish, quality optics
Weaknesses:
maximum f-stop, but then I didn't pay for it either
Similar Products Used:
As a Nikon dealer some years ago, many Nikkor lenses & cameras
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