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REVIEWS:  Lenses:  35mm Zoom:
35-135mm f/3.5-4.5 AF* Zoom-Nikkor

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Nikon 35-135mm f/3.5-4.5 AF* Zoom-Nikkor


 
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Rating
Reviewed by: the bler
 (Expert)

Review Date
December 5, 2007

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.67 of 5,
3 votes

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Review 1 of 18

Price Paid:  $80.00 from Reed's Camera

Summary:

This has been a great lens! I love it as a standard-midrange zoom lens that does close-up work very well!

I have used this from closeup flower shots to landscape shots to climbing photography, it has given me sharp, well balanced photos every time.

Strengths:

great glass, manual operation, build quality

Weaknesses:

weight (for climbing purposes), push/pull design.



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Rating
Reviewed by: 

paullgj

( Intermediate)

Review Date
January 26, 2007

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
3.00 of 5,
2 votes

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Review 2 of 18

Price Paid:  $144.00 from KEH

Summary:

This lens becomes the equivalent of a 55-200 on my D70s. I bought it, not for the wide end, but for use as a mid-range tele for the above digital SLR. It is a good HD walkaround lens for candid ethnographic street photography in Mexico and Guatemala - my intended use.

Build quality - 9/10 - just one cut below the more expensive pro Nikkors, every bit the equal to my bag full of AI/AIS lenses, one cut above my 28-105 (8/10), several cuts above my 18-70 (7/10), and many, many cuts above the new DX lenses (4/10) with pastic mounts (already checked out 55-200, no way). It is a work of art, metal barrels, heavy, solid, precise movement of the parts, even a little finger indentatioon in the barrel where one locks the aperture ring to the minimum f-stop.

I tried it outside (it's sunny here in South Texas) taking images of my dogs - the AF is slower than the 18-70, but no hunting. Image quality - the little I've been able to see so far - clear, sharp, good contrast. I've been shooting at 86-100 mm. Here's a quick potrait, hand-held, indoors, f4 with SB800 flash and cropped.

http://www.pbase.com/lahuasteca/image/73556725

To my eyes, it looks sharp, with good contrast.

My reason for buying this lens - mid-range tele-zoom for street photography with my D70s. Everyone talks about the problem with wide on DX- I searched and searched for a good mid-range fast tele that won't break the bank, couldn't find anything, then another post here at photo.net alerted me to this lens. I had been looking at the new Sigma 50-150, but a bunch of mixed reports, and a $680 price tag made me hesitant. Yeah, I'd like a fast mid-range zoom with AFS and VR, but none exists as yet. I feel I obtained a pro-quality lens in terms of build for a bargain price.

Strengths:

Solid build, metal barrels, macro at 35 mm, good resolution, good contrast, relative fast (f 4.5) at long end, compared to f 5.6 on today's new consumer zooms. No vignetting on DX sensors. It is not nearly as big and in-your-face as 70-200 f 2.8 or
even the 70-210 f4 (which I also have).

Weaknesses:

AF a little slow on low light.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 28-105 AFD, Nikon DX 18-70, Nikon f4 70-210AF.

Customer Service:

KEH - excellent. The lens was advertised as EX+ - it appears brand new. Nikon, well, this lens is far beyond the warranty period so N/A.



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Rating
Reviewed by: jorge barrantes
 (Intermediate)

Review Date
August 27, 2006

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

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Review 3 of 18

Price Paid:  $150.00 from e-bay

Summary:

Best all purpose zoom for the money. This lens is sharp, lots of contrast, minimal distortions (it is a FF lens) and from F/5.6 to F/11 it performs identical to lenses costing hundreds more.

Strengths:

Build Quality is super, all metal body, heavy, aperture tring, manual focusing is super smooth, great build overall. I have the newer versionof the 18-200 and the build quality is poor, when I take the lens out I am constanty worrying that if I bump into something the lens will break. Not the case with the 35-135mm, this thing is built like a tank.

Weaknesses:

push pull design



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Rating
Reviewed by: 

bradbrundage

( Expert)

Review Date
September 20, 2005

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
4.86 of 5,
7 votes

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Review 4 of 18

Price Paid:  $90.00 from Ebay

Summary:

This little gem has been forgotten about by many people as a GREAT lens that it truly is. I have used this lens at a few weddings and modeling shoots and it is SHARP. I can't brag about the macro since its not super, but it is better than say a Sigma/Quantaray 28-80 macro I took a picture of an outside wedding reception handheld using only available light and it came out very nicely. I will post some pictures taken by this lens soon. If you can get one of these lenses before the demand for it goes back up you can get it at a bargain price for a nice professional zoom catagory lens. However if you paid over $200 it is a great lens and for the price for what it is you cannot go wrong.

Strengths:

Great image quality throughout the entire zoom range

Weaknesses:

some might not like the push pull for the zooming compared to rotating your wrist; just takes a little getting used to. The weight of the lens takes some getting used to since its built like a tank, but after a while it seems to balance out a D70 or D100 nicely.

Similar Products Used:

everything under the sun by Nikon, tamron, sigma, phoenix, quantaray.

Customer Service:

Have not had to use.



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Rating
Reviewed by: min123
 (Intermediate)

Review Date
October 25, 2001

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.47 of 5,
15 votes

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Review 5 of 18

Price Paid:  $200.00 from USED

Summary:

This is a very flexible lens. Perfect for candids. Images nice and crisp (for the most part). A tad on the heavy side, but balances well with my f4. This isnt my most favorite lens, but it is my most frequently used lens for candid photography. For non-candid people photo, stick with prime lens

Strengths:

zoom, clean picture, feels tough and ridged. PRICE

Weaknesses:

the focusing ring is not as firm as the rest of the lens. Doesnt affect anything, but just feels like something is brokes. However it works perfectly

Similar Products Used:

various nikon and tamron lens

Customer Service:

na



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