Sharp and contrasty in the center stopped down one or two stops. Small and light.

I buy a wide angle to see more of everything in cramped spaces. When those sides (and corners) are not as sharp as the center, the whole point is gone. This lens was unfortunately designed too cheap: For portraits one can accept good center and bad sides and corners. But this lens is not for portraits.

Goodish build quality and good ergomics.

Lots of distortion Lots of fringing.
It cannot cope at all with strong highlights. Reflections off chreome car parts in sunlight give rise to extraordinary images!!! Like a solar flare the light appears to rise from the cars surfaces as a solid shape of light- takes some beating! Both copies did this at the central portion of the image. The curvature of field makes it unsuitable for landscapes as in AF mode objects etc that SHOULD be in focus at a distance and infinity are not so. They are blurred. There's also Ankh-shaped flare marks and really horrid green ghosting circles if the sky is brightly lit in the image area. You do NOT have to have the sun there at all.

I gave up aghast

I have had 2 copies purchased from the same online dealer. I would not advise anyone to buy this bit of glass.

Customer Service

OK- they refunded

Similar Products Used:

18-55DX f3.5-5.6 Nikkor. Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 zoom, 18-70mm f3.5-4.5 AFS Nikkor

SHARP! Great contrast and colour rendition. Light weight.

Some distortion at 18mm.

I have used this lens now for over a year and I absolutely love it. For a lens to continue to surprise me the way this does after continued use is quite something. I have never really needed to question whether I should have spent the extra on the AFS f2.8 lens of roughly similar focal length that Nikon offer - because this little lens is such a star. There have been maybe one or two times when it would have been nice to have f2.8, but not enough for it to make that much of a difference (hey, at 18mm the difference between f3.5 and f2.8 is minimal!). This lens is sharp, sharp, sharp, the contrast is fantastic and the auto focus very quick too, due to it's short throw. There is some barrel distortion at 18mm, so this is not the right lens for architecture, so that's worth considering. Some people complain about the build quality and that it is plasticky. So what? I use it professionaly and throw it around quite a lot and it seems to shrug it all off with style. Weight in a lens does not equal performance. I have no hesitation in recommending this lens. Buy it, it will serve you well and produce outstanding results for you. It has a permanent place in my camera bag.

Customer Service

Not needed

Similar Products Used:

Many Nikon lenses Tokina 28-80 f2.8 ATX Pro (this is stunning)

1:light 2:sharp and contrast 3:color is saturation 4:cheap

1:the filter is a little big 2:MF is not good. 3:the edge is a little soft.

An excellent lens, and can not find the opponent in this type, only prime lens and constant aperture zoom lens can beat it a little. With open aperture, it's sharp and good contrast,when slow down to F8, excellent!! the color is saturation,and the photo have abundant layer. Whem with F8,it can compete with prime lens such as 24/2.8,and 35/2. For test the lens ,I use a rule as the model ,and used 24/2.8,35/2 and this lens,with 100VS.and can see ,when open aperture,the center is as good as prime, but the edge is softer.(motion, the prime lens use the F2 or F2.8,and this lens is 4.5 and 4 ). when all slow to F8, it's very hard to distinguish which is prime and which is this len. the flare controlled very good ,and can say the best controll.

Customer Service

not need

Similar Products Used:

nikkor 24/2.8,35/2,and 28~100G

Light but well built. Included lens hood. Quite fast AF.

Distorsion, curved horizons everywhere. A bit of color fringing.

Great as a cheaper alternative to the 17-35mm, at least on a DSLR.

Proven built Quality Excellent sharpness and colour except on the far corners

For it's price ... none!

This maybe the best market offered wide zoom lens for non pro budget.. talk about plasticky feel ,couple days ago i incidently drop my beloved lens from 2 12 feet away , straight down to the hard surface when i foolly forget to zip my lowepro lens case.And this little lens just survive that accident..The moment i checked the whole function it just worked well, nothing was damage . However ,there is a little scratch i found just below the filter ring..

Customer Service

none

Similar Products Used:

Nikon AF 28-85 Nikon 80-200

Very sharp stoped down 2-3 stops . Edge sharpness is outstanding for this Type of lens . Fast focus on F80 body . Handles very well and easy to use .

Flare from sun or bright sources .

This lens is really sharp at all focal length from 18-35 , focus is instant with F80 body and the build quality is fine . Just stop the lens down to f/8 up to f/16 To get the most of it . I love this lens because you can make Really great and interesting photos and Get almost prime quality .

Similar Products Used:

Cosina 19-35 nice lens but far behind The nikon !

Sharp in center, good colour saturation. Feel a bit fragile...yes, it's not a 17-35mm but for a digital D1 Nikon it's just great:) this camera does not use the corners of the lens due to it's 1,5x factor

Intermediate on low tones/saturation color reproduction, I am happy to have it as a vacation lens, I do prefer the real pro quality of a fixed lens, a 20 or 24 mm is far better. You'll also need the this version UV filter, expensive one comparing with those for fixed lenses.

Super lens, fast focus, Quality of an ED !

Customer Service

not needed:)

Sharp Excellent color saturation Fast AF Good build quality Light-weight

Barrel distortion Loose manual focus ring

Bought this for before my trip to Australia a year and a half ago. Great results. Couldnt take it off the entire trip.....probably because I was just too excited to test it! Images are sharp and color saturation is excellent. Very pleased when I got back my first rolls of slides. Colors just seemed to pop out of the photos. For this zoom range, the f/3.5-4.5 is plently fast enough since most of the time I use it for landscape photography, where DOF is essential. Focusing is fast. Good even in low light. Some reviewers complain that the build quality is too plastic, but to me the weight savings from the solid plastic construction is a great plus. Perhaps only the manual focusing ring is a little on the loose side, but the rest of the lens is well built. Never worried about its longevity. The only weakness is the barrel distortion. Granted that zooms in this range inherently exhibit some distortion. However, the 18-35's barrel distortion is rather pronounced from 18-24. This can be a pain when I need to position the horizon of my landscapes near the upper 1/3 of the frame. Overall, an excellent lens at a bargain price. Its light, well-built, and produces sharp pictures with excellent colors. Would have received 5 stars if not for the excessive barrel distortion, for me anyway. If you wont be sticking straight lines anywhere near the edges of your pictures, get this lens and dont look back!

Customer Service

Never needed

Very, very sharp. Superb contrast. Useful focal length for a D series Nikon. Rich colours.

Some distortion at 18mm - but I don't shoot architecture so it doesn't bother me too much.

I have had this lens only a short time and have already produced some "wow" photographs with it... including some where I looked back on some thinking that I'd used my 37-70 f2.8 because the clarity, contrast, colour rendition of the pictures was so good. Then I looked at the shooting data and realised it was with the 18-35 (I'd used both lenses during the shoot). I read with incredulity some of the assinine comments about this lens, "it feels a bit plasticky". So what? My clients are only interested in images that look stunning and this lens is capable of delivering that. I often think that inept photographers make up for their lack of ability by buying the so called top of the range models without thinking about economics vs performance and weighed against their own proficiency. Great little lense and makes a change to have a lens which is so light delivering so much performance. In short, if you are a lens snob don't buy this because your friends won't admire you and make you captain of your local camera club. Otherwise, if you are more interested in creating great pictures than peer pressure, buy this and save yourself a lot of money over the AFS unless you absolutely need a fast wide zoom (which is only moderately quicker to focus and weighs a lot more in your bag).

Customer Service

Not needed

Similar Products Used:

Lots, mainly Nikon but with a rogue Sigma which sneaked in under false pretences.