I bought the 28-105 to use at work where I photohgraph children who have disabilitiies in the classroom, playing sports, on stage, etc., both indoors and out.
Even inside and on digital with 1.5 cropping factor this is a fine lens. Combined with the SB600, it can do almost everything I need it to do--and do it well. The weight and price as well as the macro function are strong selling points, and with its large hood and a Nikon NC filter attached at all times, it is almost child proof.

A big influence on my buying this lens was the review by jrp on the Nikonians.org web site.

Very satisfied; but--I should add--I also bought the Nikon 50mm, f/1.8 for lighting situations that were too much for f/3.5-4.5

Similar Products Used:

My personal equipment includes D200, Nikon 50mm, 17-35, and 100, and 180; plus Tokina, Tamron, and Sigma lenses that cover 12-24, 17-50, and 50-150. I use the SB800, sometimes by itself and sometimes as the master witth the SB600.

Good build, image quality, minimal distortion, not an extreme zoom, good color.

Front lens rotates while zooming (hard to use polarizer), and "flying saucer" lens hood.

I've actuall had the F100/28-105 combo since 2002, but have used either very little, preferring manual focus Nikons and primes. About a month ago, I took a trip north to photograph the change of colors and took two cameras with me: F100/28-105/400UC and D70s/18-70. I was suprised at how really good the F100/28-105 worked. Even though the lighting conditions were quite difficult - cloudy, overcast, drizzle - the images were sharp, clear, good contrast, and saturation. I can't say a bad thing about the 28-105. You can see some of the images at the following link:

http://www.pbase.com/lahuasteca/scans_and_digital

On the F100 the autofocus was fast and precise. As stated, the images were vibrant with lots of punch. I preferred the F100/28-105 images to those of the D70s/18-70. The build on the 28-105 was much better than the DX lens; a plastic outer shell, but the lens barrel was metal.

The 28-105 makes a perfect walkaround lens for a film camera; on digital it is a little long, more like a medium tele-zoom like the classic 75-150E manual focus.
In fact, I consider the 28-105 in the same league with the older MF lens - one of Nikon's all-time bargain/value lenses. Distortion is minimal, AF is fast on the F100 (not so fast on the N80 or D70s), and the color is quite good.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Lots of Nikon primes, 75-150E zoom, 70-210 f4 AF zoom, 18-70 zoom

nikon optics, price, well built

I have this lens, recommended highly for it's versitility, quality and price. I have used it on my n70/n80 and also on the d50, although a long for the dslr. It's a great lens for it's price, much better than the quanaray of equivalent zoom. Good one lens walk around lens for a film slr.

Similar Products Used:

nikon 50mm f1.8/tokina 19-35/nikon 35-80/quantaray 28-90

The wide zoom range and macro capability make this a handy lens. If you want pro quality out of it, you'll have to shoot at f/8 or smaller. I was thinking it would be perfect setup for digital with a 12-24 and the 28-105. That gives a 35mm equivelent of 18mm through 157mm. It's a light and compact little lens.

Softness wide open.

Here's the scoop when shooting the 28-105 with my D200. It is soft at 28mm under about f/8. It's a tad soft wide open between about 35mm and 105, sharpening up at aperatures smaller than 5.6. Distortion is fairly well controlled. I think Nikon biased the lens design more for distortion control than sharpness. Chromatic aberation control is fair, but not great.

Customer Service

I've always had good luck with Nikon service.

Similar Products Used:

Many Nikkor zooms and primes.

Light weight. Nikon 5 year warranty if you buy it new. Not a push pull, which is a plus to some but to me makes no difference. Great range. Good resale value if you sell it (I hope). Convenient 62mm filter size. Internal focus, so using a polarizer filter is a lot less fiddley. Nice build quality for a consumer zoom.

It just isn't that sharp unless stopped down. Quite a bit of distortion, so if you are shooting architecture, this will be a problem.

A nice travel lens, but I am not sure it is a keeper. The first batch of photos that came back were pretty sharp, but not as sharp as my 80-200 2.8. They were only sharp at f8 or higher too. Under that they looked very ordinary. I love the light weight, and the build quality is good enough, and most of all the range is great. It is the sharpness that concerns me, as well as the distortion at both the low end and high end. In between it is handled well. After getting the photos back, I bought a 35-70 2.8 and had planned on selling the 28-105, but I see now that there is a big difference in range, so I am undecided whether to sell it. If you want a sharp as a tack lens, or one w/o distortion, I can't recommend this lens. However, if you basically want the convenience of having a one lens setup, or are using it as a travel lens, then it is fine.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 35-80, 60 2.8, 35-70 2.8, 80-200 2.8, and 28-200 G ED

Versatility! Macro, wide angle, and short telephoto, all in one. Very good general purpose lens.

The manual focus ring is hard to use precisely. It's small and doesn't rotate very far. But, I don't use it much anyway.

I bought this lens instead of the kit lens, with an N75. I've used it mostly for landscape photography, during backpacking trips, and it produces very sharp pictures. It is much sharper than the my old lenses (see below). The macro feature is also very cool, but it's the only macro I've used, so... I don't have a lot of experience with other lenses (see below), but I have no major complaints about this one. It seems to be a great value, and a good step up from a kit lens. (I don't remember my exact purchase price...this is just an estimate, and I think it's available in the $200 range now.)

Customer Service

I've had this lens for about 2.5 years and have had no need to contact customer service.

Similar Products Used:

Old, crappy, hand-me-down, 80's model, Vivitar zoom and Sears brand zoom, and a Vivitar prime 105mm.

Small, great macro for closeups, sharp corner to corner, especially when stopped down to f8 or more. Well priced and takes 62mm filters. Very useable range.

Range is not really ultrawide, 24mm or wider is better for some scenes or group shots.

Solid performer. Like any wide angle zoom, using it at max. aperture has drawbacks. Stop it down to f8.0 or more and you have no vignetting or light falloff that is noticeable. Now that the price has dropped, this lens could be your workhorse! Good build quality and an easy to get 62mm filter means you can do whatever you want with this lens. I use this lens for weddings and scenery, as well as portraits, and have never been disappointed with the perfomance. Some flare shooting into the sun, but that is normal. Macro is excellent! Lens is small and light enough to take anywhere. Although I need 20mm to shoot some scenic and group shots, this little lens is on my camera most of the time.

Customer Service

Never needed it in four years so far.

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor 35-105, Canon 35-105(EOS), Pentax 28-200.

Good construction Good price Very good optics And a nice Macro feature

Rotating front barrel when zooming makes using petal hood impossible.

I have to say this is one of if not the best Mid Range consumer zoom. I have consistantly gotten very sharp slides with very good contrast.

Customer Service

Not needed

Similar Products Used:

28-100G 24-120D

at price of below 300 after rebate...everything.

Some rotating of front element with zoom. Very short AF drive range from min.-max. makes manual focusing difficult

Reviewer below got confused with China made 28-85mm. 28-105mm I have for about 5 years, and it suprised me again when I loaded my F100 with Fuji Superia Reala 100, pictures are so crisp and sharp, I did not realize it is possible with this lens, film grain makes the difference too. I use my 80-200/2.8D as a reference, I would have to enlarge to really distingush the difference. This guy is a keeper, I must have a really good sample.

Similar Products Used:

see my review below

cheap

soft soft soft

This was the first lens I bought and I loved it as sharp compared to a P&S camera. Now I have a whole set of lenses and 1 year of experience. This lens is really really unsharp compared to my others. It is so bad that you can even see it in the finder ( took me a while to develop this experience ). In contrast I have a 50mm f/1.8 that is unbelievable. I am not sure what the alternative would be. Maybe the 50mm and wlaking up to the subject, maybe the 1400$ f/2.8 but I would not buy this lens anymore

Customer Service

not used

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 105mm f/2.8 Nikon 28mm f/1.4 Nikon 85mm f/1.4 Nikon 50mm f/1.8 Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 Nikon 80-400mm VR Nikon 17-35mm f/2.8