Optical quality is good among zoom lenses especially at such a price (~HK$2300). The flare control and sharpness are good. Although there are two extention zoom barrels, the feeling is still well constricted coz of made of metal, not plastic. 1:2 marco is useful.

The sharpness drops when using marco mode, but still quite acceptable for 8X10 prints. Also, the lens hood is too big and bad designed. AF speed is fairly slow.

I seldom take marco objects, so I don't expect too high marco quality pictures and this lens additional feature is already good enough for me if I really come across a marco shoots. Also, I use this lens with D100 providing 150mm~42mm, so it can cover most of my tele shoots when hiking and give less weight burden compared with large tele lens. However, its AF speed is not acceptable for moving objects, it is a problem for most Nikon AF small aperature lenses except AFS 24-85mm.

Customer Service

No experience

Similar Products Used:

AFS 24-85mm, Tamron AF 24-135mm, Pentax FA 28-70mm F4.

Great macro range, sharp and contrasty, well made, balances well on camera.

None for my useage.

This is my second one of these lenses. I bought the first one to use with my FE-2. But the focusing travel was so short when manually focused, it was very fussy and slow to use. Recently, I bought a Nikon N80 and a second 28-105. This is a great match. THe short focus travel that made the lens so hard to focus manually, made the lens auto focus very, very quickly with no overshoot. Optically, the lens is very good to excellent for the stuff I shoot. The close focus and macro ranges are sharp and very convenient. Longer shots are crisp and contrasty. For travel, family shots, nature, and landscapes it's about all the lens I need. I mostly use ISO 400, and the f/3.5 aperture is fast enough for most available light shots. (Popular Photography magazine measured the actual f/# as f/3.24 at 28 mm.) It balances very well on my N80 with the MB-16 grip extension. I bought mine used in LN condition, and it is still tight and very smooth in action. So it seems well made.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Vivitar Series 1 28-105 f/2.8-3.8 (the real one), Tamron 35-80 f/2.8-3.8, Nikon 35-105 f/3.5-4.5.

Size Weight Focal length covered

A little dark for working indoors, but at the same time it does not cost like an f2.8 lens either. Uses an twist zoom collar instead of a push-pull type

I like this lens for the price, features and size/weight. It has a very solid construction compared. I'm very surprised by its execellent optical quality. The images are sharp, almost as close as the prime lens. The macro function is quite good.

Customer Service

Have not had the pleasure = never used

Sharpness, colour saturation, colur definition, build quality and macro functionality

It should really include a Hood!

I have used this lens with the F80 and this combination has handled everything thrown at it over the last couple of years including trips to Greece, Paris and the Dominican Republic. I have never had vignette or glare problems in all this time. Personally, I feel that these problems are being caused by second-rate ultra-violet filters. I have compared the pictures taken from this lens to photos taken with prime lenses and have seen only slight (and I repeat slight) differences at the “16x24” range in favour of the prime lens. Given the zoom and macro versatility of this lens, you really can’t go wrong.

Customer Service

Has yet to be needed

Similar Products Used:

Canon and Nikon

Good macro, only 1:2 but who cares. Light weight, Internal focus, doesn't auto zoom when shooting up or down, that a bonus.

Doesn't open up wide enough, 2.8 would be great, can't win them all.

Good Lens. I use this as my primary lens and have no problem at all. I got a Nikon F80 kit and haven't taken the 28-80 lens, it came with, out of the box. I saw this lens and just fell in love.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor 24-120, 24-85, and Tamron 24-135.

- solid feel - looks great (sleek and big enough for my F80) - can bs sharp when stopped down a bit, otherwise, still quite acceptable - has macro capability

- macro is not true macro and not 100% completely in focus at the egde, but still very acceptable - expensive

I bought this lens along with an F80. I am still amazed and love to go and pick up prints after I shoot. Overall, this lens is a zoom and will not be as sharp as a prime lens. But, at f/8 to f/11 when shooting in bright light, thsi lens has been so sharp that I can almost feel the furriness of a dog see alot of detail in ducks. Wide open at about f/4.5 or so, the lens becomes softer. It is still very acceptable in all my prints. In addition, I do find that at 28mm, my landscape shots are not as sharp as they could be. This could be the lens of the film I use. I shoot mainly Royal Gold 400. Macro mode is fun. It is not a true macro but for a serious hobbyist, this lens lets me go into the macro world and just have fun. The edges of my print are not as focused as the middle portion but for all general purposes, the macro mode works fine just for me. I am not shooting to get published in magazines. I have shot around 60 rolls and have only noticed very slight vignetting in 1 of my prints. The top right and to pleft edge was slightly getting darker. I use a Hoya Skylight 1B filter all the time. I love this lens so much that I shoot with this lens about 80-85% of the time. :)

Sharp, solid, light weight.

Can't find one yet.

I like this lens. It has a very solid construction compared to other lens and for so little paid, I'm very surprised by its execellent opitical quality. The images are very sharp, almost as close as the prime lens. The macro function is quite good, with a tripod and carefully control over the focus and exposure, this lens produce very good macro shots.

- 1:2 life size - perfect zoom range for everyday use - very sharp - good value - more than a consumer lens

- little bit heavy and long

Bought it 3 months ago and a few dozen rolls of slide film later I can't find any real mistake and in all I am really satisfied. Of course it doesn't have the sharpness of a "cheap" 50 mm/1.8 but for better quality you need a very expensive and heavy pro zoom (28-70/2.8)with less zoom range or a not more favorable collection of fix focal lenses. If I am not using a super fine grained film like Fuji Velvia and a tripod I can find no quality difference between this amazing zoom and the superior 50 mm/1.8. The macro function is a a nice special and really practically when you don't want to carry extension with you (it is built in the lens !) I have made a lot of closeup work and doesn't see the need of buying a true macro lens except the soft corners. For better image quality always stop down to f 8 or less and use a tripod !! In my opinion this lens is the best standard zoom on the market for its price.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 1.8/50, 35-70 3.3-4.5, 70-300/4-5.6

none I can see

flare distortion build quality

I decided to swith from Pentax to Nikon by getting an F80 along with this lens and I've been hating my decision ever since. The Pentax 28-80mm kit lense I had outperformed this lense in almost every regard for less then half the price. The flare with this lense is beyond pathetic and the distortion at 28mm makes it unusable at that length

Customer Service

so far haven't used it

Similar Products Used:

Pentax MZ-30

-good optical quality. -good built -nice zoom range -macro capability 1:2

-no AF-S -bad bokeh -extends when zooming -rotating front. Bad for polarizing filters

I bought this compact zoom lense about have a year ago because of the many good reviews I read all over the web. Certainly I wasn't disappointed. The lens has a very nice feel and the built does not feel as flimsy as other third party lenses. I'm also quite impressed by the sharpness of this lense and especially by the accuracy of it's contrast and colors. Even wide open the performance is very good. Enlargements of 8x10 still turn out very sharp. The only real optical flaw I see is the bad bokeh in the out of focus areas, which affects the background though the nine blade diaphram. However there are a few weaknesses this lense features. The autofocus is not as fast and quiet as its Canon counterpart. I wish it had the AF-S like the new 24-85... Another backdraw( because of the macro?) is the long extending and the larger filter size. Besides this minor things this lense is imho the perfect compact zoom lens you can get for this prize.

Customer Service

not yet needed

Similar Products Used:

Sigma Aspehrical 28-105/2.8-4 Nikkor 50/1.8