Good colour and contrast. Sharp in centre of frame at all apertures. Good solid build quality. Looks and feels like a 'quality lens'. Very cheap secondhand, probably because wider range zooms are more fashionable now. Autofocus accurate at all zoom settings even in the lowest of light. Probably better that a similar spec third party optic.

Softness at edges has a very slight 'zoom blur' effect. Variable aperture depending on zoom setting could make the lens difficult to use with studio flash or if shooting tranparency and using a seperate light meter. This is a feature of almost consumer zooms alas!

Results from using on a digital SLR: Excellent balanced saturation and contrast. Centre, nice and crisp at all apertures. Edges, softer if wider than f11 (will never quite match centre at any aperture). Softness of edges can have a very slight directional effect radiating from centre (like 'zoom blur' in Photoshop). No light fall-off (helped by the fact that a DSLR uses only 2/3rds of the 35mm area). Notieable but not offensive chromatic aberration at edges if high contrast (ie. blue fringing around fine detail against a bright sky like tree branches)irrespective of focal length. Probably a typical consumer zoom, fine for use if you are out for the day and don't want to carry other lenses around. Certainly not a replacement for prime lenses if you need to resolve fine detail across the whole frame.

Customer Service

At the price chuck it and buy another!

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Too numerous to mention.

Lightweight. price.

Poor build quality. Soft focus. Unclear rear element.

I bought this 28-85 lens to put on my D100 and was getting very dark results even when compensating plus 0.7. I have since found out that it was the CPU giving false apperture readings. I think this is very poor qualitly control from Nikon.I have since returned this lens. Now for a rethink.

Customer Service

Good

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sigma 70-200 f2.8

Well built,Great macro,sharp,

Not IF

Excellent lens.28-85 covers most situations and flash coverage.Great macro is icing on the cake.Takes 62mm filters.Too bad it's not internal focusing,but it's a sharp zoom with little distortion.

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Nikon 35-70mm Nikon 35-105mm Tamron 24-135mm

Superb optics. Used prices.

No IF. Zoom ring is okay but not ultra smooth. Macro.

For the price that you can get this older AF Nikkor Zoom, the lens is a terrific performer. I have the upgraded "n" version. Like any zoom, if you use it at its extremes (i.e. 3.5 @ 28mm) you will notice a bit of light falloff and slight loss of sharpness at the edges. But, otherwise, this is a very sharp lens! I bought it for just that and I haven't been disappointed. It's fairly compact and lightweight, but feel substantial enough. Anyone who thinks it's heavy is younger and has only used plastic equipment. I use it on my N90s and N8008s and it balances quite nicely. If you want a normal zoom for everyday shooting and don't have a big budget, I recommend this if you can find one in excellent to mint condition. BTW, you can tell the "n" version buy its rubber focus ring. The older version had a thin, hard plastic ring. Also, working distance with macro feature at 28mm is not practical.

Customer Service

Never used.

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Too many to list.

sharper than most zooms. Good wide open. LOW distortion.

Heavy.

Top notch image quality. Low distortion than most zooms. Negligibe light faloff. Good wide open.

Customer Service

-----------------

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Nikon 35-105 AFD/Nikon 24 2.8 AFD/Nikon 50 1.8 AF/ Nikon 75-150 E 3.5/ Nikon 180 af 2.8 ED/ Nikon 70-210 AF / Nikon 105 2.5 AIS/ CANON 75-300 IS / CANON 28-105 USM II / CANON 50 1.4 USM / SIGMA EX 105

Sharp at 28-85mm wide open and best at f8. Can't beat the price and it's better than the new crap. Really does work great with matrix metering. Can use it like a point and shoot in crowds, with good results.

vari-focal, not recommended to use manual focus, you'd just be too busy.

Bought the N version of this lens about 10 years ago. It's sharp stopped down a stop at all lenths. It's been used as a travel lens and in such places as Disneyland, its irreplaceable. I shoot mostly prints, and pictures with Disney characters and scenery are crisp and snappy. The lens has a B&W sky filter that warms up skin tones ever so slightly. I have nothing but good things to say about this lens. It's not prime, but it is sharp. At 28mm-35mm it's good from center to corner with little distortion. At 85mm my sample is sharp, but not as sharp as my constant F4 70-210 nikkor at the same 85-105mm range, but it makes nice portraits that I've enlarged to 8x10's that look great. I understand the N version to be an improvement over the original AF version. Used w/N80 and 8008s.

Customer Service

Never used

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Pentax 28-80 3.5-4.5

1.Top notch image quality for a zoom( go see pop photography magzine's review maybe 8~9 years ago). The zoom range is nice for general use. 2. Sturdy mechanical design. 3. Macro capablity( Don't be picky!)

1.The most serious problem is its vari-focus problem, which means if you focus at 28mm and then zoom to 85mm, sorry it is out of focus. You got to refocus. I learned of this serious mechanical problem only I got some fuzzy picture shooting Chicago night scene. Pop photo publish a tiny column mentioning about this problem years after they touted this lens. Shame! 2. The screw-on lens shade interfere with polarizer filters operation, this can be annoying!

This lens has its strength and weakness. Over all its image quality if excellent. I shot mostly outdoors slides with it. As long as you know how to work with its focus problem, it will give you excellent result.

Customer Service

never need one. Still running great

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Too many to type here

Sharper than most zooms (consumer zooms). Is good wide open. OUt of focus blurs are natural and controlled. Cheap pricetag- no worries. Wide enough, long enough- can easily supplant with 20/24 and presto I have a 24-85 for under $300 with much better image quality. Notice that I use Matrix metering to fully realize the potential of these lenses- it gives me the BEST possible chance of a correct exposure- Images look like I saw them and let's the lens do its thing like it is supposed to.

The zooming is weird- Starts out at 85 and gets wider. Macro function is way too close operating at 2 inches. And close focuse distance is a long 3 feet from film plane- very annoying.

Okay, so my background is- I just got this lens and took a variety of shots on an FA on one roll of standard Gold 100. Don't kill me if you don't agree. I started my Nikon zoom life with the 35-135, which has a great wide end, but loses definition quickly at the long end. I added the superb 24-50, but having to switch fairly large zooms while travelling was wearing me down. I got rid of them both in favor for the famous (or infamous) 24-120. The 24-120 range is ideal, but the lens is not. You cannot use 100 speed film if you even think about using the long end, which is not a great idea because that's where the lens performs the worst. Colors and contrast are still good at the 24-120's long end, but you lose definition. Also, my AF body misfocuses often while at the long end, making bad shots even worse. Still, I kept the lens for awhile and on many travel outings. In the brightest light, you will see green/red lens abberations at extreme high contrast edges. That always bugged me, even though the 24 end was almost as sharp as my prime. In the effort to simplify and reduce camera glutton, I gave everything away and started from scratch, an F3 and a few prime lenses - 20, 24, 50. Even after all that, I still needed a zoom for convenience and speed. I also sought out the 28-85 by Ken Rockwell's review and my own research. This 28-85 is a bit hard to find and not that popular. The range is ideal and the 28mm is often a very good compromise for a wide view. I plan to carry a 20 or 24 prime when I travel with it. For such a value, this lens outperforms all of my previous zooms in the following ways: The 28-85 is sharper wide open. It doesn't have exaggerated out of focus areas with jaggedy lines like most zooms. When stopped down, images are consistently crisp. The colors are ever the slightest bit more neutral than what I remember of my primes, but that may be due to the single roll of film or my shooting outdoors in midday sun only. The lens focuses fast (with rotating front ring) on AF bodies- not much front element wiggle like my 24-120. It does look like a betterbuuilt 28-80, but with huge front and rear element. I didn't notice much flare

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35-135, 24-50, 24-120 These are all good to very good lenses and can produce excellent results, but you may have to compromise.

Quality Japanese construction, excellent feel in operation

Heavier than the newer consumer shorty zooms, but then real lenses are!

bought this lens used on Ken Rockwell''s advice and after a friend smashed his in a stream in the Great Smoky Mountains last spring. As a better-than-average built optic and it certainly is. it takes great shots and works fine with flash although not a D-type lens. The heavier construction actually helps me balance the N80 body better, and I like having a smidge of macro capability on hand as well. Look for them at the $150-$200 mark from online retailers (forget eBay) - make an offer but don''t spend anymore than $160 - or tell ''em you''ll go to the 28-105 AF D instead... adios!

Customer Service

not needed

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Nikkor 70-300 AF D Nikkor 28-80 AF D Nikkor 50/1.8 AF

Flexibility, size and price

28mm and 85mm limitations.

Just purchased this lens, optically a lot better quality than the the stock 28-80 lens. Very sharp images when working between 35- 70 mm and f8 - f11. Good value for money, well constructed and ideal as a travel lens.

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35mm 2.0 Nikkor 80 - 200mm 3.5 Nikkor