Cheap
Light weight

Lacks sharpness
It feels really really cheap

This lens is alright. It does the job adequately. I have the old metal mount version, which I think is better than the newer more plastic one. Personally, I would spend more money and get a little nicer lens that can actually produce sharp pictures. Although, if you're just going to use one-hour photo processing and just have 4x6 photos, its a great value. If you want any more than that, don't count on this to get the job done.

Similar Products Used:

None

economical; ok for snapshots, but not for those really great shots

see summary

Three stars is perhaps generous for such a mediocre lens. It's a glorified point & shoot lens. I guess I can thank this lens for leading me to other finer lenses, prime lenses in particular (50mm 2.8 and 28mm 3.5).
There are some great Nikon zooms available, but this isn't it. Manual focus is loosey-goosey, zoom is stiff, sharpness is lacking, and bottom line---the results are not great....more like ho-hum.

Customer Service

haven't used

Similar Products Used:

None

Good Pricepoint

Feels Cheap
Not The Sharpest Of Lenses
Polycarbonate Mount

Not holding this lens to professional standards, I think it's a great lens for what it's meant to be.. I cheaply priced, point and shoot lens geared for the amateur or average Joe shooting his kid's birthday party. The focus isn't sharp enough (usually) for enlargement, but my 4x6 prints look great. This is a great stepping lens for someone on a budget.

Customer Service

Never Used

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor 20mm 2.8D
Quantaray 70-210 4-5.6

Cheap, Great for p/s shuts. Descent contrast.

Cheap construction, not very sharp.

This lens came with the N/F 60 body, and actually I was very pleased with the lens, until my father gave me an old Konica and some prime lenses. The differens was stunning. The sharpness in these old primes were supirior to this zoom. And the feel of old zoom´s just are better. I have retired this lens and bought me the Nikkor af 50mm 1.8. I´ve read some good reviews here at this site, and thougt this was the lens for me. And the 50mm shure is, a very impressive lens.
However, if you just want a versatile and cheap lens for point and shoot stuff, go with this one. But if you dont mind the inconvinience of prime lenses, by the 50mm nikon, it may be the best bang for the buck, you´ll find these days.

Similar Products Used:

Konica hexanon 28mm, 50mm, 135 mm.
Nikkor Af 50mm 1.8

Low Costs!

Plastic!

Why did Nikon replace the old metal mount version with this new plastic cheap version?
I hate the small focus ring. I sold mine and bought an used old version with metal mount.
Optically it's a fine lens.

Customer Service

Neve used.

Similar Products Used:

The old model of the 35-80/4-5.6 D with metal mount.

Compact, lighweight, cheap, sharp and good contrast

Plastic, flimsy, difficult to focus manually

This lens is good for the price and casual snapshots. I have taken some nice sunset and sunrise while traveling around the country. Very light to take travelling especially backpacking. MOunt very plasticky. If you want masterpieces, go for the 28-105!

Customer Service

Never needed

Similar Products Used:

NIkon 28-105mm f3.5-4.5

-price

-very slow
-limited zoom range

The price and the quality are the main (and the only) strengths. I can use it neither for people photography (horribly slow) nor for travelling (limited zoom range). The only usage I found for it is flash photography. And this is not because it is so great, it is because my Nikkor 50 is not D type and my other Tamron 28-300 is not sharp enough.

Don't waste your money!

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor 50 1.8
Tamron 28-300 3.5-6.3

The lens produce excellent picture quality. Great price/performance ratio. Light and compact.

Very difficalt to use with manual focusing (very narrow focusing ring and not smooth enough turning)

Cheapy build lens with great glass. People, don't jump from one category to another when you are judging the lenses. Please stay in the same category. It's not properly to compare Ford Focus and Lincoln. The same way for lenses. If you are buying the 35-80 zoom range lens don't blame it is narrow range it is up to you to choose what you want. It is not weakness for 35-80 zoom lens to be 35-80. What you expected? To get 24-105 from 35-80??? Please judge it properly.

Customer Service

Never used yet

Similar Products Used:

few similar kind of lenses including 35-80 first version with metal mount and wider focusing ring

Sharp and quick focus, Cheap but good value-for-money.

Build quality can definitely improve

Overall a good lens for amateurs and provides sharp images for not so demanding conditions..

Similar Products Used:

None

Light weight, low cost, mine is really sharp, close focus range is fantastic.

Plastic mount, case is lightly made but optics are very good.

I found myself with in need of a camera in San Jose. An Olympus OM-3 or 4 was not to be had and I decided to go back to Nikon's. Not wanting to spend a lot of money I bought an N-70 package with this lens. Very pleased with the performance. It's not a pro lens by any means but it's not designed to be. I will replace it with a better constructed lens when I am in need, til then this one works just fine.

Similar Products Used:

Olympus 35-75 zoom.