Weight
Macro feature
Sharpness
Good colour rendition but does not beat the 24-70mm which is in a class of its own
Value for money (24-70mm and 24-120mm VR F4 are far more expensive)

Build quality - plastic
Sample variation (mine is super sharp from wide open)
No VR

Great mid range zoom due to

1. sharpness
2. weight in comparison to the 24-70mm and 28-70mm
3. added macro feature
4. Super value for money

Customer Service

NONE NEEDED

Similar Products Used:

35-70mm F2.8
24-70mm F2.8
35mm F2D
50mm F1.4D
55mm F2.8
18-200mm DX VR
28-80mm F3.5-5.6

F2.8 is effective, great for portraits, no silent wave focussing but no slouch either.
Can be used confidently in a whole host of situations especially relatively low light despite not having VR.

I believe there is some inconsistency in the quality from lens to lens. Not really a true landscape lens on a cropped sensor camera.

Quite the best Nikon lens in this range, I have used and at that price an absolute steal. I have a very sharp copy with no front or rear focussing issues and sharp at the 24mm (f2.8) end though slightly less so at the 85mm end. Very well built and nicely balanced on my D80. Seems to lock on quickly without hunting, at all ranges.
Colour balance is superb, breathtaking colour on landscape shots would be even better on a full frame I guess. The 16-85VR would be better in terms of wide angle shooting but for twice the price.

This one will be sticking around in my kit for some time to come.

Customer Service

Not used

Similar Products Used:

Canon 24-85mm, Canon 24-135mm IS, Nikon 16-85mm VR

japan made, built like a tank!
72mm filter only..
fast lense, 2.8-4
macro capable, 1:2 ratio.
very close focussing at 1-1.5" distance.
good quality pics
very sharp..

heavier than that smaller version non macro lense 24-85 wd 67mm filter
more expensive also, maybe because its a japan lense :)

i find this lense very appealing, becoz of its huge and macho feel, i dont want small lenses, but feature wise this lense is practically sharp, im gonna rate it 9.5/10 and it also has a very close focussing distance, like if i put on the hood and place the hood directly ont the table it would still focus and shoot.. :) its like an inch close to the subject or 1.5 " not really sure but thats how i see it.. it uses 72mm filter so thats not so expensive not unlike the sigma 24-70 uses 82mm and thats much expensive... i really love this lense and it does'nt come out of my d300 :) its practically one of my best lense, considering its a 2.8-4 lense, its fast. i cant afford the 24-70 2.8 lense but this lense wont let you down.. id really recomend this lense! :)

Fast, sharp, compact, versatile, easy to use

A little noisy.

I have used the 24-85 Nikkor since it was introduced. It has been my prime lens for my F100s and now my D 100 and 200. My primary use is in fire photography with my busy volunteer fire department. It is duarble, reasonably fast, and displays excellent image quality. I also have a 24-120 VR that I use, though it took a fall out of a fire engine. Even after repair, the 24-120 is not as smooth and fast as the 24-85. I have used the 24-85 for forensic prhotgraphy as well as general scene images and portraits of firefighters. It always works and it always produces excellent images, not withstanding the gaffs of the user.

Customer Service

None needed

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor24-120 VR, Nikkor 12-24DX, Nikkor 80-200

Fast focusing on the F100, nearly as fast on the D100. Easy focusing on the manual cameras due to the 2.8 wide aperture. Very little barrel distortion on the D100, not so good on the F100 where it shows up quite well on the full frame 35mm. This lens gets sharper as you zoom out to the 85mm end even wide open (f4), with no light fall off in the corners once you stop it down a bit.

As noted, noisy af. Wide open at the short end there is light falloff in the corners on the 35mm frame, barely noticable on the D100. Distortion at both ends of the zoom range, but is distortion free at 35-65mm area on the D100. Somewhat prone to flare and ghosting if the hood is not used. Don't point it at strong light sources.

I sold the 24-120 AF VR to buy this lens, and have never looked back. I owned the 24-85 AF-S before that. The 24-85 F2.8-4 is a much sharper lens, and I can use it on the manual focus cameras I own, a Nikon FG and a EM, both used for kick around situations where I don't want to expose my F100 or D100 to possible harm. I'd read many reviews before buying this lens, as I always do. Seems people either hate it or love it, and I love it. Its fast in low light situations and is quite sharp even at wide apertures. It has a macro feature I seldom use, but its there if you need it. I have the 105mm 2.8 AF for that. AF is fast but a bit noisy, manual focus has that typical cheesy feel we've all come to love in this age of plastics. Focusing on a manual camera is easy and the 2.8 aperture certainly helps in that regard.

Customer Service

Not needed for any of my Nikon purchases!

Similar Products Used:

I've owned the 24-120mm VR, the 24-85 AF-S (super fast focusing!) that directly compete with this lens. This is the only choice you have if you want to versatility in using on manual focus cameras as well as AF cameras.

f2.8 - f4 are usable in the real world. Sharp and contrasty at all focal lengths. Sharp enough even wide open. Edge sharpness is good enough. Very handy range of focal lengths.

Sample variation.
Chromatic aberration at the edges when wide open. Visible barrel distorsion. Macro switch is fiddly to use.

Note: price paid is 550 Euro's.


This is a great lens, outstanding quality for a zoom of this range and great value for money, but make sure you test your lens before buying! :

Sample variation seems to be the problem with this lens.
I tried out 7 different samples before finding one that worked properly on my D2X. The differences between the samples was not so much a question of optical quality: comparing the lenses I discovered that softness of the image was mainly due to the camera focusing slightly behind of in front of the target with some samples.
The sample I ended up with is sharp beyond belief for a zoom of this price! Center sharpness is outstanding and edge sharpness is more than acceptable even wide open at all focal lengths and that is where this lens is truly worth the money: it is actually usable at f2.8 (24mm) and f4 (85mm). Which makes it ideal for quick changing situations involving portraits and more than one person in the frame when light levels are low.
Stopped down a stop or two the results are comparable to a prime lens.
The macro function is also very handy and actually really usable in spite of the fact that the switch is a bit fiddly to use: you need to refocus the lens to a distance beyond the macro range in order to switch it off.
Distorsion is there: visible barrel distorsion at the wide end and some pincussion at the tele end.

I made some comparisons, but as mentioned above, sample variation is an issue, probably even more so for the cheaper lenses, and if you want to be sure you'll have to test the lenses yourself before buying!

I compared this lens to the nikkors 17-55 2.8, 24-85 3.5-4.5, and 24-50 3.3-4.5, to the Sigma's 24-70 2.8 EX DF and 15-30 3.5-4.5 EX and to the tamron 90mm 2.8 SP macro.
The Sigma's are soft at the edges unless heavily stopped down and had less contrast overall than the Nikkor 24-85.

To make a long story short, the only lenses that gave better results than the Nikkor 24-85, were the Nikkor 17-55 2.8 (which was sharper at the edges, and better corrected for distortion and chromatic aberration but costs three times more) and the tamron 90mm 2.8 (sharper overall and no distortion whatsoever but it's one of the best lenses out there).
This is still a hell of a result for 550 Euro zoom!

I'd say that if you are looking for a quality zoom lens in the range 24-85mm and don't want to spend the 1500 Euro's or more for the Nikkor fixed focal length zooms, and still want to have a usable 2.8-4 aperture, then this is the lens to buy.

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor 17-55 2.8, Nikkor 24-85 3.5-4.5, Nikkor 24-50 3.3-4.5, Sigma 24-70 2.8, Sigma 15-30 3.5-4.5

Very good focal length range and usable,real world speed.Good for digital and film.Works nicely on D70 and becomes a 35mm-120 which is also very usable for people.Compact.

I prefer push-pull to this one which is twist to zoom, twist to focus if you are not in auto focus mode. The lens is a bit large in circumference but it is short,which I like.The flower style lens shade looks weird but is very useful.I never shoot without it.Some lens flare is to be found shooting toward the sun but well controlled.If you want a zoom with no flare get the 35mm-105mm F3.5-4.5AF if you can find one.This one lens takes the place of four primes and almost matches except for the flare,as mentioned.

This is the best zoom lens I have owned.The focal length range is really excellent for weddings and for people in general.You can use it indoors and out.Takes the place of 24,35,50 and 85.The speed is very decent and useful.My lens must be one of the better samples.Never a problem.Sharp as a prime lens,all around.If you have a 14mm or a 20mm and this one,you are all set.After that get the 180mm F2.8 to complete your kit.

Similar Products Used:

35-105mmAF,35mmF2,50mmF1.4,20mmF2.8-Nikkors.105mm Micro Nikkor.All AF.

small size, shapness, high speed, good zoom range from 24mm! suited for travel and ladnscape. also you can get an excellent result for portrait. macro is really convenient while you are travelling.

not so much easy to focus manually with my F3T. But still, I used it at cloudy, dark sea and got an excellent result, all focused correctly.

I have owned this lens for three and a half years. Mine is tack sharp. This is a sharp, contrasty, versatile, high speed zoom lens. Very good for travel photograpy and landscape photography.

Customer Service

Not used for this product. I've got an excellent experience when my assistant inadvertently dropped my AFD20mm/f2.8 in sand at a coast.

Similar Products Used:

NIKON AFD28-70, 35-70. Tamron 28-200.

All in one zoom lense. Fast: 24mm f2.8 A very sharp lens with excellent contrast and colour rendition.

A bit soft at 2.8

I'm very surprise when reading negative review about this lense. I bought this lens to use with my Nikon F90X & F80 after seeing another photographer in the area use it. The AF is extremely quick and quiet and the pics are very sharp if the lens was stopped down to around f/8-f/11 but at 24mm this lens is fast to F2.8 Certainly we can't compare to the true macro lense, but Macro 1:2 is good in this general zoom lense.

Similar Products Used:

Nikkor AF 28-105. Nikkor AF 80-200ED f2.8 Nikkor AF 50 f1.4 Tamron AF 28-200 Many lenses Canon MF

Nice range, good sharpness, usable macro capability.

Nothing comes to mind.

I must have got a good one. It always produced very pleasing results on my film bodies and I was interested to see how it would do on my Fuji S2. In a quick range of test shots of landscape and macro, plus a series of portraits of my 2 nieces I came away feeling very good with the results. The images of the babies were sharp, the colors were good, and the low light focus was spot on. I took some house/landscape shots in the cul-de-sac and found I could easily read address numbers on the curb and license plates... downright startling sharpness. So, like I said... I must have got a good one. I'll be keeping it. :)

Customer Service

Never needed yet.

Similar Products Used:

Range of Nikon lenses.