Nikon 24-70

Sw1tchFX · Mar 17, 2011

And believe it or not, the 24-70 is the weakest of the holy trinity. You want extreme sharpness in that range, Nikon's new exotic primes blow it away.

The 24-70 is no doubt a good lens, my favorite thing about it is the AF action on it is super fast and damn near infallible. However, the 24-70 isn't suited for everyone, I personally am not a huge fan of it. I don't think the build quality reflects the price, the focus and zoom rings just don't feel very tight, it's almost common for the mounts to snap off (well documented, and acknowledged by Nikon), at 50mm-ish the focus scale leaks light (well documented, and acknowledged by Nikon), 24mm on it is a kind of weak, and to top it off it's about as big as the 80-200, with the hood on about the size of the 70-200 VRII.

I rent the 24-70 when i need a 1-lens event solution, but otherwise i'll stick to my primes in that range, especially when i'm in a situation that i'm more-or-less in control of or can anticipate.

mar1u5 · Mar 18, 2011

Mr500CM said:
FYI if you really need the speed and the extra 2mm's then you should really look into the 16-35mm f4 lens. Its maybe the sharpest zoom made and there is a big price difference between that and the 14-24mm (new that is).

Lance

From where do you have that the 16-35 is the sharpest zoom made? That's utter BS. The 24-70 beats it, and the 14-24 beats it. I've owned all three, and currently still have the 16-35. It's the weakest of the three.

mhk1058 · Mar 18, 2011

Yup, had my eye on that one, nice bonus, it was nearly in the bag, then the boiler went on the blink and the handle came off the oven door. :thumbdown:

PhotoWrangler · Mar 20, 2011

mhk1058 said:
Yup, had my eye on that one, nice bonus, it was nearly in the bag, then the boiler went on the blink and the handle came off the oven door. :thumbdown:

LOL! WHAT?!? LOL

tirediron · Mar 20, 2011

mar1u5 said:
Mr500CM said:

FYI if you really need the speed and the extra 2mm's then you should really look into the 16-35mm f4 lens. Its maybe the sharpest zoom made and there is a big price difference between that and the 14-24mm (new that is).

Lance

Click to expand...

From where do you have that the 16-35 is the sharpest zoom made? That's utter BS. The 24-70 beats it, and the 14-24 beats it. I've owned all three, and currently still have the 16-35. It's the weakest of the three.

Yep - the 16-35 is a good lens (I went with it over the 14-24 because I don't use ultra-wide enough to justify the added cost) but NOT a great lens.