Customer Reviews

Nikon 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR NIKKOR Zoom Lens

5 star:		(4)
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2 star:		(1)
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This is a superb lens. It is exactly what it says it is... It has a VERY useful zoom range. It is VERY fast focusing. And it has VR. But ignore the reviews that suggest that VR is the same as a 1.2 or 1.8 lens -- It is not. VR allows you to handhold in much dimmer light than you could normally handhold a lens by compensating for minor hand tremors. But your exposure, being longer, can no longer "freeze" moving objects, like kids. So while your image is stabilized, your subject is not. VR is a GREAT benefit, but it cannot replace a 1.2 or 1.8 lens that gives you the faster shutter speed, rather than trying to compensate for a slower speed. VR also costs far, far less than a very, very fast zoom. This lens is a joy to use, very, very sharp and contrasty, and has produced for me many great shots. If you understand what image stabilization is, as opposed to a truly fast lens, you will love this lens.

Nikon makes six VR (Vibration Reduction) lenses. Three of them sell for $4000 to $6000. Two others can be yours for $1500 and $1700 respectively. The sixth is this 24-120 mm zoom which costs about $500 mail order. VR makes the lens effectively three stops faster than a comparable non-VR lens, enabling it to shoot at 8 times as long a shutter speed without blurring. Its "slow" f/3.5-5.6 maximum apertures become functionally equivalent to a f/1.2-2.0 lens, faster than any zoom lens in existence at any price (other than Nikon's other VR lenses).

The objection that the lens is not sharp is based on it not being quite as sharp with VR on as with it off. In low light with VR on, it shoots excellent pictures while non-VR lenses shoot no pictures at all or blurry messes. In normal light with VR off it is classic Nikon glass and quite sharp.

The sharpness complaints are from people who either forget to, or don't know to, turn the VR off in normal light. Maybe future versions will turn the VR off automatically when the shutter speed is faster than a set limit.

The noise reduction technology found on the newer (and cheaper) Nikon DSLR's (like the D70 and D50) makes shooting at ISO 1600 feasible. Combining it with VR, the camera is so fast that one can shoot almost anything anywhere.

The comparable technology from Canon is IS (Image Stabilization). I have not used it but I have read that it increases the effective speed of the lens by two to two-and-a-half stops, compared to VR's three.

Here and there you'll see people maligning this lens and saying it's soft, a dog, the worst Nikon ever put out... but I haven't experienced any of the problems the lens is supposedly riddled with. Yes, it may not be the sharpest thing, but then, it's a zoom with a fairly wide reach and it compensates being slow with the VR feature (which won't stop the subject but steady the photographer's hand instead). At any rate, this lens is practical, useful and it does deliver the goods. Mine works wondefully with my F100 and my F5, and soon enough with my D700. Filters may be a problem, as it takes a 72mm size. Never bother to use a CPL on this lens: first, it's too slow (and it would only make sense to use it under a very strong sun or with a fast ISO outdoors), and it would be a pain to turn the filter to polarize the light. It may be better to have a neutral density filter instead, if it's at all needed. I haven't experienced any color distortion or any distortion whatsoever, except for the (expectable) one at the wide end of the zoom. Otherwise, this is my favorite glass... and shares the limelight with my other Nikon AF-S zoom, the 24-85 f3.5-4.5.

Worth a try? Yes! In case you're not satisfied, this version of the 24-120 lens does keep its resale value for a while. At worst, you may lose a bit on the resale, but then, you already got to play with a VR lens.

I received a Nikon 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR zoom lens as the FX kit lens with my Nikon D700. Yes, I soon found online those kiss-of-death comments about the 24-120mm by You-Know-Who, and like everyone else I drank the Kool-Aid and started taking a disdainful view of my new lens.

Yet my own tests indicated it was a pretty fair FX lens, especially in the center. I found that it even equaled the performance of two single-focal-length Nikkor AI lenses I tested it against -- a 35mm f/2 and a 50mm f/1.4 -- across the entire image at f/8, f/11 and f/16.

Recently I got my hands on a Nikon D5100 DX camera, which has an APS-C sensor, and for fun I tried out the 24-120mm f/3.5 FX lens on that body. Friends, I was exceedingly surprised. The 24-120mm equaled the performance of a new Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR-II DX lens at the 35mm, 70mm and 120mm settings -- even at f/5.6. The FX lens even bettered the DX lens a bit at the edges in some cases.

Of course, with a DX camera like the D5100, the zoom range of the 24-120mm FX lens gets pushed out to 36-180mm, thanks to the 1.5x crop factor associated with an APS-C sensor. Still, that's a useful range for many people. And when you consider that used Nikon 24-120mm f/3.5 VRs are selling for about $300 or less these days, I submit that this maligned lens is in fact a good buy, especially for DX owners.

I am not a lens expert - not by a long-shot. But, I can say that I wish I had researched this lens better before I bought it. Since purchasing it in January, I can say that I have read some rather poor reviews of it online. The numbers make it look like this is the perfect do-everything lens, especially with the VR. Such is not the case because I am left longing for more sharpness, a larger aperture, better zoom, etc.

Here is a link to read a review: [...]

By the way, the picture is not accurate on this! The lens is a bit bigger than the one in the picture!