Nikon 28-105Mm F3.5-4.5 Af Zoom Nikkor

I've been an amateur photographer for almost 40 years and a devoted Nikon user for the last 30 at least. In that time I've owned every professional film SLR from the original F to the F5 and, at one time or another, almost every piece of glass from 18 to 300 mm that Nikon ever produced. Like many, I went through a period of having to have only "the best" in my camera bag and consequently paid a premium to own only "professional" primes and zooms (many of which I still own).
What constitutes a good lens however is not it's performance on test targets alone but how it performs in real life. A $1000, pro level, f2.8 zoom is useless if it's so heavy you hate taking it with you on vacation. All the money you spent on that "pro" performance is useless sitting in the bag at home.
As a real life "user", this lens is hard to beat. With a range that covers the focal lengths used for a large percentage of the pictures you will want to make, the sacrifice of 0.5 stops at the short end and 1.5 at the long is a small price to pay - unless you are in the (discouraged) habit of using slow (ISO 50) films handheld all the time. The lens covers it's long focal length range with a surprising lack of distortions - a tribute to the designers - and even has a usable "macro" feature. Is it the equavalent of my 105 f2.8 AF Micro Nikkor? NO! But the difference only shows in the corners wide open. For the occasional close up on the beach that you might want to grab on vacation it performs surprisingly well.
All lenses are compromises and this is especially true of zooms. This lens is a generally nice package as a stand alone vacation lens. Or, if you prefer, couple it with a AF20mm f2.8 Nikkor and an old AF70-210 f4 Nikkor or newer AF70-210 f4.5-5.6D Nikkor (all using 62mm filters) and you have a very versatile travel package for film shooters.
My only complaint has to do with the recent addition of a Nikon D100 to my collection of bodies. The 1.5 multiplication factor of the sensor makes this effectivly a 42-157mm zoom on that body. Consequently, for the digital shooter who "sees" wide this becomes an unattractive range. If, on the other hand, you, like me, "see" better at longer focal lengths, you now have a "normal" to medium tele zoom with a macro capability. In addition, since the digital sensor only uses the center of the lenses projected circle - this lens in digital is as sharp as my AF180 f2.8 Nikkor prime on film.
For my way of shooting these are acceptable compromises.

Addendum: July 2010
As another reader has pointed out, this review was written before the advent of the "full frame" Nikon D SLRs as well as before the arrival of lenses like the Nikon 18-200mm VR DX, 16-85mm VR DX, and 18-135mm VR DX Zooms for DX size sensors. Despite these developments (and despite the fact that I have owned many of the alternatives listed and currently still own the 18-200 VR DX on a D300s), the hundreds of superb travel photos I have taken with this lens still makes it one of the few lenses I just can't bring myself to part with. I have "blown" shots in the past for many reasons - forgot to change settings, used too slow a shutter or too wide an aperture, wrong white balance, etc. - but I have yet to have a shot spoiled by the performance of this optic. Given present technology, it is only the lack of VR that would make me hesitate from buying it again.

I purchased this lens shortly after getting my first SLR camera. While it came with a 28-80mm lens, I found that I wanted something that was faster and that had a little more throw on the long end of things.

I've had this lens now for about nine months, and it rarely leaves my camera body. The optics are great, the build is far better than what comes in an SLR kit these days. The only suggestion I can give to a buyer is to get a top of the line UV filter, because otherwise, you will notice degradation of the image quality.

This Nikon lens is built well. It has a nice heavy feel that will make you feel better about spending the money on it. I know I love mine. I only wish that Nikon offered a version of this lens with a constant (fast) aperture.

I've had this lens for about a year now and really like it a lot. I use it on my FM3a manual body, so the autofocus is not available to me. However, the range of focal lengths and the quality of the build are precisely what I need when I want to travel light.

The benefits of this lens are obvious. The focal lengths range from 28mm at the wide end to 105mm at the long end. The build quality is excellent and yet the lens is not perceptably heavy. In daylight, the lens performs remarkably.

However, the lens also has its downsides. The first and most obvious is that the lens is very slow. F3.5 is hideously slow in anything but the best lit scenes. Then on the long end the lens only manages a measly F5.6.

Another problem is that the lens flares terribly in bright sunlight. Many of my pictures have flaring if the sun is in the frame or slightly out of it. Bright objects in the frame will also cause it to flare.

Focus is also a problem on manual focus bodies. The focus throw is very short and loose (good for autofocus bodies, though) so getting precise focus is a challenge. Even in focus, the lens is very soft. There is also some light fall off in the corners when fully zoomed and some minor barrel distortion when wide.

But despite those drawbacks, this lens serves me well. To replace this lens with anything else would require either a 3 lens set of 28, 50, and 105 prime lenses or a couple zooms which would end up costing more and be a constant weight while traveling.

The range of focal lengths is what sets this lens apart from the rest of Nikon's zooms. While other lenses may be faster, sharper, and better built, this one can do the work of any other combination of lenses between 28mm and 105mm passably and at a reasonable price.

3 stars for this great lens value. It won't be the best lens you own, but if you're lazy like I am it may end up being the lens you use the most.