No, its not the equal of a half a dozen prime lenses. It´s not the equal of Nikon´s holy trinity of fixed aperture zoom lenses covering the same range. But its remarkably robust compared to the competition, its plenty sharp, and its distortion is acceptable in all but the most critical applications. Five stars for a lens that´s good enough for all but the 99th percentile. The only lens I need in my bag.

The distortion and bokeh. There is NO focal length on this zoom that doesn´t suffer from substantial distortion. There are profiles to fix this problem, but why should you have to for $1300? The cosmetics of the lens are appealing, but beware of the plastic. These lenses are NOT rugged, like lenses of yore. Vignetting is very prevalent as is sharpness fall off. It would be a very frustrating lens for anyone shooting serious architecture. BTW, to all those who bought the Nikon 24 - 70, try a Tamron for 1/3 the price and better performance. But, when all is said and done, for Nikon owners, this is the only best choice. Grudgingly.

I owned a good lens - 18-55 IR lens. Unfortunately, I needed extended range - at least to 85mm. The best alternative is this lens and I wish Nikon made this lens at F2 or F28 with IR. this barrel moves easily and you have to so careful to duplicate a shot. It´s slower than I would like. I do like the ability to extend to 120mm. I seems sharp across the entire range.

Just bought this lens today and has blown me away with the VR and sharpness. I was going to get the 2.8mm 24-70 instead but in spite of this one being a stop lower the aditional feature of VR clearly trumps it.in working in low light conditions without a tripod

I bought this lens 3 months ago and it has not left my camera ever since. I use this lens for everything ranging from in-house portraits, parties, low-light, sunset photography, landscape and much more. This is a MUST have lens to have in your arsenal if you are a serious hobbyist or a semi-pro. The picture quality is super sharp. Overall I rate this lens 5/5. If you have a decent DSLR and want to invest in only one lens then this is the one. You dont need any other lenses apart from this one. It covers good range (24-120mm) for close-ups as well as zoom. For regular people, it is little expensive lens but trust me, you´ll love the results. I would recommend to save some money and buy this lens other than any other lenses out there. I have the Nikon D5000 and it matches perfectly with it. I absolutely LOVE this lens!!

Fantastic lens, light, sharp and look gorgeous on nikon d700, this is a fantastic lens, just buy it and won´t regret. Thank you nikon,

I primarily bought this lens for video. I hear the sharp intake of breath from here! The wide range from 24 to 120 is excellent as a one lens solution, the constant f4 an asset. DOF is not quite as critical a tool with video for me so I knew I wouldn´t miss choosing the 24-70 f2.8, besides my primes are faster if I am seeking that particular effect.

So I´ve been super happy using this lens for video which was the intent, but I have been also very pleased with the results shooting stills. I hear it has a lot of distortion but to be honest that´s just not something I see in images. I think that just as some people have an ear for music, a nose for wine, others have an eye for distortion. Not me, I tend to see the images as a whole and when I look at pictures from this lens they are crisp, rich and full of eye-grabbing contrast. It doesn´t replace my fast primes but for 75% of my shooting it´s now my favourite lens.

I´m a newcomer to Nikon Family. Just bought the D7000 paired with this lens less than a month.
I took the system to a resort island in West Java, Indonesia and capture lots of pictures... The result is unarguably amazing. Even my friend, who is a pro-photographer with C***N system, were admiring the IQ.
All of the pictures i took were made handheld..

Yesterday (June 30, 2011) I received the lens from BandH and after testing it for about 5-8 minutes I was in hurry to pack it for return. I´m an architectural photographer and I could not believe the distortion in all of the focal lengths. I have been a Nikon fanatic since the 70s and I am appalled that with all of the advancement in technology, the new lenses could not compete with my old manual ones. What´s happening here?