Nikon AF-S DX 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G Reviews

Good lens for sunny day pictures.Good quality for a "kit" lens.Very good for the money .Most Reviews recommend to use between 35-50 mm focal length and between f 8.0-11.0 aperatures for best image quality .

I'm starting to do more street and rural structures photography and this lens fits this perfectly for me. The infamous "mustache" distortion is not very pronouced on my copy. Contrast and saturation are nice and photos sharpen up real well in post composition.

The handling of this lens is uninspiring; both the focus and zoom rings are jumpy and the zoom ring binds at the short focal length end when zooming in. You can't use it with extension rings/tubes for lack of an aperture ring. Performance-wise it does give useable pictures at all apertures and focal lengths, and I imagine a weighted MTF would show its resolving power around 3.5. It's as sharp at f8 as a 50mm f1.8D is at f2.8. Images start to get a little "bite" to them around f/10, and diffraction softening starts after f/16. Bokeh is generally neutral to good, but you have to be right on top of your subject to get any due to the small aperture range. I've used this lens on the D70, D200 and D2X.

I sold mine because I got disgusted with the flare in backlight situations. Also sold my 24-85mm F2.8-4 for the same reasons. I use prime lenses. I have a zoom that I did keep;
35-105 F3.5-4.5 AFD. I use it on the beach.

Suitable weight, good optical quality and quick focus so that it is a perfect product by Nikon as in the class of travelling lens with a good price

I'm not as big a fan of this lens as some folks, but it's really not a bad lens. The focal range is handy for 1.5x dSLRs and the price is right.

The only previous criticism I see here that surprises me a bit is the one regarding flare. I've been pleased with the flare resistance of this lens, which is the best of any midrange zoom I've owned. I've photographed people with the sun setting behind them, using fill flash, and there was no ghosting or veiling flare. Can't say that about my 24-120/3.5-5.6 VR or 35-70/2.8 AF, let alone the many third party midrange zooms I've owned.

Overall it's comparable to my old 28-85/3.5-4.5 AF Nikkor, an equivalent "kit zoom" from the N6006 era. But the 18-70/3.5-4.5G DX is contrastier and more flare resistant (mine is, anyway). So that's why I kept it and sold the older zoom.

I've used this lens extensively on a D80 and a D2x and find the sharpness very good to excellent from 18-30mm, razor sharp 30-50mm, not-so-good at 80mm. The sweet spot is 2-3 stops from max. It even matches the center sharpness of my 60mm micro, but softer in the corners. CA is very good to excellent. For the money, it's a great general purpose lens. It's also good for IR shooting with converted bodies. Build, pretty good, for plastic. Definitely seen worse. I highly recommend it.