Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S

2007 saw the launch of Nikon’s latest flagship full frame camera – the Nikon D3. It was a major milestone at the time and it remains as the top high speed DSLR camera for professional photographers that want the best of Nikon’s technologies. It does not come with a kit lens though, but the launch lead to the arrival of new lenses particularly the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G ED which is a wide-angle zoom lens and the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED which is a standard zoom lens. The choice of lens depends on the photographer’s intended use of the D3, but fortunately, many of the features that are found in the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G ED make it to the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED.

Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S | Lens Details

Classification

The Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G is a standard zoom lens since it slightly exceeds the standard 55mm. Many of the lenses in this category are offered as kit-lens for the lower-end models making them highly suitable for beginner photographers. This particular model that launched with the D3 remains as a standard zoom lens, but incorporates a lot of technologies to make this lens more enjoyable for experts and people that need great build quality to withstand extreme conditions.

Design & Construction

Build quality is highly emphasized in the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED and that explains the high cost of the lens. For a 24-70mm f/2.8 lens, it is much more compact than the rest without toning down the zoom range, aperture, and full-frame coverage. There is a lot of metal built into this lens with the mount made of metal as well as the lens being made of a texturized metal. Good grip is also achieved because of the lens and zoom rings being made of plastic leading to a nice overall balance where the zoom ring serves as the center of gravity so it should be a nice companion for the other Nikon bodies. Since the D3 is one of the heaviest cameras, adding the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED to it can make the back a bit heavier, but it is manageable as it is primarily made for this model.

Actual user review:
“This lens is solid as a brick, fast, water resistant, tack sharp at all apertures and focal lengths, fast focusing, has great color and contrast, and it’s heavy! I consider it the price you have to pay to make consistently brilliant professional images. I think the image quality of this lens is equal to my prime lenses. It really is waterproof. I shot for nearly an hour in a total downpour, and the lens and the D3 were tight as a drum with no water leakage.” – R.MacDonald (Richmond Hill,GA,USA)

Features & Specifications

One of the factors that contribute to poor image quality is sharpness and fortunately, the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED not only fixes this problem, but impresses with its ability to capture very sharp photos regardless of the chosen focal length and aperture setting. It is so sharp that tests never show major blurs in any of the aperture and focal length settings.

Another welcome feature that contributes to the value is the Nano Crystal Coat technology which eliminates a very annoying problem faced by expert photographers which are the ghost and flare. In an ordinary lens, strong light can diagonally enter the lens causing an unwanted reflection. Therefore, Nikon had to implement the special Nano Crystal Coat to eliminate those phenomena. Combined with the Precision Glass Molding which helps eliminate coma, lens quality remains revolutionary despite its age.

Sharpness quality is also contributed by the ED Glass specification which is also responsible for the contrast improvements and chromatic aberration resistance. This is most noticeable when the wider aperture settings are in use.

The ED Glass specification is also a major feature of the lens that helps enhance sharpness and contrast more when the widest aperture settings are used. Users of the D200 will enjoy undetectable chromatic aberration performance while the full-frame users will see a slightly different result because of its built-in auto chromatic aberration correction feature.

Auto focusing isn’t left out with this lens and the Silent Wave Motor is proof making auto focusing not only fast, but accurate and powerful all at once. From its name, the motor is designed to operate with virtually no noise at all. Performance and noise isn’t hindered either when getting a working distance in the selected focus range because the Internal Focus feature eliminates the need to change the length just to ensure quickness.

Bottom Line

The value of the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED lies on its rugged construction and revolutionary technologies that make the sharpness levels beyond exceptional. It is a great durable lens that is even lighter than the Nikon 28-70mm ƒ/2.8 ED-IF AF-S.

Average User Rating:

• “I ordered the Nikon 24-70mm F2.8 lens online here at Amazon. The order was completed and shipped by J&R very quickly and I received my complete order here in Steinhatchee Florida within 48 hours of placing my order. If that isn’t Lightning Fast service I don’t know what is. This lens is probably my mostly used and most popular “go to” lens. The 24-70mm Nikon is built like a tank, the quality is second to none in my opinion. Nikon has created a legend with this lens, if you will notice it is out of stock many times during the year. Trust me, they aren’t just laying around, they are getting bought up even in these recession times we are in. WIth it’s 2.8 aperture for low level lighting conditions and the photographs I have taken so far are just razor sharp, this lens is simply “hard to be beat”. It is not your cheap, to average plastic light feeling lens, so be prepared to tote around some mass & weight, this lens on my FX D700 with a MB-D10 battery grip/pack gets pretty dern heavy at the end of the day, but it is worth every bit of the effort required, as the photos I get tell the whole story at the end of the day. The colors are very bright, the images are very vivid and this lens is tack sharp at all focal lengths.” – J.Tucker (Steinhatchee, FL,USA)
• “This lens is clearly one of Nikons finest zoom lenses. It is so sharp that it does not require any sharpening in postprocessing. This lens really shines when paired with either the D700 or D3. Compared with the 17-55, this lens is in a league of it’s own. Don’t get me wrong, the 17-55 is a mighty fine lens for DX, but for FX, the 24-70 is sharper, has better broken, and plain just produces better photos. This lens is so sharp, it’s actually as sharp or sharper than my Nikon 50mm f1.4 and f1.8 lenses.” – Terence Tan (TX,USA)

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