Moonrise & Aurora

Moonrise & Aurora

by Jakub

submit your photo


Picture of the Week Themes
Suggest and vote on themes

Please participate in Meta
and help us grow.

Tell me more ×
Photography Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for professional, enthusiast and amateur photographers. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 3 down vote favorite

I am planning to buy a 24-70 but I saw a second hand 35-70 AF in a store nearby, I did some research and again, I stumbled upon Ken Rockwell's 35-70 review, in which he states:

This 35-70mm f/2.8 AF-D was Nikon's flagship professional midrange zoom of the 1990s, and has pretty much the same optical performance as the newest 24-70mm f/2.8 AFS, with a lot less size, weight and cost.

As some people here have noted, Ken Rockwell's reviews are sometimes not that accurate, so before investing on that 35-70, I want to get some more professional opinion. I plan to get either the 24-70 or 35-70 for studio shots, because my 18-105 does not yield the sharpness I want without post-processing.

Is the 35-70 AF at par or at least close to 24-70's sharpness or image quality?

Thanks!

share|improve this question
You might want to update the title to indicate you're only interested in image quality to indicate you're not interested in AF speed/noise etc. – Shizam Sep 8 '12 at 22:34
done! thanks for the heads up! – Ygam Sep 8 '12 at 22:38
oh wait, I think I want to know about that AF speed too XD – Ygam Sep 8 '12 at 22:39
If you are in the studio, I would think you are looking for excellent quality. I would spring for the newer version. – dpollitt Sep 9 '12 at 4:59

1 Answer

up vote 3 down vote

If you believe Bjorn Rorslett archive page here the AF-Nikkor 35-70 mm f/2.8 D is an extremely good lens, and the AFS-Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 ED G FX is utterly stunningly gloriously marvellous. ie the old lens is extremely good, but the new lens is about incomparable. This is possibly the most glowing technically well supported lens review I have ever seen. Reading t makes you absolutely sure that you want to own the lens :-).

His summary specifically answers your question , provided that you believe him.
He says:

  • I have used several randomly acquired samples of this lens and they all have behaved in a very similar fashion. However, some users complain about severe light fall-off or field curvature. Since these reports are at variance with what I could observe, there is always the possibility of QC issues.

    But personally I consider the new 24-70/2.8 Nikkor to be the reference for all other midrange zoom lenses.

    There is absolutely no doubt that the new lens trounces the old favourite, the 28-70 AFS, in terms of sheer image quality.

share|improve this answer

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.