Nikon 24-120/4 VR
Posted: Sat Oct 09, 2010 9:15 pmhave been living with my 24-120 now for about 2 weeks i guess and i know that this is a lens that has alot of people interested so thought i may give my own view of it. this is not a professional review by any means; 100% crops, brick walls and side by side comparisons should be sought elsewhere.
Build: 7/10:
its solid while not being the tank that the 24-70 is. it is sealed at the mount which is a nice touch. lens hood is shortish but locks into place very well indeed. i like it. when fully extended it still feels soid and not flimsy as you sometimes feel when the lens zooms out.
Handling/ Ergonomics: 8/10:
The lens feels perfectly balanced on a d700. its nice and fat which imo makes it great to hold and the COG sits quite close the the body. unlike the 24-70 which felt too front heavy to me cos of how long and relatively thin it was. the zoom ring is nice and wide, very smooth and easy to use.
The range is fantastic. that extra length makes it extremely versatile and its wide enuf on the short end to get alot into the frame. VR is super quiet, quieter than any VR i've ever used before and it works a damn treat. easily good for 3 stops on the fly or 4 if your being careful.
the MF override is wonderful...the focus ring on the other hand is not. its one of those pissy narrow things that is awkward to use and has ZERO feel. it is quite pathetic really. i see the issue nikon had here, they couldn't have made it much fatter and retained the short dimensions but that doesn't excuse it. if it wasn't for the focus ring, i'd give the lens a 10 for handling.
Sharpness: 7/10
if you never owned or shot with the 24-70 then you'd be scoring this a 9/10. but if you compare this to the 24-70 it cant be more than a 7. the 24-70 smokes it at f4; the differences are clearly apparent to the naked eye up until the 24-70 gets to 70mm. at 70mm the 24-70 is just as sharp. and its only at 5.6 where the gap becomes too close to see without doing 100% crops.
Contrast: 8/10
for a lens of this "class" its brilliant. its very punchy right from f4 at every focal length. just like the 24-70 i rarely need to add any L&C adjustments in post which is a real plus. it does however lack that wonderful micro-contrast that the 24-70 has. this is something that i've found is almost impossible to replicate in PP so something i miss. its that thing that makes images really pop off the page.
Autofocus: 7/10
not in the same ballpark as the 24-70. using it straight after the 24-70 had me a little worried that it was actually slow. but its not, its just that the 24-70 is smoking fast. its fast enough to do most of what you want while not being superb. i'm on the ragged edge keeping up with lucas but it manages it pretty well.
AF is dead accurate, but i have come to expect that of every nikkor so no surprises there. its very quiet and does its job with no fuss.
Bokeh: 8/10
bokeh is extremely well controlled. the surprise package for me for sure. i just wasnt expecting it to be quite this good so was a very nice surprise. 90% of the time the 24-70 is going to be better but i actually think it handles crazy backgrounds better than the 24-70.
nevertheless, happy days here.
other optical things:
no rating here cos i haven't really tested it extensively. barrel distortion is pretty good. doesn't seem to be any more than the 24-70. vignetting is minimal from what i can see. CA can sometimes get you in trouble but certainly nothing i was shocked at. havent noticed flare but as sydney siders will note, we haven't seen the sun much in the last couple of weeks.
this is a lens that does everything really well and it doesn't fail at anything. if you try to compare it to the 24-70 optically hoping to get similar results, i think you'll be disappointed but if you take it for what it is; a versatile, well build walkaround zoom lens, you will be absolutely wrapped. for anyone that's ever shot with the 24-105L you will know what i mean. i really enjoyed that lens on canon and this not only has better range, but its also significantly better wide open.
i love this lens. its EXACTLY what i wanted nikon to make and exactly what nikon NEEDED to make. for them not to have a professional grade walkaround lens for FX was just a bloody disgrace. hopefully some genius nikon engineer will finally make a 70-200/4VR.
as a general walkaround lens, there is none better. i highly recommend it if you want something less bulky than the 24-70 but are prepared to accept that it isn't going to match that sort of IQ.
here are a few very boring sample pics, all at f4 of course.
iso 3200 fill flash
iso1600
so you get the idea of the size differences:
Build: 7/10:
its solid while not being the tank that the 24-70 is. it is sealed at the mount which is a nice touch. lens hood is shortish but locks into place very well indeed. i like it. when fully extended it still feels soid and not flimsy as you sometimes feel when the lens zooms out.
Handling/ Ergonomics: 8/10:
The lens feels perfectly balanced on a d700. its nice and fat which imo makes it great to hold and the COG sits quite close the the body. unlike the 24-70 which felt too front heavy to me cos of how long and relatively thin it was. the zoom ring is nice and wide, very smooth and easy to use.
The range is fantastic. that extra length makes it extremely versatile and its wide enuf on the short end to get alot into the frame. VR is super quiet, quieter than any VR i've ever used before and it works a damn treat. easily good for 3 stops on the fly or 4 if your being careful.
the MF override is wonderful...the focus ring on the other hand is not. its one of those pissy narrow things that is awkward to use and has ZERO feel. it is quite pathetic really. i see the issue nikon had here, they couldn't have made it much fatter and retained the short dimensions but that doesn't excuse it. if it wasn't for the focus ring, i'd give the lens a 10 for handling.
Sharpness: 7/10
if you never owned or shot with the 24-70 then you'd be scoring this a 9/10. but if you compare this to the 24-70 it cant be more than a 7. the 24-70 smokes it at f4; the differences are clearly apparent to the naked eye up until the 24-70 gets to 70mm. at 70mm the 24-70 is just as sharp. and its only at 5.6 where the gap becomes too close to see without doing 100% crops.
Contrast: 8/10
for a lens of this "class" its brilliant. its very punchy right from f4 at every focal length. just like the 24-70 i rarely need to add any L&C adjustments in post which is a real plus. it does however lack that wonderful micro-contrast that the 24-70 has. this is something that i've found is almost impossible to replicate in PP so something i miss. its that thing that makes images really pop off the page.
Autofocus: 7/10
not in the same ballpark as the 24-70. using it straight after the 24-70 had me a little worried that it was actually slow. but its not, its just that the 24-70 is smoking fast. its fast enough to do most of what you want while not being superb. i'm on the ragged edge keeping up with lucas but it manages it pretty well.
AF is dead accurate, but i have come to expect that of every nikkor so no surprises there. its very quiet and does its job with no fuss.
Bokeh: 8/10
bokeh is extremely well controlled. the surprise package for me for sure. i just wasnt expecting it to be quite this good so was a very nice surprise. 90% of the time the 24-70 is going to be better but i actually think it handles crazy backgrounds better than the 24-70.
nevertheless, happy days here.other optical things:
no rating here cos i haven't really tested it extensively. barrel distortion is pretty good. doesn't seem to be any more than the 24-70. vignetting is minimal from what i can see. CA can sometimes get you in trouble but certainly nothing i was shocked at. havent noticed flare but as sydney siders will note, we haven't seen the sun much in the last couple of weeks.
this is a lens that does everything really well and it doesn't fail at anything. if you try to compare it to the 24-70 optically hoping to get similar results, i think you'll be disappointed but if you take it for what it is; a versatile, well build walkaround zoom lens, you will be absolutely wrapped. for anyone that's ever shot with the 24-105L you will know what i mean. i really enjoyed that lens on canon and this not only has better range, but its also significantly better wide open.
i love this lens. its EXACTLY what i wanted nikon to make and exactly what nikon NEEDED to make. for them not to have a professional grade walkaround lens for FX was just a bloody disgrace. hopefully some genius nikon engineer will finally make a 70-200/4VR.
as a general walkaround lens, there is none better. i highly recommend it if you want something less bulky than the 24-70 but are prepared to accept that it isn't going to match that sort of IQ.
here are a few very boring sample pics, all at f4 of course.
iso 3200 fill flash
iso1600
so you get the idea of the size differences:
