A zoom lens for Nikon camera

[joey]

I am considering in buying a standard zoom lens. Ideally it’d have been the 28-70mm or even the newer 24-70mm. These two are outside of my budget unless I can find a quality used 28-70mm under $1000 which is unlikely. KeH is selling it in EXC/EXC++ conditions for $1250-$1300USD. There are few lenses on eBay from unknown traders. That’s not an option.

The other lenses are:

Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8
Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8
And older Nikkor 35-70mm f/2.8

At the moment I am more inclined to buy the Tamron lens. There are good reviews for this lens on various sites and everyone is talking about it. Sigma looks good too.

Out of these lenses could you please recommend one?

Thanks!

[mickey]

I have the old sigma 24-70 2.8 (non macro), it's good for the price ($400ish) when you consider the nikon option.

downside is the noisy and sometimes hunting AF, strange 82mm front thread and softness at f/2.8 which gets noticeably sharper at f/4.

[Glen]

Joey, you don't say if it is for your N80 or D200 but I would also throw the Tamron 17-50 2.8 on your list if for the D200

[aim54x]

The Tamron 28-75 is good, Seeto uses it on his D300 as his main lens. I would give the Sigma a miss if it is an 82mm filter thread (very expensive filters, I have a Tamron 28=105 and I dont have any filters for that because at that size they are really expensive)

If the lens is for your D200 then the Tamron 17-50 is a great choice, I use this as my main lens (next to my Nikkor 24-70) because it is light and fast.

[Matt. K]

The Nikkor 35 - 70mm F2.8 is an excellent lens...sharp as a tack and gives nothing away to the other very expensive aternatives that you mentioned. It is one of my favourite walk around lenses. And it has a reasonable macro capability to boot. One sold on Ebay 2 weeks ago...brand new and went for around $635. A bloody bargain!

[mickey]

yeah the Sigma's main benefit is it will work on FF cameras, but if you're happy with DX cameras then the Tamron 17-50 is nice and wide for the crop sensor.

35-70 Nikkor sounds alright but the problem is that on a crop sensor it's not very wide at all...and there's a big difference between 24 and 35mm. I would consider it on a FF camera though and maybe get the 14-24mm if you really need wide stuff down the track.