kgp's reviews

Nikon 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5G ED AF-S Nikkor

I was recently upgrade from D5000 to D600 and as my favorite focal lengths is on the wide side, i do a lot of searching and thinking about my pick on wide zoom lens. 16-35mm f/4 & 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5G was my "finalists" and i ended with 18-35 in my bag. The main reason was that this lens is noticable lighter & compact (not to mention chaper!) compared to 16-35 and IMHO is more suitable to D600 as a combo. In terms of optical performance, im not the guy whos pp at 200x magification, im just very pleased with the results @ f/5.6 - f/8 & suprised (in a possitive way) with the results wide open. I think that 16-35 do have more "contrast" (maybe the coatings?), i mean colors pop-up a little more and there is a kind of more clarity-ness, but not so much to justify the price difference... again IMHO, 16-35 is a no brainer if someone is a perfectionist, wants +2mm on the wide & VR, 18-35 is the value for money king, a lot of performance with less money.