It's been with Nikon for almost a month now, and I am not all too pleased with that.
This lens is much more suited to a full frame body, the focal length is wasted IMHO on DX.
There is some vignetting which some folks like to moan about but this is just a fact of life on full frame sensors.
For me personally, I don't find the lens hugely compelling (I have a stellar sample of the Tamron 28-75 which matches the 24-70 blow for blow) but the 24-70 is superb, and probably one of the top 3 lenses you can get for a full frame Nikon.
BTW I do still own it:
But the lens on my D700 is generally the Tamron 28-75, not the 24-70 (due to size more than anything)
What about the "Sigma 24-70mm f2.8 EX DG Macro (Nikon AF)"? How does it compare?
Sigma 24-70mm is a nice lens but a bit on the big side, also sigma sometimes have quality control issues, having said that the 24-70mm i had was a great copy, i do believe they have just bought out a new 24-70mm with HSM, which i think is not so heavy so i'm waiting to see the reviews on this one, if not i think i will go for a tamron 28-75mm as i've heard very good things about it.
Actually I'm working on a little article about an "alternative" trinity for those who don't want to consider the conventional Nikkor 14-24 / 28-75 and 70-200 VR trinity.
All three of those Tamron lenses there are absolutely first rate.
Hi Simon
Optically the Tamron 70-200 is a stunner.
For autofocus, well frankly it feels like its been driven by little mice on wheels. Its quite slow. I don't give a monkeys about camera and auto focus speed... so for me to comment that something is slow means it S....L....O.....W
There are no focusing problems per se - its accurate, but it takes its time.. over 1 second to close from minimum focus to infinity, and close to 2 seconds going back the other way.
Just as well it's cheaper and in-stock elsewhere then
http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/prod603.html
The 24mm focus issue is quite well documented. Apparently Nikon can fix it.
Can't say I've noticed a problem with mine - I don't think wide open f/2.8 is particularly good compared to the 17-35 @ f/2.8 or the 14-24 @ f/2.8 or the Tamron 28-75 @ 28mm f/2.8 though.
At 24mm you also have some pretty strong field curvature which may well look like a focus problem (this is normal and not a fault)
I just checked Jessops and Calumet to see if they have the Tamron 28-75 (nikon fit) in stock, and neither of them do (in all of London). The guy at Jessops told me that it's not even in their catalogue...
Anyone know any other trustworthy shops that may have it in stock?
The newer version with a focus motor is out now (but hard to find), so some stores may not have any stock at all, some may have the older stock, and some might have newer stock with a motor.
If you don't need a motor for a D40 / D40x / D60 my advice would be to pick one up without a motor, as AF driven by your camera body is sure to be quicker.