In article <332FE256.140B@ncl.ac.uk>, Fei.Xia@ncl.ac.uk says...
>Bob Neuman wrote:

>> It always was a two-touch lens... I am mystified by the amount
>> of concern over what I consider a non-problem (when do we shoot
>> straight up or down with a zoom???). I would not use this (or
>> any other zoom) for copy work, nor is a zoom a good choice for
>> moon shots...;-) For the occasional near-vertical up or down
>> photo, it is not hard to hold the zoom ring while manually
>> focusing, and extremely easy to hold the zoom ring if using AF.
>> And the lens doesn't self-zoom unless held nearly vertical...
>> Gee, what's the problem?! ;-)

>Given that it's almost a perfect tourist lens
>in the features list, one has to think like a
>typical tourist to see why this is not
>desirable (OK it can hardly be said to be
>desirable in the first place but). Have you
>observed SLR carrying tourists going about?
>They tend to let a camera hang with the strap
>around their necks or soulders, leaving both
>hands free most of the time. With this lens'
>weight balance characteristics (front heavy)
>and the light weight / low density today's
>plastic starting AF camera bodies tend to
>have, the whole is likely to hang with the
>lens pointing downwards most of the time,
>with the lens in the long extreme if it
>creeps. This provides bad apperance (who
>wants to have something like that dangling
>about attracting attention from female
>donkeys?) with bad mechanical constitution
>(lens is least strong stretched out) as well
>as additional danger of damage.
>
>On top of all this, some traditional Nikon
>customers would have additional difficulties
>when bragging about the supposed general
>mechanical solidity of Nikon products say vs
>Canon or Minolta within brand war threads,
>now that this lens has come out with even a
>Nikkor name tag.
>
>A godsend to all the Canonites, Minolta fans
>and Leicaphiles whose significance has yet to
>be fully appreciated. I am surprised how slow
>some people can be. Adrian would have jumped
>on this lens ages ago...

Hmmm, good points! ;-) Maybe this lens will
finally get the tourist-types to put their
cameras away, instead of leaving them bobbing
about their necks (it is uncomfortable,
unnecessary, and dangerous to the camera
[and possibly to the tourist, if thieves be
near by...;-], and I think few photos would
be lost by putting the camera in a handy
side-pack when not in use...[and a wrist
strap is more practical than those dangly,
entangling silly neck straps, anyway...;-]).

And, heck, this surprisingly brilliant and
sharp lens (the German magazine report
notwithstanding...;-) is just a piece of AF
plastic yucky-stuff physically, so why get
so bent out of shape if it self-zooms???
(Some Nikkor zooms of yore, all-metal at that,
also self-zoom - big deal! Just hang onto
that zoom ring...!;-) Nikon long ago (with
those dreadful first-version AF lenses, and
many subsequent ones...) threw away some of
their reputation for fine build-quality
and feel. The 24-120 is actually a rather
nice lens physically, relatively speaking...
Hope This Helps