On Wed, 27 May 1998 20:56:10 GMT, jeff.adams@gscxyz.gte.com (Jeff Adams) wrote:

>Regarding sharpness and contrast, which is the better lens in the
>28-70 range (in other words, using the 24-120 in the 28-70 range)? I
>can afford the 24-120 lens from a dollar standpoint, but the 28-70 is
>lighter and seems like it might be a better lens just because it
>doesn't cover such a wide range... On the other hand, I guess the
>24-120 is a newer design...

You may find my Nikkor evaluation list on my web page, under
"I babble" useful... As zooms go, I liked the 24-120, but
was not very impressed with the 28-70.

>What are people's experience in comparing these two lenses? Is there
>an obvious answer to my question? My main application is taking
>pictures of the kids (indoors and outdoors) using an N70. I've got a
>fixed 24 f2.8 lens which I could use in cases where I need 24mm, but I
>hate to have to do a lot of switching. I'd probably just get the
>24-120 if I could get my wife to say it's not too heavy, but, I'd
>rather not give up quality, and odds are pretty fair that 28-70 will
>cover a large percentage of the shots we take... Price difference is
>not a big issue - the 24-120 seems to be running around $530, the
>28-70 is cheaper ($430 - $75 rebate) but I don't care about the extra
>cost really in the long haul (I keep things a long time).

If you are shooting indoors without flash, I would forget about
a zoom - a good prime will be faster, sharper at wider stops, and
faster to operate than any zoom. Outdoors, if f8-16 is practical,
zooms can perform well - though they are still slower to operate
than a prime. If the action is fast, I generally prefer to use
primes - if I have time to fiddle more with the lens instead of
moving a few steps (and if there is enough light...), zooms can
be useful. BTW, try a fast 35mm prime sometime for people
shooting - you may never look at a zoom for this again...! ;-)

>One last thing - considering that the biggest I would ever blow a
>picture up to is 8x10, are the differences not noticeable I wonder?

Full-frame (or full 8x10, since the worst part is likely to be cropped) will be at least adequate with both lenses for non-critical
viewers - this is not a hard test. For the critical viewer, you
may see the difference between these two lenses in 8x10's, and
between the zooms and primes at stops wider than about f8.