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>Have a Nikon 2000 and want to buy a short zoom. Omega advertizes
>a 19-35 (or something like that range) and there are Nikon
>35-70, etc. Desired are sharpness, contrast and compactness.
>Anyone have any experience with Nikon v. aftermarket?
I have not tried all the aftermarket short zooms, but from the many I have tried (including some with good reputations), my conclusion is:
BLEAH!!! Yuck!!! PAH!!! Pop bottle bottoms at the edges and corners,
though some are passable in the center (but, a wide angle should cover
a wide angle - SHARPLY - or there is no point to having it!). I discovered also that, contrary to long zooms, short zooms were not very
useful. It is faster and easier when photographing at mid and close distances to move with a single wide angle lens than to stop and zoom
(but, then, I find it is faster and easier to manually focus and expose,
too, so keep that in mind while reading this.....;-). In terms of quality on a budget, I would recommend looking for a used 24mm f2.8
Nikkor (or the 20mm f2.8 Nikkor if the budget will allow) - optical
quality will be much higher (even if the "toy" factor may not be).
Hope this helps.