Hi--

>Bob, I am new to moden AF and Zoom lenses. I had a Nikkormat camera
>long ago and have recentyly reentered the hobby. I have purchased the
>N90S and am considering what to buy in the wide-normal area. I have
>read your (as well as others) postings on this lens and it seems like a
>good buy. I have some questions:
>1)How do you correct the zoom problem with masking tape?
>2)Do you think that the 35-70/2.8D or the new Tamaron 28-70/2.8D would
>be a better investment for its speed? and if so,
>3)Would I be better off with the 35-70/2.8D and a 24/2.8D?
> prost@mindspring.com

(Keep in mind that different people lean different ways in lens
preferences when reading what follows....)
1) The zoom ring is wide, and the area behind it is wide. Since the only
time there is really a problem is when it is tripod-mounted (hands-off),
you lock the zoom ring at the desired FL with a bit of tape....
2) The 35-70 f2.8 is OK, but not impressive at f2.8, and the range is
uselessly short. I doubt that the Tamron would be even that good
(and resale value will be poorer - we do sell these things eventually,
and Nikkors in nice shape hold their value better than virtually
anything else).
3) I would not buy any zoom as the one-and-only lens. THE most useful
set is a few reasonably fast, good primes, maybe combined with a zoom,
like 20, 35, 85, 180/200 - or 28, 50, 105, 80-200 or 75-300, etc.
Next most useful is a set of very fast primes. Last is a set of (slow, heavy, hard to focus, less sharp) zooms. BTW, I do use long zooms,
but I find short zooms much less useful. I bought the 24-120 (and
kept it only because it is good) for occasional outdoor use only.
David Ruether