Nikon 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5D Autofocus Zoom Nikkor Lens

I have to say that Nikon made a completely idiotic decision to discontinue this lens in favor of I guess beefing up their DX (cropped sensor) lens line. The logic is perhaps that this is a consumer lens, and consumers buy DX, pros who buy FX wouldn't buy this lens. (film... what's film?)

This lens is a TERRIFIC all-in-one lens, and it does it all in such a small and light package that I thought I received the wrong lens until I read the markings.

From wide, normal, and short tele, this lens produces terrific real world results. There are some web reviews that talk about softness and focusing errors, I did not see this. In a decent body, this lens also focuses very fast. Top it all off with very handy macro mode. If you want to take just one lens to take pics of family and friends at any occasion and not mess with changing lenses, this is THE lens... but of course, you may need to rely on your flash, this is no fast prime lens.

While a constant f/4 would have been better, it doesn't exist.. and this lens itself is in short supply. Hopefully you can secure a good copy like I did.

I hope Nikon stops concentrating on their DX line but I think the economics of electronics will continue to dictate the situation, and unfortunately, DX wins on the economic front for a business.

I bought Nikon N75 with this lense for my dad a few years back. But it has been a totally diappointing experience as the lense is not sharp at all(I have used Minolta and other SLRs) I feel, the conventional 28-80mm zoom would have been a wiser choice. But I had decent expectations about Nikon which I regret now!

I picked one of these up off ebay, and really like it (I take mostly portraiture and abstracts, so I don't miss the wide-angle option on digital bodies.)
It came with a truly awful lens hood (the standard one), so I use the hood of my Nikon 85mm 1.8 and it works a treat. That might stop the flare

This has been my overall general lens that I keep on my DSLR 90% of the time. It has exceptional IQ when used correctly -- there is softness at the extreme conditions (28, 3.5 and 105, 4.5) but only if you pixelpeep. At 5.6 with controlled ISO, you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between this $250 clens and those that cost 10x as much.

Highly recommended, save for the lack of AF-S (which is why I gave it 4 stars)

I use this lens on my D70 DSLR, I haven't used it with film.

This lens is great for wilderness-hiking or touristing/walking around the city. While the pictures are not as good as a dedicated lens, this jack of all trades almost never leaves my camera for day to day shots.

The 105mm (~150 on dslr) has allowed me to take great shots that are normally out of reach such as statues around town and animals in the distance.
The 28mm (~45) is wide enough for a nice landscape shot.

The Macro feature is great for insects or jewelery.

If you're just walking around, ready to take a picture of anything that comes up then this lens is a great choice.

I never use a flash and my low light pictures have turned out great despite the small aperture...so long as it's not a picture of a moving target (i.e. cat or child).