Nikon 24-85/2.8-4 vs. 28-105/3.5-4.5

I'm looking for a decent zoom lens to go with my new N80. I had previously planned on buying several primes, but I've decided that convenience is more important to me than nitpicking on quality. I've narrowed my search down to the Nikkor 24-85/2.8-4D and 28-105/3.5-4.5D. Here are my thoughts on the dilemma:

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- The 24-85 is faster, but does it need to be stopped down to get decent results anyway?<br>

- Quality on the long end is a priority, as I would like to finance the purchase with portrait work. (Neither is ideal, I know.)<br>

- Is the 24-85 THAT much better to justify the extra $200 above the 28-105?<br>

- Overall, in terms of build quality, color saturation, sharpness, flare and such, how do they compare?<br>

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I am a student, not a pro, but can appreciate quality. I would like to save money where possible, but will fork out the extra cash if necessary. Perhaps I'm thinking too narrowly - should I get the 28-105 and use the extra cash for a decent portrait lens (like the 85/1.8), or maybe I should be looking at third party lenses? Thanks for the advice.<br><br>

 

Danny Toman

<<convenience is more important to me than nitpicking on quality>>

 

I have the somewhat older 24-120 AF-D variable aperture zoom lens, the one that evidently suffers from very wide sample variation. Mine's terrific, so I'm not about to give it up. But there are about 1.5 zillion happy users of the Nikkor 28-105 zoom, and it's not particularly expensive, and it covers a wonderfully useful range of focal lengths.

 

Among your plans, I vote for this one: Get the 28-105 for general purpose photography and the 85 f/1.8 AF-D for portraits if you want narrow depth of field.

 

<<I am a student, not a pro... I would like to finance the purchase with portrait work>> Hmmm.

The lens hood is a real treat with the AF 28-105mm. Large, cumbersome, and designed for the lens.

 

The AF 24-85mm hood is much better.

 

Either lens works well. For a portrait (the AF 24-85mm is a f4 85mm lens) should do fine, but the AF 28-105mm adds a bit of variety with the 85mm to 105mm range.

 

Your choice.

Would you rather have a great 24mm or a so-so 105mm? The 24-35mm end of my 24-85mm AFD is why I own it, past 50mm it is so-so.

 

As far as stopping down, neither lens is at its best wide open.

 

For portrait work, both zooms are so-so. Your better off with an 85mm prime, 105mm micro, or if money and lens size and weight are not factors 80-200mm AFD.

 

The way to save money in the long haul is avoid overlaps and avoid buying a compromise you can't live with for the long term.

My hands down vote is for the 28-105, very nice very versatile lens. Some weak points but for the purposes you mention and what you're willing to compromise the 28-105 will be the most versatile.

I've decided to go with the 28-105. There is such an abundance of good press on this lens versus what seems to be a rather lukewarm reaction to the 24-85. While it would have been nice to have the extra 4mm and a wider aperture, to me that's not worth double the price.

 

Although my question has been answered, in general there seems to be very little comparing these two similar lenses on the internet. Perhaps people could use this thread to shed some more light on the subject? Why would Nikon produce a new lens with virtually the same focal length and optical quality as an existing lens, for twice the price?

Why do they offer two such similar zooms? Well, for one thing, a 24mm wide angle end is actually a significantly different critter from a 28mm wide angle end.

 

But you�re selling Nikon short if you think they only offer a couple of overlapping lenses in this range. Not counting the recently superseded 28-80 AF-D lens, Nikon has quite a few zoom offerings in range you�re talking about. To wit:

 

24-85 f/2.8-4 AF-D

 

24-85 f/3.5-4.5 AFS-G

 

24-120 f/3.5-5.6 AF-D IF

 

28-70 f/2.8 AFS-D IF ED

 

28-80 f/3.3-5.6 AF-G

 

28-100 f3.5-5.6 AF-G

 

28-105 f/3.5-4.5 AF-D IF

 

28-200 f/3.5-5.6 AF-D IF

 

35-70 f/2.8 D

 

� and lest we forget, you also can choose among a quartet of manual focus zooms:

 

28-85 f/3.5-4.5 AIS manual focus

 

35-105 f3/5-4.5 AIS manual focus

 

35-200 f/3.5-4.5 AIS manual focus

 

35-70 f/3.3-4.5 AIS macro manual focus

 

Plus of course various primes, in AIS manual focus and AF-D autofocus, at 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, 45mm, 50mm, 60mm, 85mm, 100mm, 105mm, 135mm.

 

What was your question again?