Nikon Zoom-Nikkor 28 mm - 200 mm F/3.5-5.6 AF ED G IF Lens

The Nikon 28-200mm lens is my first non-kit lens that I bought for my D40.
This lens has good optics and a metal mount, which adds to its durability.

I have taken potrait shots, sport shots, and moon shots so far. The picture quality is excellent. Pictures that come out is very sharp.

With the D40, I gain 1.5x the zoom length while losing 1.5x the wide angle. Furthermore, since D40 has no auto-focus motor in the body of the camera, I cannot auto-focus with this lens. I bought the lens knowing this, but it is not a big problem. I do miss chances to take some good shots during sporting events but I am satisfied by the good shots I got.

The manual focus is helped by D40's focus indicator in the viewfinder. The little dot lights up when object is in focus.

I bought this lens because I am on a budget. I did not want to spend $600+ for the Nikon AF-S DX 18-200mm VR. It might performed better on my D40, but it is a DX lens. This 28-200mm lens is an FX lens, and it will suit my Nikon film SLR, should I ever shoot in films again.

Overall, the lens is good enough for me now, and I will be taking many amazing shots before I move up the Nikon lens chain.

First of all, the item I bought was A G version - AF Nikon 28-200mm F3.5-5.6 G Lens (not the AF-D one since the seller wrongly put it into the auto-generated description, and He verifed its G at Q&A.

After I got this 28-200mm G version lens and mounted it on my D700, I have been very happy about its performance -

1) Very sharp image. Sharper than I expected! The only thing I don't like is its pinchshion distortion at long end. But it can be easily corrected on my ACDSee 8 pro and PS. (Now I understand why it is discontinued - maybe film guys suffered from the distortion, which can't be corrected!)
2) Very versatile, small in size, and ligher to carry around, especially for traveling and candid. It takes away the pain to change lens from time to time, when you are taking general staff.
3) It can focus very close - just 14 inch (44mm) and can be a macro (actually, it reproduce 1:3.2), while a AF-D can NOT focus less than 6 feet.

If something else cons - it must be its plastic build. - But I didn't pay for the metals either! The used 28-200G version is sharper than Nikon's D700's kit lens 24-120mm AF-S G, which eat much more funds from you!

Again, this review is for G version. So if rate the 28-200D as average, I'd rate the 28-200G as excellent! Hope my words are helpful.
At Full frame digital age, this 28-200G is revitalized and funtastic. If you can, forget about the D version, and take the G version, which is lighter, smaller, handier and give you more staff, especially on your Full Frame Gear D3 and D700!

For a lens this inexpensive(500. new), it works great. Incredible zoom range with very good sharpness. Since it focuses internally(IF) it presents no trouble using a circular polarizing filter.
AF is fairly fast and seems to be on spot.
Shot a zoomed photo of a flag and with no sharpening you can see the stitching in the seems clearly. I like that.
I'm happy. This will be a keeper when I upgrade to Full Frame DSLR.
I'll still use my 24-120D in studio, but this now stays on my camera everywhere else. This is my street-sweeper.
Ken Rockwell was right about this one, for sure.

Bought for the purpose of all round travel lens, for which it is well suited. Even though the 28mm focal length is not quite wide enough for sweeping landscape images, it is sufficient most of the time (I'd get a dedicated prime lens for those landscapes). But for a one size fits all travel solution it's great. I like the heavier weight. Focusing is a bit slow at times, but not overly so. Great value for money buy!

This is a good all-around lens for Nikon film cameras. The zoon range is akward for small sensor digital cameras. The picture quality is excellent and the built quality is ok. Since it is a G lens, so it will not auto-focus on, for example, Nikon D40. I do't have problems with the plastic mount when mounting to D80, D70 and/or D50. For Nikon D3, the plastic mount could be fragile! Overall, this is a good value everyday all-around lens for Nikon users.