This is a preliminary posting to give some indication of the performance of the new Nikkor 24-120 f3.5 f5.6 G AFS VR lens.

I am intending to do a description of the lens in the near future, but I thought people would like to have a look at the performance as soon as possible.

All lthe shots here were taken at f8, with the camera mounted on a tripod, with 'cloudy' white balance set. I allowed the camera to autofocus, and to meter using matrix metering.

All shots were taken as .NEF files, and were batch converted to 8 bit tiff using nikon capture 3.5 - no processing of the image was done. Crops were taken from approximately the same part of each image in photoshop and saved as high quality jpg files (sorry chaps I only have a dial-up modem).

The full frame shots had a small and identical levels adjustment, were reduced to 700 pixels and sharpened slightly (100% at 0.5 pixels).

There are some more samples here

Notes on Build Quality and conclusions here

. Reality check

I think that some people may have been put off the lens by these comparisons, which certainly do NOT play to it's strengths. It's hardly reasonable to expect that a 5 times zoom lens, with AFS and VR thrown in should perform better than a 3.5 times zoom without either of these benefits, and which cost more money - let alone a 2 times zoom which costs nearly 3 times the price!

After using the lens for a couple of days, and finally getting out to take some real photographs in some real light, I'm beginning to think it's quite a little gem. Pictures are vivid and contrasty, and the VR allows selection of the aperture you want, even in dodgy or complicated lighting situations. Handling is great (when you get used to the zoom ring at the front). The continuous focusing with the AFS works really fast and well, I've had no hunting situations, and it handles really nicely on the D1X body.

Shooting NEFs I've found that I've had a really high rate of 'keepers' (technically speaking at least). More to the point I've had to do very little to the images.

Here are some shots from my first 'walkabout'

The following are the originals - converted to jpg and reduced to 700 pixels