... because the 24-70mm is very sharp already @ 2.8 at all focal lenghts except:at 70mm and at minimum focus distance (from about 50-60cm focal distance on it shines again)in the farthest corners (borders are excellent)Try to send it to Nikon. They will fix it and this gem is worth it.

Did you refer to me by any chance, Mike? I had quite a few lenses under my hands during last couple years, and while i'm no expert, or extreme pixelpeeper as some, I can spot when something does not seem right. -- http://www.infiniteartphotography.com http://www.pbase.com/jps1979/galleries

That's strange. My 24 afd seems sharper at any aperture, not bad for $200 ebay lens...Yes I did use D700. I had 24-70 about 2 years ago for short time, on D300 and it seemed like much better lens overall. I have some environmental shots at 24mm ( well with dx x 1.5) and the image quality seems like night and day, and i really did not PP my photos that much back then nor I knew how. -- http://www.infiniteartphotography.com http://www.pbase.com/jps1979/galleries

Hmmm, maybe I'm too demanding, but I just can't get over then fact that $ 1700 pro lens is worse @ 24 then small old 24mm afd that cost me 200 bucks on fleabay. -- http://www.infiniteartphotography.com http://www.pbase.com/jps1979/galleries

I'll do one more comparison shoot with 2 more lenses at 24mm and 35mm and if I'm still weirded out about it I'll probably send it in for check up. -- http://www.infiniteartphotography.com http://www.pbase.com/jps1979/galleries

I find very few applications where focusing a wide angle lens at infinity is appropriate. In my experience, none of my zoom lenses that go from wide to mid range do well when used that way. They seem to do much better when you have a proper foreground interest and use hyperfocal principles at small apertures. YMMV. -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Seeking the heart and spirit in each imageGallery and blog:http://esfotoclix.com Flickr stream:http://www.flickr.com/photos/22061657@N03

if you don't test with Live View, a tripod, resolution chart, and a remote shutter release then you are really not testing to see if the lens or the camera body AF focusing is the problem. If you don't do this then you are wasting a lot of your time and the posters' time here to help you resolve your problem....If the resulting photos are sharp with Live View, then your AF Fine Tune needs tweaking. If Live View is soft then send the lens to Nikon, takes about $15 in shipping and get it back in two weeks.Again many of us have prefectly fine and sharp 24-70 lenses using a D700. I see comparably very sharp photos with my 24-70, 16-35 and 70-200 VR II lenses.Bob P.

Thanks. I'll try the live view. I have to try it for the first time anywayDo you have any specific resolution chart in mind ? if you could you provide a link to it? Thanks again. -- http://www.infiniteartphotography.com http://www.pbase.com/jps1979/galleries

I agree with your comments and that is a helluva shot - very powerful. -- Holmes http://holmes.zenfolio.com/

I've been a bit rough in my comments today (crappy mood) so I'll try to contribute something useful instead...First off - my gripe is that so many folks complain about their lenses not being sharp yet they've not taken the time - and yes, it takes time - to isolate whether it's the lens, the body, themselves, or something else that is the culprit. Proper testing procedure is necessary - you can't skimp or skip a step - or the results will be misleading. Nothing is worse than being misled by improper tests as it gives you the wrong information and then you go chasing the wrong things.Resolution chart - one download is at:http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/~westin/misc/res-chart.htmlTesting procedure:The idea is to test the lens at at least 2 general distances. One is close/moderate range, which I define as being in the range of 5 to 9 feet (2-3 meters roughly) away, using a resolution chart on a flat surface (2D) as a targer, and the other is a longer range (think across an office park, across a pond, etc) that simulates near infinity. You won't be able to use the rez chart for the second distance, you'll have to pick a 2D object of excellent contrast for the AF system to lock on to.1) tripod, ballhead, remote release, shutter delay on, mirror lockup2) flash as your illumination since this helps prevent motion blur of any sort from improperly coloring your results3) foreach apertureon the lens from wide open through about F/10, perform the following test steps exactly as specified:Set camera at low or base ISO, manual metering. Set AF so the AF-ON button does the AF activation, NOT the shutter button. Make sure the camera is lined up perfectly as possible and that the AF center sensor is placed over an easy-to-detect contrast pattern on the rez chart or target. Make sure the target is flat, 2D, not some angled test chart. Make sure nothing even remotely close to the AF sensor in the frame is behind or in front of the target.a) manually defocus lens b) use AF-S, center sensor mode and use AF-ON button to focus c) take a shot d) manually defocus the lens again e) using AF-S again, center sensor, take a second shot f) manually defocus the lens g) use Live View / Tripod Mode (on a D300, D700 etc) h) focus on the same target i) take the shot j) manually defocus the lens k) use Live View / Tripod mode again, l) take the shot m) move onto the next apertureWhen you are done, the live view frames should be your reference frames - the gold standard of what the lens can achieve at this distance and aperture. Obviously the lens will be a touch sharper as you stop it down - don't expect perfection wide open, ain't gonna happen.What you do then is compare your AF-S frames to the live view frames. They should be really, really close or an exact match. If they are substantially off, you've got AF calibration issues or a AF deficiency in the body you are using - I note the last point because a D7000, for example, struggles with the current fast wide primes (24/1.4, 35/1.4) and will never be reliable with those lenses wide open but by a stop or so are better. A D700 class of body (but not a D300) should be pretty spot on at all apertures. If the lens is off, you'll see it because the first couple of apertures won't be as crisp as the live view - of course as you stop it down the DOF helps, but, say, on a 24-70, you'd still detect a difference between the two at F/5.6. At this point you can play with doing an AF-fine tune series and see if anything helps there, or send the lens off for AF calibration with examples of your tests. If you have bad results, I also strongly advise repeating the test again on another day, just to see and ensure that you didn't inadvertently mess something up in the testing.When you do the distant scene tests, you will want to seriously consider repeating the test on a second day with an entirely different test scene. The difficulty in finding an adequate "perfect" af target at this distance complicates matters. Obviously in the distant test you won't be using strobe illumination, so keeping motion blur at bay is important.Hope this helps...-mps: this might be helpful in order to gauge the possibility of your lens needing AF calibration. I will list my lenses and whether they needed it or not for one sample of what occurs in "real life"24/1.4G - needs minor calibration, haven't sent it in yet 35/1.4G - spot on 50/1.4G - spot on 60/2.8G - spot on 105/2 DC - not tested, lens inherently has wide open focus issues 200/2G - needed calibration when I bought it, is perfect now.14-24/2.8G - spot on24-70/2.8G - both copies (bought from 1st and 2nd batches respectively) needed calibration, the one I have now is spot on after that. 70-200/2.8G VR-2 - spot on.So it's a real possibility you might need some tweaking.

wow, thank you for extensive help here. I really appreciate it. I'll get to all that tomorrow, because it's very close to midnight here.Just a dumb question- why is it necessary to use AF on button ? could i use remote release ? Just wondering.... -- http://www.infiniteartphotography.com http://www.pbase.com/jps1979/galleries

akjoswrote:when I try to take wide landscape shot with it that's where disappointment comes...Your 24-70 is probably good!AF seems good with your lens with good AF targets, and poor with AF targets where Nikon advise the AF failure rate can be highLow contrast and fine detail subjects in your distant landscapes are likely to reduce than chance of good focus. This is explained in your camera instruction book and at https://nikoneurope-en.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4585If you accept some subjects may require manual focus you should get sharp results with distant landscapes.Do not blame the lens - blame a combination of the limitations of auto focus systems - and perhaps yourself for not learning when AF is likely to deliver poor results like you got.

You want to seperate the act of tripping the shutter from the act of starting focus as much as you can.

You're standing at the rim of the Grand Canyon with your D700 and 16-35 lens, you have this fantastic shot in front of you. The nearest thing in the image is 200 yards away: What are you going to focus on? Unusal situation? No. If you travel up US395 you will find that many of the scenic vista points have shots where the nearest object is miles away.My point is that a pro grade wide angle lens should have a reasonably sharp infinity focus.Chris

akjoswrote:Thanks. I'll try the live view. I have to try it for the first time anywayJust shoot whatever you think will represent the problem. First step in diagnosing sharpness issues should always be verifying perfect focus. Live view will do that and with magnification, you can REALLY make sure the focus is as good as you can possibly get.GL!-C

akjoswrote:Hmmm, maybe I'm too demanding, but I just can't get over then fact that $ 1700 pro lens is worse @ 24 then small old 24mm afd that cost me 200 bucks on fleabay. --I don't know if your lens is faulty, but I would bet on any decent prime over any zoom - even a pro quality zoom like the 24-70. I imagine you would get the same results at 50mm vs a 50/1.8, despite the fact that the 24-70 is quite magical at 50mm.

Good points. I'd still try focusing, manually if needed, at something other than infinity, and see how that shot compares in detail/sharpness for far away objects. I say this because I have disk loads of landscapes focused at infinity for situations such as the ones you mention where, given the results I've had with focus on nearby objects, I wish I had a version focused at less than infinity. I appreciate how someone would expect that after shelling out a lot of money for a device he/she shouldn't have to tinker to get good results, but sometimes that's life. -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Seeking the heart and spirit in each imageGallery and blog:http://esfotoclix.com Flickr stream:http://www.flickr.com/photos/22061657@N03

Sorry if some of the responses above have already mentioned this (I haven't read through them all), but the 24-70 suffers from spherical aberration, which is most noticable when shooting distant scenes at 24mm, stopped down.My 17-55 has the same problem. In order to maximize distant sharpness at the wide end, stopped down, I have to manually focus the lens beyond the infinity mark. This significanly improves the peripheral sharpness.

That is interesting. Maybe somewhat similar behavior as new 24 and 35 1.4 primes exhibit ( what I heard)I'll try to give it extra kick with the focus ring next time out. I was going to go today, but don't feel that great and it's cloudy out, so I don;t want to get wet. Do you think that this issue would be fixed by servicing the lens ? -- http://www.infiniteartphotography.com http://www.pbase.com/jps1979/galleries

anotherMikewrote:g) use Live View / Tripod Mode (on a D300, D700 etc) h) focus on the same target i) take the shot j) manually defocus the lens k) use Live View / Tripod mode again, l) take the shotPossibly a dumb question, but are you suggesting using the Live View/Tripod mode contrast detect autofocus or are you manually focusing in steps g/h and k?Thanks