I had my 17-55 "serviced", but nothing changed. The spherical aberration, unfortunately, is a property of the lens design that can't be "corrected" by a technician. I now use the 16-85VR, which doesn't suffer from this problem.Good luck with your 24-70.

Use live view / tripod aka contrast detection mode for focus, since this does not involve the AF sensors "up top" to do the focus, but instead uses a slower but more accurate focus based upon what is coming directly off the imaging sensor. Used correctly, it's the gold standard for focus, and thus, more than anything, a tool for seeing how your lenses are doing in terms of focus (for future finetuning or service)Also a useful method with some bodies (cough, D7000, cough) that struggle with the F/1.4 new primes when shot wide open for some reason.-m

erringtontwrote: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?We both are. Plus use live view to manual focus and use the magnificationC

The 24-70 is an amazing lens and very sharp on my D300. No perceptable difference to my little 50mm 1.8 which also excellent. Perhaps you should heve it tested. Warren

anotherMike & cluna,I appreciate your added clarity.Thanks,Tim

I´d send it to Nikon - mine doesn´t show such blur as in your picture of the fisherman . -- http://www.fotografie.at/galerie/nadjap

woohoo another lens that's not "tack sharp". I love this forum lmao.

The fisherman was actually shot at 70mm, at f 3.2. The subject is sharp, background is blurred as it suppose to be. As I noted, I don't really have issues with the longer end, more with the wide end or overall... -- http://www.infiniteartphotography.com http://www.pbase.com/jps1979/galleries

Thanks. I might. I noticed that on DX ( D300 that I no longer have) the 24-70 seemed like (much) better lens. -- http://www.infiniteartphotography.com http://www.pbase.com/jps1979/galleries

Thank you for you immature insight on this issue. Have a great day -- http://www.infiniteartphotography.com http://www.pbase.com/jps1979/galleries

akjoswrote:Thank you for you immature insight on this issue. Have a great day -- http://www.infiniteartphotography.com http://www.pbase.com/jps1979/galleriesnae danger pal ha ha.

Congratulations, after 7 years on this forum, you are the first one to make it to my "ignore" list. -- http://www.infiniteartphotography.com http://www.pbase.com/jps1979/galleries

Sorry you are having problems with your 24-70. I love mine.How is Tucson? I lived out by the Desert Museum for 30 years. I miss AZ. I'm in Montana. Our winter hear is like your summer, it goes on & on & on.Good luck figuring out the lens.PeaceFred

Hello Fred, I don't know how you assumed I'm in Tuscon. I'm in Vegas now after 10 years in FL. I'd probably trade you. If there was something to do there ( job wise), i'd love to live in Montana or Wyo. So close to Yellowstone ( photographers paradise ! ) . I drove thru there in 05 and the scenery really engraved in my memory. Every time I see some movie from that area I want to go back ! -- http://www.infiniteartphotography.com http://www.pbase.com/jps1979/galleries

I have the same issue at 24 mm. But it is fine for people, just not landscapes. Like the other folks here, I reach for other glass at 24 mm. I find it to be quite nice though at the 70 end.

I feel exactly same way Steve. At least I'm not alone or crazy -- http://www.infiniteartphotography.com http://www.pbase.com/jps1979/galleries

I had to do a serious reevaluation of my 24 mm capability recently. I was on a trip in Spain and I knocked over my trip with a 12-24 DX lens attached to my D300. At least the D300 survived. I had to make do with 24 mm on the 24-70 or for wider stitch two shots together. After viewing shots in the LCD I realized I need to take two shots at say 35mm instead of one at 24 to return with acceptable quality.When I returned I took a serious look at the 24 mm end of my 12-24 based on previous trips. I conclude it is better than the 24-70 but still not where I wanted to be. So I replaced it with the 14-24. A truly amazing lens. Albeit I had to return my first copy as it was back focussing.

I also noticed the not-thack-sharpness with my 24-70 lately....:(  I also upgraded from a Nikon D90 to D600 full frame almost at the same time, and for weeks I thought the reason was the D600 body...Now that I have more time to do some basic tests, I put my Sigma 70-200 2.8 on my D600, and that really gives knife sharp images!I really want to convince myself I did a good buy on the 24-70, but it is simply not that way.

How sharp do you want?   Can you post some examples?Here are a couple of shots I took with my 3-year-old 24-70, handheld up in Sedona a few weekends ago.  D800e.http://www.cjcphoto.net/sedona2/images/page11.htmlhttp://www.cjcphoto.net/sedona2/images/page26.html

Just fine tune your lens yourself, on your camera.My copy didn't focus or focused erratically at infinity. You could see it easily on the focus window, that it was severely front-focusing. It needed +9 to +10 to focus correctly at infinity, but now I'm using only +5 to focus correctly at all distances.If it still doesn't work, you have to send the lens and camera to Nikon for calibration. There's a possibility that the camera is the one that needs calibration. I had a 50mm 1.8G that also needed +5, so I think it's the camera.