(Yet another) new lens...

Yesterday, I took delivery of a 24-70 mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor lens. Although this zoom range and focal length was covered in my lens bag, I was never entirely happy with the results my third party (Sigma) optic was producing, especially at maximum aperture: it had to be replaced. Widely regarded as the benchmark for mid range zooms, the Nikkor knocks its predecessor into a cocked hat in all departments.

So, out to make some real-world test images, I come across a man hurling lumps of bread into the air for the local gull population at Sandbanks, Dorset, and pull the camera out for some impromptu images of the cloud of sea birds circling overhead. The photograph of the herring gull, about to catch a piece of bread (why do people insist on feeding birds with this stuff: it does them no good whatsoever) are among the first images made with the lens. Shot with the lens wide open and at 70mm, the original photograph is pin sharp. If there are any photographers out there contemplating this lens...just buy it. You won't be disappointed.

24-70 mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor.  1/4000 second at f/2.8. -0.33EV. ISO 200.

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