I have tested this lens on a Nikon D100 digital camera. Normally I'm not too enthousiastic about zoomlenses with a wide range of focal lengths. They tend to be a bit soft and the build quality is usually not up to my standards. This lens came as a suprise to me, because it proved me wrong in both areas! Although this lens has a plastic body, it doesn't feel like cheap plastic at all. It feels very solid and strong and it is quite heavy. This lens is very well made! The finish is beautiful with just enough gold to make it look very professional. The markings are not engraved on the lens, as is usually the case with professional lenses. Instead, the markings are printed on the lens, which makes them more susceptible to wear when the lens is heavily used. The filter size is 72mm. Now this is a major blunder!!! Why not 77mm, which is the standard for all professional Nikkor lenses? Would it cost more to manufacture? I don't think so! The focussing ring has a smooth turn, although not quite as smooth as the ones used on the professional Nikkors, there is no play at all. There is no play in the zoom ring either, but it is a bit stiff to turn. I was surprised to see that the zoom ring is in front of the focussing ring. That's the other way around compared to the other Nikon lenses I have! If you have this lens on the camera all the time, you'll probably get used to the layout soon enough. But if you switch lenses all the time like I do, I'm not so sure about that! Focussing occurs internally, so the front of the lens does not turn. Zooming in changes the length of the lens, from 24 to 120mm makes the lens extend about 33 milimeters. There is a little bit of play in the front lens element that extends, but that's normal. It's a pity that Nikon didn't incorporate internal zooming in the design. That would have dealt with the change in length while zooming and the lens would also be less vulnerable to dust and moisture. On the other hand it would probably make it a lot more expensive to manufacture as well! Auto focussing is fast and accurate. There's a button to lock the lens on manual or auto+manual focus. If you set it at auto+manual, you can grab the focussing ring for manual override any time, fantastic! Vibration Reduction (VR) can be switched on or off. There is no Active mode, like with the AFS 70-200 Nikkor. According to Nikon, VR has to be switched off when the camera is mounted on a tripod!

Sharpness
This is a sharp lens at all apertures and focal lengths. I only tested it with a Nikon D100 digital camera, which only uses the center part of the lens, so I don't know how the sharpness is right at the edges of the lens. But on the D100 I got very sharp results, all the time!

Color and contrast
Highly saturated colors, excellent contrast. Overall image quality is very nice. No evidence of chromatic aberration.

Flare and ghosting
A little bit of flare occurs when a light source directly hits the lens. You'll see it in the viewfinder, so there's plenty of time to do something about it.

Light falloff
I could see no light falloff at all. The smaller angle of view of the D100 does help of course.

Vignetting
I've tried both B&W UV and circular polarizer filters at the same time, no vignetting occurred. Also tried to get rid of the ridiculous 72mm by using a conversion ring to 77mm, so I could use some of my other filters. With a step-up ring and one filter there was no vignetting.

Geometric distortion
A tiny bit of barrel distortion at 24 to 35mm, some pincushion at 120mm and absolutely neutral in between. Very good!

Vibration Reduction (VR)
VR is a great feature and it works like a charm on this lens. You can take sharp photographs without a tripod in low light conditions. The number of "keepers" will definitely increase!

Remarkable lens. A 5 times zoom is usually not that great, but this one is! It is clearly not in the same league as the professional Nikkor lenses, but keep in mind that this lens costs less than half compared to for instance the AFS 17-35mm. This lens is a very good performer. Sharpness is great, overall image quality is very nice, AFS is fast and quiet and it has Vibration Reduction. I can live with the change in length while zooming. I cannot live with a 72mm filter thread, I presume you can't either, so add a 77mm step-up ring to your wish list! The large zoom range of 24-120mm makes this lens an ideal travel companion, you simply can't go wrong with it!