Many reviewers criticized the lens heavily for its performance, claiming it to be a soft lens when compared to its predecessor, the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G. And some even put it as the winner in the “worst lens release of 2015” category. Did Nikon engineers really screw up in updating one of the most popular pro-grade lenses? The updated mirrorless version of the legendary ultra-wide 14-24mm f/2.8 lens lives up to its F-mount predecessor and then some. (VR) like the 24-70mm and 70-200mm siblings, but I believe the It obviously lacks the fast maximum aperture of an f/2.8 prime - but it more than makes up for this with its reduced bulk and lower price tag. Performance and image quality were impressive in our lab tests. See our full Nikon AF-S 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR review. How we test lenses. We test lenses using both real world sample images and lab tests. These are really impressive MTF curves with excellent resolution, but it’s always helpful to compare things a bit, so below are side-by-side comparisons with the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 Mk II and Nikon 24-70 f/2.8 AF-S VR lenses. First, we’ll compare the MTFs at 24mm. Nikon engineers did a remarkable job by optically redesigning the lens and adding all the bells and whistles we have come to expect from the latest and greatest. Although some compromises had to be made, Nikon still managed to bring us the best 24-70mm on the market. NIKON D810 + 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 38mm, ISO 64, 2/1, f/8.0 I compared this lens to the nikkors 17-55 2.8, 24-85 3.5-4.5, and 24-50 3.3-4.5, to the Sigma's 24-70 2.8 EX DF and 15-30 3.5-4.5 EX and to the tamron 90mm 2.8 SP macro. The Sigma's are soft at the edges unless heavily stopped down and had less contrast overall than the Nikkor 24-85. In this comparison we’ve tested the Sony against the equivalent Canon and Nikon rival models. We’ve chosen the higher resolution 50-Mpix Canon EOS 5DS R to highlight the potential of the Canon combination, but even when tested on the lower 22-Mpix resolution Canon EOS 5D Mark III, the EF 24-70mm F2.8L II still achieves peak sharpness levels similar to the Sony. The clear winner here is the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G, which shows excellent center, mid-frame and corner sharpness, especially when stopped down. The Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 suffers quite a bit in the corners due to field curvature. Here, we can see that the Tamron suffers greatly at anything beyond 50mm, showing very poor overall performance. tHA7JO2.