Does the Nikon 12-24mm DX lens suck?

(An abridged version of this posting got me permanently kicked off of www.nikonians.com. Beware: They may kick you off for reading this posting)

Last week I decided to upgrade from a Sigma 10-20mm to the venerable Nikon 12-24mm DX wide angle lens. I mean, how could I avoid it? With hundreds of glowing recommendations on www.nikonians.com, it has to be a stellar lens, right? I liked the Sigma lens which goes waaay wiiiiide to 10mm. But come on - the Nikon is just better.

So off I went to my local camera store and traded in my Sigma 10-20mm. I eagerly returned with a brand new Nikon 12-24mm DX lens, packaged in its unique gray box with "Made in Japan" engraved on the lens barrel. Cool.

The net cost of my upgrade: $CDN 1050.00. Twice the cost of Sigma lens. But you have to pay for quality - so no worries.

The next morning I snapped some quick test images that would confirm just how great my lens truly was. I was thrilled.

Later that day...

I loaded the images onto my Mac. I was prepared to be impressed. Instead I was shocked. Every image I took that morning has large amounts of chromatic aberration (CA). Blue, green and purple fringing near the edges of every image. Here are the initial test images.

I dutifully posted my findings on www.nikonians.com. Some people said they had similar experiences but most suggested that I must have bad copy of the lens. "Just get another one, and everything will be fine"

BTW: There is a zealot of a moderator on www.nikonians.com, named Brian Tilley, who told me the Nikon 12-24 is absolutely the best but I should have expected excessive CA if I had read the Nikonians review of this lens. What a moron.

If you Google for "Nikon 12-24 lens review", you will find some references to excessive CA - mostly from professionals. But these people just don't like the Nikon 12-24 because it is made of plastic, right?

Back to my local camera store. I showed them my test images. They said: "That's terrible. Please try another copy. Go outside and try it now if you wish?"

BTW: The store is www.henrys.com in Kanata ON, Canada. They were terrific and helpful. Many thanks!

I took some pictures with Nikon 12-24 DX lens sample #2, and then with sample #1 - just to be sure. To my surprise, sample #2 was just as bad as sample #1. I asked the helpful salesperson in the store, "Do you still have the Sigma 10-20mm lens I traded in 2 days ago?" He said, "Yes. Why not test it too?"

I quickly tested the Sigma against the two Nikon samples. The Sigma showed minor CA in one test and none in the other. It was clearly better than either of the Nikons. Here are the test images of all three lenses.

So what did I do? I returned the Nikon 12-24 DX lens, got back my Sigma 10-20mm lens and $1050.00.

There you have it. A negative experience with the Nikon 12-24mm DX lens. It's something you will not see on www.nikonians.org. But don't ever say it on www.nikonians.org. They will probably delete your account.