A pretty sharp lens with good contrast (noticeably higher than the old 18-35mm) and color, even with wide open at 24mm it's still very sharp; in some lens test I read it's even better than prime lenses. This lens hardly flares and I haven't notice much light fall-off (with B+W 010 MRC on it), which can be seen with the 18-35mm. The only bad things about this lens are noticeable chromatic aberration and distortion at 12mm, but it can be removed with software. The feel of the zoom ring is not so good as with 18-35mm, and it's the new Nikon lens layout, which means the focusing ring is closer to the camera. One strange thing is there's no environment seal for a lens like this, otherwise it'll be such a nice combination with D200. Overall I would prefer this one over any other lenses- its performance speaks for itself. As for the price, I think it's a bit high but justified. The lens weighs 465g and has 7 rounded diaphragm blades. Used on full frame bodies it's no better than those old wild angle primes, mainly due to vignetting and corner softness.