Nikon's first DX lens was the 12-24mm f/4, and they probably thought that 12mm would be plenty wide enough, but in retrospect it looks to us like they might have misjudged it. Other manufacturers have been making lenses which go down to 10mm, and now Nikon has matched them.

Compared to the 12-24mm, this lens has a few disadvantages which suggest that compromises have been made in order to extend the zoom range to 10mm: it's not so solidly built (though by no means flimsy); the maximum aperture is variable instead of a constant f/4; and the lens extends a bit when zooming. But hey, it goes down to 10mm, and that's the important bit!

Test reports indicate that, in the corners of the frame when wide open at 10mm, this lens is about as sharp as a marshmallow. But apart from that, it delivers very good to excellent image quality across most of its range.

COMPATIBILITY NOTE: This is a DX lens. It will not deliver a full-frame image on a D3 or D700 camera. (However we have seen reports - which we are unable to confirm - that it can deliver full-frame images from about 18mm up to 24mm.)