TME said:Hmm... I see...... so chromatic abberation should be kept in check..... didn't know that this lens had a built-in motor. At any rate its f-stops aren't any faster than the Tamron. I get f/4.5 at 85mm as well....... but the glass might be better though....... any idea?
The lens is an AF-S, the 'S' denotes the Silent Wave Motor from Nikon (like the USM-Ultra Sonic Motor for Canon)
The AF-S lens have a quieter and faster focusing speed than the non AF-S lens.
I am not referring to the aperature (i.e. f/2.8...etc) when I mentioned 'fast'.
I mean it's focusing speed is faster not the f-stops.
BTW, chromatic abberations is not kept in check by aspherical lens elements.
The Aspherical lens is useful in correcting the distortion of wideangle lenses.
Hence you will find it mostly on wide angle lenses or lenses starting from 24mm or 28mm, like the 24-135 and 24-85.
You will not find aspherical lens element in telephoto lens like 70-200mm, 80-200mm, 50mm, 85mm etc
Chormatic aberration is corrected with ED (nikon), UD(canon), LD(tamron), SLD(sigma)....etc elements.
It makes the light rays of different wavelengths converge together to eliminate chormatic abbertion.
The Tamron 24-135 has LD elements for that, while the Nikon 24-85 has ED elements for that.
http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/glossary/terms_a.htm
"Nikon's new series of AF lenses, involves the intergration of coreless motors into their super telephoto lenses. This gives these lenses quick, ultra quiet autofocus operations."