Focus aside, this little lens makes a lot more sense to me than lugging either of those giant zooms out in the field. Outdoor and adventure photographer Galen Rowell thought the same thing, which is why he used an earlier manual-focus version with exactly the same optics as this AF 24mm for many of his best-known iconic images.

The only thing either of these two zooms do better is allow instant manual-focus override by grabbing the focus ring. With this traditional AF lens you must always move the switch on your camera to go between auto and manual focus.

If you're counting pixels, this professional 24mm f/2.8 D is far better than the similar-looking and priced 28mm f/2.8 D. That 28mm is a crappy lens, not at all related to this lens or the superior manual-focus 28mm f/2.8 AI-s.

It is as sharp as the $1,800 24-70mm AF-S at 24mm, and this compact fixed 24mm lens also has far less distortion than the 24-70mm.