Nikon has made several changes to the optical formula during the long life-span of this lens, which still is on Nikon's price list. Earlier versions flared less easily, but could produce quite visible ghosting when employed under strongly backlit situations. Newer versions flare more easily, but the resistance to ghosting has improved provided the lens is well stopped down. Wide open the extreme corners are quite soft, but they rapidly improves when the lens is stopped down. A nice lens for available light work, if you aren't troubled with its steep price.
Field curvature is modest in terms of wide-angle lenses.
This lens is unusually resistant to flare and ghosting and eminently suitable for shooting directly into the sun. Never catching the buyers' fancy, this is an uncommon lens which is indicative of the perils of free enterprise. Images taken up close really are extremely sharp in the middle part of the picture and sharpness extends quite gracefully into the corners. For distant scenes, however, corner sharpness isn't that remarkable and ghosting under adverse conditions can be troublesome. There is some corner colour fringing present, too.