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Cons: Weight is substantial. Bulbous front element means affixing very costly square filter adapters and filters. Coma in corners is noticeable. VC and AF/MF switches are small and hard to work with gloves on. Lens cup (not cap) does not lock into place and can fall off easily. Matte finish is subpar; marks very easily...especially where the lens cup grips on.

Pros: Flare is VERY well controlled. Sharpness is level is very high, even at f/2.8. Contrast is superb, even in bright light. Barrel distortion is high at 15mm, but easy to fix in post because it is not the mustache type of distortion. Weather sealed. Mist on the front element beads well and is easy to wipe off.

Summary: I use the lens for landscape and night sky photography and it beats my older Nikon 14-24 hands down overall. Optically they are close, but overall, the features, corner performance and build quality are superior. My Nikon lens broke after several years of use and went with the Tamron lens based off several photographer friends who use it. Their usage was with the SP or G1 version. I opted for the newer one. I\'m glad I did. Although this lens\' finish is not to my liking it is built like a TANK! I have no reservations about using it in the rain or snow. When the front element fogs due to change in humidity (going inside to outside), it wipes clean easily. Vignetting is better controlled than my 14-24mm was. The biggest difference I noticed immediately was with flare. I tried out a buddy\'s Tokina 16-28mm Opera lens and it had MONSTEROUS flare. My Nikon 14-24mm had pretty bad flare also. When the light source was out of frame I\'d still have to use my hand to get it out of the picture. I don\'t have any issues with that on the Tamron 15-30mm. The sharpness and colors are where this lens really shines. There is some coma in the corners that I notice when I shoot night sky shots, but its noticeable IF you go in looking for it. Otherwise it does not detract from the overall shot. Shooting sunsets is not an issue with this lens. It maintains very good contrast even with the sun shining in the frame. There is no weird circle flaring that I\'ve noticed in the corners of my shots. My biggest caveats with the lens is minor in the grand scheme of things. First, the switches for turning on and off VC and AF/M are crazy to use. They almost require fingernails to move them. If you\'re shooting in the winter with gloves on, forget it. One of your hands is just gonna have to suffer. Another caveat is the lens cup. The ONLY thing I liked about the Tokina 16-28mm Opera lens was how the lens cup locks on the petal hood. The Tamron does not. I\'m always worried it will fall off and I\'ll lose it. Finally, the other detractor is with the finish. It\'s not necessarily a cheap finish, but the matte finish used shows marks. After removing the lens cup a few times I could see shiny marks where the lens cup had held onto the lens. Those marks are permanent. The matte finish actually lost it\'s texture. The G1 version has a different \"less elegant\" matte finish compared with the G2...BUT it doesn\'t show marks! I\'ll take practicality over looks ANY day! I know people will tell me comparing a lens designed over 10 years ago isn\'t fair to compare against a lens that was designed very recently. That is simply a cop-out answer. The Nikkor 14-24mm is an AMAZING lens. It was the standard bearer for a looooong time. Unfortunately, when a company fails to update equipment, it will inevitably be outpaced. The Nikkor 14-24mm is currently still being produced and sold for a premium price. It is because it is still the current lens for Nikon, I can and will compare it directly against others. In this case, Tamron won. And it\'s because Tamron won, I spent my money with them this time...and less of it than I would have spent on the Nikon version. I use this lens on my Nikon D810 and Z6 (required firmware update via Tap-In console) and have no issues whatsoever with compatibility.