Sardines

I used the Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.3-5.6 G lens on a Nikon D90 to make this photograph. It's cheap and plentiful on the secondhand market. Optically it is quite good but the quality of construction is not the best. It's also slow, especially at telephoto settings. It will focus as close as 14 inches. It weighs less than seven ounces.
I have used Lightroom to improve the photograph. The D90 and the 28-80mm lens were sold some time ago.
A fast prime lens will always out-perform a consumer zoom like the 28-80mm. This picture absolutely needed editing assistance: it lacked clarity and contrast and the edges were blurry from being shot at maximum focal length of 80mm and maximum aperture of f/5.6. Just to guarantee softness I shot at 1/50th. I would like to think that I have learned something in the six years since I took the photograph but the rate of attrition suggests otherwise.