As a general purpose lens I have found this very useful.
Only trouble is that 6 weeks out of warranty the focus has failed and must be returned to factory for repair.
Has anyone had a similar problem

no.

I'd talk to Nikon repair about it. They may allow a grace period on the warranty. My son's D80 had problems a month after the warranty expired and Nikon USA repaired it at no charge. Hopefully, the New Zealand folks will be as gracious.

Good luck.

Don

rhyder wrote:
no.

then why reply?

Update: The retailer has been unhelpful but the master importer "Macalisters" have been most helpful and have replaced the lens without question. If I had purchased from an independent importer I would have been up for a $NZ400 repair plus shipping not to mention down time of at least a month.....Phew