Distortion problems: Nikkor 24-200 VR

[mikelong]

An amendment to an earlier post I made praising the Nikkor 18-200 IF-ED AF-S DX VR: I've been using the lens for over a year and recently began carefully editing images shot using this lens. Images from the longer focal lenghts - between 100-200mm- are predominantly soft on one side (right), and generally not very sharp, even when using the VR feature and a sturdy tripod.

I'm now shopping for new lenses to cover the super zoom focal lengths (short, medium and long). Any suggestions are appreciated.
http://www.pbase.com/mikelong

[jdepould]

You're mixing your products here, D200 is a camera, not a lens. Are you talking about the 18-200 VR?

As far as making suggestions, what's your price range and what are you shooting?

[mikelong]

Thanks for that correction.

I think the middle to upper end price range. I really don't need a fast lens because I'm shooting mostly landscapes, so minimum aperture of f5.6 is fine, even slower on the longer focal lengths.
Thanks

[jdepould]

The Tokina 12-24 f/4 is good on the wide end, rivals the Nikkor at half the price. On the long end, the 70-300VR is pretty good (especially stopped down to f/8-11), at little soft at 300, but if you back off a little bit it improves a lot. In the middle . . . the Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 is supposed to be good, but I don't have first-hand knowledge.

[mikelong]

Thanks. Has anyone used or heard good or bad reviews about the Nikon 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D ED VR AF?