Let me me brutally honest: I never warmed up to the idea of yet another variable-aperture zoom only starting at f3.5 - boy was I ever wrong! Reading through this topic I couldn't help but warming up to this lens, not in the least because I do not have anything wide that is also WR.
Saw a decent offer for a brand-new lens in a smallish camera store and decided to give it a chance. Now, admittedly, these two were shot on my way to work this morning as I only picked up the lens yesterday, with not a lot of spare time on my hands and not a lot of photogenic scenery available.
I have converted these with RT5 (as regretfully I am at work and therefore limited to using Windows) but the sharpness, colour and detail in these are absolutely outstanding! Admittedly, they were not shot wide-open so I'm being nice to the lens but it is quite an eye-opener! Zooming in on the original for instance, the detail on the masonry in the water tower which is quite close to the edge of the frame is truly excellent.