Since my move to Nikon in 2012, I have used the 14-24 as my main wide. No doubt it has some issues, but nothing I have used can give the same look and rendering of the 14-24, at least mine. I have used it on the D800, D750 and D810, all with excellent results. It does have it's issues, but the positives out-weight the negatives for me and I still carry it and it's my number 1 lens for Nikon.
Pro:
1. Great range, 14-24mm and it is very sharp wide open @ 14mm and F 2.8. It has always been my main astrophotography lens for night shoots. Excellent hyperfocal at F 2.8.
2. Focus shift, yes, it's there, but I just don't see that many issues with it
3. Mine is very sharp at 14mm across the frame and only starts to suffer at around 22mm to 24mm, wide open. But is still very good from F 6.3 out.
4. Rendering, this lens just renders landscapes well, I tried the Nikon 20mm 1.8, and I don't prefer the way it renders out. The Sigma 20mm 1.4 is as large and heavy as the 14-24, so I choose to keep the later. If the Sigma was coma free at F 1.4 to F 2.0 I might feel
different. But the Sigma has pretty harsh coma.
5. Lack of coma on the 14-24 wide open, it's basically coma free or very close to it.
6. Easy to manually focus, the focus ring on the 14-24 give a very nice feedback, unlike the focus ring on the 20mm 1.8, which give no really good feed back.
7. Right now it has a instant rebate in the US last time I checked.
8. Will create sun stars very nicely,
9. Can be set for a nodal pan, (24mm vertical orientation)
10. VERY well made, trust me on this. It's durable
Con:
1. Flare, it's just going to get the sun or moon every time and in fact seems to reach behind you to get the moon at times. The flare is destructive most times, i.e. not pretty, a bright rainbow to magenta color, most times the worst in the opposite corner of the sun. At
night the moon will create a horn shaped flare that will ruin a star trail stack very easily
2. Needs the Lee SW-150, if you want filters, I use them all the time. The newer Lee sun anti reflection shade works much better than the older version. You can now find glass 150 x 150 in 2mm thick filters also
3. Heavy, yes it's a beast
4. Distortion, but all 14mm retrofocus lenses have it, Not the distortion like barrel, but where objects at the edge of the frame elongate and get squat. No fix for that I know of. Even Rodenstock wides show this.
5. I would have said price before, but now it's a bargin at $1,700.00 or so in the US
6. Odd's are an upgraded version is in the works, but mine handles the 36MP resolution of the D810 with no problems.
Below is a shot taken in January, the hyperfocal distance is around 5 feet to infinity. The rocks in the lower left corner are about 4 feet away. Single frame, but required exposure bracketing for all the massive amount of light range. Used both a ND 1.2 and CL-PL (NiSi brand) in the Lee SW-150. (note, my colors never look good when attached here, but just wanted to show the effectiveness @ 14mm and hyperfocal range this lens can aquire).