When I bought that lens (used) from a friend, I did some tests and there is definitely some barrel distortion sorts of stuff at the wide end as I recall, but in the average vacation picture environment I found it quite adequate. I call it my 'people filter' -- when standing in front of some famous tourist spot, it gave just enough flexibility zoom-wise to get in a shot over somebody's shoulder or crop out a distraction near the side of the frame without having to change position. Good to have at Trevi Fountain and some of the other famous spots in Rome.
The 35-70, my A-1, and an FD 50mm 1.4 made a very compact kit for traveling light and it worked out well.
[egad -- took that shot 16 years ago!!! :blink: ]
