I know this is preaching to the choir, but want to rave about the durability of Nikon lenses. I was taking pictures of volunteer firefighters during a training session. I kept my camera bag on the seat of my firetruck. This seat sits about 5' above a concrete apparatus bay floor. I accidentally left the top of my camera bag unzipped. I went to grab my bag from the truck, the bag turned over, and dumped my 24mm 2.8 AFD and my 70-300 4-5.6 AFD onto the floor. As I watched $600 of glass hit the floor, I reprimanded myself for being so stupid. Before I purchased the 70-300 there was alot of postings voicing concern about the durability of the plastic 70-300 lens. I now find these concerns unfounded. After the 5' drop onto a concrete floor there is not a scratch or dent in the lens. It functions as it did before the fall. The 24mm lens had a skylight filter and lens shade installed. The lens shade and the filter separated from the lens. There was no damage to the lens or the lens shade (a Nikon lens shade). The only damage was a 1mm chip of glass fractured away from the aftermarket skylight filter. I don't know if Minolta or canon lenses could have withstood my mistake or not. I hope I don't ever have to find out. I am grateful I invested in Nikon equipment and their reputation for building solid camera gear. I have placed an order with BH to get a new Nikon skylight filter to replace the aftermarket filter that was damaged. Thanks for letting me share.
