The small, flat surface on the bottom side of the lens is there to prevent rolling when it's set down. It's part of the design. As far as rough movement on the zoom, I get a bit more tension on the zoom ring for the 14-24 than I get on some of my other zooms (24-70 and 70-200) , but I would not describe it as rough. I do notice a bit more noise to the movement with the lens, but no more that I get with other extreme lenses like the 200-400 or larger super telephotos.

So maybe I do have a good one. I'll shoot with it this weekend to be sure. Thanx a ton for the info Flea!

The flat spot is ok they all have it, the zoom on mine is a little rougher and louder than my 24-70 afs and my six year old 70 -200 vr.

Can anyone who has a 14-24 2.8 tell me if there is a very small 'flat spot' on the bottom front edge of the lens, right near the gold ring? I got a replacement lens today (the last one had dust behind the front element) and this one had a slightly crushed box. I don't think this is a dent but I don't remember there being a flat spot on the first one of these I had but then again, I may not have noticed it.

Also, zooming on this copy seems to be a little rougher than the first copy. Ther seems to be a sit more noise when turning the zoom ring. Is this normal? I am wondering if this lens was dented and now has zooming issues...

If it's going to happen to someone, it sure seems like it's going to happen to me. Not sure why I seem to be having no luck with getting a good copy of this lens. On the positive side, this copy seems sharper in the corners...