Well, it's finally HERE!!! Okay let me clarify. It's not actually on the shelves yet, but it has been listed on Adorama and B&H, so we can finally get a feel for the street price...

(drumroll...) $690.

Nearly seven hundred bucks? Ouch! Dang, Nikon, that is STEEP for an f/3.5-5.6, semi-plastic lens!

We can only hope that this means the one thing that would make up for the price tag- This must be one razor sharp lens!

I'm pretty hopeful, and here's why:

~ The Nikon 18-200 DX VR costs about the same. A lens with WAY less zoom that costs about the same has got to be better SOME how, and image quality is about all that CAN be different.

~ The Nikon 18-135 DX (non VR) costs a few hundred LESS than the 16-85, and is already extremely sharp, even wide open. The 16-85 adds VR, yes, but hopefully image quality is also improved...

~ The Canon 17-85 EF-S IS costs a few hundred less as well, and is again decently sharp. Yet again, the 16-85 is priced AS IF it were a nearly professional grade lens, so one can only assume that it excels.

All Nikon needs to do now is DELIVER! Normally I would be first in line for a piece of gear like this, but I spent WAY too much on gear last year so I'm going to try and keep the expenses down in 2008. But we'll find out soon enough! Rest assured I'll post again as soon as I see the first reports of image quality...

Take care,
=Matt=