More AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-85mm F3.5-5.6G ED VR
It’s starting to look realer and realer! (Yes, I’m aware that’s not a real word, but we can say anything we like on the intertubes…) Acceptable google translation here.
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Issue price, but the AF-S DX Zoom Nikkor ED 18-70mm suggested retail price is tax, and 58.800 yen, and in this new lens are equipped with VR, How much of what price I come in, the new kit could be just as a lens, Hey, it’s easy to buy if the price OSAETA set, which also likely bestseller lens and promise that I might have been like.
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If you’ve yeared for a consumer-grade lens with variable aperture and unknown image quality (we’ll presume it’s acceptable) then this one’s for you!
I see a lot more lenses like this- cheap, acceptable, DX crop format.
I’m betting on a PMA 2008 announcement due to the rumors, etc, and let’s really hope that there’re some surprises like a new Nokt or an 85mm 1.2 AF-S aspherical that I’d shell out $1100 or so to get ahold it.
January 10th, 2008 at 17:05
I want a wide angle tilt-shift!
January 10th, 2008 at 18:04
Meh. The 16-85 leaves me cold, but I’m sure it will help sell whatever is the successor to the D40/D40X.
An 85 1.2 AF-S doesn’t seem entirely outside the realm of possibility, but your price for it does. Considering the street price for the venerable 85 1.4 “cream machine” hovers around $1000-1200, I’d expect to see it somewhere around $2000 if it comes. And even that may be foolishly optimistic.
Bear in mind that the 50/1.4 is almost 3x the cost of the 50/1.8, and the AF-S 300/2.8 is about 3.5x the street price of the AF-S 300/4. Speed doesn’t come cheap.
Personally, I’d be perfectly happy with an optically-identical AF-S version of the 85 1.4D, especially if it managed to go AF-S without also being a G lens. Call me old-fashioned, but I like dedicated aperture rings.
If new pro primes are coming, my wishful-but-reasonable prediction would be:
28/1.4 AF-S G
(It’s ba-aaaaack! This time around selling for only $12-1300ish, and actually selling well, because it will appeal to both D3 owners and potential Sigma 30/1.4 purchasers on the DX format willing to lay out more cash for the Nikon marque and full-frame coverage. At this price it might be a loss-leader even after the cost savings of the G technology, but it will certainly draw some attention to the brand, and I think it would be enthusiastically adopted by pros using the D300 as a backup to their D3s. Fast wide on one, fast normal on the other – win win!)
50 or 58/1.2 AF-S G
(before we get an 85/1.2, we’ll be more likely to see one of these since Nikon already has the existing 1.2 formulas to work from. The 50/1.2 AI-S is even still in production, but my wish is for the 58 because it’s a better length on DX format. Sell one of these “new autofocus Nokts” at about $550-600 street and it will steal some thunder from the Voigtlander 58/1.4 MF Nokton that has excited a lot of Nikon owners)
85/1.4 AF-S G
(Same great lens, now with the newest Nikon technology. Same price as the current 1.4D, but users get AF-S focusing, and Nikon gets to cut costs by making it a G lens. Maybe VRII as well?)
I think that’s my entire monthly quota of careless speculation in a single post. Can’t wait to see what Nikon actually brings to PMA…hope it’s good!
January 29th, 2008 at 10:45
[...] And a new consumer-grade lens that I seem to recall seeing somewhere else… [...]