Jul 082015
 
Nikon 16-80mm f/2.8-4E ED VR

Nikon 16-80mm

A new general purpose DX lens is coming from Nikon as we predicted before. The 80mm long (telephoto) end of the lens has an f/4 aperture, not f/3.5 as was rumored before. The f/3.5 would be better of course, but the f/4 is also 1 stops better than the earlier version, which has a f/5.6 brightness.

The new lens has electronically controlled aperture, which said to be more precise.
The lens has a 37 cm (1.21′) close focus distance in the whole focal length range. This is similar to the earlier model, the difference is only 1 cm. The filter size is 72mm for the new lens. The new lens has nanon christal coat as well, mostly used on expensive lenses by Nikon.

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The lens has 4(!) Ed elements which seems many for a lens, but very useful creating high image quality, Canon many times not even put 1 Ed elements in many lenses.

The price of the new lens is 1070 USD.

Nikon 16-80mm f/2.8-4E ED VR specifications

We show the datas of the earlier version as well for easy comparison.

Item
Nikon 16-80mm f/2.8-4E ED VR
Nikon 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6 ED VR (earlier version)
Mount:
Nikon F mount Nikon F mount
Filter size:
72 mm 67 mm
Lens elements / groups:
17 elements / 13 groups 17 elements / 11 groups
Exotic Lens elements:
4 ED and 3 aspherical elements 2 Ed and 3 aspherial elements
Weight:
480 g ( 1.06 lbs. ) 485g (17.1 oz.)
Dimensions:
80 x 86 mm (3.15 x 3.37 ” ) 72 x 85 mm ( 2.83 x 3.35 ” )
Close focus distance:
0.37 m ( ‘) 0.38 m ( ‘)
Autofocus:
yes Ultrasonic yes Ultrasonic
Stabilizer:
yes 4 stops yes 4 stops
Front element rotates:
No No
Moving barrel elements during focusing:
No No
Focus preset modes:
No No
Switches:
Af-Mf, Stabilizer on-off Af-Mf, Stabilizer on-off, Stabilizer normal-active
Lens Mount:
Metal Metal
Format:
DX DX
Reproduction ratio:
0.22x 0.22x
Aperture blades:
7 rounded diaphragm blades 7 rounded diaphragm blades
Distance scale:
yes yes
Manual focus override:
yes yes
Focal length:
16-80 mm 16-85mm
Max Aperture:
f/2.8 (wide end)-f/4(long end) f/3.5(wide end) – 5.6(telephoto)
Min Aperture:
f/22-f/32 f/22-f/36
Angle of view:
83-20° (DX) 83-18° 50′
FTM (Manual focus override):
yes yes
Focus limiter:
No No
Tripod mount ring:
No No
Lens hood:
yes yes
Accessories:
yes yes
Tilt / shift:
No No


The price seems little high now without knowing the lens capabilities. I personally would like the lens to be f/3.5 at the long end to create more artistic blur and has more usability in lower light circumstances. The price will be lower in short term I think, as usual half a year a something like that.

Nikon 16-80mm release date

The new lens predicted to be on the selves of the stores by July 2015.