What Dan Brown said is true. Nikon will start selling AF 28-105mm f3.5-4.5D (not AF-S as someone claimed) on December 26, 1998 in Japan. The Suggested Retail Price for the new lens in Japan is 55,000yen, about $460US at 120yen/dallor rate. It has circular aperture opening with 9 blades and accepts 62mm filters. For those of you who can/willing to read Japanese, here is the link.

http://www.nikon.co.jp/main/jpn/whatsnew/af28105_98.htm

Also, AF-S 80200mm f2.8 is coming out on December 12, 1998 in Japan. Its SRP is 245,000yen, about $2,040US !!! Anyway, whether you can afford it or not; here is the link for who want to take a close look.

http://www.nikon.co.jp/main/jpn/whatsnew/afs80200_98.htm

-- Hiroshi Shigematsu (pooh02@earthlink.net), November 27, 1998

Answers

It seems from what I can make out that the lens focuses to 0.22m? for a 1:2 magnification ratio? Wow! That seems certainly impressive for a zoom lens since some macro lenses give 1:2 reproduction...of course the quality may not be as good... but nevertheless, Nikon seems to be doing the rights things all of a sudden... Any comments, anyone?

-- Darren Soh (draken@pacific.net.sg), November 28, 1998.

I assume that this lens will replace the 35-105mm, 3.5-4.5 AF-D lens which will be phased out. Is this the case? Will Nikon continue to sell both these lenses side-by-side, when they overlap in price and focal length to a great extent? Will the new lens be better and more consistant optically than the 35-105mm Nikkor, which is not a great lens?

-- Charlie Robbins (robbnsc@hotmail.com), December 17, 1998.

Have there been any reports yet, from people who have actually helt the 28-105, on its manual focussing comfort?

-- Mark Vints (mark.vints@skynet.be), December 18, 1998.

I think the 28-105/3.5-4.5 was first mentioned this week in the french magazine Chasseur d'Images. They only revealed that they liked the compactness and the lightness of this lens very much. Considering the Nikon tradition of manufacturing good lenses, I am sure this aspherical lens will be a good performer anyway. The lens will be for sale at the beginning of february in most European countries and I can't wait to buy one, because I think it will be the ideal travel lens for me. I already found a price mentioned on the net: at www.WFV.de it will cost 749 DM (= 450 $) + 29 DM (= 17 $) for the hood. The 80-200/2.8 AFS is priced at 3499 DM (= 2000 $).

-- Ivan Verschoote (ivan.verschoote@rug.ac.be), December 18, 1998.

The new brochure for the F100 body depicts the new AF 28-105mm lens mounted on the F100, although it stops short of offering any information about the lens beyond what you can glean from a close inspection of the lens barrel. The lens has internal focusing, according to the "IF" initials in the caption listing available lenses for the F-100. There is a macro mode judging from the signature orange "M" and adjacent orange line on the barrel. The lens has a relatively wide zoom ring and a reasonably wide manual focus ring out front. The lens is considerably smaller in diameter than the 24-120mm, as you would expect. As someone who's been considering the 24-120mm for an all-around zoom, this new one is a tempting alternative. I wonder how it will stack up to the well-regarded 24-120 in terms of contrast and sharpness, both across its range and especially out past 80mm, where the 24-120 softens apparently. At f/4.5 at 105mm, it's a touch faster at its long end also. The people at B&H Photo knew nothing about it.

-- Jon Echtenkamp (jechtenkamp@timespapers.com), December 21, 1998.

I have found some (official) information about the 28-105/3.5-4.5D IF on the net. Have a look at http://www.klt.co.jp/nikon/PPD/Lineup/Lenses/AF/hi-power_zoom.html

-- Ivan Verschoote (ivan.verschoote@rug.ac.be), December 22, 1998.

FYI; finally, there is a official information on AF-S zoom lenses, too. Check out the following.

http://www.klt.co.jp/Nikon/PPD/Lineup/Lenses/index.html

-- Hiroshi Shigematsu (pooh02@earthlink.net), December 22, 1998.

I had the opportunity to check out the new AF-S 80-200 f2.8 recently. Aside from the fact that it is totally silent during focus operation there is no immediately discernable difference to it's predecessor. One significant difference however, there is no Macro available, and it's twice the cost.

-- Jeff Thomsen (jesper@mozart.inet.co.th), December 28, 1998.

The existing 80-200 doesn't have a macro "mode" either--it just has the closest focusing marked "macro" on the distance scale. Both lenses focus to the same 5.9 feet, regardless of markings.

I think you'd see a big difference between the two lenses if you tried to use the non AF-S version on the TC-14E or TC-20E teleconverters.

-- Danny Weber (danny_weber@compuserve.com), December 28, 1998.