After the surge of Nikon patents application filed in the US last year, it seems that Nikon is very cautious lately – I can hardly find any interesting entries. Most of the patents are filed in Japan and I am starting to monitor the Japanese patents website on a regular bases. Please note that patents applications do not guarantee any future products announcements.
2009-282214 is a patent for a new, redesigned 80-400mm lens that was filed in December of 2009 in Japan:
f 81.6 to 200-392
FNO 4.6 to 5.4-5.8
2omega 30.0 – 12.0 – 6.1
For comparison, here is the design of the current Nikon AF 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D ED VR lens:
