The dollar just dipped below 100 yen briefly for the first time in a long time. The dollar doesn't look to recover any significant strength any time soon. Nikon hasn't yet published their yen/dollar assumption for the year (they will when they release their year-end results shortly), but the dollar has been under last year's assumption for several months. Those of you complaining about the price of the 16-85mm DX lens may be just at the forefront of a trend: I expect Nikon's prices to have to rise in the US during the coming year. This time last year, the yen was about 117 to the dollar, thus we've had a 15% slide, mostly within the last few months. Nikon isn't going to absorb that slide by itself--US customers will likely be paying more or receiving less.