There is some barrel distortion at 16mm, but I actually like that a little

Saw this and others on many website and thought it is a newer lens and first wide zoom with VR ... and very good barrel distortions levels on the DX body.

True, the barrel distortion is there at 16 to 19, but either composition or Photoshop can eliminate it!My images came out sharp, and the AF worked flawlessly for me

Zoomed out to 16mm there is noticeable barrel distortion to the corners...significantly more than the 14 or 17.

It's beautifully sharp at any aperture, and while it has minor barrel distortion in the corners on the wide end (what ultra-wide doesn't?

There is some barrel distortion on the widest ends but I'd say that it's bearable, and fixable in post

Item #2, which doesn't seem to bother anybody but me, is that there is a lot of barrel distortion at 16mm and some pincushion at 35mm (the "neutral" spot is around 22mm).

Saw this and others on many website and thought it is a newer lens and first wide zoom with VR ... and very good barrel distortions levels on the DX body.

To be fair, the 14-24 lens has lots of barrel distortion too, and nobody ever mentions it (see Photozone de, for an illustration).So, not cheap or small but a very good and versatile lens.

I have also found through a few months of using the 16-35, the barrel distortion at the wider end is never noticeable in my landscape shooting and I have never had to correct for it

There is some barrel distortion at 16mm, but I actually like that a little

It has barrel distortion at 16mm but it is easily correctable in photoshop and generally doesn't create problems with landscape photography uncorrected

When I don't want it, both Capture NX and Photoshop CS5 remove barrel distortion almost automatically

it works a