I'm sorry to say it again but I convinced that the real QC mess started with the optical image stabilizers. Especially the combination with wide angles is nothing short of terrible in terms of consistency in my opinion.
Call me conservative but I can only strongly recommend to stay away from IS lenses that are shorter than 35mm - across all brands that is. IS is a "controlled" decentering of a loosely mounted lens element or group. This is doomed to be a hot spot of failures.
The 16-50 OSS is here as well as the moment. I wouldn't sign this with blood yet. However, I did a series of sample images with OSS off and on. Subjectively I'd say that the OSS-off versions are sharper at the borders with less sharpness variations on the sides.
Klaus
Call me conservative but I can only strongly recommend to stay away from IS lenses that are shorter than 35mm - across all brands that is. IS is a "controlled" decentering of a loosely mounted lens element or group. This is doomed to be a hot spot of failures.
The 16-50 OSS is here as well as the moment. I wouldn't sign this with blood yet. However, I did a series of sample images with OSS off and on. Subjectively I'd say that the OSS-off versions are sharper at the borders with less sharpness variations on the sides.
Klaus