There doesn't seem to be a thread for discussing photographic matters without posting pictures, so here goes.

A point for Elbert:- you say you never use a filter and also that you have fungus inside your new lens. I'm looking to buy another lens for my Canon setup and was reading a review, in which it said of the lens "..... fully weather sealed to protect against dust and moisture only when a filter (typically a UV Filter) is in place like all of the other current-at-this-time sealed non-super telephoto lenses)".

That's what I thought. I was concerned primarily with protecting the face of the objective lens, but it seems sealing around the edges is a key feature of a filter. That's for my Canon "L" lenses - I don't know if it applies to Nikkor lenses. But certainly I have no fungus, and my lenses have been used for twice as long as yours and swapped on and off the camera frequently - I believe your new lens is effectively a fixture?