Great wildlife lens

I have been using an 80-400VR and wanted a bit more reach and more sharpness.

This lens is extremely good, even wide open. The contrast and sharpness is much better then the 80-400VR.

I bought a new very heavy duty tripod and ball head to use with it. I am amazed by the results. With practice I am getting many great shots at 1/60 second. Using this lens requires a good tripod and some practice of technique. I don't know how I'd do this with film. Digital is great to see what works just seconds after trying it.

Using it with a Kenco 1.4 teleconverter is still much better than the 80-400VR. I get a few more less than perfect shots because of shake but still get a lot of really sharp ones. I guess you get what you pay for in this case.