I went and did it!

[Bevel Heaven]

wonderful lens, I love mine. regardless of price, it is a *very* good one.

 

[Trish1977]

Congrats Jerry!

 

[JerryPH]

Thanks all for the kind words. I've not yet received the UPS tracking number, but I'm wishing and hoping it arrives before Christmas.

 

[jstuedle]

It is a great piece of glass. Congrats Jerry, you'll love it for sure! I'm holding off for now, I just can't justify a third lens in the category. I love the version of the 80-200 most shooters hate, the one-touch slide zoom. And have the last non-VR AFS 80-200. Just don't see the need, but when did need ever keep a photo nut from needing something before forking over the cash?

 

[johnmh]

Only lens I wish I'd gone into hock to buy 5 years earlier........

Hindsight can be sooooooooooo annoying.

 

[kundalini]

are we there yet?

hehehehehehehehehehehehe

 

[JerryPH]

Important Delivery Information

Scheduled Delivery: 21-December-2007
Shipment Detail Ship To:
ATTN: JERRYPH
Number of Packages1
UPS Service:GROUNDWeight:5.9 LBS

------------------------------------------------------​

Soon, it will be here in 2 days! I cannot believe that I paid for 10-14 day shipping and they deliver it in *5* days and during the Christmas season no less!
Kudos to Sigma4Less (aka: Photo4Less)! :thumbup: :hail: :thumbup:​

6 pound shipping weight, huh? It is going to be hard to hide that box under the tree... but then again, who am I kidding? Its not going to even get wrapped. First thing that goes on is the UV filter on one end and my camera on the other end, and then comes the fun! :lmao:​

After seeing some pics with a camera on the end of it and a few of people holding this lens, it looks a lot bigger than it appears in the pictures by itself. This is a pretty big lens and now I see why some people don't tote it as a very good carry-round lens. This will make no difference to me... just take off the SB-800 and remove the MB-D200, replace the weight saved with the 70-200 and we're looking at a weight that I am already comfortable carrying around all day!​

Cripes I'm already imaging how I am going to be using it and where... I think I am going to check in to Nikon's Anonymous to attend a few meetings (lol). NAS is a very bad thing... yes, very bad.

I'll set up the ping ping table again to make a "product shot" of the lens for my insurance company (makes a very nice background). I wonder if they are starting to sweat yet... my insurance man told me it was all covered against fire, theft, etc... but he thought I was talking some little kodak P&S. lol !​

 

[JerryPH]

It came in yesterday!

First impressions... dang, thats one BIG and HEAVY piece of glass!

Second impression... it is going to take a some practice using it without a tripod or monopod, but the VR works very well.

Third impression... On this lens more than any of my other ones, am I made conscious of the fact that there is a crop factor. This is definately not a lens easy to use indoors for family events. It demands distance. The mere fact that it has something like a 5 foot minimum focus distance is also another give-away. it does focus very fast, though but is susceptable to some low light focus hunting.

Last impression... one word: SHARP. I mean, sharp, clear, a level of deail that I have never experienced before! To have F/2.8 or less at under 50mm is nice, but to have F/2.8 at anything between 70-200mm is... wow.

I also own the 18-200 VR, and that lens definately has a greater useability range and lighter, therefore a better walk-around lens forthose times that absolutely best picture is not needed, but when you want quality in an area that has room to move around, this lens definately is one of the best in the industry!

I was thinking that I may sell my 18-200 after getting this one, but no, I am keeping it. It's too good and has a super effective range for me to want to get rid of it. But I will say this... I now know why all the wedding photographers that use this lens just rave about it. I look forward to playing with it and adding to my flickr account with little photo gems from this lens. :lmao:

A couple of very fast pics from it... nothing spectacular, but they are the first 2 pics that I took with this lens:

Thursday night I went to a ballet (The Nut Cracker), and this is a slipper from one of the dancers from that evening. It is signed and has a paper that talks about her biography.

The bokeh at F4 is very smooth and much more pronouced than I had expected. I am VERY happy with it!