After reading many reviews I brought this lens, and What a lens! I spent a day or two testing this lens against my other two long lenses, Pentax 400mm f4 EDIF, and 600mm F5.6 EDIF, both with NIkon adaptors, and it beats the 400mm at f4, 5.6 and as good as the 600mm at f5.6.

sharpness; Can be used hand hold, so it is extremely useful when you are shooting on the go like most tourists; Well if I were a professional and have more money and assistance from technicians, I would get the 400mm VR, 500mm VR and 600mm VR; But I am not.

expensive; especially for someone who is also shooting other formats (large format)

Nikon 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF VR AF-S Nikkor review by johnmh

Picked this up used - can be impossible to find new for months at a time. Have used for wildlife and shooting cliff dwellings in the Southwest. This is a great lens - meets or exceeds expectations.

great lens

large (it's the nature of the lens