This is a very light lens, with no VR, so when zoomed in you'll notice quite a bit of camera shake.

Anybody who grew up using non-VR telephoto lenses knows you're almost always on the margins of camera shake when using them, often having to chuck three out of every four photos to get one good one.

With the VR on it adds an extra couple of stops to keep the image from getting fuzzy or from camera shake

The lens is somewhat heavy, yet I was still able to handhold with minimal camera shake.

If handheld, use as high a shutter speed as you can to reduce camera shake

the aperture to f8 or f11, the images do get sharper but aren't as sharp as in the 70-200mm range

yes the camera loves light and in low light the results are not near as good as when in full sunlight

[a good nikon camera bag, an extended warranty for your camera as well as for the lens..]

I will tell you in decent light or tripod situations this lens is just as sharp as the 70-200 f/2.8 (stopped down one stop from wide open) in the 70-200 focal range on my D700 and just as sharp at all aperatures (once again in the 70-200 focal range) on my D90.

(I have knocked off one star because the sharpness breaks up as you approach 300mm)

I would not let the camera decide what to focus on at that zoom though, like another person said it would probably be the kiss of death with all of that shaking going on, or the camera totally confused as to what what to focus on, since it will focus on perhaps landscape when you want a bird's eye where the bird is on a branch in focus

the aperture to f8 or f11, the images do get sharper but aren't as sharp as in the 70-200mm range

yes the camera loves light and in low light the results are not near as good as when in full sunlight

[a good nikon camera bag, an extended warranty for your camera as well as for the lens..]

I will tell you in decent light or tripod situations this lens is just as sharp as the 70-200 f/2.8 (stopped down one stop from wide open) in the 70-200 focal range on my D700 and just as sharp at all aperatures (once again in the 70-200 focal range) on my D90.

(I have knocked off one star because the sharpness breaks up as you approach 300mm)

I would not let the camera decide what to focus on at that zoom though, like another person said it would probably be the kiss of death with all of that shaking going on, or the camera totally confused as to what what to focus on, since it will focus on perhaps landscape when you want a bird's eye where the bird is on a branch in focus

the aperture to f8 or f11, the images do get sharper but aren't as sharp as in the 70-200mm range

yes the camera loves light and in low light the results are not near as good as when in full sunlight

[a good nikon camera bag, an extended warranty for your camera as well as for the lens..]

I will tell you in decent light or tripod situations this lens is just as sharp as the 70-200 f/2.8 (stopped down one stop from wide open) in the 70-200 focal range on my D700 and just as sharp at all aperatures (once again in the 70-200 focal range) on my D90.

(I have knocked off one star because the sharpness breaks up as you approach 300mm)

I would not let the camera decide what to focus on at that zoom though, like another person said it would probably be the kiss of death with all of that shaking going on, or the camera totally confused as to what what to focus on, since it will focus on perhaps landscape when you want a bird's eye where the bird is on a branch in focus