. . . is difficult to get one's hands on, for sure. They've been backordered for months. But by the Grace of God, I have one. Just came in late yesterday. How this happened at all is something of a miracle. More on that later, but first . . . Holy cow, what a piece of glass. Small. A LOT smaller than its big brother, the 500mm f/4. It is also, therefore, considerably lighter. I mean, this thing really is hand holdable.
And it's sharp. Very sharp. As far as I can tell, this little lens has all the features its big brother has. Those exceptions are a rear drop in filter slot, and it's an f/5.6 instead of an f/4. I can live with both of those. I'm not going to do an in-depth review -- there's plenty of those out there. What I will say is that while it's considerably more expensive than the Nikon's 200-500mm f/5.6 zoom, it is worth every penny. The focus is extremely fast and accurate. It has 2 VR modes -- normal and sport. I could go on, but if you shoot wildlife, and want a great, small, lightweight long lens, you need one of these. It's worth every penny, while not being a budget buster like some lenses are. I'll post more photos as they come. But I have to say it again -- I am very, very impressed with this lens.