Evaluation: 
Conclusion: Professional Quality Lens for a Not-So-Professional Price
Review: When I first bought this lense I was a bit hesitant towards what its performance would be, but I really needed a lense like this as I was continuously finding myself in situations where my fixed 500mm was too much and my 28-300 was too little. I tried saving some money and invested in a 1.4x teleconverter, but it didn't do the trick. They say hindsight is always 20/20, and I must admit that I honestly don't know how I lived without this lense now and regret purchasing the teleconverter.
PROS:
The lense is VERY well made and feels sturdy and solid to the touch. Zooming and manual focus feels completely fluid with almost no resistance at all. The Auto Focus was surprisingly fast while outdoors or indoors with good lighting. The tripod collar can be removed very easily for freehand shooting, and the lens comes with a padded case.
CONS:
There aren't really cons per se, more like nuances. For someone of a smaller frame, this may not be a good lense if you plan on shooting freehand as it is VERY heavy. While the Auto Focus performed very well under well lit conditions, it will begin to seek quite often when light fades. This is not uncommon in itself, but because of the size of this lense it tends to seek a lot more than other lenses of a lesser length. To give you a better idea, think of a 20' x 20' room with only a 75w lightbulb. In this situation, the lense would have quite a bit of trouble finding it's target, even if the target was relatively close to the light source.
Overall this is a great lense that is very versatile. I have used this for sporting events such as baseball and football, wildlife and nature, and even portraits. Although it is great on the tripod, I find that I probably use it freehand 85% of the time. One thing to keep in mind is that this lense has a minimun focusing distance of roughly 7-8 feet. Also, since it is not listed in the description, the filter size is 77mm.
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