The biggest downside to this lens for most people is the price. This is the most expensive zoom - hell, it's the most expensive LENS - in Nikon's lineup, excluding "big guns" like the 200-400 and telephoto lenses. But that's optics, and there's no free lunch. This lens weighs half the weight of the 200-400 (3.5 pounds versus 7.3 pounds). It's half the size (8 inches versus 14 inches) and half the price. But it's fairly sharp at 400mm, with fairly good autofocus performance (both shooting and tracking) and very good image quality. It's not as good as 200-400, which is AWESOME, and not as good as long primes, which are even better. But its performance is excellent and there is no other lens that delivers better image quality with this range and flexibility at this price point. In its specific market segment, it outperforms all other alternatives. I have 200-400 and 500, but there will always be situations where it's impractical or impossible to pack and use large guns, so 80-400 will fit in my bag on many occasions. This is a great lens and I will definitely keep mine.
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