Shiva, have you looked at the pin hole that engages the locking pin?
Do you mean your copy doesn't have the "gouged" sides?

amazing, no issues with mine - might be a sample defect, return it or just send it back for repair, as EVENTUALLY, it'll lead to a failure for the contacts to match up to the body effectively.

the only complaint that I have with the 70-200 VRII - my copy anyway... no wait...
I saw Vistek's copy and McBain's... and Nikon Canada's reply LOL

the hole that engages the locking pin on the camera has been gouged by the screw.
ie - the mechanical engineering on this isn't 100%.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1208362@N21/discuss/72157622882217609/

Cheers.

Wow! Impressive, nonetheless, shivas! I really need to dump my old push-pull soon, and start thinking about saving for a new 80-200mm f/2.8 zoom someday. I was hoping to get by with just my 180mm f/2.8, but that 80-200mm zoom range is so darned handy. Thanks for your reply!

studio460 said:
shiv:

Wow! That is really f****** sharp! Is that an unedited .JPG large? If RAW, was an unsharp mask applied in PS? Was the sharpness set at default in your body? Is this FX or DX? I have an old push-pull AF Nikkor 80-200 f/2.8 ED, and it is softer than crap wide-open. Even two stops down, it's soft.

That's RAW converted over to JPG; no sharpening, only PS was done to reduce some of the poor exposure on my part. I don't have any sharpening set on my D90, as I found, especially with this lens, it gets so sharp that things like facial lines, hair, etc get almost too sharp and noticeable.

It's kinda crazy sharp at 2.8 - although that was shot at f/8 probably since it was a sunny day.

shivaswrath said:
Jesus, the lens is IMPECCABLE!!!

I mean, really sick and impecable - here's a shot with it from a shoot I did last weekend (or 2 weekends ago)

You can't beat the bokeh. . .I bought mine from ADorama, and it was cushioned on ALL sides, as it should be, this thing is a TANK!

shiv:

Wow! That is really f****** sharp! Is that an unedited .JPG large? If RAW, was an unsharp mask applied in PS? Was the sharpness set at default in your body? Is this FX or DX? I have an old push-pull AF Nikkor 80-200 f/2.8 ED, and it is softer than crap wide-open. Even two stops down, it's soft.

Totally love mine- never had a problem.....

Amazon is shipping again, so whatever the problem it WAS NOT THE LENS!

i have never had issues with adorama. . .they overpack everything, and because they are in NJ, it gets to my home in CT in a day with ground shipping. . .I did order my 24-70 with the rebates from BH, and was disappointed with their pricing (more than adorama, but they eventually matched) and the order processing time (took them 2 more days than adorama). . .

sigh. . .

Lovetheberry thats shocking! All that money you spent and thats the way its shipped to you? I can't say I surprised though. With B&H I had a cheap order of a Hoodman 3.0 Loupe, 70-200mm VR 1 Lens coat go missing. I had to reorder it after I waited 2 months then it went into the claims department. They finally re-shipped it again and I received it. Wouldn't use B&H again though too disapointed and I heard they were the best.

If you knock the price down for me because its defective I'll take 2! Seriously though all these people producing great images with this wonderful lens. I think these issues smack of internet chattering a not real life everyday shooting.

LoveTheBerry said:
When I saw the UPS man unloading my two boxes from B&H two weeks ago,..I about fainted.

Saw both boxes dropped onto the floor of the truck. One had a puncture hole on the side (Yep,..the D3S) and the other was fine.

I opened the box and there was "Plastic" peanuts to protect the camera box. Wheewwww.

The other box had the 24-70 & 70-200 lenses on the bottom with no protection, and a few other misc. items on top. No protection for the glass. Everything was OK.

Yes, my 35mm 1.8 was shipped with minimum packaging too. It had one or two of those plastic pillows, and that's it. The box the lens was shipped in was slightly punctured too.

And this was being shipped from J and R too, so they should know how to pack stuff.

Sort of disappointed the box was manhandled. Glad the lens was fine.

When I saw the UPS man unloading my two boxes from B&H two weeks ago,..I about fainted.

Saw both boxes dropped onto the floor of the truck. One had a puncture hole on the side (Yep,..the D3S) and the other was fine.

I opened the box and there was "Plastic" peanuts to protect the camera box. Wheewwww.

The other box had the 24-70 & 70-200 lenses on the bottom with no protection, and a few other misc. items on top. No protection for the glass. Everything was OK.

I was thinking Amazon was getting complaints about fozoom or something; the packaging makes more sense.

Glad to hear there is no real problem with the lens behind Amazon's decision. Just ordered it a couple of days back, eagerly waiting for it to arrive.

And sharp! Can't wait for an opportunity to try mine.

Jesus, the lens is IMPECCABLE!!!

I mean, really sick and impecable - here's a shot with it from a shoot I did last weekend (or 2 weekends ago)

You can't beat the bokeh. . .I bought mine from ADorama, and it was cushioned on ALL sides, as it should be, this thing is a TANK!

nikon is much better, I had the previous Sigma and have the previous Nikon and SIgma is really light years behind, good choice rusty

The Nikon is light years away from the Sigma 70-200. Though I haven't tried out the new version of the Sigma 70-200 (I don't think it's even on sale yet?) I'd still buy the Nikon.

I just bought one, wanted the Sigma equivalent but the shop didn't have stock, so I ended up buying this at twice the price.

Not used it yet though.

+1 with clillja

It would appear the problem with amazon is the way they are shipping the item. They weren't using the proper shipping material or something like that so they stopped mailing them out. People were complaining that they were getting their lenses inside boxes that had very little or no cushioning.

It's not a problem with the lens.

...and yet really good photographers continue to buy them and make outstanding images with them. What's up with that?

Man has this lens ever been one plagued with issues:

First the FoZoom (focus zoom)

Then the thread peel inside

Now apparently something is preventing Amazon from selling them

What a shame for this otherwise great lens

Pete