Picked up a non-mint but clean copy for £489.........and am lovin' it, as they say.
It's a screw drive from 1986/7. AF is plenty quick enough, separation ticks all the buttery smooth cliches and it is seriously sharp wide open.
Not too heavy to hand hold all day either.
Downsides? For anything other than close-ups I need to re-think how I compose (yes I do miss the flexibility of a zoom, zooming with your feet is totally over-rated), and it has been over-exposing when stopped down with a sticky aperture. No oil on the blades but the return spring feels weak...but it's improving and hopefully will be fairly cheaply fixeable if it isn't.
Overall, a complete treat.
It's a screw drive from 1986/7. AF is plenty quick enough, separation ticks all the buttery smooth cliches and it is seriously sharp wide open.
Not too heavy to hand hold all day either.
Downsides? For anything other than close-ups I need to re-think how I compose (yes I do miss the flexibility of a zoom, zooming with your feet is totally over-rated), and it has been over-exposing when stopped down with a sticky aperture. No oil on the blades but the return spring feels weak...but it's improving and hopefully will be fairly cheaply fixeable if it isn't.
Overall, a complete treat.