My new toy turned up this morning, and I've taken it out for a walk around. I had already bought a more comfortable camera strap in anticipation of the weight of the new lens, and it felt perfectly OK on my D7000. I didn't come home with a sore neck.
The lens is very nice to handle. Zooming is very smooth, and focusing is fast and effective (and quiet). At the wide angle end of the range there is some red/green chromatic aberration at the edges, but I could correct this in processing the raw image (using Corel AfterShot Pro). Contrast and colour seems good.
Obviously these are only first impressions, but it looks as though this lens will be the one I use most of the time.
The lens is very nice to handle. Zooming is very smooth, and focusing is fast and effective (and quiet). At the wide angle end of the range there is some red/green chromatic aberration at the edges, but I could correct this in processing the raw image (using Corel AfterShot Pro). Contrast and colour seems good.
Obviously these are only first impressions, but it looks as though this lens will be the one I use most of the time.