Bill, your Polynesian gallery was a treat. Wonderful pics.
Well, you guys have sold me. I'm eloping to Kauai at the end of May, and it looks like adding the 70300G to my 24-70 will be the perfect travel combo. Thanks!
Douglas,
Even though I believe the 70-300 is not a bad lens, you have to consider 2 things before you buy it:
1. It is not a Zeiss. I mean if you're used to a certain look from Zeiss lenses, this lens will not deliver, specifically, micro-contrast, 3D and the saturated Zeiss color balance which can produce warm tones and cold blues. This lens color balance reminds me of my Canon lens days with predominant warm tones overall as well as low contrast.
2. The minimum aperture of f/5.6 (and the relatively higher shutter speed needed to handhold long lenses) is very limiting as I found out recently, especially with a camera like the A900 that doesn't perform so well at high iso.
Also having used the Contax 300mm f/4 on a 1Ds2, I can say that by comparison the Sony zoom is not sharp. The results are consistant with what I've seen from the guys over here and several reviews on the net, but I wouldn't call it a sharp lens.
For me it is an expensive temporary solution until Sony releases a Zeiss prime around 200mm, which may or may not happen.