Whats wrong with the Nikkor 70-200 4.0 VRIII ?

My friend recently bought the new 70-200 F4. He still had his older VRI and I own the VRII.

He ultimately returned the F4 version because he shoots people, sports and events where F4 was a limiting factor. The lens is very sharp, but slow glass is slow glass. It is better than the VR1 at the corners, but that does not mean much to a lot of shooters not doing landscape. It suffers from much less focus breathing than the VRII version. It's hard to fault the optics-truly excellent. But we found fault with the F4 and price!

Another interesting point is that we had a MUCH cheaper Tamron 70-300 VC on hand and it was VERY close to the F4 Nikon over the same range. My only issue with the Tamron (I was impressed enough to order one for myself) is the VC is slow to engage.

The 70-200 F4 lens is very good. I think Nikon would sell twice as many if they bundled it with the tripod foot.

I'm still waiting for Nikon to make a great 70-200 lens. The VRI has weak corners. The VRII has focus breathing. The VRIII is only F4.

C'mon Nikon! Pull it together!

Robert