Instruction: Assess the user's sentiment in the provided review and select the appropriate sentiment option from the list as the answer.

Input:
I have always wanted (and still do) a 70-200mm 2.8 lens however they are just plain too costly for a mere mortal to afford. When I found a like-new used Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED IF AF-S VR lens I thought I would take a chance, as I really wanted the "reach". This lens is made for a full frame camera but has a focus motor so I could use it on my crop sensor D5100. The smaller DX sensor gives this lens an effective field of view to 450mm that certainly provides the reach I was looking for. Upon arrival I was impressed with the build quality. The body is plastic, but heavy plastic and has a nice metal mount with a weather seal. This lens is somewhat heavy with a solid feel yet is quite balanced on my D5100 w/grip. The zoom is slightly stiff (kinda like it that way) across the range, but very smooth. This lens is not huge, however at full extension with the hood on it is formidable.

My first shooting impressions with this lens were slow, slow and slow. I was constantly fiddling with settings boosting the ISO and exposure compensation. I didn't like it at all. Close focus range is awful at almost 6 feet so you must be at quite a distance to shoot a flower or other smaller subject. This was not as I had hoped but I kept on shooting. After a month or so I finally got a read on this lens. Yes, it is slow and you can't be too close, but that can be dealt with. The main thing to realize is that you are shooting at some distance and the light can and will be very different at your subject. I use center focus and center metering with the AE lock to hold the metering. It is also important to always (always) use the lens hood. With correct metering I found I do not have to shoot nearly as fast as I initially thought and can capture some very sharp images.

We attended an outdoor concert by a very popular young country artist this summer (his initials are HH) with this 70-300mm lens is tow. We were lucky enough to be 20 rows back and with this zoom I got some great shots. Realizing I had to keep the shutter speed above the focal length (300mm) to prevent blur I stared shooting at 320/sec at ISO 320 f8 when the concert began. As the sun started to set I slowly began to raise the ISO and moved to 500/sec as he was jumping around the stage. By the time the only light was coming from the stage I was at ISO 1000 500/sec. After the concert I was anxious to throw some shots on FB thinking I would have to run them all through Photoshop first. I was amazing to see that the images looked very good as shot. I wound up posting 30 pics with no editing--not even cropping as the Nikon lens had had let me frame the shots nicely. I have also taken some great shots at night baseball games under the lights with this lens.

I recently purchase a Tamron 18-270 f/3.5-6.3 VC PZD to use as a walkabout lens on my other Nikon camera. The images from the Tamron above 140mm or so got progressively softer and softer until they were just plain awful. Focus was hit or miss and it was also super slow. The plastic feels like er, plastic. Thin plastic. The Nikon 70-300mm had so spoiled me with its images and quick focus at 300mm that I sent the Tamron back right away. Is the Nikon 70-300mm a tack sharp 2.8 lens that costs thousands of dollars? No. Is it much better than the Nikon 55-300mm? Way. Would I buy it again or wait for the Holly Grail 2.8 zoom? Definitely. I may never get the 2.8 and will have missed all the great shots that the 70-300mm would have produced.

If you were looking for a long lens with good build quality that is somewhat reasonably priced I would recommend the Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED IF AF-S VR lens. It does have some limitations but produces very nice images at all focal lengths and is far superior to Nikon's own 55-300mm.

Options:
A: very positive
B: positive
C: neutral
D: negative
E: very negative
Answer: B: positive