The lens IS cheap. I paid less than the 200, and got a nice usable 70-300mm lens. It definitely gave me some reach. HOWEVER, be aware of the following drawbacks:

1) You will get purple fringing. It will be annoying. You can desaturate it, and it won’t be as purple, but a grey area will remain.

2) It IS soft. beyond 200mm, you can get some shots, but they will all be gauzy. Even with tripod.

3) The AF is pretty poor in lower light.

4) the f/8 sweet spot is less a sweet spot than a “minimum usable” spot. The bokeh is quite nice at larger apertures, but the picture will be more bokeh than you intended, including the subject:)

5) The macro is pretty nice…I mean hey, 2:1 in a cheap lens, that actually works fairly well. But the working distance is still decently long, and (like other zoom macros) you have to be at 200-300mm to utilize it which makes large apertures necessary, and which makes less shallow depth of field hard. It also dramatically increases shake since you’re taking a very small thing, magnifying it, and then shooting at a fairly long focal length. You’ll need a tripod, period.

It’s a very nice starter lens for those (like me) who couldn’t afford better. And it will be more than serviceable for very casual shooters, but the cost is reflected in the quality. It does bother me that I bought a 70-300, and can only really use up to the 200mm mark.

The grip on my zoom ring has become loose from a year of normal use. Other than that the build is solid, just of poor quality.
Rating: 3 / 5