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Sorry for the confusion, I checked my Sigma 18-50 2.8, its made in Japan. What you said is right, all the Pro series from Nikkor are from Japan too. I have had Nikon's 18-55 VR, 55-200 VR, 70-300 VR (all sold) and 35mm 1.8, all the 4 are made in China. I am sure professionals dont compromise on Sigma or Tamron but go for a complete line up from Nikon itself like 12-24, 24-70, 70-200, 200-400, I will consider myself lucky if I can have just one of them in my bag !:)

Jac, go to Jayesh or RK, they have a huge line-up of tripods right from 1500 to 20k range. Aluminium tripods are light on the wallet but heavy on the shoulder.:thumbs up

Anything negative, per se, with this lens? (not considering the lens speed comparison with 70-200 f/2.8).
Discussion has been highly educative to me.

Nikon 70-300 VR is a lovely piece of glass, worth every penny one pays for it. It will do enough justice to wildlife and birds that are atleast the size of a pelican. Anything smaller than that, you either have to go very close or get a small subject in the frame. All this is possible if the natural light is sufficient. Cloudy days and night shots could be a pitiable stage, but to an extend compensated by higher ISO, compromising the quality.

I had only 2 reasons for sale: 1) a higher reach for birding upto 500mm and 2) a wider aperture like 2.8 for low light. Anyway both are not simultaneously possible with a tighter budget, so I hope to upgrade on the latter point first.

Thanks Shaju, I have budgeted 2-3K for the tripod. May be I might be getting a heavy one only :). What should be the ideal features I should be looking at except weight? Any height specifications?

Not trying to butt in into your buying decision, me being a newbie myself, but you are selling the 70-300 VR and getting 70-200 with a 2x TC because of low light issues. Will the latter perform much better than the 70-300 to justify its cost?

I think you have been reading too much of KR, to think that lenses made in US will be magical when compared to those in China. If that was the case, all the iphones would be bad, don't u think? Not to say a million other electronic products that come out of China. More than that, you should be worried about inconsistent Sigma quality, when compared to Nikon/Canon. The web is full of such anecdotes. That said, I found quite a lot of togs using Sigma gear here in Melbourne. Hoping you get a good piece of Sigma.clap:

My grey market quotes 83K for the 70-200 F/2.8 VR.. I can happily pocket the balance 20K....:D

I have the 24~70 F/2.8. Costed 81K. Traded my 35~70 F/3.3 & the 18~135 DX and paid some more. Phew what a lens.

I think I had posted a link for someone else in the previous pages somewhere, here is another one from my saved links How To Choose A Tripod

Hey buddy, the point is lost in the long discussion, its been suggested by SPARKled and re-confirmed through other photography forums that a 2X teleconverter might be a bad idea for 70-200. So, I might consider a Nikon TC17 E-II or put the converter plan on hold for a while. KR guy is a joke, I read it for fun not for serious decisions. Sigma/Nikon decision is still pending, tough bananas :)!

Are you serious GD ? I hope you are talking about the VRII, the nano (not TATA) coated version ? If it is true, then north beats south to history ! I dont mind travelling to the capital to get hold of that ! Seriously.

I need to buy a new Canon EOS-7D with 18-135 mm lens.
Which is the cheapest and dependable place to buy?
Right now, the lowest price I'm getting for this is 89,900/- Is there any place in India where I can get this thing lower than this price?

Price quoted for VR. Seriously thinking if an increase fo 20K justifies the VR II?

BTW, the production of 70~200 VR F/2.8 has been stopped. Whatever is available is the from the stock.

There is no stock of VR I anywhere here, and shockingly I am reading reports of issues with VR II, related to its quality control Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII problem seems to be wide spread | Nikon Rumors Its widely discussed in many forums by members of different countries. Do we have anyone here who uses the VR-II, that would have been real help ! As of now it makes more sense with Sigma 70-200.

GD, how is the pricing of MB D-80 battery pack in north ? I need one and an extra EN EL3e battery too. Waiting to complete my bag before planning a 3 days trip to down south.:thumbs up

Thanks again Shaju, it helped. I should be fine with an baisc aluminium one since my primary requirement is when everyone on the family has to be there in the snap. May be 4-5 times an year we go for any trip, which translates to very less usage. I'll try some models this weekend.

Original Nikon EN EL3e - Rs.2000/-
Taiwanese make - Rs.1200/- (six months warranty)
Totally local - Rs 700/- (no warranty)

Nikon MB D80 battery pack - Rs.6500/-
Mink brand battery pack - Rs.4800 (reccommended)

My friend Sridhar uses the mink brand for his D700 and is pretty satisfied.

BTW Shaju, aren't you down south?

Just informed that the Tamron 70~200 F/2.8 is for 37k. My supplier doesn't suggest Sigma.

You are welcome Jacs.
GD I meant Kerala. Sigma/Nikon/Tamron: the confusion is complete right now!! Its as equal as a toss between Fiesta/Linea/Honda/Chevy. Whatever prices you have indicated are much lesser than south. I have heard of Opteka and Zeikos but not Mink. Ebay has plenty of sellers dealing with all these, but what we want is someone commenting about its quality or issues. Nikon VRII reports are scary infact, imagine spending over a lakh and getting a defective piece of glass, my HOBBY will make me a DHOBI :).

GD, do you have time to buy and ship ? Please dont blame me if 100s of orders requested from south as an after-effect:).

Out of morbid curiosity, I tried to compare the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII with Olympus 50-200mm F/2.8-3.5 that I have using same review site.

Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8 G ED VR II (FX) - Review / Test Report - Analysis
Olympus Digital Zuiko 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 ED SWD - Analysis

CA is lesser in the Olympus one. The ratings are almost similar, there are certain issues unique to each. Basically very comparable performance wise. But the Nikon lens costs more than twice than the Olympus lens. $2149 vs $989

Edit: The Olympus lens will have 400mm max EFL compared to Nikon's 300mm max EFL. :D

I can assist in buying, but shipping is a no, no.