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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Neil Morris" data-source="post: 1708475" data-attributes="member: 71873">Sorry to be so slow coming back to you Skywatcher. I've used the lens quite a bit now and my experience is that I have some cracking pics as well as some fairly flat ones. Shooting in RAW is definitely the best bet, though rather more time-consuming in post-processing. In sunlight, the results are excellent and well worth the money. In flat light, I'm just a little bit disappointed. The very same birds shot alongside me at the same time by Steve Arlow with his 500mm Canon prime always look that little bit richer.One other observation is that the 7D struggles with noise at higher ISOs (which are of course often required when photographing birds with 400mm + 1.4 converter in the winter in the UK).Honestly, I think the jury is still out on this one. There's no doubt that in good light the lens is sharp, fast and incredibly versatile thanks to it small size and light weight. On that basis alone, it’s possibly the best option for a travelling or walkabout lens. I am slowly growing to love it ... but I still double-check every picture taken in flat light to ensure I've got a saturated, contrasty shot.I couldn’t resist attaching a picture taken last weekend: adult Caspian, 400mm + 1.4x converter at f5.6, 1/800 sec and ISO 3200. See what you think. I’ve reduced chromatic and luminescent noise a few stops in DPP and cropped by about 50%.</blockquote>