[silver]

the 80-400 can produce stunning shots,. expect to use a tripod to get things properly sharp,.

another option - for which a tripod is also a must is the 300f4 w/ a 1.4 tc,.

the question I would ask is whether you can simply swap a 70-200 2.8 zoom and go with a longer zoom,. if you shoot events then the 70-200 2.8 is a really handy lens that is nice for portraits candids etc (well actually I assume so,. based on 70-200 vr I use for that)

the longer zoom I would think of as more of a wildlife type lens and I doubt it would shine for candid type stuff - I don't have one (or the 300f4)

Sil

[Dave]

I suppose another option is the the renowned Nikon AF-S 70-200mm VR f/2.8G IF-ED , coupling it with a 2x convertor when the longer range is required. The loss of stops is equivalent to the 80-400, so I just wonder if the loss in image quality would make it equivalent (based on it being higher quality beforehand) or worse than the 80-400 ?