Originally Posted by
Cage
NR, as I said above I bought the Tamron VC model because my grip is not as stable as it used to be. I really don't understand the reason for all the discussion re auto focus. On a tripod I find it auto-focuses almost instantaneously, and hand held the VC sometimes takes maybe 1 second to lock in, mainly due to my shaky left hand, the aftermath of playing lots of top spin toward the end of my tennis days. I was so disenchanted with it's performance I backed up and bought the Tamron 24-70mm f2.8 VC as well. I seriously like both lens.
In the end the decision for me mainly came down to value for money. While the Nikon 80-200mm AF-S is undoubtedly a stellar bit of kit, for a couple of hundred bucks more I got a new lens with manufacturers warranty plus VC. Really a no brainer for me.