It looks darker than it truly was - but I know the need for a tripod...this was on a mono-pod which is still wobbly. The lens is so heavy supposedly if you hold the camera without the lens being supported, it can tweak the bayonet mount so you hold the lens and not the camera...it will NOT be my walking around lens but it is fun to play with...used it for the wild turkey shot I put up - rested the lens mount on my deck railing
In my case it's about stability. Any long lens in my unfirm hands shakes like an early rockandroll star. With 1/50s exposition, the image would be seriously blurry :S
I'll confess - I was resting the lens on my hand which was holding onto the upright post of the porch I might be able to handhold my regular 300mm lens at a half second but only after a few good deep breaths