I didn't mean to imply the lens is anything less than very sharp; I haven't used it enough to have an educated opinion. It's just that what impressed me about it wasn't sharpness so much as color rendition and micro-contrast (and no visible longitudinal chromatic abberation in out of focus areas, my SLR lenses totally do this, green on one side and magenta on the other). I could care less if a cheaper lens is as sharp if it doesn't give the same "look" and isn't as good with color film.

Unfortunately for me, lens prices go way up around 240mm or 300mm--so I'm trying to find a way to get something as similar as possible without paying four figures.