Thanks for that test report!
I'm planning to do a lot of manual focus, so the autofocus is a nice touch but not entirely necessary
As for soft around the edges... does that mean that if my model is closer to the very right end of the frame, she'll be soft and blurry even if I put the focus on her?
I've seen some pretty amazing pics on flickr river and it seems this lens definitely has a 'character' of it's own.