Originally posted by Clinton Meh, I just compared it to my FA* 300, and other than I cant hear the focusing, it's about the same all in all. My biggest flub was having the AF not set to a single point when trying it out. When I set it to center only, it didn't seem to have any problems.
I also figured out the near focusing glitch. It's actually the lens hunting for focus, and trying to extend to a closer focus than is possible. When the FA* does this, I hear the drive halt, but with SDM it's so quiet it's hard to recognize.
Now to test the sharpness of this lens...
Mods, you can go ahead and delete this thread when you see it.
Or it can stay here as a lesson for future owners
Glad you figured it out!