Do you really need VR for your long lenses?

Under the mountain of paying two kids attending universities, I am searching for affordable long lense 400mm F2.8 or 600mm F4.  It seems that the VR versions are about 2 ~ 3K more expensive than those w/o VR.  While the VR are the latest version, I would think the AF-S version should be just fine.

At 600mm, for example, one should have speed above 1/600 w/o VR.  you could get to use 1/300 with VR?  Any slower speed, the object would move.

Also, I like 400mm F2.8 the best.  because you could get to 560mm F4, or 680mm F4.8 using TC-14 or TC-17.  If one gets a 640, you would not be able to get any f2.8 which you need for not so sunny days.

Lastly, has nayone been tracking the prices of these lenses?  With the Japanese yuan gaining 30% value (110 down to 80) and the earthquake damaged the factory.  The current price seems to be about $2000 more than earlier this year. 

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• if you are under the mountain, -ctsmgs- ♂ (262 bytes) () 07/02/2011 postreply 19:55:13