I see the trailing red line...pretty pronounced too IMO!! Its not at all uncommon however. I had two hot pixels on my D80 after i bought it. A quick trip to Nikon under warranty and they fixed it....
GREAT lens! Super sharp in the F4-6 range! My only gripe about it is the lack of a real rear lens cap...it comes with a crappy peice of plastic that slips over the mount. Why is that??? Normal...
I have a Manfrotto 725B ballhead thats fairly small and lightweight(probably less than 3 pounds) and is super sturdy. I use it frequently for shots of the moon using a Sigma 50-500(a 4 pound+ lens)...