Peire wrote:
Some of my initial experiences with the Sony 100-400 f5.6-8.0:
1. The build, operation of the mechanisms, and switches are satisfactory. The quality of the plastic is decent, the lens is aesthetically pleasing, lightweight, and versatile.
2. Sharpness from mid-focus distances to infinity is good/very good across the entire 61-megapixel full-frame sensor, at all focal lengths.
3. Sharpness differences between the center of the image and the edges/corners are noticeable. This is most noticeable at 100mm and 135mm (the largest difference here), gradually decreasing from 200mm to 400mm. Stopping down the aperture by f1-2 usually improves sharpness at the edges, also eliminating longitudinal chromatic aberrations that sometimes occur in contrasting light.
4. Photos from distances below 3 meters, and especially close-ups, are noticeably less sharp, with microcontrast decreasing to a relatively smaller extent. At the same time, the sharpness differences between the center and edges of the image become more pronounced, especially in the 100-135mm range. However, these are not problems that cannot be overcome..
5. Focus tracking is quite slow and easily lost in low light (Sony A7RV).
6. Overall, the Sony 100-400f5.6-8.0 turned out to be better than I expected. If you need a lightweight, versatile telephoto zoom with good/very good optical quality, decent mechanical performance, and a few minor drawbacks, you might want to seriously consider buying it....Show more →
Thanks for sharing your experiencies with this lens. I'm still on the fence about swapping my Tamron 50-300 for this one. The size and weight are pretty similar.
