p.47 #1 · Pre-order: Sony FE 200-600 f5.6-6.3 G OSS ($1,998)
arbitrage wrote:
Thanks. The biggest issue with some of those pictures is to have a chance to do a quick pan with the subject, I had to frame wide and crop rather heavily. Which shows up in more pixelation after the crop (especially the wren shot). Ideally framing similarly on a higher MP camera with the same type of AF performance would be ideal.
As far as the shutter speed, I try to push it as high as possible depending on how high my ISO is going to go to get there. Lately I've been pushing it higher than I used to and certainly some of these should have been shot at a faster SS, like the Tanager shot. Also me showing off a single sharp frame doesn't tell us much about how many keepers I got in a burst and how many attempts it took. I can say for some of these it took many attempts and I think the presented shot was the only one critically sharp. Certainly the wren was the only sharp shot after 5-10 attempts of him flying back and forth from cattail to nest. The Bluebird and Turnstone had a lot more sharp shots in a burst and I was able to repeatedly get them in flight on a number of attempts. I've attempted most of these same birds with my Nikon gear and been less successful. Although still able to have some success on the larger ones like Bluebird and once on a Tanager....Show more →
Thanks so much for the insight! I am always interested in learning more from a veteran! I'm still quite the newbie.
p.47 #3 · Pre-order: Sony FE 200-600 f5.6-6.3 G OSS ($1,998)
Laslo Varadi wrote:
Is there any advantage of placing a pre-order if one is a Sony Pro Services member?
I don't understand the question. Is there some advantage that a Sony Pro Services member gets? (FYI, I'm a Pro Services member, but am not aware of any special advantage. I pre-ordered mine).
p.47 #4 · Pre-order: Sony FE 200-600 f5.6-6.3 G OSS ($1,998)
mike1812 wrote:
I don't understand the question. Is there some advantage that a Sony Pro Services member gets? (FYI, I'm a Pro Services member, but am not aware of any special advantage. I pre-ordered mine).
Not for prosumer grade items but yes, for the GM 600mm. You will get an email from the Imaging Pro group and you give them your order number. Supposedly, you will get a priority over the non-pro folks on the waiting list, if there is any. To what extent this works, I am not sure.
p.47 #5 · Pre-order: Sony FE 200-600 f5.6-6.3 G OSS ($1,998)
AGeoJO wrote:
Not for prosumer grade items but yes, for the GM 600mm. You will get an email from the Imaging Pro group and you give them your order number. Supposedly, you will get a priority over the non-pro folks on the waiting list, if there is any. To what extent this works, I am not sure.
p.47 #6 · Pre-order: Sony FE 200-600 f5.6-6.3 G OSS ($1,998)
AGeoJO wrote:
Not for prosumer grade items but yes, for the GM 600mm. You will get an email from the Imaging Pro group and you give them your order number. Supposedly, you will get a priority over the non-pro folks on the waiting list, if there is any. To what extent this works, I am not sure.
Good to know for when I win the lottery and can afford to buy a 400GM.
Thanks for sharing that. I remember him posting some of the earliest real world shots from the 400GM last year. Looks good to me...can't wait to try it out in August.
Sony's Nagata says "Compared to the 400mm, the 600mm is more targeted at high-end amateurs. Photographers that shoot birds, wildlife, aircraft. Maybe 70-80% will be wildlife photographers. That’s why the market is bigger for the 600mm than the 400mm."
p.47 #17 · Pre-order: Sony FE 200-600 f5.6-6.3 G OSS ($1,998)
I just sent an email over to both Don Zeck and Aquatech about a Sony 400mm and 600mm lens cap...hard one from Don Z and soft one from Aquatech...Currently no one makes a lens cap for fixed/long Sony telephoto lenses...I'll report back if/when I hear something
Aquatech is discontinuing their line of soft caps for telephoto lenses for both Nikon and Canon from an email to me on 19 June 2019:
"Thank you for your email. We will no longer be stocking our Soft Caps. We have decided to focus more attention on our core products, so a decision was made to discontinue this part of our product line."
p.47 #18 · Pre-order: Sony FE 200-600 f5.6-6.3 G OSS ($1,998)
arbitrage wrote:
Thanks. The biggest issue with some of those pictures is to have a chance to do a quick pan with the subject, I had to frame wide and crop rather heavily. Which shows up in more pixelation after the crop (especially the wren shot). Ideally framing similarly on a higher MP camera with the same type of AF performance would be ideal.
As far as the shutter speed, I try to push it as high as possible depending on how high my ISO is going to go to get there. Lately I've been pushing it higher than I used to and certainly some of these should have been shot at a faster SS, like the Tanager shot. Also me showing off a single sharp frame doesn't tell us much about how many keepers I got in a burst and how many attempts it took. I can say for some of these it took many attempts and I think the presented shot was the only one critically sharp. Certainly the wren was the only sharp shot after 5-10 attempts of him flying back and forth from cattail to nest. The Bluebird and Turnstone had a lot more sharp shots in a burst and I was able to repeatedly get them in flight on a number of attempts. I've attempted most of these same birds with my Nikon gear and been less successful. Although still able to have some success on the larger ones like Bluebird and once on a Tanager....Show more →
That makes me feel better! I had thought you were getting keeper after keeper for those amazing shots.
p.47 #19 · Pre-order: Sony FE 200-600 f5.6-6.3 G OSS ($1,998)
Great read through these 40+ pages of comments and would like to pick the brains of my fellow photographers.
Coming from Canon I loved my 300 2.8 L IS MK 1 on my 5D MKIII but it didn't adapt too well with a Sony A7RIII. IQ was fine but the AF was far from stellar and worse than the 5D MKIII IMO. Fast forward to today and I have the 70-200 GM and Sony A Mount 300 2.8 MK I and I am very interested in the 200-600. The SAL300 is very very sharp but the adapted lens isn't the best for focussing and it gets worse when the lighting isn't ideal. I was spoiled on AF speed once I got the 70-200 and DMF focusing with the bluetooth remote control for astro work.
Long shot but I am wondering if anyone has used the SAL300 and determined its not very viable on a A7RIII and any opinions if the 200-600 would produce more keepers due to AF accuracy. My current SAL300 works with 3x TCs and I have even stacked TCs to manually focus 1600+ moon shots. My concern with the 200-600 is obviously the aperture and background separation more than ISO gain needed for sufficient shutter speed.
My main focus for the telephotos zooms and primes would be wild wildlife and zoo wildlife, deep sky object astrophotography and moon photography. Ive primarily always been a prime person but with no native 300 option I am strapped for options!
p.47 #20 · Pre-order: Sony FE 200-600 f5.6-6.3 G OSS ($1,998)
^gorgeous cat.
For 300mm needs (my backyard) I use the Nikon 300PF on the A7Riii.
If I'm in a zone of focus varying in depth of no more than 2-3 feet, e.g. perched
bierds, then the AF is good enough for me (Continuous, Center).
Forget BIF with the combo though.
The 300/2.8 is classic--surely Sony has one either on the chalkboard or in the pipeline.
