p.3 #4 · Brief Comments on the 200-600 with A7R4 (Harlequin Duck)
Yesterday, I had an interesting outing and finally tracked down a Snowy that I had been looking for for weeks. Perched owl, overcast day. Had my a7riv with the 200-600 and my 5dmkiv paired to a 500 is ii+1.4x iii tc. After taking a slew of shots with both rigs, I decided to pop off the 500 f4+1.4x tc and give it a whirl with the mc-11 adapter. For those of you who don’t know this lens won’t fully rack the af so one has to manually get something in range and then it will snap in focus. All the images were handheld and the 500 weighs in at over 7lbs. When I got home, I was simply amazed at how the 700mm a7riv images were compared to the 200-600. Comparisons of test targets at the digital picture don’t suggest huge differences between the combinations but the af accuracy and sharpness were much better with the Canon lens/tc.
But the real interesting thing occurred when I decided to look at the active af point in Son’s software. What I discovered was absolutely fascinating. I was shooting in flexible Small spot mode and had the square clearly over the owl’s face. In all instances with the Canon a7riv + Canon 500 is ii + 1.4x tc, the active af point was right where I aimed. In contrast, with the 200-600 The registered af point was all over the place; on the bird’s shoulder, chest, and sometimes off of the bird on the blank sky. The big question is why? I wasn’t shaking and the oss/is were active. Something is going on with this combination which simply doesn’t make sense.
p.3 #5 · Brief Comments on the 200-600 with A7R4 (Harlequin Duck)
I've run some Sony shots through the AF visualizer* and the points the camera thought were in focus were sometimes off the bird despite the fact that at time time the green squares were on the bird. These shots were acceptably in focus but I can say that sometimes the dancing squares can be on the bird and in the VF it's completely out of focus.
This is with an A9, FE100-400 & 1.4 TC.
p.3 #6 · Brief Comments on the 200-600 with A7R4 (Harlequin Duck)
I am getting sharp shots with the A7RIV and 200-600 lens
I am getting sharp BIF shots if I follow the bird well enough
lens settings
- fast shutter speeds 1/1600, 1/2000, 1/2500
- lens set for mode 2 or mode 3 IS
camera settings
- priority set in AF-C AF
- priority set in AF-S AF
- AF tracking sensitivity 5 (responsive)
- AF tracking sens. responsive
- aperture drive in AF Focus Priority
I do not believe the A9 or A9II is required with the 200-600. I prefer the crop-ability, and resolution of the A7RIV
use whatever camera, lens, and settings that work for you. no need to argue over a hobby
p.3 #10 · Brief Comments on the 200-600 with A7R4 (Harlequin Duck)
Not all softness is a focus issue of course. There's heat haze, overcropping, camera and subject motion, high ISO, and in the Nikon world that I come from experts say that VR/OSS will do it with fast shutters.
p.3 #11 · Brief Comments on the 200-600 with A7R4 (Harlequin Duck)
Ziggy99 wrote:
With the A7R III, you can set Menu > Playback > Enlarge Initial Position to start at the focused position.
Thanks for the tip! It does show where the focus AREA is in the picture. I wish it were more precise, like just the particular point of the focus. In the picture below (A7R4+100-400GM), it just shows the head as the initial focus area, but it doesn't show whether it focused on the eyes or the noise.
p.3 #12 · Brief Comments on the 200-600 with A7R4 (Harlequin Duck)
I'd held off on commenting until I was able to test this combo. I've only had the A7R4 since Nov and have not tested the two together. Over the weekend I shot some local waterfowl in a park near home. Using the 200-600mm with the A7R4 I shot about 600 images, about half with the 1.4TC. Shot on a monopod and hand held with a bean bag for stabilization. Upon review there are a high number of OOF images where the images are either front or back focused. I don't own the 100-400 f5.6 so I cannot compare the two but I do own the SAL 70-400 f5.6 and Canon EF 400mm f2.8 v1 and I have never had this many missed focus shots on either adapted lens with the A7R3. More tests to do for sure and I'll definitely run these through the focus app to see where the focus was at the time of exposure
p.3 #13 · Brief Comments on the 200-600 with A7R4 (Harlequin Duck)
I took the a7riv and 200-600 on safari in October. The combo performed horribly - over half of the images were either front or back focused. I was shooting in a stationary vehicle, motor off, on a beanbag. Most shots were broad daylight, and at relatively high shutter speeds -- up to 1/4000 in some cases. Animal eye AF was used quite frequently, along with other focus settings.
I tested the lens when I received it (only a few days before I left) on a tripod with my r3, OSS off, and the test images at all focal lengths were acceptably sharp and in-focus. Also tested it handheld with the r3 and OSS on all three settings, and the images were generally fine -- some misses, but nothing I would really complain about. I had shot the r4 with other lenses, and the new body performed fine. But I didn't test the r4 & 200-600 combo before I left. Big mistake.
Other images made with the r4 and other lenses are fine, and show no AF issues.
Yes, in my experience, there is a significant problem with the r4 + 200-600. And I'm really pissed that I found this out while in Africa. But, I learned a valuable lesson -- specific body plus specific lens can have severe combination problems, even if the body is functioning fine and the lens is functioning fine.
p.3 #14 · Brief Comments on the 200-600 with A7R4 (Harlequin Duck)
kdrk888 wrote:
Thanks for the tip! It does show where the focus AREA is in the picture. I wish it were more precise, like just the particular point of the focus. In the picture below (A7R4+100-400GM), it just shows the head as the initial focus area, but it doesn't show whether it focused on the eyes or the noise.
p.3 #16 · Brief Comments on the 200-600 with A7R4 (Harlequin Duck)
A7info will show the focus point, and what focus settings were used, if eye af was active, and if eye af acquired the target. The app is English despite the German site.
p.3 #19 · Brief Comments on the 200-600 with A7R4 (Harlequin Duck)
Ziggy99 wrote:
Could it be that this lens isn't up to a 61 MP sensor?
It is absolutely capable of resolving the sensor. In the right situation it is beautifully sharp. If it were a resolution issue no image would ever be sharp enough.
