I took the new Sony FE 600mm f/6.3 out today in brutal 103-degree heat to shoot birds tucked away in deep shade against busy, cluttered backgrounds. My main goal was to see how its autofocus responsiveness compares to the 300mm f/2.8 GM paired with a 2x tc.
The 600mm f/6.3 was a bit disappointing in these conditions. While the AF is phenomenal out in bright, open daylight, it really struggled in the shade. The lens hunted quite a bit trying to pick the bird out from the background brush.
Surprisingly, the 300mm GM + 2x TC setup grabbed focus noticeably faster. Even though you usually expect a slight autofocus penalty when using a 2x tc, the 300GM (acting as an effective 600mm f/5.6) handled the low-light, low-contrast situation with much more confidence and locked on without the hunting.
There is also a major practical difference in minimum focus distance (MFD) to keep in mind. The 600mm f/6.3 requires you to be at least 8.21 feet away from your subject. The 300mm + 2x TC, however, keeps its native 6.6-foot MFD. That extra foot and a half of working room gives the 300mm setup a massive advantage for close-up shots of smaller birds or tight framing.
ILCE-1FE 600mm F6.3 GM OSS lens600mmf/6.31/500s640 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-1FE 600mm F6.3 GM OSS lens600mmf/6.31/400s80 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-1FE 600mm F6.3 GM OSS lens600mmf/6.31/250s320 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-1FE 600mm F6.3 GM OSS lens600mmf/6.31/250s320 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-1FE 600mm F6.3 GM OSS lens600mmf/6.31/320s640 ISO0.0 EV
Nice test shots. Hate to be that guy but the hummingbird feeder looked very dirty and moldy, bro. Whoever owns this feeder needs to clean it and change the sugar water more often, especially when it's hot. The mold will cause swell in hummingbirds' tongues, they can't feed with a swollen tongue and may die from it.
Douglas L wrote:
Nice test shots. Hate to be that guy but the hummingbird feeder looked very dirty and moldy, bro. Whoever owns this feeder needs to clean it and change the sugar water more often, especially when it's hot. The mold will cause swell in hummingbirds' tongues, they can't feed with a swollen tongue and may die from it.
Although excellent advice, as clean feeders are essential to keeping the birds healthy. That being said, I think it is clean and the glass is distorting the green background. I hope I'm right.
About the 600... thanks for sharing the images and your thoughts about the performance. I've have the same setup at the moment and it will be interesting to see how the 300+2x preforms against the new 600.
As far as the feeder goes. I think I agree with Hatch. It looks like the glass may be diffracting the light from background. Along with some condensation as the sugar water evaporates on a hot day and condenses at the top of the glass
Iâm no feeder expert though đ
Interesting about the AF vs. the 300mm/2x. Were you close to the 600mmâs MFD? Maybe that might have contributed to the hunting?
Thanks for the feedback.
Iâll need to test the autofocus on my 400mm f/4.5 with the 1.4x TC in shady conditions, comparing it to my 300mm f/2.8 set to 600mm f/5.6.
I can understand your disappointment in that regard.
How does the image quality at 600mm f/6.3 compare to the 600mm f/5.6?
My 400mm f/4.5 with the 1.4x TC delivers exactly the same quality as the 300mm f/2.8 with the 2x TC.
Alex Phan wrote:
I took the new Sony FE 600mm f/6.3 out today in brutal 103-degree heat to shoot birds tucked away in deep shade against busy, cluttered backgrounds. My main goal was to see how its autofocus responsiveness compares to the 300mm f/2.8 GM paired with a 2x tc.
The 600mm f/6.3 was a bit disappointing in these conditions. While the AF is phenomenal out in bright, open daylight, it really struggled in the shade. The lens hunted quite a bit trying to pick the bird out from the background brush.
Surprisingly, the 300mm GM + 2x TC setup grabbed focus noticeably faster. Even though you usually expect a slight autofocus penalty when using a 2x tc, the 300GM (acting as an effective 600mm f/5.6) handled the low-light, low-contrast situation with much more confidence and locked on without the hunting.
There is also a major practical difference in minimum focus distance (MFD) to keep in mind. The 600mm f/6.3 requires you to be at least 8.21 feet away from your subject. The 300mm + 2x TC, however, keeps its native 6.6-foot MFD. That extra foot and a half of working room gives the 300mm setup a massive advantage for close-up shots of smaller birds or tight framing....Show more →
That's not great news about AF in shadow areas. I guess the 400+TC performance will be same. I hope the 400 lens alone will be almost similar to 300+1.4X. I sold 300 to get 400 because I was using 300 with 1.4x most of the time for BIF.
p.1 #11 · Sony FE 600mm f/6.3 GM OSS Images Thread
Jemini wrote:
That's not great news about AF in shadow areas. I guess the 400+TC performance will be same. I hope the 400 lens alone will be almost similar to 300+1.4X. I sold 300 to get 400 because I was using 300 with 1.4x most of the time for BIF.
Il faut que je trouve du temps pour aller trouver des oiseaux en vol et vraiment comparer le 300 f2.8 avec le 400 f4.5 sur mon a7r6 avant de vendre le 300 f2.8 đ
Il faut que je trouve du temps pour aller trouver des oiseaux en vol et vraiment comparer le 300 f2.8 avec le 400 f4.5 sur mon a7r6 avant de vendre le 300 f2.8 đ ...Show more →
Thank you for the confirmation. (I had to use google translation to read these lines ). BIF will be the first thing I'll try when I get mine.
