I've been shedding Canon right and left. The better-half has enjoyed an a6300 for a while but I didn't pay too much attention.
Now I've gotten a chance to play with the a6500 I can get the 7Dii on the buy/sell thread.
Yep, the a6500 could use an extra knob but I can shoot M set up for perched birds and with one swipe-click of the mode dial on top and a press of the center button and I'm instantly (almost) with the settings I'd need for BIF.
Having a lot of clicks under my belt with the 7Dii I can already tell the Sony sensor is beyond the 7Dii's. Today I learned (with good light) that the 1.4TC works fine on the FEGM100400. I've not BIF'ed with this set up but I have no doubt (in good light) that it is easily possible.
Sony ILCE-6500
FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS
ƒ/7.1 259.0 mm 1/400 800 Flash (on, fired)
Full Spectrum Converted A3000. Pulled the coverglass & hot mirror off, so it's a thin sensor mod as well. Lens selection gets tricker, best I've found so far is the Super Takumar 35mm f/3.5. Others get better stopped down to f/8 or so.
Great shots, very sharp and interesting tonalities. Those lenses seem to be working beautifully. How do you see the images as different from what you would have gotten with a conventional set-up. I'd be interested in hearing your view on that.
What a cute one. I think I've seen one Junco one time in my area....would love to see more.
Noticed manual focus too--that's hard on any bird in cover .
To me, I get a better tonal range in the final image. I've gotten better at editing B&W as Ive shot more and more of it, so maybe I could get closer than before, but this setup seems to do a better job of giving me a fairly contrasty B&W without blocking up the shadows. The older non SMC Super Tak helps too. Prior to edits the RAW files are VERY flat, so it's probably not a SOOC solution but I am never happy with those anyway, so...
chiron wrote:
Mathieu--
Great shots, very sharp and interesting tonalities. Those lenses seem to be working beautifully. How do you see the images as different from what you would have gotten with a conventional set-up. I'd be interested in hearing your view on that.
The amazing thing is that at an effective 840mm the a6500 still had AF-C with the little green squares dancing on the subject. The ancient 400mm F5.6 has no image stabilization and I was all over the place at this focal length trying to stay on target, so the in camera IBIS of the a6500 was working.
For BIF? I doubt I could ever keep the focus points on target at this distance and in some perched shots if I went from way close to way far or vice versa that was a momentary search--nothing like the a9 with this combo--but still the a6500 + 400/5.6 makes a stellar lightweight wildlife rig.
More studies to follow on this set up.
Sony ILCE-6500
#172 400/5.6+1.4x
ƒ/9.0 560.0 mm 1/1600 500 Flash (off, did not fire)
I now realize how light the 400mm/f5.6 lens was compared to today's superteles. I sold mine to get longer reach and OS. Now waiting to see the introduction of the A7III in October/November
