photonoclast wrote:
Question for you 600/4 experts. I've been using the 200-600 for a few months, now on an A9, and no doubt the system is far beyond my present skill level to get the best out of it. I am now using the 1.4TC for virtually everything, unless the light gets low. Nevertheless, it is true that at least 99.5% of my shots have the zoom racked all the way out to 600. Given my primary subjects, shy Michigan songbirds, I need max reach for essentially everything. Here's the question: if I were to splurge for a 600/4, how much would it buy me in terms of how rapidly and accurately it grabs focus ? As you have taken 1000s of images with both, on an A9 (leave the A7iv aside for this question) is the difference substantial? Here's the thing - I don't know how much I would want to actually shoot at f4, since the depth of field is so small that only half the bird is in focus. I am wondering if the extra aperture of the 4 gives me better/quicker/more accurate focus, even if I'm then taking the shot at f8.
Geoff (arbitrage) will have a better technical answer than I, but it seems to me that the limiting factor in the focus acquisition is in the a9, not the lenses. The biggest advantage of the 600/4 (IMO) is that it will work better with the 2X extender, and will be 1200mm @ f/8. It will also offer better micro contrast and simply better optics, but the 200-600 is pretty impressive for a zoom lens. Sharp too!
Sep 18, 2020 at 08:57 PM
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