arbitrage wrote: ChrisMak wrote:
And again they make a 600mm f6.3, leaving my dream lens of 20+ years untouched: a portable 600mm f5.6
1kg is lighter than necessary anyhow. The only upside on these rumored telelenses is that they are GM lenses, but otherwise i.m.o. they are pretty boring if you don't passionately like miniaturized equipment.
I mean, if I want too shoot wildlife, I will bother to make the effort carrying a wildlife lens, 1,5kg is more than light enough, I had the Nikon 500PF and the tiny size almost annoyed me and the weight was not nearly a concern.
D**n you Sony, for not making a 600mm f5.6GM at 1,5kg if you have the ability. Or even a 400/4GM that decently takes the 1.4TC
If these two lenses end up being true then I think you can officially put the nail in the coffin for your 600/5.6 or 400/4.
You may have to switch brands….oh wait….no brand makes those two lenses
I guess you may just want to buy an RF camera and buy another 400DOII.
But really it is 1/3 of a stop. That is so meaningless these days. I could post denoised shots at 10,000 vs 12,800 ISO and no one would be able to tell which is which. Once you are back down in more common wildlife ISO range like 1600-4000 and are comparing 1/3 stop ISO differences it would be impossible to tell.
Otherwise, just get a 300GM/2xTC. There you will have your 420/4 and 600/5.6. Does the 2xTC sacrifice something? Sure, it does but it starts off with such a high bar of a bare lens (certainly the best bare lens I’ve ever owned) that all the 2xTC does is brings it back down to a very good 600/5.6. AF can keep up with every type of BIF I’ve pointed it at including passerines and swallows. IQ won’t match the bare 600GM but it isn’t too far off.
Whether Sony chooses to make a 1.5kg 600/5.6 or a 1kg 600/6.3 doesn’t really matter to me. But I’d probably only buy the 600/6.3 because the weight would add some advantage over the 300/2x where as the 600/5.6 would just be the same (even if it has some IQ/AF advantage). I mean maybe if it was like bare 300GM IQ and AF then I’d consider it and just use the 300GM at 300/420 but I think I’d prefer the weight savings of the 600/6.3 (which may also end up with IQ/AF advantage over the 300/2x).
Of course I can't resist a good opportunity to lament the glaring lack of actual high-quality middle segment lenses, but in reality I've been over this for quite a while now. I've welded my 600GM to myself phychologically, and to my A1 physically.
I set it to f5 and suffer the size and weight.
I know it is a meaningless discussion, but I cannot get myself into the camp of "it is only a third of a stop and makes no difference" however much I would like to. So if Canon also refuses in line with Nikon and Sony to make a lens that does 600mm f5.6 I might eventually end up with the 300GM and a 2xTC when the size and weight of the 600GM at last do become too cumbersome.
Sep 05, 2026 at 08:06 AM
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