Well, there hasn't been much in the way of camera and lens news on this particular forum, but one of the exciting pieces of news for wildlife/birding/sports photographers in the Sony e-mount range was the announcement of the FE100-400mm GM OSS lens, with compatibility to 1.4x and 2x matched TCs. Finally, we can get some good, serious reach in a native lens (previously I had been playing with my adapted Tamron 150-600mm lens when I needed reach). The lens came out last week, and I had the opportunity to shoot with it for a few hours out in the wetlands from a fellow E-mount shooter who was an early pre-order and received his the first day. I've shot with many long lenses on many bodies, and must say this lens was very impressive - light, reasonably sized, excellent stabilization, fast, and super-sharp wide open and throughout the focal range. Also impressive is the close focus ability - around 3 feet or so at 400mm, and even with the 1.4x TC attached it stays around 3 feet - this will make it a monster for bug closeups and semi-macros. Coming off the 400-500 or so shots I took with his lens, it confirmed this was definitely a new lens for me - I love my FE70-300mm G OSS lens and it remains the more portable option for telephoto, but the reach of the 100-400mm especially with the 1.4x TC that seems to lose no discernible IQ, making it a 140-560mm optical reach lens, and on a crop body it makes for an equivalent of 210mm - 840mm. I ordered the TC last week and ordered the lens which was on backorder...received the TC last week and the lens shipped yesterday so I have hopes I'll have it by Friday. Here are a few sample shots I took with my friend's lens on my A6300, without the TC: I have 100% crops too of these, though I don't think they can display in these forums...I shot only in JPG, no RAW and no processing, and didn't even have the correct firmware update for my camera for this lens yet...but it worked pretty flawlessly anyway. Now I can't wait to get my lens, and also try this beast with the 1.4x TC!
oh thanks, (sarcastically) i had hoped to stick my head in the sand and pretend this lens did not exist for awhile. i guess this goes on the wishlist. i am right now hung up on whether or not to dump the 16-35 and get the new much raved about 12-24, my indecision is caused by the no filter issue with it, vs the fotodiox/nisi add on adapters plus attendant expensive 150mm filters. but this would be looked at next
Tough call on the 12-24 vs 16-35 - the 12-24mm looks like a beauty of a lens and super light - but if you like using a lot of filters with wide, that could be an impact. I suppose keeping both would be the best option, unless funds from the 16-35mm were intended to pay for the 12-24mm. When I bought the FE70-300mm I originally intended to keep my FE70-200mm F4 - but I just found no instance in which the 70-200mm F4 was any better for my needs, IQ was essentially identical through the range, PLUS I had an extra 100mm - so I sold off the 70-200. My current plans are to keep the 70-300mm with the 100-400mm - even if there's a lot of overlap and similar IQ, the 70-300mm will still be much smaller and more packable in a small shoulder bag, so for places like Disney or walking around a Caribbean island, it will still be a good lens to have - while the 100-400mm will likely be the primary wildlife and bird lens. The bigger question I have now is whether to keep my Alpha body and Tamron 150-600mm lens - as with the TC this lens will come close to covering the range with 1 stop loss of light - and a much smaller and lighter kit overall. I'm struggling more and more with justifying why to keep two camera systems, as the e-mount really is filling out nicely into a full-fledged system to cover all my needs.
well interesting, as i originally bought the 70-300, as that was a focal length in the L model i carried and used it on a lot of trips, including dragging it down to pixel mania, strictly to use on the safari ride, and usually only on the safari ride, i just this year purchased the 70=200 f4, based mostly on really wanting that f4 aperture available through the whole range. and based on some outstanding rivers of light work with this by jeff krause over on flickr. for now i'll be keeping both. although only 1 will make the trips to disney, pixelmania or otherwise. the 70-300 made the trip to arizona, and did see a fair amount of use, although i probably could have taken the 70-200 and just cropped in with the a7r2 files being so big. the 12-24 vs 16-35 though is a much tougher decision, or at least that's how i see it. i do have and use a bunch of filters in 77mm, and if i went 12-24, 24-70, 70-200, i would have a very nice, reasonably lightweight kit for the a7r2 for railroad charters and landscape trips. although i would then need to replace my very nice but expensive singh-ray filters to have 82 mm threads. i do love that the FE mount is compatible with different bodies, karen and i will be at wdw for a week at the end of october, 10/21 to 10/28, getting our food and wine fix. and while not strictly a photo trip, i will be taking some while there, anticipated kit for that trip is the A6500 body, the 10-18 f4, 16-70 f4,for walk around, the app-c focal factor makes the effective focal lengths 15-27 and 24-105. the 35 f1.8 for dark rides, and the 70-200 f4 for animal kingdom and rivers of light, since we have a tiffins dinner/rol package one evening. if i like what i get, especially with the 35 1.8 for rides and the parade at mnssp, i may eventually just go with the A6500 kit for wdw, especially since i never print any of those pixelmania photos, strictly web gallery quality needed. it would be a really lightweight comfortable rig to travel with
Is he still enjoying the 100-400mm lens? Has he tried it with the 1.4x TC? Answer to both: YES! This lens is definitely sharp and crisp...focus is superb. I tested with the 1.4xTC last weekend, and it has very little impact on overall sharpness and detail - it's a very well matched TC. Moreover, focusing in low light conditions at F8 was not an issue - the camera doesn't even seem to notice as I was shooting lizards under heavy tree cover at ISO6400 wide open - focused locked immediately every time. A few shots with the 1.4x TC attached: And a few more without the TC as well: We've been plagued with very rainy weekends and lots of overcast, so I haven't gotten out for some shooting in nice light - all was in the middle of the afternoon, with mostly overcast skies and periodic rain. Even in the light I had, it's still impressively sharp. All of the above are shot in JPG, no post processing - just cropped a bit or resized. The close focus is really marvelous with this lens at just about 3 feet - even with the TC attached - so you can shoot 560mm from 3 feet away - it's almost macro.
