For our fairly large and growing family of Sony E-mount shooters on these boards, good news: Sony has announced two new FE-mount lenses - their 30th and 31st E-mount lenses...and both seem to fulfill the frequent requests of many of us. Most exciting for me personally, being a long-lens shooter with wildlife and birding, is the new FE 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G OSS lens: http://www.sony.com/electronics/camera-lenses/sel70300g Finally, we have a longer lens in E-mount, breaking through the 240mm barrier...and it's a G lens - so quality should be quite decent, build is mostly metal, it's weather-resistant, has focus limiters and focus hold buttons, and stabilized. And at $1100, it's priced a bit below the Canon 70-300mm F4-5.6L...not too bad a price. And though it may not have been discussed here, we had last month's announcement of the FE 70-200mm F2.8 G OSS lens, which will also have two available matched teleconverters, a 1.4x and a 2x...that will help push focal reach all the way to 400mm - though this lens and TC combo ain't gonna be cheap! Next up - something many FE camera shooters have been wishing for, a true 'nifty fifty' - a reasonably priced 50mm fast prime...behold the FE 50mm F1.8: http://www.sony.com/electronics/camera-lenses/sel50f18f Now the FE shooters get their own cheap 50mm option, like the APS-C shooters already had - and still have the high-end 55mm option if willing to spend. One frequent criticism of Sony's FE line was that there was no cheap prime - no 'nifty fifty'. Now that's been addressed too!
i won't be buying the nifty fifty, but that's strictly because i already went big, the 55 f1.8 was the very first sony lens i bought when i comitted to the system switch. now the 70-300, that's another matter altogether. i used my canon 70-300 L quite a bit, in fact it's one of the few lenses i kept in the switch, and yes i could get the metabones adapter, and would probably get autofocus close to native speed. although initially it wasn't one of the better matches before the most recent metabones update, but i lean towards being native for autofocus speed, although the adapters with manual lenses work elegant. i think i'd have to go into b&h and hold it in my hands, maybe take the body with me and mount it up to see how it feels, take the weight into consideration, especially since i already have the 24-240. i have thought briefly about that new 70-200 f2.8 G master series, since it has available matched teleconverters, that would give some serious safari ride and stage show reach, but once again, that's a 2.8, with the attendant weight issue. and i honestly do not know if 2.8 is needed anymore, at least not with the A7R2. that ferguson trestle shot was shot at f6.3, 1/60th, iso 100 handheld, and i have nothing to be ashamed of with that shot. but it certainly is an exciting time to be a sony shooter, they are just getting after it. 3 years ago one of the sony vice presidents told michael reichman of luminous landscape, that within 5 years sony intended to be the number 2 camera company, which means either canon or nikon or both is going to get a beating. i may also wait it out awhile, since folks are still clamoring for sony to reissue that 70-400 f4-5.6 in FE mount, although that would also carry a ferocious price tag. having 400mm without an extender would be very nice at wdw
I am all over that 70-300mm - for the APS-C bodies, it's near perfect for a lightweight birding rig. I love the 70-200mm F4 - image quality is beautiful and sharp as a tack - but the 300mm equivalent is a bit limiting - I do a lot of birding with it, but I know I have to stick with mostly closer birds and BIFs - just a little more reach would make a huge difference. 450mm equivalent is just the ticket. I have an A68 Alpha body on order - it's super-cheap and has the very good AF system of the A77II in a lighter plastic body - so it lets me use the Tamron 150-600mm and my 300mm F4 + 1.4x TC with that body (I got rid of most of my other Alpha-mount lenses as I just don't use them anymore)...and I just picked up the A6300 as well to replace my A6000 - the A6300 will actually arrive first, as the A68 preorder isn't shipping until May. The final deal-sealer for me getting the A6300 was that 70-300mm lens - I will use that combo almost exclusively all summer for birding in the heat and humidity, and as you mentioned, for something like Kilimanjaro and the safari trails, it will be lovely!
70-300 is equiv to 105-450? Not too shabby. Like tighter than my 50-500 but MUCH lighter I would presume. $1100 isn't too horrifying but I am saving my sheckles for the 1Dx2.
Lots and lots smaller and lighter than the 50-500mm for sure. It's actually smaller than my current 70-200mm F4 G OSS E-mount lens. Here's a size comparison on Brian Smith's webpage: My 70-200mm F4 is the one in the middle - I think you saw that lens during Pixelmania as I was shooting with it a lot. The one on the right is the new 70-200mm F2.8. The 70-300mm G is quite nice and small, and on APS-C as you mentioned gives a 105-450mm equivalent. Can't wait to put this lens on my new A6300 and see how it does for birding! My A6300 arrives Monday...so I'll put up some initial review and feelings on the changes for that camera compared to the A6000 - looks like a lot of nice upgrades and updates. I'm starting to feel like the 70-300mm lens on the A6300 is going to be a near-perfect second-camera wildlife rig, and primary rig through the hot summer!
If the iq is there on this 70-300, along with focus speed, i will have to seriously consider selling my canon L 70-300 to get this.
My FE70-300mm G on preorder and supposedly shipping May 4 - so hopefully I'll have it a few days later on May 6...that would be ideal too as it's a Friday, right before a weekend that I could go out and test it. Looking very very forward to it. The A6300 is marvelous...it's got so many nice upgrade touches over the A6000 - most notable is the build and solidity - the mounting of lenses is super-tight and rigid, no play at all and quite strong - I played around with the LA-EA3 adapter and my Tamron 150-600mm lens on the A6300 and the whole kit felt like one solid milled piece.
If that grand canyon charter does happen next february. The 70-300 might be in the bag, and for certain that loxia 21mm f2.8 manual e mount, either bought or rented, it's already decided that if that trip is a go. Then antelope canyon, either upper, lower, or maybe both is a done deal. Antelope and horseshoe bend have been on my photo bucket list ever since i first became aware they existed
