Should I trade my 600mm f4 for 300mm f2.8 + 2xTC?

[etiennescamera]

I have owned the 600mm f4 for just over a year now and have done two trips to Botswana in this time, getting absolutely great results with this lens. However, the first trip was with Pangolin where you have the luxury of mounting the lens on a gimbal mount on their photo boats and the second trip was a dedicated photography trip to the Okavango, where each photographer had a whole row of seats to him/her self on the game drive vehicle. This made me realise the limitations of this lens:

• travelling with it is a challenge due to weight and size
• handholding it is hard, my wrist is still sore two months after the trip
• sometimes you miss shots because you simply cannot react fast enough with such a bulky lens
• if you don't have the luxury of lots of space on a game drive vehicle, it becomes difficult to handle
• I never use this lens at home, it's just too much effort

So now I am considering trading it in for a 300mm f2.8 + 2x teleconverter, which will give significant size and weight savings and still leave me with 600mm f5.6 which isn't bad. Unfortunately my previous experience with a 1.4x teleconverter on my 100-400 lens has left me somewhat sceptical about the image quality with teleconverters.

I am having a hard time finding direct comparisons between the 600mm f4 and the 300 f2.8 + 2xTC and hope that some on this forum could assist me in making my decision.

• ILCE-1
• FE 600mm F4 GM OSS
• 600.0 mm
• ƒ/4
• 1/1250 sec
• ISO 1250

 

[Richard A]

If you have a look at any recent threads by @spudhead that may answer your question...

 

[Unframed Dave]

If you can wait a couple of weeks, I can do some side by side test shots. I don't have access to my 300 at the moment. Let me have the parameters and an email address then I can send the full unaltered images.

 

[etiennescamera]

If you can wait a couple of weeks, I can do some side by side test shots. I don't have access to my 300 at the moment. Let me have the parameters and an email address then I can send the full unaltered images.

Thank you, that would be very helpful and extremely kind of you. I would be mainly interested in seeing shots taken at widest aperture, i.e. f4 on the 600 and f5.6 on the 300+2xTC using a fairly fast shutter speed in the region of 1/2000sec with auto ISO, in order to compare sharpness, bokeh and ISO noise. My email is steenkamp.e@gmail.com

 

[etiennescamera]

If you have a look at any recent threads by @spudhead that may answer your question...

Thanks, I will have a look

 

[Unframed Dave]

Thank you, that would be very helpful and extremely kind of you. I would be mainly interested in seeing shots taken at widest aperture, i.e. f4 on the 600 and f5.6 on the 300+2xTC using a fairly fast shutter speed in the region of 1/2000sec with auto ISO, in order to compare sharpness, bokeh and ISO noise. My email is steenkamp.e@gmail.com

Will do, but like I said, a week or three!

RAW images?

 

[etiennescamera]

Will do, but like I said, a week or three!

RAW images?

Thanks, no hurry. Would prefer RAW. I generally use WeTransfer for such large files.

 

[Angieb]

I did a video on a comparison of the 300mm with 1.4 & 2.0 vs 400mm & 600mm check it out here. I have considered selling my 400 and 600 since I rarely use them anymore.

 

[Jonathantuba]

I have owned the 600mm f4 for just over a year now and have done two trips to Botswana in this time, getting absolutely great results with this lens. However, the first trip was with Pangolin where you have the luxury of mounting the lens on a gimbal mount on their photo boats and the second trip was a dedicated photography trip to the Okavango, where each photographer had a whole row of seats to him/her self on the game drive vehicle. This made me realise the limitations of this lens:

• travelling with it is a challenge due to weight and size
• handholding it is hard, my wrist is still sore two months after the trip
• sometimes you miss shots because you simply cannot react fast enough with such a bulky lens
• if you don't have the luxury of lots of space on a game drive vehicle, it becomes difficult to handle
• I never use this lens at home, it's just too much effort

So now I am considering trading it in for a 300mm f2.8 + 2x teleconverter, which will give significant size and weight savings and still leave me with 600mm f5.6 which isn't bad. Unfortunately my previous experience with a 1.4x teleconverter on my 100-400 lens has left me somewhat sceptical about the image quality with teleconverters.

I am having a hard time finding direct comparisons between the 600mm f4 and the 300 f2.8 + 2xTC and hope that some on this forum could assist me in making my decision.

View attachment 70913

I have owned the 600mm f4 for just over a year now and have done two trips to Botswana in this time, getting absolutely great results with this lens. However, the first trip was with Pangolin where you have the luxury of mounting the lens on a gimbal mount on their photo boats and the second trip was a dedicated photography trip to the Okavango, where each photographer had a whole row of seats to him/her self on the game drive vehicle. This made me realise the limitations of this lens:

• travelling with it is a challenge due to weight and size
• handholding it is hard, my wrist is still sore two months after the trip
• sometimes you miss shots because you simply cannot react fast enough with such a bulky lens
• if you don't have the luxury of lots of space on a game drive vehicle, it becomes difficult to handle
• I never use this lens at home, it's just too much effort

So now I am considering trading it in for a 300mm f2.8 + 2x teleconverter, which will give significant size and weight savings and still leave me with 600mm f5.6 which isn't bad. Unfortunately my previous experience with a 1.4x teleconverter on my 100-400 lens has left me somewhat sceptical about the image quality with teleconverters.

I am having a hard time finding direct comparisons between the 600mm f4 and the 300 f2.8 + 2xTC and hope that some on this forum could assist me in making my decision.

View attachment 70913

 

[Jonathantuba]

I know exactly what you are talking about, as in Sabi Sands, South Africa with the 600 F4 earlier this year I found it far too large to use in the Safari vehicle. I am now going to Zambia with the 300+2x. I have used this combination extensively at home with local wildlife and really In the field I can see no quality loss against them 600 F4. Sony seems to have really optimised the 300 GM for use with the teleconverters. I have never been happy with the results using TC on other lenses, but they work perfect on the 300 GM giving you effectively three lenses in one. You really cannot go wrong with getting the 300 and teleconverter to replace the 600