Sony 100-400 VS 70-200 F2.8 GM II With 2x Teleconverter at 400mm

[Tim Mayo]

Since this question comes up now and again, I decided to put together a comparison between the latest Sony FE 70-200 F2.8 GM II lens with the 2x teleconverter attached (400mm, f/5.6) and the FE 100-400 GM F4.5-5.6 lens also at 400mm, f/5.6.

Surprisingly it's extremely close between them, although the teleconverter does introduce a lot of chromatic aberration when shooting high contrast images.

You'll find the full comparison over on the blog:

Sony 100-400 VS 70-200 F2.8 GM II With 2x Tele at 400mm - AlphaShooters.com

In this article I'll be comparing the Sony FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens with the Sony FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS II with the 2x teleconverter attached.

www.alphashooters.com

Is anyone here shooting with the Sony FE 70-200 F2.8 GM II and either the 1.4x or 2x teleconverters? If you are, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this combination.

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

I can confirm Deleted Member 5003's comments on the 70-200 and 200-600. You need plenty of light to get the 2x + 200-600 to produce good images - give it full noon sun with zero clouds, and you can shoot 1200mm at f/13 (and the A7RV's subject recognition works, even at f/13!) - sharpness is a bit reduced, and you may also be facing heat haze! The 70-200 + 2x works best under the same conditions, but can tolerate somewhat less light (it's at f/5.6, which helps!).

Lower light / lower contrast and the 200-600 + 2x struggles. I took the 2x off, shot with the bare lens, and cropped.

The 1.4x is less demanding. I've used the 70-200 + 1.4x in somewhat dimmer conditions and been happy with the results. When the auto ISO was creeping over 4000 I was seeing some background noise, but DXO DeepPrime got rid of it. The 200-600 + 1.4x still needs a bit more light, but again, a bit less light is OK.

 

[RHerr]

thanks guys, much appreciate your comments, i think i will go for the 1.4x on the 200-600.