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- Dave
I purchased this lens a few months back after being gifted some money by my old Dad. It was a customer return from WEX with a 10% discount on the unboxed price. At this price, it was a bit of no brainer and if I didn't do something with the money, I'd only waste it on more velour leisure suits.
Anyway, I had one purpose in mind. I spend a lot of time in Spain and a lot of that time on nature reserves photographing birds. With this in mind, I thought the extra reach would be nice and the limited aperture not too much of an issue.
Today, is the first time I've given it a proper outing and these are my thoughts. All the photos below are jpegs, full frame and no processing. Those of you who know me by now, know that I don't process beyond cropping and straightening. This includes (or precludes) noise reduction software. To this end, ISO is very important to me. I don't have the luxury of not worrying about it.
So, how did it handle?
To begin with, it's a tad heavier than my 200 - 600, but a lot lighter than my 600 f4. I ended up mounting it on my monopod and carried it as you would a crucifix, camera, horizontally across my shoulders and mono, outright in front of me at about 20 degrees to the vertical. It wasn't any less comfortable than the 600, which I also use in this way, but it was less convenient than my 200 - 600, which I handhold everywhere. I handheld it the hides, and it was absolutely fine.
And, it's noisy. All the time. For an old fella, I have very good hearing, and this thing whirrs all the time, even if you're just carrying it, it whirrs. This annoys me, I rely on my hearing a lot to identify what's around me and where it is. It isn't so loud that it drowns other sounds out, but it distracts. Can anyone else with one have a listen to theirs? I suspect mine may have a fault. None of my other lenses do this. I also wonder how it's affecting battery life?
How did it perform?
It was predictable, when conditions were right, it performed brilliantly. Images were tack sharp and it had no problems finding and maintaining focus.
The issues are entirely predictable and don't apply to everyone. f8 is slow, even in the land of light, it can be too slow, if you're trying to keep ISO to a minimum.
The shots below are all full frame, I've picked the best. There where times, I'd loved to have my f4 available, the meadow pippit for example kept moving in and out of shade. There are also times, I'd have liked better subject/background separation, particularly the heron.
I've only kept the Kingfisher in, to demonstrate how well it managed to focus, I estimate that shot was taken at 25 metres and in between all those posts and reeds, it would have challenged a lot of lenses.
At the end of the day, these issues could have and were predicted from pre purchase. Is it a keeper? Too soon to say, I need to play more. Will I sell my 200 - 600, absolutely not. What about the 600? From my dead cold hands! It is still the Daddy in my view.
I'm going to take it out a bit more whilst here and form more of an opinion.
Anyway, I had one purpose in mind. I spend a lot of time in Spain and a lot of that time on nature reserves photographing birds. With this in mind, I thought the extra reach would be nice and the limited aperture not too much of an issue.
Today, is the first time I've given it a proper outing and these are my thoughts. All the photos below are jpegs, full frame and no processing. Those of you who know me by now, know that I don't process beyond cropping and straightening. This includes (or precludes) noise reduction software. To this end, ISO is very important to me. I don't have the luxury of not worrying about it.
So, how did it handle?
To begin with, it's a tad heavier than my 200 - 600, but a lot lighter than my 600 f4. I ended up mounting it on my monopod and carried it as you would a crucifix, camera, horizontally across my shoulders and mono, outright in front of me at about 20 degrees to the vertical. It wasn't any less comfortable than the 600, which I also use in this way, but it was less convenient than my 200 - 600, which I handhold everywhere. I handheld it the hides, and it was absolutely fine.
And, it's noisy. All the time. For an old fella, I have very good hearing, and this thing whirrs all the time, even if you're just carrying it, it whirrs. This annoys me, I rely on my hearing a lot to identify what's around me and where it is. It isn't so loud that it drowns other sounds out, but it distracts. Can anyone else with one have a listen to theirs? I suspect mine may have a fault. None of my other lenses do this. I also wonder how it's affecting battery life?
How did it perform?
It was predictable, when conditions were right, it performed brilliantly. Images were tack sharp and it had no problems finding and maintaining focus.
The issues are entirely predictable and don't apply to everyone. f8 is slow, even in the land of light, it can be too slow, if you're trying to keep ISO to a minimum.
The shots below are all full frame, I've picked the best. There where times, I'd loved to have my f4 available, the meadow pippit for example kept moving in and out of shade. There are also times, I'd have liked better subject/background separation, particularly the heron.
I've only kept the Kingfisher in, to demonstrate how well it managed to focus, I estimate that shot was taken at 25 metres and in between all those posts and reeds, it would have challenged a lot of lenses.
At the end of the day, these issues could have and were predicted from pre purchase. Is it a keeper? Too soon to say, I need to play more. Will I sell my 200 - 600, absolutely not. What about the 600? From my dead cold hands! It is still the Daddy in my view.
I'm going to take it out a bit more whilst here and form more of an opinion.
- ILCE-1
- FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS
- 800.0 mm
- ƒ/8
- 1/2000 sec
- ISO 640
- ILCE-1
- FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS
- 800.0 mm
- ƒ/8
- 1/1600 sec
- ISO 640
- ILCE-1
- FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS
- 800.0 mm
- ƒ/8
- 1/400 sec
- ISO 1000
- ILCE-1
- FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS
- 800.0 mm
- ƒ/8
- 1/2500 sec
- ISO 1000
- ILCE-1
- FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS
- 604.0 mm
- ƒ/8
- 1/1250 sec
- ISO 640
- ILCE-1
- FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS
- 800.0 mm
- ƒ/8
- 1/2000 sec
- ISO 640
