Your 2025 Gear Wish List

[AlphaWorld]

I know. It has been a couple years since they released a lens that has held any real interest for me. Then this year the A1ii, 400-800, they broke my HVAC system and now the 100 macro.

I better check my HVAC!

 

[Madrab]

Sigma 300-600mm F4 - possibly.
I shoot a fair amount of sport and also enjoy wildlife photography, although I haven't done any wildlife stuff since a good friend of mine who I used to go with suddenly passed away. I am currently shooting with the Sony 200-600mm and thought it was pretty good for the price. Now I have got the A1 mk 2, I'm not so sure. The images are noticeably softer than those from my Sony 100-400mm GM lens. For my 60th we plan to go on a photo safari, and I'd love a faster, sharper lens. I've reached out to Sigma to see if there is anywhere local where I could try their 300-600mm F4 lens out, but I'm just hitting a blank wall. I'd really like to try one of those out and see if they are worth the additional price from my 200-600mm

Just to reach out with regards to the Sony 200-600mm I too found the lens soft on both my Sony a7iii, and later the Sony a7riv I thought was slightly better, but still wasn't happy, since selling the 200-600mm I bought the tamron 150-500 lost a bit of reach, but in my opinion it's far better lens for birds and wildlife, I now seek the Sony a1ii, which will be my last body, as I have reached a certain age in other words just an old git, I would be keen on finding out how impressed you are with the Sony a1ii, awe the best to you and your family.

 

[AlphaWorld]

Just to reach out with regards to the Sony 200-600mm I too found the lens soft on both my Sony a7iii, and later the Sony a7riv I thought was slightly better, but still wasn't happy, since selling the 200-600mm I bought the tamron 150-500 lost a bit of reach, but in my opinion it's far better lens for birds and wildlife, I now seek the Sony a1ii, which will be my last body, as I have reached a certain age in other words just an old git, I would be keen on finding out how impressed you are with the Sony a1ii, awe the best to you and your family.

The A1 II is a massive upgrade from the A7RIV in every way but pixel count (and 50 vs 60 isn't a huge difference) I really liked the A7RIV for a long time, and kept it when I got the original A1, but the A7RIV pales against the A1 II:

• Sony's newest AF system - and it works superbly
• the awesome rear screen - higher resolution and much more manoeuvrable
• a viewfinder with a lot more detail and a larger view
• lossless compressed files - all the detail of uncompressed, but size cut by almost half
• shooting at 50Mpixel at 20fps for long bursts - awesome when shooting birds (OK, 15fps with third party lenses!)
• pre-capture for when your reflexes aren't quite quick enough!
• the new comfortable body shape (my little finger fits on the camera at last!)

I'm feeling the age, too, and I have zero regrets about buying the A1 II - the new viewfinder is easier with glasses, and the extra size helps my eyes

 

[Madrab]

The A1 II is a massive upgrade from the A7RIV in every way but pixel count (and 50 vs 60 isn't a huge difference) I really liked the A7RIV for a long time, and kept it when I got the original A1, but the A7RIV pales against the A1 II:

• Sony's newest AF system - and it works superbly
• the awesome rear screen - higher resolution and much more manoeuvrable
• a viewfinder with a lot more detail and a larger view
• lossless compressed files - all the detail of uncompressed, but size cut by almost half
• shooting at 50Mpixel at 20fps for long bursts - awesome when shooting birds (OK, 15fps with third party lenses!)
• pre-capture for when your reflexes aren't quite quick enough!
• the new comfortable body shape (my little finger fits on the camera at last!)

I'm feeling the age, too, and I have zero regrets about buying the A1 II - the new viewfinder is easier with glasses, and the extra size helps my eyes

Many thanks for that, looking like I will be making the jump albeit a bit of money.

 

[Chris 3754]

Just to reach out with regards to the Sony 200-600mm I too found the lens soft on both my Sony a7iii, and later the Sony a7riv I thought was slightly better, but still wasn't happy, since selling the 200-600mm I bought the tamron 150-500 lost a bit of reach, but in my opinion it's far better lens for birds and wildlife, I now seek the Sony a1ii, which will be my last body, as I have reached a certain age in other words just an old git, I would be keen on finding out how impressed you are with the Sony a1ii, awe the best to you and your family.

We are on the same photo journey as I also find myself as vintage as my film cameras (which by the way are cool again and I have found myself in the "cool guy" position when I use them with young folks around who are curious). I recently upgraded from the a7iv to the a1ii with absolutely no regrets other than seeing my bank account $7k USD lighter. I found the a1ii to be a leap ahead of the a7iv in all aspects. Like you, I consider this my last camera body purchase, but hey, who knows.

I had the Sigma 150-600 Sports which was TACK SHARP at all settings. I made an emotional decision to trade it on a Sony 200-600 after hiking hours to see nesting owls with fledglings, only to find 600 was not enough reach and I could not add a teleconverter. I also did not like that the Sigma body extended when zoomed. I found that if I closed the Sony 200-600 at least two stops I could get it sharp. In the end, the debate is losing two stops vs Sigma's lack of a teleconverter and extending body.

 

[Madrab]

We are on the same photo journey as I also find myself as vintage as my film cameras (which by the way are cool again and I have found myself in the "cool guy" position when I use them with young folks around who are curious). I recently upgraded from the a7iv to the a1ii with absolutely no regrets other than seeing my bank account $7k USD lighter. I found the a1ii to be a leap ahead of the a7iv in all aspects. Like you, I consider this my last camera body purchase, but hey, who knows.

I had the Sigma 150-600 Sports which was TACK SHARP at all settings. I made an emotional decision to trade it on a Sony 200-600 after hiking hours to see nesting owls with fledglings, only to find 600 was not enough reach and I could not add a teleconverter. I also did not like that the Sigma body extended when zoomed. I found that if I closed the Sony 200-600 at least two stops I could get it sharp. In the end, the debate is losing two stops vs Sigma's lack of a teleconverter and extending body.

I also had the sigma 150-600 contemporary when I had the canon 7d mkii, I also was impressed with that.

 

[Chris 3754]

I also had the sigma 150-600 contemporary when I had the canon 7d mkii, I also was impressed with that.

Sigma really makes great lenses! My first one was a 75-250 for my Canon AE-1 that I purchased in 1980 in the Army post exchange. It too was a great lens for its time considering old zooms.

 

[snegron]

On my wish list is a Tamron 35-150mm f2/2.8.

 

[DJT]

Just to reach out with regards to the Sony 200-600mm I too found the lens soft on both my Sony a7iii, and later the Sony a7riv I thought was slightly better, but still wasn't happy, since selling the 200-600mm I bought the tamron 150-500 lost a bit of reach, but in my opinion it's far better lens for birds and wildlife, I now seek the Sony a1ii, which will be my last body, as I have reached a certain age in other words just an old git, I would be keen on finding out how impressed you are with the Sony a1ii, awe the best to you and your family.

Hi
I have to say that I am really impressed with the A1 mk 2 - The images are a big step up from what I got from my A9 - the sharpness is just amazing. I only get prints up to A3, or A3+ and at that size the extra resolution doesn't really make a difference. When viewed on screen and you zoom in it makes me want to avoid using the A9, which up until a year ago I was more than happy with the image quality I got from it. It's one of those things where once you've been spoilt, you just can't go back. I just love the image quality from the A1 ii. Interestingly I was worried about noise , jumping from a 24mo to a 50mp sensor. I shoot rugby for our local club and the main pitch doesn't have any lighting. In the winter, esp late Nov, Dec and Jan, the sun is gone about 30 minutes before the end of the game. I shoot in MSS 1/2000 with Auto ISO set to a max of 12,800. As the game progresses I watch my shutter speed dropping, 1/1000, 1/640, 1/500 etc as the light drops and the ISO is maxed out. However the images are surprisingly clean, so much so that I don't bother with any noise reduction in post processing at all. The images only go onto their social media accounts. so once I've adjusted the levels, and resized them, they look absolutely fine - and because I take around 5000 images a game I am only shooting JPG not Raw.

One final thing regarding the image quality - at 50mp you have the ability to crop if you need to. I shot some parakeets at the local park with the 200-600mm and being wild birds couldn't get quite as close as I'd have liked to. I cropped in on the images and shared them with some members of our camera club, and the feather detail was stunning. All in all, I am 100% happy with the A1 ii image quality. Would highly recommend this camera to anyone seriously considering it.

 

[Chris 3754]

I was a little disappointed with the 200-600 on my a7iv, but this past week at the Venice Rookery (images posted last week) I saw a noticeable improvement with the lens mounted on the a1ii. Now to be clear that change may just be my lack of skill, but I’ll take it either way.

Regarding DJT’s comments, having the a1ii since September, the ability to crop in with the increased megapixels is great. Likewise I struggle with light while shooting ice hockey and that has been an improvement too. Unfortunately I usually have to go a step further and remove grain in post.

Lastly, I found that tracking birds in flight greatly improved with the a1ii.

 

[DJT]

I was a little disappointed with the 200-600 on my a7iv, but this past week at the Venice Rookery (images posted last week) I saw a noticeable improvement with the lens mounted on the a1ii. Now to be clear that change may just be my lack of skill, but I’ll take it either way.

Regarding DJT’s comments, having the a1ii since September, the ability to crop in with the increased megapixels is great. Likewise I struggle with light while shooting ice hockey and that has been an improvement too. Unfortunately I usually have to go a step further and remove grain in post.

Lastly, I found that tracking birds in flight greatly improved with the a1ii.

Yeah, I think the image quality from the 200-600mm isn't "amazing" - the high resolution camera seem to outperform what that lens can do. I shot some aircraft in flight at the Mach Loop and could tell the difference between the 100-400mm GM and the 200-600mm. The 100-400mm images were sharper and I could easily read very small writing on the side of the aircraft that wasn't sharp on the 200-600mm. I am looking to do a safari in 2027 which is why I am considering the SIgma 300-600mm F4. I'm hoping that the Sigma is considerably sharper, the softer backgrounds at F4 give that 3D pop and being able to shoot at lower ISO due to being 1 1/2 stop faster @600mm have lower noise/better image quality. It's a long way to go to not be 100% happy with the results. I've not seen many reviews comparing the two lenses directly for image quality. Most seem to compare the Sigma against the Sony 600mm, or talk about replacing several lenses such as the 400mm F2.8 and 600Mm F4 with one zoom lens. I am aware that you can't shoot whilst zooming on the Sigma and also the 15 FPS limit, but if the lens is sharper, then I'd take that. I have tickets for the photography show in March and hope to try the Sigma out there.

 

[AlphaWorld]

I was a little disappointed with the 200-600 on my a7iv, but this past week at the Venice Rookery (images posted last week) I saw a noticeable improvement with the lens mounted on the a1ii. Now to be clear that change may just be my lack of skill, but I’ll take it either way.

Regarding DJT’s comments, having the a1ii since September, the ability to crop in with the increased megapixels is great. Likewise I struggle with light while shooting ice hockey and that has been an improvement too. Unfortunately I usually have to go a step further and remove grain in post.

Lastly, I found that tracking birds in flight greatly improved with the a1ii.

Agreed - the A1 II really shows what Sony's new AF / tracking can do.

It works really well with the 400-800, too - tracking during zoom is impressive.