Sony A7R V A7RV loves the 200-600 G, even with the 2x!

[AlphaWorld]

I wanted to give the new AF in the A7RV a serious workout. And I wanted to answer the question I've heard occasionally - does the 200-600 have any of the trouble we saw with the 200-600 that we saw with the A7RIV?

After trying the A7RV with the 200-600 (which worked well), I decided to make things more difficult, and added the 2x teleconverter. The A7RV laughed at me!

This is the whole frame from the A7RV, shot at f/13 (wide open), 1/2000, ISO 2500, effective focal length 794mm (397mm on the lens). I scaled it in JPEG to keep the file size down.

This is eye AF on this small bird's black eye surrounded by black feathers - not an easy target for focus (I had the A7RV set to Animal + Bird Eye AF) - if anyone doubts that it was eye AF, it definitely was: the eye was surrounded by a small green square in the EVF.

This is a Willie Wagtail - a native species in Australia.

I have tried it zoomed all the way out to 600mm (1200mm effective), but not on birds - got eye AF on kangaroos lying in shade, and that worked, too.

Oh, and I haven't even installed the new firmware on the 200-600! (I think it's mainly for the stabilisation, anyway).

 

[Clide]

I wanted to give the new AF in the A7RV a serious workout. And I wanted to answer the question I've heard occasionally - does the 200-600 have any of the trouble we saw with the 200-600 that we saw with the A7RIV?

After trying the A7RV with the 200-600 (which worked well), I decided to make things more difficult, and added the 2x teleconverter. The A7RV laughed at me!

This is the whole frame from the A7RV, shot at f/13 (wide open), 1/2000, ISO 2500, effective focal length 794mm (397mm on the lens). I scaled it in JPEG to keep the file size down.

This is eye AF on this small bird's black eye surrounded by black feathers - not an easy target for focus (I had the A7RV set to Animal + Bird Eye AF) - if anyone doubts that it was eye AF, it definitely was: the eye was surrounded by a small green square in the EVF.

This is a Willie Wagtail - a native species in Australia.

View attachment 29089

I have tried it zoomed all the way out to 600mm (1200mm effective), but not on birds - got eye AF on kangaroos lying in shade, and that worked, too.

Oh, and I haven't even installed the new firmware on the 200-600! (I think it's mainly for the stabilisation, anyway).

Tony, great work, thanks for sharing. I would be interested to see your setup taking images of birds in flight.

 

[MrFotoFool]

@AlphaWorld I also have 200-600 lens (which is stellar) and am thinking of getting an A7rV to go all-in with Sony and possibly sell my beloved Nikon D850's. My concern with my current A7IV that I use with 200-600 is I am not in love with the electronic viewfinder. In your experience, is the higher resolution viewfinder on the A7rV clearer and more SLR-like than Sony bodies like mine with lower resolution viewfinders?

(See also this thread I just posted: https://www.alphashooters.com/community/threads/is-a7rv-viewfinder-more-slr-like.5694/ )

 

[AlphaWorld]

Yes, the A7RV viewfinder makes a difference.

I have used the 200-600 on my A1, but it seems that the new AF in the A7RV makes it a better fit than the A1 with the 200-600. It also works very well with the 70-200 GM II. I have tried the 24 GM, 50 GM and 135 GM with it, but mostly indoors.

I'm not sure what "SLR like" quality you are looking for in the view finder. Perhaps you could elaborate?

I guess one thing the A7RV EVF does that the A1 EVF doesn't is black out when taking a shot That's a bit more SLR like, right?

 

[MrFotoFool]

@AlphaWorld I haven't really noticed a blackout in my A7IV. The issue is it just looks too contrasty or electronic or fake. It's like looking through a really cheap first generation computer monitor versus a real window or a late generation high resolution monitor. Not sure if that makes sense? For the record, I had two opportunities over the last year to try a Canon R5 and it was ten times worse than my A7IV. I mean it is so hideous (the viewfinder) that I honestly can't believe people put up with it.

 

[Clix Pix]

I've had the A7R V a few weeks now but still haven't gotten around to trying the 200-600mm lens on her. I did one day put the 100-400mm on and that seemed to be a really good match. So far this camera has done a stellar job with every lens I've put on her!

 

[AlphaWorld]

@AlphaWorld I haven't really noticed a blackout in my A7IV. The issue is it just looks too contrasty or electronic or fake. It's like looking through a really cheap first generation computer monitor versus a real window or a late generation high resolution monitor. Not sure if that makes sense? For the record, I had two opportunities over the last year to try a Canon R5 and it was ten times worse than my A7IV. I mean it is so hideous (the viewfinder) that I honestly can't believe people put up with it.

Makes perfect sense (first computer screens I used offered 320x200 graphics - that was hideous).

With 9M dot, the EVF on the A1 and A7RV is a lot more detailed than the A7IV (which is 3.69M dot). I have no problem with it, but I had no problem with the A7RIII, and it is only 2.36M dot. It's hard to judge if you'll have a problem with it.

The Canon R5 has the same resolution as the A7IV - surprised it was worse to your eyes - maybe you can see refresh rates higher than normal (some people see flicker on 60Hz refresh CRTs).

The A7RIV is higher (over 5M dot), but that's only about 50% more than the A7IV. The A1 and A7RV EVF is more like 2.5x the resolution - that's a significant difference.

Unfortunately, about all I can suggest is that you get a chance to look though the viewfinder of an A1 or an A7RV - sorry!

 

[MrFotoFool]

Unfortunately, about all I can suggest is that you get a chance to look though the viewfinder of an A1 or an A7RV - sorry!

I have a rental A7rV coming - will see how it goes.

 

[AlphaWorld]

I have a rental A7rV coming - will see how it goes.

We will all be curious to hear what you think of it. Good luck!