Greetings from British Columbia's Vancouver Island.

[ronp]

Timothy thank you for establishing this forum as a resource for Sony shooters. I've just migrated to Sony from the world of Nikon, recently acquiring the new A7 IV, starting off with the Tamron 28-75 (A063), Sony G 20mm1.8, Small Rig Full Cage for A7 IV, Feel World 5" external monitor, Rode VideoMic Pro, GoPro 7, Zoom H1 external audio recorder and 2 X Kingston React 256 Mb V90 SD cards. At this time I'm primarily involved with video content creation. Hoping to learn more about my camera's capabilities and be inspired by the creative talent of the others on the forum. Cheers!

 

[Tim Mayo]

Welcome Ron and thanks for joining up! You have certainly started off your journey with Sony with a great camera and a very nice collection of gear. What type of videos do you like to shoot?

 

[ronp]

Welcome Ron and thanks for joining up! You have certainly started off your journey with Sony with a great camera and a very nice collection of gear. What type of videos do you like to shoot?

Thank you. I feel so very fortunate to be shooting video projects for a client. The subject matter is documentary style video primarily about sustainability as well as conservation initiatives (I also do research on these subjects). When not doing video, I enjoy photography on my own and that's why I went with the A7 IV - it's a camera that can do both. My immediate goal is to build up my lens collection. Although it may seem like an odd jump in focal length from what I currently own, I need to acquire a good quality wildlife lens for upcoming video projects and I'm seriously considering the Sony 200-600 G. The lenses I have now - are pretty much videocentric lenses and not well suited for capturing wildlife. It's either that or the 100-400 G Master (which is also appealing) however I'm not sure about reach with 400 even shooting b-roll in aspc mode which would be like shooting a 600 with the 400. I did look at the Tamron 150-500 too - yet I'm unsure if that's the best option in the long run so I've eliminated that one. I see you have both Sony lenses yourself (the 200-600 and the 100-400). Also, I have mixed feelings about using teleconverters - not sure that's the way I'd want to go. Any words of wisdom?

 

[Tim Mayo]

Thank you. I feel so very fortunate to be shooting video projects for a client. The subject matter is documentary style video primarily about sustainability as well as conservation initiatives (I also do research on these subjects). When not doing video, I enjoy photography on my own and that's why I went with the A7 IV - it's a camera that can do both. My immediate goal is to build up my lens collection. Although it may seem like an odd jump in focal length from what I currently own, I need to acquire a good quality wildlife lens for upcoming video projects and I'm seriously considering the Sony 200-600 G. The lenses I have now - are pretty much videocentric lenses and not well suited for capturing wildlife. It's either that or the 100-400 G Master (which is also appealing) however I'm not sure about reach with 400 even shooting b-roll in aspc mode which would be like shooting a 600 with the 400. I did look at the Tamron 150-500 too - yet I'm unsure if that's the best option in the long run so I've eliminated that one. I see you have both Sony lenses yourself (the 200-600 and the 100-400). Also, I have mixed feelings about using teleconverters - not sure that's the way I'd want to go. Any words of wisdom?

I don't shoot very much video myself but do keep on intending to make more of an effort on that front! In regards to the 100-400 vs 200-600. I definitely prefer not only the extra reach of the 200-600 but also the internal zoom. It's a very short throw to go from 200mm to 600mm and because it's internal and the barrel doesn't extend it makes it a lot nicer to handle than the 100-400, especially if you are using a gimbal. If you watch Stefano Ianiro on YouTube he's shooting most of his still and videos with the 200-600.

 

[ronp]

I don't shoot very much video myself but do keep on intending to make more of an effort on that front! In regards to the 100-400 vs 200-600. I definitely prefer not only the extra reach of the 200-600 but also the internal zoom. It's a very short throw to go from 200mm to 600mm and because it's internal and the barrel doesn't extend it makes it a lot nicer to handle than the 100-400, especially if you are using a gimbal. If you watch Stefano Ianiro on YouTube he's shooting most of his still and videos with the 200-600.

Thanks Timothy! I pulled the trigger and just got the 200-600 from my local camera store. Very keen to begin using it soon. Super appreciate the referral to Stefano Ianiro - I didn't know about him so thanks so much for that. I briefly checked out his YouTube channnel. He's a terrific wildlife videographer - there aren't too many people out there specializing in video with the 200-600. Very helpful for me!