How are you using your FE 200–600 mm F5.6–6.3 G OSS?

[-ST-]

How are you using your FE 200–600 mm F5.6–6.3?

Inspired by so many wonderful photos here, I'm considering getting one for wildlife (although that's just exploration, not a passion just yet).

• Run and Gun: Do you carry it around, taking photos here and there in your travels?
• Set up and wait: Do you carry it to a suitable location and then set up with a tripod, monopod, or some device to steady it and then take your shots?
• How far/long can you carry it comfortably? (e.g., 2-hour hike, all day, ...)
• Can you do much in the hours around sunrise or sunset?
• Do you carry other lenses when you use the 200-600?
• Can you use it indoors? What kinds of subjects or photography?

Do you have any tips for someone considering one?

Thank you.

 

[Slug]

Carry it comfortably for an hour or so in the crook of my arm which I swap around to balance as required. I don't use it indoors or in low light and have a backpack on to carry other lenses and/or this one on my bike.
Mainly used for small bird photography but I like my 100-400 better for walkabout photography, particularly with the "croppability" of the A1.

 

[Unframed Dave]

In essence, for me, it's for small things far away. I have three types of Latin associated with my shoulders, neck and spine, so carrying heavy lumps suspended from them is unpleasant after a long period of time. This continues for three to four days after the event.

I will take this particular lens with me, when I'm driving to a location with a short walk or a hide nearby. In good light, handheld is perfectly plausible, I have used it with good effect off a gimble, but that was about two yards from the car.

The only indoor application I can imagine it being useful for is sports.

I do know of others who use it as a macro for moving objects, insects for example with great success.

For travel, I use apsc cameras, the 70 - 200 for the larger subjects, mammals, large birds etc. For anything smaller, I'd take the 100 - 400. Both can be used with teleconvertors if necessary.

I have taken some fairly major trips pre covid where I would have taken the beast, antarctic circle, safaris, trekking to see wild gorillas in Uganda and Galapagos. These would justify the pain and you spend a good deal of time in vehicles, be they ribs, ships or 4 X 4s. I will soon be in Indonesia looking to spot wild Urang Utans and it will definitely be coming with me for that. I may just have to pack the one pair of boxers and saw a few ounces of handle off the end of my toothbrush.

If you're into wildlife or fast moving sports, you probably should get one.

 

[AlphaWorld]

How are you using your FE 200–600 mm F5.6–6.3?

Inspired by so many wonderful photos here, I'm considering getting one for wildlife (although that's just exploration, not a passion just yet).

• Run and Gun: Do you carry it around, taking photos here and there in your travels?
• Set up and wait: Do you carry it to a suitable location and then set up with a tripod, monopod, or some device to steady it and then take your shots?
• How far/long can you carry it comfortably? (e.g., 2-hour hike, all day, ...)
• Can you do much in the hours around sunrise or sunset?
• Do you carry other lenses when you use the 200-600?
• Can you use it indoors? What kinds of subjects or photography?

Do you have any tips for someone considering one?

Thank you.

I can carry it on a Peak Design Sling (attached to the lens, not the body) for 2 to 3 hours.

I don't see it as an opportunistic shooting lens, though - I generally go to where I expect to use it.

Haven't used it for sunrise or sunset. but that's because I haven't thought of it.

No, I generally don't carry another lens, because the 200-600 is rather heavy.

You could use it indoors, but you'd need a rather big room.

 

[iamdlewis]

• Run and Gun: Do you carry it around, taking photos here and there in your travels? Yes
• Set up and wait: Do you carry it to a suitable location and then set up with a tripod, monopod, or some device to steady it and then take your shots? Yes when it makes the most sense for the location and subject I am shooting but generally prefer hand-held
• How far/long can you carry it comfortably? (e.g., 2-hour hike, all day, ...) I've done multiple outings of 6+ hours. May tours generally have you out for 4 hours at a time
• Can you do much in the hours around sunrise or sunset? Depends on what the light is like and what your subject is.
• Do you carry other lenses when you use the 200-600? I generally only carry one lens on an outing but if the location has the potential for non-wildlife yes
• Can you use it indoors? What kinds of subjects or photography? Unless the room is smaller than the minimal focus range I don't know of a reason why it couldn't. It is photography use your imagination.

 

[Deleted Member 5045]

I've only ever shot hand held with mine as I don't have the patience to set up and sit there waiting for the right moment, although it would better my photography I prefer to just roam around looking.

I can walk around for many hours with this lens the weight is a complete non issue, but I'm extremely fit as health and fitness is my life so I can't really give you the average Joe answer for that one...

 

[Clix Pix]

How do I use my 200-600mm? I open the sliding glass door to my deck and carry the lens out there, and depending upon the situation will either have already set up the tripod when I think I'll be out there shooting a while or I use my deck railing as support while handholding the lens for just a few shots of the birds on the lake.

Because I use that lens primarily for shooting water birds and such, I have the camera (A1) set to Continuous High+ and the thing spits out a heckuva lot of frames per second. This has advantages in happening to nail the one time a bird blinked or did something interesting but yes, it IS tedious wading through all of the seeming similar images in the computer later. Using the tripod when shooting for more than a few minutes definitely the smarter way to go but sometimes I see some bird action happening out there and I just want to run out quickly and capture it before they've stopped whatever it was.

I bought the 200-600mm about a month or so after I'd first bought my A7R IV and three lenses (two macros, one fast mid-tele prime) and was entering the world of Sony mirrorless full frame for the first time. By the time spring of 2020 was on the horizon I realized that while I really liked the 200-600mm it was not a lens that I would be able to carry while walking around the lake. That's when in June of that year I bought the 100-400mm GM. However, I was not about to give up that 200-600mm and she definitely has her role to play in my shooting repertoire, even though limited.

I've only shot the 200-600mm outdoors (on the deck) and, well, it has never even occurred to me to try shooting with it indoors. I have other lenses to take care of whatever photographic endeavors I might want to try in the house. The lens works fine with a 1.4X TC but I have not and would not put a 2X on it. This is not a fast lens and so with or without a TC on it, I don't have great expectations when the light isn't good.

This Sony 200-600mm lens is a real gift to us photographers who cannot afford to purchase one of the long prime lenses at either f/2.8 or f/4.... I love my 200-600mm and although I don't use her often I am glad to have her readily available when I need to shoot something for which she is ideally suited.

 

[Gaz]

I have taken it down to the beach for sunrise where I sat with it on one raised knee. And surf carnival from a vantage point set up on tripod at a bench seat. And, bird watching hand held though of the three methods that was most exhausting!!! I carry it on the strap supplied slung over my head and tucked down along side my arm with camera body attached. That’s comfortable for my build.

• ILCE-7M4
• FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS
• 600.0 mm
• ƒ/36
• 1/400 sec
• ISO 125

 

[-ST-]

I've only ever shot hand held with mine as I don't have the patience to set up and sit there waiting for the right moment, although it would better my photography I prefer to just roam around looking.

I can walk around for many hours with this lens the weight is a complete non issue, but I'm extremely fit as health and fitness is my life so I can't really give you the average Joe answer for that one...

Hey, Clint.

I noticed that you look fit and had come to assume that the weight of the 200-600 was a non-issue for you. I don't qualify for average Joe status.

It took me three months to adapt to carrying the A7 IV with 24-105 every day. That was a very uncomfortable three months. Moving to the A1 with 70-200 GM II plus a spare battery (740 grams more) was a big difference, but my back seems to have forgiven me, at least on my good days.

I've had the teleconverter for two days, and I did notice the extra 270 grams at the end of my arm (walking along with the camera in hand, waiting for the next opportunity), will take some getting used-to. Most of the time the camera and lens ride along on my hip in a bag with a shoulder sling as a safety strap, but there are a couple of 1-2 km stretches where I prefer to have the camera in hand in case something interesting happens.

 

[-ST-]

Thank you to everyone who took the time to share their experiences. In no small part, due to your thoughts here, I picked up the FE 200–600 mm F5.6–6.3 G OSS a week ago.

I've taken it out several times, and the weight was less of an issue than I expected. It's been dark and gloomy here for most of the week (typical winter in my part of the world), but there have been a few brighter days - good ones for F5.6–6.3. Here's an example.

Birds - Why you find crabs on land

Coming in for breakfast Missed by that much - try again Moments later... And that's why I occasionally find crabs on the ground several meters from the water.

www.alphashooters.com

I'm spending more time than I'm used to standing around looking for opportunities to use the new lens. I'm learning how to think about making pictures with it. That's going to be a bigger challenge than dealing with the physical aspects of it.

Thanks again! I appreciate you all.

 

[TerryL]

I have one in a $300 lens bag and have never used it. It has never been mounted to a camera.

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

Missed this thread for some reason, but just to add my two-penneth.
It's virtually never off of the camera, as I am pretty much 99% wildlife shooting. I can happily carry it all day, using a Black Rapid Sport strap so it hangs to my side. The weight really has never been an issue for me, it's not at all heavy as far as I'm concerned.
It s without doubt the most user friendly and best handling zoom on the market (and ever to this point!) and I don't think it can be bettered for wildlife shooting on the move.