Superb Fairy Wren at a simulated 300mm

[AlphaWorld]

Was playing around with the 70-200 f/2.8 GM II on the A7RV in APS-C crop to simulate the 300mm f/2.8 GM (I ordered the lens and I want to see what it will look like in terms of field of view).

I was photographing animals at the zoo, and had a male superb fairy wren land really close to me - that's rare - they normally land a few metres away and bounce around (they are difficult to photograph because they bounce so much). He was really close, and I ran off a a burst. I'm glad I had the camera in Animal/Bird subject recognition.

Camera was at f/8, 1/1000, and auto ISO ran up to 12800 because he was in shade. This is the entire frame, and these fairy wrens are tiny birds. I was going to post the full 26 megapixel JPEG, but it's 14MB, so I scaled it to 3000 pixels wide. This lens and camera can produce beautiful images even when the person behind the camera takes the images badly. If this hadn't been a snap reaction to the bird appearing unexpectedly I'd probably have opened the lens up fully (3 atops more light, so I wouldn't have been at ISO 12800).

If nothing else, this makes me want the 300 GM even more (if that's possible). I'd be able to shoot this field of view with the full pixel count of the A7RV.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

That is a superb pic. Of course, on the RV you have equivalent pixel count or more to an aps-c camera.

Even on the a7iv, I'm finding that crop mode with my Samyang 135 gives very nice pics. I'm not very keen on the results of aps-c lenses on the a7iv, though.

 

[spudhead]

Was playing around with the 70-200 f/2.8 GM II on the A7RV in APS-C crop to simulate the 300mm f/2.8 GM (I ordered the lens and I want to see what it will look like in terms of field of view).

I was photographing animals at the zoo, and had a male superb fairy wren land really close to me - that's rare - they normally land a few metres away and bounce around (they are difficult to photograph because they bounce so much). He was really close, and I ran off a a burst. I'm glad I had the camera in Animal/Bird subject recognition.

Camera was at f/8, 1/1000, and auto ISO ran up to 12800 because he was in shade. This is the entire frame, and these fairy wrens are tiny birds. I was going to post the full 26 megapixel JPEG, but it's 14MB, so I scaled it to 3000 pixels wide. This lens and camera can produce beautiful images even when the person behind the camera takes the images badly. If this hadn't been a snap reaction to the bird appearing unexpectedly I'd probably have opened the lens up fully (3 atops more light, so I wouldn't have been at ISO 12800).

If nothing else, this makes me want the 300 GM even more (if that's possible). I'd be able to shoot this field of view with the full pixel count of the A7RV.

View attachment 53062

here you go Tony 300 2.8 g mk1 on a9 lea-5 adaptor

• ILCE-9
• 300mm F2.8 G
• 300.0 mm
• ƒ/3.5
• 1/2500 sec
• ISO 2500

 

[Deleted Member 5045]

Sony has a 200-600mm that can better f8 at 300mm. It will blow your mind...

 

[AlphaWorld]

here you go Tony 300 2.8 g mk1 on a9 lea-5 adaptorView attachment 53066

Oooh - thank you! I was expecting that level of clarity from the 300mm GM, but it's good to see that they were achieving that level on the the predecessor. Now my expectations just got higher!

I have only owned one of the big white primes before - I owned a Canon 200mm f/2L IS for a few years, but I didn't use it as much as I'd have liked - the lens was 2.5kg, and the cameras I was using at the time were 1.5kg, so it was 4kg, and that was before I put in the memory cards (those original Compact Flash cards were big cards! And I was using the huge 16GB cards, too). With the 300 GM on an A1 I'll have something like 2.3kg - less than that 200mm lens weighed.

The Sony website in Australia is still saying that the "next shipping date is 29 January 2024" (maybe they haven't received a heap of pre-orders?) - guess I should be glad they specified the year I'd love to believe that was the date it would arrive in Australia, but I'm fairly sure that's the date it will leave Japan (or Thailand, or wherever they are making lenses these days - I would not be too surprised if they make the "great white" lenses in Japan, although even the A1 was made in Thailand).

 

[spudhead]

Oooh - thank you! I was expecting that level of clarity from the 300mm GM, but it's good to see that they were achieving that level on the the predecessor. Now my expectations just got higher!

I have only owned one of the big white primes before - I owned a Canon 200mm f/2L IS for a few years, but I didn't use it as much as I'd have liked - the lens was 2.5kg, and the cameras I was using at the time were 1.5kg, so it was 4kg, and that was before I put in the memory cards (those original Compact Flash cards were big cards! And I was using the huge 16GB cards, too). With the 300 GM on an A1 I'll have something like 2.3kg - less than that 200mm lens weighed.

The Sony website in Australia is still saying that the "next shipping date is 29 January 2024" (maybe they haven't received a heap of pre-orders?) - guess I should be glad they specified the year I'd love to believe that was the date it would arrive in Australia, but I'm fairly sure that's the date it will leave Japan (or Thailand, or wherever they are making lenses these days - I would not be too surprised if they make the "great white" lenses in Japan, although even the A1 was made in Thailand).

Ok Tony I have lots of shots on the a7iii and a9 with the a-mount 300 2.8, here is another

• ILCE-9
• 300mm F2.8 G
• 300.0 mm
• ƒ/2.8
• 1/2000 sec
• ISO 500

 

[AlphaWorld]

You do know that there are no fewer than four separate threads in the lens image sample forum with Spud's lens and different combinations of cameras and adapters, right?

No, I don't. I haven't spent much time in there.

I wasn't even aware there was a previous Sony 300mm f/2.8. I've seen Canon and Nikon versions, both on SLR mounts (EF and F) - I am not even aware if they have released mirrorless versions.

 

[RogerSmith]

I'm thinking of the 300 myself. LOVE that background blur. This is Canon, 300mm 2.8 v 1 on a 1DX

• Canon EOS-1D X
• EF300mm f/2.8L IS USM
• 300.0 mm
• ƒ/2.8
• 1/2500 sec
• ISO 400