jimmy462 Offline Upload & Sell: On
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kimknapp wrote:
Jimmy,
I agree 100% about your comments re: serious Sony APS-C body. Since they are focusing on Pros more, I am hoping they will come out with an "A6", i.e., all the controls of the A7 (or, better yet, A9, including the new battery), but with an updated APS-C sensor. From my experimenting, I found that I usually got better results birding with the A7Rii and cropping it after the fact, then I did with the A6300, so some sensor improvements would be nice.
RE: Sigma S 150-600. It is in Florida and I won't be able to do any further testing with it until mid-December. I left it there, figuring i would use it more there than here, since there are a couple of wildlife areas there that have lots of birds and can be accessed via car. I missed having it here (CO) this week, though.
For MFT, Metabones makes a couple different adapters. You want the regular (not Speed) adapter, I think they call it Smart Adapter. It does a pretty good job of communicating between camera and body. I don't remember how well it does with AF, but I see that I did comment that it focused quickly. I'll do more testing for AF this winter.
It is BIG and HEAVY, so you will need to use a tripod. Before the Sigma I had a Tamron. I took it on my kayak once, attached to the A6300, and will never do it again. And, the Sigma is bigger and heavier. It is possible to handhold and carry using a Black Rapid strap, but...
On the other hand, the Olympus 300 Pro with MC14 gives you about 840mm FF equivalent and the Panasonic 100-400 gives you 800mm FF equivalent, and both do a stellar job for birds.
Kim...Show more →
Hi Kim,
Thanks so much for taking the time to get back on this, I do appreciate it! My biggest concern here was that, maybe, you had moved on to another system and glass...thankfully such isn't the case.
Regarding the weight issues...I currently shoot a 120-300mm Sport handheld on my a6300 and that lens weighs in at a smidge under 7.5lbs. (3.39kg) so I don't see that handholding the 6.3lb (2.86kg) 150-600mm Sport will be a problem for me. Most folks might think this setup to be greatly unbalanced but I've developed a lens-palming technique that balances well (where I can even thumb the focus-ring need be). If anything, moving into a GH5 at 1.6lbs (725g) or a EM1-II at 1.26lbs (574g) would increase my load against the 14.25oz. (404g) featherweight a6300! Ha!
Thanks for adding the Metabones T-Smart into the conversation, that was a bit of oversight on my end as it has certainly been in my considerations throughout these ponderings! However, the thought of making my 120-300mm Sport (MFT equivalent 240-600mm) an f/2 lens vs. f/2/8 with a SpeedBooster has also crossed my mind!
My questions regarding AF arise because I get mixed AF performance on the a6300 depending on whether I'm using Sigma's own MC-11 or the MB IV. Interestingly, the MB allows use of Sigma's 1401 (1.4x) and 2001 (2x) TCs but Siggy's TCs are not supported, and do not allow their lens' aperture to function, when using their own MC-11 adapter...go figure. What I'm trying to avoid doing, but I think is going to need to happen for me, here is to head off to Manhattan and belly-up at the B&H camera/lens counter and bring along a T-Smart and a couple of SD cards to try some lenses on both a GH5 and EM1-II (they're very accommodating that way!)...but if I have to go that route I'll certainly wait until the G9 has been released so I can test that one, too!
+1 on a Sony sport/wildlife APS-C camera with improved sensor in an a7/a9 style body!
Again, many thanks for this thread and for your personal response...very helpful to this fence jumper!
JG
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