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Sony vs Canon 70-200mm f4???

dave92029

New member
The Sony 70-200mm f4 is expected to be released in late April, and I'm unaware of any reviews as yet.

The Canon 70-200mm f4 is generally considered an excellent lens. Canon is currently offering a $150 rebate on their lens. Does anyone have personal experience with this lens on a A7 body?

I am trying to decide if getting the Canon lens plus the Metabones adapter may be a better than waiting for the Sony lens. Both options are about the same cost after rebates, but once I have the Metabones adapter there are lots of Canon lens that can be used on my A7 body.

Your thoughts and comments are welcome. Thank you.

Dave
 

tashley

Subscriber Member
Dave, it'll most likely be pretty slow. My Metabones adaptor is fun and useful but AF can be treaaaccle slow and sometimes just gives up...
 

nostatic

New member
The Canon 70-200/4 IS is probably my favorite zoom ever (close race with the Pentax 50-135/2.8). iirc it is smaller and lighter than the Sony, but maybe the weight included the mount on the Sony. That said, seems that native lenses are the way to go if you want good AF performance.
 
D

Deleted member 7792

Guest
Does anyone have personal experience with this lens on a A7 body?
Dave,

I'm using the Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS zoom with the Sony a7R and Metabones III adapter. On the plus side, the lens is very sharp with excellent contrast over its full range. With the adpater, the length and weight aren't objectionable. In fact, the combination is lighter in weight than I had expected. On the negative side, as has been pointed out, AF in less than bright sun is hit or miss. Also, the IS and AF functions are not as well integrated with the camera/adapter as they are with a native lens (the FE 24-70mm, for example). When I'm in AF mode, I can't trigger focus magnification by turning the lens focus ring. And when in "Advanced Mode", the IS stays on all the time, which is unacceptable. I've confirmed this behavior with another Canon/Sony shooter.

My conclusion from this experiment is that the native FE 70-200mm zoom will be a better alternative to the Canon if (and that's a BIG "if") image quality is equal between the two lenses.

Nothing I've seen would suggest that the behavior of the lens would be different when used on the a7 versus the a7R.

Joe
 
Native lenses will perform better in AF mode. However overall image quality has to be seen.

I have tried Canon 70-200 f/2.8 L IS II on Sony A7R with Metabones III for son's basketball game, and it was no fun.

I'm keeping my Canon lenses with a hope that Canon might come up with something better as well, you never know. So I would like to wait until Photokina.

In addition, I might go for Canon TS/E lenses, so Metabones going to stay for me.

If I'm in your shoe, I would rather wait another month to see side by side comparison of Sony vs Canon 70-200 f/4, before making a decision.
 
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W.Utsch

Member
I used that combo as well. Image quality is superb no doubt. IS works with the Meta Smart III very good. AF as others said is slow, for moving objects people animals etc almost a no go, for my photography (landscape, city...) it is just sufficient.
The size and weight are acceptable, there will be not a great difference to the FE.
If mony where not a problem i would buy the FE lens...
Posted some pics in the old, then merged, Fun thread.
 

rjones

New member
I picked up the new Sony 70-200/4 for my a7r while traveling in Japan during the first week of April.

I am thoroughly impressed with it. I also have the EF 70-200/4 IS, and while I did not have the EF lens with me to directly compare, I don't think it is as sharp as the new Sony. But this is just an impression.

Size, weight and handling are similar between the 2 zooms, but the focus is much faster with the native Sony than with the Canon on the Metabones III adapter. The Sony IS is equally effective as that of the Canon.

(As an aside, at 70mm, the Sony 70-200/4 is much sharper than the Sony 24-70/4. On the trip, I mostly used an EF 17 TSE, an EF 35/2 IS, an FE 55/1.8 and the Sony 70-200/4 and occasionally the Sony 24-70/4. The latter always seemed to fall short when compared to the other lenses, so I often skipped using it.)
 
D

Deleted member 7792

Guest
I picked up the new Sony 70-200/4 for my a7r while traveling in Japan during the first week of April.

I am thoroughly impressed with it. I also have the EF 70-200/4 IS, and while I did not have the EF lens with me to directly compare, I don't think it is as sharp as the new Sony. But this is just an impression.

Size, weight and handling are similar between the 2 zooms, but the focus is much faster with the native Sony than with the Canon on the Metabones III adapter. The Sony IS is equally effective as that of the Canon.

(As an aside, at 70mm, the Sony 70-200/4 is much sharper than the Sony 24-70/4. On the trip, I mostly used an EF 17 TSE, an EF 35/2 IS, an FE 55/1.8 and the Sony 70-200/4 and occasionally the Sony 24-70/4. The latter always seemed to fall short when compared to the other lenses, so I often skipped using it.)
:worthless:

Joe
 
D

Deleted member 7792

Guest
Not trying to be snotty. Just VERY interested in images from this lens. I've been waiting for 4 months to see images from one. Your post left me with positive "impressions", but no images. Sorry if I offended you.

Joe
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
I agree great post and positive comments but some images would be great . It's what GetDPI has always been about with all our Fun threads. I know Joe and never a bad word every comes from his mouth and he is just interested in seeing some work with that lens. We are all waiting with interest to see how good it is.
 
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