Sony FE 100-400 GM Lens

[Pradeep]

Just got my much awaited 100-400 last night.

Very preliminary evaluation.

The lens is beautiful and sleek, the hood snaps on very quickly and precisely. The lens foot is removable with ease - loosen the knob and press the lever and it just slides off. No screws to fiddle with.

Compared it with my Canon 100-400 MkII which is an incredibly sharp lens (the sharpest zoom I've used in this range).

The Sony zooms with a clockwise turn (looking from the back of the camera) while the Canon zooms anti-clockwise.

Sony has a better loose-tight ring to turn the zoom barrel. Does not seem to project that far out either (will confirm that later).

Weight: Canon with collar and replacement foot: 1800gm, Sony with original foot and small lens plate on it: 1700 gm;

Working weight (Canon with above plus metabones adapter plus A9 body): 2685gm vs 2450 gms

Sharpness: Still working on this one, the Sony is at least as sharp at 400mm wide open (f5.6), perhaps slightly sharper at 100mm (f4.5). Bokeh slightly more pleasing.

Focusing: Ah, this is the critical moment. Pleased to say it is almost instantaneous on the A9, even when isolating a single flower in a bush (akin to focusing on a bird on a branch with a busy background).

For me it is a welcome addition to my line-up. Don't have to deal with the adapter and slow-focusing of the Canon.

Will do some more tests of the sharpness. But in the most critical element - AF speed, it truly delivers.

 

[iiiNelson]

Thanks for the feedback. Sony seems to be knocking it out the park with the G Master line across the board though they are pricy lenses.

 

[Pradeep]

I finally had a chance to play with this one at Nickerson Beach today. There were a lot of nesting skimmers (no chicks as yet) and least terns with some other shore birds too. I shot initially without and then with the 1.4x converter.

Positives:

1. Amazingly fast AF when you set it on the full, wide zone mode. I tried the central small AF point but was impossible to get the birds as they flew at great speed and changed directions suddenly while fishing. The zone system worked remarkably well and I had over 50% images that were sharp. Considering that these were BIF it was incredible, I've never had this kind of success before.
2. Once the camera gets the bird in focus, it tracks it very well.
3. The 1.4X does not seem to affect the AF greatly which is a big relief.
4. The combination is very light, the lightest at this level and reach I have ever used. The 1.4x is truly half the size and weight of the Canon version.
5. The picture quality did not seem to suffer too much though it does drop somewhat with the teleconverter.
6. The high frame rate is a huge help. I shot at medium speed and still got sequences of the bird turning its head 180 degrees to shake off the water.

The Negatives:

1. I feel the image quality is a bit under par. Perhaps I was expecting too much, will need to test this out a bit more. I shot wide open all the time and when you are at 400, it goes up to f5.6 and with the 1.4x it goes up to f8. The bokeh is still very pleasing though.
2. Not much else, it is a great combo and I will definitely keep it, it is of course possible that my copy is a bit soft but would be very difficult to tell.
3. Need to check this out a bit more. This was an extreme sort of test with the birds flying all over and my camera shaking all over as it was hand held. Still, it should deliver. The shots when the birds were on the ground should have been much sharper if it was only technique.

Am I being too critical here? I know it is hard to tell from web-sized images.

You be the judge. Images all processed and sharpened in Lightroom in the usual way. Most are from 20-30% cropped as well.

Thanks for looking.

 

[Pradeep]

Sorry, realized these are nearly full size images, posting 100% crops of relevant areas as much as I can get it to do so.

The fourth image with the two birds is how I would have liked the others to be. Perhaps it is my technique or the light falling which way or maybe the AF is just slightly off. What do you think?

 

[seb]

If I look at the crops I would say the lens nailed it. There is always a sharp part on each bird. How should the camera decide here?
The third one is an exception. But as the water below is also not sharp I think there is some motion blur in it.

But anyway, the reason I replied is that I wanted to say those are some beautiful shots!

 

[Pradeep]

Thanks Seb.

I guess I am being hyper-critical. These were shot with a teleconverter on. Will compare closely with the bare lens images and see.

Sigh..... we expect too much from everything - our kids, our spouse , our cameras and of course our lenses!

 

[iiiNelson]

Have you tried in in Capture One Pro/Sony as well to see if the results are any different for you? They look good to me.

 

[Pradeep]

Have you tried in in Capture One Pro/Sony as well to see if the results are any different for you? They look good to me.

Tre, don't have that and don't intend to learn another piece of software. Have too many already

For now I am focusing on Luminosity Masking and similar techniques to better develop my landscape images.

I looked at the 100% crops from the lens without the teleconverter, they are obviously sharper. Checked out my older shots with the Canon 100-400 they were very sharp indeed, will have to do a lens comparison when the weather lets up here.

Going simply by DXO Mark scoring, the lens should be absolutely stunning in its sharpness. See link below.


"Sony’s longest lens in the lineup, the Sony FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS performs exceptionally well, especially given that it’s a tele-zoom. It has very high levels of sharpness, low fringing and vignetting, all helping it achieve a high DxOMark score. In terms of optical performance, it outperforms the popular Sigma 120-400mm F4.5-5.6 and the Canon EF 100-400mm 4.5-5.6L IS II, and ranks alongside a couple of the pro favorites — the Sigma 120-300mm F2.8 EX DG on the Nikon 800E, and the much pricier Canon EF 200-400mm F4L IS USM. It’s even not far behind the latest iteration of the Sigma 120-300mm F2.8 (the DG OS HSM S model). More interestingly perhaps, in terms of sharpness levels, it outperforms them all, even those mounted on the Canon EOS 5Ds R with its higher pixel count sensor."


https://www.dxomark.com/Reviews/Son...iew-Compact-and-optically-excellent-tele-zoom

 

[iiiNelson]

I meant the free version just to see if it made a difference in resolution.