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Long Lenses

Pradeep

Member
Posting after a long while, life's been too busy :scry:

I am starting a new thread for long lens images with the A9 or any other camera where a long lens - 70-200, 100-400 etc is used. Love the stuff K-H has been posting in the A7r thread, perhaps time to move it elsewhere so that the discussion is about the images posted. The 'Fun with Sony' thread is too long and it is hard to go back and look at all the beautiful photos.

I love the 100-400GM lens and with the A9 it is an incredible combo. Here are a few shots taken in Hokkaido earlier this year. Even with the 1.4X TC, the sharpness is truly remarkable.

This photo of the fox and the Steller Eagle (with the white-tailed looking on) was one of a series of shots of this very rare scene. Normally the fox is a prey animal for the eagle which is one of the heaviest on the planet with a wing span over 8 ft. We saw a red fox harassing and finally chasing away the big eagle from its food - some frozen fish the locals had thrown on the ice. It was an amazing story and the locals told us they had never seen it before. The fox usually runs away the moment the Eagle threatens it.

Taken with the 1.4 X TC on. Sorry the camera is mislabeled as the a91 instead of a9.

 
V

Vivek

Guest
Stunning, Pradeep! That image alone deserves a separate thread! :thumbs:
 

Pradeep

Member
Stunning, Pradeep! That image alone deserves a separate thread! :thumbs:
Thanks Vivek. It was a surreal experience. Here is the series with this particular eagle. The fox actually went around 'terrorizing' other eagles in the field too, but this was the most spectacular.





The first image: The fox goes behind the two eagles, scouting the area, the big Steller eagle is threatening the smaller White-tailed one.





The second one: The fox approaches the eagle who is busy with the fish.





The third: The Eagle flares its wings and takes off in the air in a threatening posture.





The Fourth: The Eagle now attacks the fox with its talons bared, forcing it to run.




The Fifth (posted above, but reposting for continuance): The Fox comes back at the Eagle, baring its fangs and making the eagle go defensive, I may be imagining it, but the eagle looks 'shocked'.




The final image: The Eagle flies off, with the fox still looking up at it. The White-tailed eagle just watches the whole scene.


Thanks for looking.
 

Pradeep

Member
I just realized I was working on a draft title for this thread and posted it and now cannot change it. Would the mods be able to change it to something more suitable for long lens images with Sony?
 

Pradeep

Member
I've also become a fan of the 100-400 GM

Incredibly sharp Doug, don't know if you need anything sharper, the background is also so smooth.

Were all these wide open? The great thing with the A7r series is that you can crop to your heart's content so 400mm can easily become 500mm
 

doug

Well-known member
Incredibly sharp Doug, don't know if you need anything sharper, the background is also so smooth.

Were all these wide open? The great thing with the A7r series is that you can crop to your heart's content so 400mm can easily become 500mm
Generally between f/5.6 and f/8

A sharper lens (Leica 280/4 APO) results in aliasing in fine feather detail, even with the a7rII. The 100-400 GM hits a sweet spot between enough and too much detail.
 

k-hawinkler

Well-known member
Posting after a long while, life's been too busy :scry:

I am starting a new thread for long lens images with the A9 or any other camera where a long lens - 70-200, 100-400 etc is used. Love the stuff K-H has been posting in the A7r thread, perhaps time to move it elsewhere so that the discussion is about the images posted. The 'Fun with Sony' thread is too long and it is hard to go back and look at all the beautiful photos.

I love the 100-400GM lens and with the A9 it is an incredible combo. Here are a few shots taken in Hokkaido earlier this year. Even with the 1.4X TC, the sharpness is truly remarkable.

This photo of the fox and the Steller Eagle (with the white-tailed looking on) was one of a series of shots of this very rare scene. Normally the fox is a prey animal for the eagle which is one of the heaviest on the planet with a wing span over 8 ft. We saw a red fox harassing and finally chasing away the big eagle from its food - some frozen fish the locals had thrown on the ice. It was an amazing story and the locals told us they had never seen it before. The fox usually runs away the moment the Eagle threatens it.

Taken with the 1.4 X TC on. Sorry the camera is mislabeled as the a91 instead of a9.

Thanks Pradeep. Stunning shots. WOW. The 100-400 lens really delivers.
For BIFs and slower than f/8 I consider the A9 essential.

Here
https://www.getdpi.com/forum/sony/56138-a7r-a7r2-why-im-keeping-both.html
is the pointer to the link you referenced.
 

Pradeep

Member
Thanks, K-H.

Yes, the A9 is almost essential for action photography of any kind, but esp BIF because IMHO the A7r3 is still too slow to capture and sustain focus. Hopefully the next version will have the speed of the A9 in this regard.

I was actually hoping you would start posting your wonderful hummingbird and other images on this thread simply because I thought we would have a new image thread for long lens photography, dedicated to action, sports and wildlife.
 

cerett

Member
Posting after a long while, life's been too busy :scry:

I am starting a new thread for long lens images with the A9 or any other camera where a long lens - 70-200, 100-400 etc is used. Love the stuff K-H has been posting in the A7r thread, perhaps time to move it elsewhere so that the discussion is about the images posted. The 'Fun with Sony' thread is too long and it is hard to go back and look at all the beautiful photos.

I love the 100-400GM lens and with the A9 it is an incredible combo. Here are a few shots taken in Hokkaido earlier this year. Even with the 1.4X TC, the sharpness is truly remarkable.

This photo of the fox and the Steller Eagle (with the white-tailed looking on) was one of a series of shots of this very rare scene. Normally the fox is a prey animal for the eagle which is one of the heaviest on the planet with a wing span over 8 ft. We saw a red fox harassing and finally chasing away the big eagle from its food - some frozen fish the locals had thrown on the ice. It was an amazing story and the locals told us they had never seen it before. The fox usually runs away the moment the Eagle threatens it.

Taken with the 1.4 X TC on. Sorry the camera is mislabeled as the a91 instead of a9.



Gorgeous images! Just got my 100-400 and have yet to really try it out. 1.4x backordered at B&H. Have you ever tried the 2x?
 

k-hawinkler

Well-known member
Posting after a long while, life's been too busy :scry:

I am starting a new thread for long lens images with the A9 or any other camera where a long lens - 70-200, 100-400 etc is used. Love the stuff K-H has been posting in the A7r thread, perhaps time to move it elsewhere so that the discussion is about the images posted. The 'Fun with Sony' thread is too long and it is hard to go back and look at all the beautiful photos.

I love the 100-400GM lens and with the A9 it is an incredible combo. Here are a few shots taken in Hokkaido earlier this year. Even with the 1.4X TC, the sharpness is truly remarkable.

This photo of the fox and the Steller Eagle (with the white-tailed looking on) was one of a series of shots of this very rare scene. Normally the fox is a prey animal for the eagle which is one of the heaviest on the planet with a wing span over 8 ft. We saw a red fox harassing and finally chasing away the big eagle from its food - some frozen fish the locals had thrown on the ice. It was an amazing story and the locals told us they had never seen it before. The fox usually runs away the moment the Eagle threatens it.

Taken with the 1.4 X TC on. Sorry the camera is mislabeled as the a91 instead of a9.



Gorgeous images! Just got my 100-400 and have yet to really try it out. 1.4x backordered at B&H. Have you ever tried the 2x?
The 2x TC works just fine - on the A9, as it is the only camera that can handle C-AF for f>8.
 

Pradeep

Member
Gorgeous images! Just got my 100-400 and have yet to really try it out. 1.4x backordered at B&H. Have you ever tried the 2x?
Thanks much Cerett.

Yes, as K-H said, it (2x) works well. However, the image is not as sharp. With the 1.4x it is difficult to tell that a TC was used unless you compare side by side. All the images of the fox and the eagle above were taken with the 1.4x on the lens at maximum zoom. I also stopped down a bit to f10 to get more DOF as at 560mm, it is rather shallow.

One thing however, there is a noticeable vignetting with the TC. But since I usually crop into the image it does not matter much to me.
 

Pradeep

Member
Here is another one from the same day's shoot. It is not uncommon for these eagles to chase each other for food and occasionally they will engage talons. In this one the birds are perfectly vertical, just above the ground. Note the shallow DOF so that that eagle below is slightly out of focus. The image is heavily cropped as there was another bird in the frame off to the left.

Again, taken with the 1.4xTC on the 100-400 at max zoom.

 

doug

Well-known member
The Leica 280/4 APO is gorgeous on the a7x cameras, especially the cameras with IBIS














 

doug

Well-known member

Northern Hawk Owl, MP 325.5 Parks Highway Alaska

Canon FD 500mm f/4.5 L on Sony a7rII

Bald Eagle, MP 51 Denali Highway Alaska

Sony FE 100-400 GM with polarizing filter on Sony a7rII

Stone's Sheep, Muncho Lake British Columbia





Sony FE 100-400 GM on Sony a7rII

Red Fox, Denali National Park Alaska





Sony FE 100-400 GM on Sony a7rII

 

doug

Well-known member

Willow Ptarmigan, Denali National Park Alaska



Sony FE 100-400 GM on Sony a7rII

Snowshoe Hare, Denali National Park Alaska



Sony FE 100-400 GM on Sony a7rII

Collared Pika, Denali National Park Alaska

Sony FE 100-400 GM on Sony a7rII
 
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