Hawkwatch

[rpcrowe]

My photo club is attending a raptor event called Hawkwatch. It is a wonderful event and I have attended it twice and shot with my Canon 7D2 and several different telephoto lenses. I did this shot with the 7D2 and 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS ii lens.



Nice thing about this event is that you can get up close to the raptors to get good imagery.

This time, I will be shooting with my Sony gear: A6400 with the new APSC 70-350mm f/4.5-6.3 G OSS lens and my A7iii with the 70-200mm f/4 G OSS lens. The latter combination might be useful when shooting raptors up close.

I am really anxious to see just how well the 70-350mm Sony lens does on my A6400 with the Sony real-time tracking capability... That combination is less than half the weight of the Canon 7D2 and 100-400mm Mark-ii lens. It is 50mm shorter at the longest end but, 30mm wider at the shortest focal length. I lose about a half stop at maximum extension but the savings in weight will, I think, make up for the above short comings. The lens can only be used on an APSC camera or a full-frame camera in APSC mode. That will be no problem for me since I always used the 100-400mm Mark-2 Canon on my crop sensor 7D Mark-2...

[rpcrowe]

My local camera rental store has offered me the free use of a Sony 100-400mm or a 200-600mm (I don't know which one that I will get) lens for the Hawkwatch project. It will be fun to contrast the 70-350mm on my A6400 with the longer Sony lens on my A7iii...

It will also save me money in the future in case I might or might not want to rent this lens...

[Shadowman]

What's the weight difference?

[rpcrowe]

What's the weight difference?

The 70-350mm weighs in at 1.38 pounds or 625 grams.
The 100-400mm weighs 3.08 pounds or 1395 grams.
The 200-600mm weighs 4.65 pounds or 2115 grams.
That is one HECK of a weight difference
The 70-200mm f/4 G lens weighs 1.85 pounds or 840 grams; that's lighter than the 100-400mm or 200-600mm lenses but, still heavier than the 70-350mm. Of course the 70-350mm is suited to APSC format only but, I never used my Canon 100-400mm on any camera except the APSC 7D or 7D2...

[lunaticitizen]

I wish we had an event like that here.

I lust for the 100-400mm Sony lens but it's kinda big it's a bit difficult to hide from my wife

[LePetomane]

I lust for the 100-400mm Sony lens but it's kinda big it's a bit difficult to hide from my wife

For me the price would be hard to hide from my accountant who doubles as my wife. I understand the 100-400 mm is sharper than the 200-600mm.

[rpcrowe]

The 100-400 is also smaller (even though it is quite a large lens) and it is more expensive than the 200-600mm. IMO, using the 100-400mm with a crop camera will provide a 150-600mm equivalent. OTOH, using the 200-600mm on a crop camera would be pretty difficult because we are talking about a 300-900mm equivalent...

I decided to forgo the loan of a long Sony lens since I have the 70-350mm G OSS which I will use on a crop camera to give me a 105-525mm equivalent focal range. I also have the 70-200mm f/4 G OSS which I will use on the 7iii (since quite a bit of the program is up close to the viewing audience.

I will let some other club member who is not as fortunate in equipment to use the free rental lens.

However Leo... The 70-350mm lens is fairly close to the 28-75mm Tamron in size and it is black and doesn't stand out like the white lenses. My wife knows that I purchased the lens but, she hasn't really noticed me using it...