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Best 300 mm f/2.8 & adapter for my A7R II


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Dear friends,

Since Sony does not seem to plan in the near future for a good 300 mm f/2.8 and as far as what I have read, the A mount version is not as good as Nikkor or Canon versions, I would like to hear from you my best option, to get one of the two mentioned teles plus an adapter, that can be used for wild and garden birds; for granted, the set should focus as fast as possible apart from being as crisp and detailed as possible. Any exlerience in this field will be more than welcome.

I try to avoid tele-zooms for its light loss and I already have the Sony A mount 70-400 G II that doesn't please me at all for the purpose I mention.(have both LA-EA3 and 4)

Best regards,

Spanish Flyer

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I am using a Tamron 150-600 with a e mount adapter.   Works best with the 15m to infinity selected on the lens but you need to be at least 45' away.   Works ok farther out than that just not great.   After sunset and before sunrise it is questionable unless I am willing to go over 2000 ISO.   Look at kingphoto.photoshelter.com  to see pictures of wildlife and sports shot with this combination.  I recently shot a  white faced Ibis after dark but with the Sony's large Dynamic Range I was able to bring it out anyway.

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neikking,

 

15 m to infinity, that might just be my solution, since the DOF at that distance is much wider.. Moving the feeder further is no problem for me and cropping a 42 MP image is no big deal. You might have sorted out my biggest problem in one go....

Will have to try and tell you.

 

By the way, you have great pictures in your website; congratulations!

 

One other thing, what adapter are you using for the Tamron lens?

 

Best regards,

 

Spanish Flyer

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Guest all8

I don't know if its much help, but a few people here are using the a6300 with FF zooms, and they seem happy with the results. If you search on a6300 you will find the related forum topics. At least there you find some other lenses and adapters mentioned.

 

I'm considering an a6300, when the price falls, for my 70200f4 ... because the results with my A7ii are not so satisfactory, I get the focus OK sometimes, but actually I have to crop so much that I don't have much of an image left. APS-C crop sensor of the a6300 would go some way to resolve that.

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Yes timde, when the price drops...

I have the A6000 and I'm very happy with it apart from the fact that 24 MP on a small sensor is in my opinion cramming up too much data and when you expand the picture you can see what I mean; for that camera 16 MP is more than enough (I also believe that 42.2 on a FF such as the A7R2 is also overdoing it, but anyway, I'm happy with it so far.

I had the Nikon D800 and sold it due to having more than 80% of the pictures blurry when handheld; the R2 is much better in that sense.

I have no idea how much better the focusing on the A6300 is compared to the A7R2, but as I say, I prefer FF sensors (till technology improves).

Best regards,

 

Spanish Flyer

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  • 2 weeks later...

And the Sony GM 70200? When 42MP are to much you can crop to 300mm without a problem. F2,8 and I bet it will be sharp at 200mm and the fastest lens for Sony.

 

The problem with this is the lens is not even out yet, and the ISO noise cropped would be equivalent to using an APS-C style camera, so approximately 2 stops worse. You might as well go with a ~300mm f/5.6 and save some money, or that Tamron 150-600mm and get double the focal length out of the wide end.

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I use the old Minolta 300mmF2.8 APO HS with my 7RII or the Minolta 400mm F4.5 APO HS. The results are incredibly sharp. The A-mount adapter is not perfect for birding but I'd consider if you find a minolta 300mm 2.8 SSM version  AF will be as fast as it gets with an adapter. The Nikon and canon adapter AF is rather sluggish.

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The problem with this is the lens is not even out yet, and the ISO noise cropped would be equivalent to using an APS-C style camera, so approximately 2 stops worse. You might as well go with a ~300mm f/5.6 and save some money, or that Tamron 150-600mm and get double the focal length out of the wide end.

 

Had a look at dpreview just yesterday - A6300 is about 1 stop behind.

What about Sigma 120-300 + MC 11? Or 150-600 S? But Minolta 300mm seems a rational solution.

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i used tarmon 150-600 as well as sony 70-200 f4.. in order to get focus, i used center focus mode which gives decent result.  all other modes would give you branches.  sony focus system is not built for wildlife. And it does not support bird in flight (lock on focus). a6300 does not make much differences. its focus system would initial focus on its head, and if the object moves, it would gradually move to its body. (Even slow walk like tiger) If it's an antelope, you would lose focus right away. therefore, i decide to switch to other brand. 

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