The a6000/70-200 f4 combo for wildlife- first impressions

Intro:

The focus of this short preliminary report is on the use of the aforementioned combo for wildlife.

Genera comment:

The 70-200 f4 is outstanding optically but this should not come as a surprise (http://www.dxomark.com/Reviews/Sony...-on-Sony-A7R-High-score-for-FF-telephoto-zoom)

Combo performance:

1. In comparison to other crop E lenses, the 70-200 f4 appears to be relatively (emphasis on relatively) slow to lock the focus. At 70mm the 70-200 is noticeably slower than my 16-70 at the same focal length. If I had to guess, a firmware update for the a6000 and this lens will be provided at some point. Since this is a FF lens it may not be an immediate priority. Also, I did not use the distance limiter as some of the shots were closer than the 3M distance, so it may have slowed the lens even more.

2. The continuous AF set to zone (“dancing ants”) works fantastic when the object is in stark contrast to the background (e.g., bird against sky). In a very “busy” background, such as dense vegetation and a fast moving object, the rate of misses is high. I switched to flexible point (small), but since the lens is only 200mm and the object is tiny, it didn't make things easier or more predictable.

3. The HVL-F43M is a great walkaround flash but recycles too slow for wildlife use. The HVL-F58AM (or the new 60) are much more adequate for such application. The third image was added just to show the results using the flash at HSS mode. Without a flash the outcome would have been extremely poor (too many shadows) in such dense vegetation.

Bottom line:

Shooting tiny, fast moving birds such as hummingbirds at a 200mm focal length, handheld, in dense vegetation, while constantly chasing them around by foot is plain silly. I didn't plan on shooting birds, I just happened to pass by and the hummingbird was there. I returned the next morning and was able to get one more shot with a flash. Shooting hummingbirds requires proper planning, the use of a tripod, preferably lens at 400mm, and having a flash at HSS mode with frensel lens attached just in case.

Considering the circumstances, it’s a pleasant surprise I had any keepers.

The FF 70-200 seems to focus slower on the a6000 in comparison to other crop E lenses and the "dancing ants" will not yield a high rate of keepers against a busy background. However, using the proper setup and with additional practice using this combo, the potential is promising.

P.S

I guess its obvious but I'll mention it anyway: all images are heavily cropped



[ATTACH alt="Against a "busy" background"]media_2954920[/ATTACH]
Against a "busy" background


with flash set to HSS but no frensel lens

Great work!

Thanks for the review and the stunning pictures. I like the first picture best, but all are great, nice and sharp, good composition and I think they are not to much cropped!

Good work, both on the pictures and the first impressions!

Fine work, nice colour especially.

Great pictures, wonderfull colours.

Thanks for sharing.

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Hello,

First of all, your pictures are great ! I'm really interested in your thread as I tried to do the same but failed for now.

I'm new to the Sony world (come from Nikon) and I really like wildlife photos. I just bought an A7 + SEL2470Z + SEL70200G. I find the 24/70 very good and easy to master, but the 70/200 very slow to focus (1 or 2 seconds on my first tests) as you said. My first attempts of flying birds this weekend with the 70/200 have failed, even with clear background. Focus was wrong, too late, or impossible.

My settings for flying birds were :
- Shoot mode : M
- Drive mode : speed priority
- Metering mode : multi
- Focus mode : AF-S
- Focus area : Flexible spot S
- ISO 100 (sunny day, no flash needed)
- Speed : 1000 or more
- F4

Can you give some technical details about how you shot yours ? Thanks

@kasimodem

Thanks for the feedback. Interesting to hear that the 70-200 is not a speed demon on a FF body as well.

Here are my settings; don’t hesitate to let me know if you need additional info:

Mode: MR1, Shutter Priority

Shutter: set to 1/1000 and moved up or down as needed (1600 at the last image). For hummingbirds shot handheld you usually don’t want to go slower than 1/1000.

Iso: Auto (set to 100-1600)

Drive mode: Continuous Shooting: Hi

Auto Focus mode: AF-C

Focus area: Zone (If I was using a different body it would be flexible spot, small)

Metering Mode: Center weighted average

Exposure comp: 0

Quality: RAW

External Flash: HSS

Flash Mode: Fill flash

Flash comp: -1.3

WB: AWB or Flash if used

Lock on AF: Off

Smile/Face detect: Off

Pre-AF: Off

AF Illuminator: Off always (first thing you turn off on any E mount body regardless of the application, absolutely useless; significantly slows down AF and results in significant hunting)

Lens: AF, OSS On, Mode 1

P.S

The use of flash here is to eliminate shadows regardless of the overall available light

Thanks a lot for your answer, I will try this soon and tell you if there's progress. About the AF illuminator function, I didn't know it had an impact and it's ON by factory default.

So I searched in the official documentation what it was precisely, and found this :

"You cannot use [ AF Illuminator] in the following situations:

In movie mode

In [Sweep Panorama] mode

When [Focus Mode] is set to [Continuous AF]"

I guess swithcing from AF-S to AF-C desactivate the AF Illuminator automatically, so I will use AF-C mode as you recommend.

Thanks for help.

Thanks for providing all the info. I'm trying to improve my wildlife/bird shooting and even though I don't have this exact lens and body combo, seeing the settings and functions you are using will be very helpful, I think.

Wonderful shots, especially for an unplanned hummingbird meeting.

@kasimodem

You are correct.

The AF Illuminator was more of a general comment; I always keep it off

Well done

OK it's not yet perfect but APS-C is clearly the solution, still have lots of wrong focus but I get few good ones with heavy background. 70/200 is slow but it's not impossible

Full image :



Crop :

@kasimodem

yup, it's possible. Have fun, that's what's it's all about to begin with.

the use of tripod, panning, 400mm and flash for hummingbird shots. Actually one could do the following alternatives depending on skills improvement (more practice), distance to subject, angle/light condition, etc. using P&S camera, manual lenses, entry level NEX with LCD.

Yes, could be tough with your current setup but there is only one direction to go - to get better and better as you try to compensate for the limitations. Happy birding.

cheers,

gil




This was with LCD (before I got my Thru-Finder). With 1.4X front teleconverter in front of the 55-210mm, equivalent of 294mm (before the crop consideration). No flash, hand held, natural light only, JPG.




Same situation as above.




Using P&S Panasonic FZ35. Similar condition as above - natural light, no flash, hand held, etc.




Another P&S Panasonic FZ35 shot of similar mentioned conditions.




Hasselbald CZ Sonnar 150mm Manual Focus lens with A700 - hand held, natural light, etc




Another Hasselbald CZ Sonnar 150mm sample



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Cheers,
gil - San Jose, CA
Cheap Lens, JPG and 100% Handholding Provocateur
Like happiness, photography is often better created than pursued.

Very impressive

Thanks for all the kind feebcack

great work