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600mm f/11 or 800mm f/11 - which one would you buy?

Started Jun 21, 2020 | Polls thread
John Sheehy Forum Pro • Posts: 26,698
Re: 600mm f/11 or 800mm f/11 - which one would you buy?
1

BirdShooter7 wrote:

Yes it’s amazing how little 800mm is on FF. It seems huge but with birds I often wish I had more!!!

This is something that gets lost on people who have never done this type of photography. Unless you're shooting turkeys or ostriches, the subject is usually much smaller in the frame than the size of the lens would seem to suggest, especially with larger sensors. Rare is the photo-op where you get to use most of a large sensor, meaning that you don't get any of the quality possible with a larger sensor with a larger lens; you only get the benefit of your lens size, which is relative, but the focal length is often still anemic, and even though the underlying analog lens projection may have a lot of detail if focus and stability are good, the larger the pixels, the more of that potential detail goes to waste.

Many would balk at the idea of a 250MP+ FF sensor, considering how that would antagonize burst speeds, storage capacity, and editing speed, but that's where things really need to go, to get the most out of existing telephoto lenses in focal-length-limited situations. Then, you get the best of both worlds; pixel density rivaling 1"-sensor superzooms (but with faster lenses available), and sensor area big and wide to track active subjects, and ready to get that super-high quality when you are lucky enough to fill the frame.

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