X-H2s and 200 f/2 1.4TC - birds at feeder & some thoughts

kmhwildlife wrote:

I think a lot of people are scared off by the max aperture of the 150-600. I wasn't too happy to see it when they announced the lens either.

But then I thought about it and reconsidered. I've made a practice, over many years, of using pop-up blinds and set-ups to shoot passerines at very close distances. So close that I'm almost always at f10 or so for a bit more DOF. Even then I still get soft tails but it fixes the issue where you get sharp eye / soft feet and vice versa.
If these weren't the days of better ISOs and Topaz, then yes, I would still be worried about a f8 lens.

Not only am I not concerned, I have been enormously happy with the lens and as an extra benefit have discovered it to be the best butterfly lens I've ever used. In fact, the X-H2s with the 150-600 is the combination I have been waiting for since my journey began a long time ago.

This Bluejay isn't a good pose, not something I would usually show, but it does give an idea of what the camera and lens are capable of.

As a butterfly lens it shines even brighter. It allows better working distance than any telephoto Macro lens is capable of. Close focuses enough right out of the box for most large and medium sized butterflies and for small ones like Lycaenidae, extension tubes get the job done. With the internal focus, the lens is never out of balance in hand and is lightweight enough for hand held mobility. The speed the X-H2s makes nailing a hyperactive swallowtail a walk in the park.

Lovely images. Everything you stated is correct yet when there is little distance between subject and background the smaller aperture of the XF 150-600 results in less pleasing backgrounds as you demonstrated in the butterfly image. A faster lens such as this Nikon 180mm f2.8 solves this issue. Two samples:

As always in photography there are trade offs and in this case to get the much faster aperture's a heavier lens is necessary.  Fresnel lenses which both Canon and Nikon use in some of there lighter primes is another very nice compromise.

Morris