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

Slashdotdash wrote:

I have my X-H2s for a few weeks now and after a few sessions shooting garden birds with the 200 f/2 + TC I wanted to share some images and thoughts.

Upfront I want to mention that I've always been quite critical towards Fujifilm and their efforts specifically to accomodate wildlife photographers. Even today I really think their lens lineup is lacking significantly vs. competitors - though I'll get back to that at the end. The X-H2s, on the other hand, is just an enormous step forwards vs the X-T4 generation, most obviously when it comes to AF. While AF-C accuracy isn't yet where I'd like it to be *for a flagship model*, it's really good and just leaps better than what Fuji had before. Subject detection (and birds in specific) is just awesome and it works very consistently.

In fact, when I miss a shot, it's mostly because the lens AF-C is not tracking quickly enough, even if the camera shows (by virtue of the indicator) that it understands where focus needs to be.

So as promised, here are a number of example

I can confidently say that over half of the shots above I would likely have missed with the X-T4, due to lack of AF precision. Last 3 shots are made in quite challenging light, and I'm very happy with what's possible in terms of recovery from the X-H2s RAF files.

Now back to my issue with Fuji's tele wildlife offering. The 200 f/2 is great, but even with TC mounted it's not really a practical wildlife lens. I'm OK with a heavy lens but there's just the lack in reach. The 100-400 and 70-300 are fine, I guess, but obviously a significant step down in terms of image quality compared to the 200 f/2 (even with TC). Then there's the 150-600. I get the whole "keeping it compact" reasoning, but here's my 2 main problems:

I don't think Fuji's 200 F2 was ever explicitly designed for birding wildlife. I think it's more geared toward sports. I love my 200, and at times when subjects are larger, then I use it for wildlife.

1. I'm shooting these birds at f/4 or wider because I need the fast shutter speeds and I don't think ISO1600+ is optimal for this sensor IQ.

2. I personally really prefer smooth soft backgrounds, and f/8 is rarely giving you those unless you have full control over your subject's position etc.

So for me personally, the aperture values on the 150-600 are really problematic. I'd be so happy (and I think many nature enthousiasts with me!) if Fuji would consider making a solid 400 f/4. Or even a 200-500 f/4-5.6 that is slightly chunkier compared to the 150-600.

I know there's the Fringer solution. I'm considering it, but the added cost is too much of a hurdle today.

In the meantime I'll just make do with the 280mm f/2.8. It's pretty OK after all