XF100-400 + 1.4tc versus 150-600mm

I am an enthusiast bird photographer currently using X-S10 with 100-400 plus the 1.4tc. Initially I was disappointed in the 1.4tc because of the negative impact on autofocus, especially with birds-in-flight at 400mm. I've gotten better at zooming out to autofocus, then zooming in while tracking. This is at the tip top of my dexterity (retired, in my dotage, and so on) but I lose tracking often, missing many shots.

I wonder if anyone has experience (or could share a conjecture) on what I would experience if I swapped out the 100-400+1.4tc for the 150-600. I suspect that the new lens will be, maybe, a hair better optically and will have similar low light performance. I also suspect that autofocus will be generally better, I'm wondering if improvements would be worth the expense.

If money is the issue then stay where you are

The new lens will not help you much

Blame it on the AFC of the XT4 and not the TC or 100-400

If you want to see improvements, you 'll need to jump to X-H2S

Cheers,

dv312 wrote:

If money is the issue then stay where you are

The new lens will not help you much

Blame it on the AFC of the XT4 and not the TC or 100-400

If you want to see improvements, you 'll need to jump to X-H2S

Cheers,

He has an X-S10. But I agree that a new camera body, especially the X-H2S, will be best when it comes to improving AF performance.

And the new lens itself will help too especially when compared to using a teleconverter.

Also, the 150-600 should be much sharper than the 100-400 at the long end.

That being said I'm not sure if it's worth it but I say yolo and why not.

Mark Levine wrote:

I am an enthusiast bird photographer currently using X-S10 with 100-400 plus the 1.4tc. Initially I was disappointed in the 1.4tc because of the negative impact on autofocus, especially with birds-in-flight at 400mm. I've gotten better at zooming out to autofocus, then zooming in while tracking. This is at the tip top of my dexterity (retired, in my dotage, and so on) but I lose tracking often, missing many shots.

I wonder if anyone has experience (or could share a conjecture) on what I would experience if I swapped out the 100-400+1.4tc for the 150-600. I suspect that the new lens will be, maybe, a hair better optically and will have similar low light performance. I also suspect that autofocus will be generally better, I'm wondering if improvements would be worth the expense.

Probably it's too early to  get experience with XF150-600 vs XF100-400 +1.4TC. I have XF100-400+1.4xTC and Sigma C150-600 + Fringer ProII. For BIF I use only Sigma because it's  2/3 Fstop faster on long end (and 40mm longer). I think AF in my X-T3 works better with bare Sigma than with Fuji lens + TC, because it gets more light. I use sigma with 1.4TC time to time, and to my surprise AF is not significantly worse in this case.

I believe that new XF150-600 have very fast AF motors and can deliver the best results in terms of AF-C performance with  H2s. So far I'm not going to try this lens, but I'd like to check how H2s will work with my current lenses. I believe new H2s with older lenses should work  better than old X-Trans4 body with the new XF150-600 in terms of AF-C performance.

Cheers,

Artur

Mark Levine wrote:

I am an enthusiast bird photographer currently using X-S10 with 100-400 plus the 1.4tc. Initially I was disappointed in the 1.4tc because of the negative impact on autofocus, especially with birds-in-flight at 400mm. I've gotten better at zooming out to autofocus, then zooming in while tracking. This is at the tip top of my dexterity (retired, in my dotage, and so on) but I lose tracking often, missing many shots.

I wonder if anyone has experience (or could share a conjecture) on what I would experience if I swapped out the 100-400+1.4tc for the 150-600. I suspect that the new lens will be, maybe, a hair better optically and will have similar low light performance. I also suspect that autofocus will be generally better, I'm wondering if improvements would be worth the expense.

Hi Mark,

With an X-T3 so very similar AF system to yours, the 100-400 with and without the 1.4x TC is great for portraits.  When it comes to birds in flight, the 100-400 is great yet add the 1.4x TC and tracking is not very good.  I recommend keeping the TC off for BIF and cropping as you get consistently better results.

I used the Sigma 150-600 C for Canon with a Fringer adapter and AF and tracking were great.  Even when I used the Fuji 1.4x TC with this combination.

I've tried the XF 150-600 on an X-H2S in an exabit hall and I was on the second floor balcony where I was able to shoot down to the first floor as well as across the balcony.   My subjects were people walking which is easier than BIF and the combination tracked well except when the people were in the shadows in light levels similar to what one would have just after sunset.  In this case about 1/2 the time the combination failed to track people walking.  This was with pre production firmware and I don't know if it's a firmware issue or if the f8 maximum aperture of the XF-150-600 was causing the body to struggle.  If you are interested in this lens, I suggest you wait a bit and see what people think when there out in the field.

My X-T3 dose a fine job at birds in flight and suspect your X-S10 can as well.  This is a very difficult subject that takes most people years to master.

Morris

dv312 wrote:

If money is the issue then stay where you are

The new lens will not help you much

Blame it on the AFC of the XT4 and not the TC or 100-400

If you want to see improvements, you 'll need to jump to X-H2S

Cheers,

I have no issue with the AFC of the XT4. Just spent the weekend at a polo tournament and the XT4 AFC on galloping horses was fine. I plan to post some examples soonest when I get a moment around work.

What makes you say it is to blame?

I didn't benchmark the lens + tc combo so it's just my feelings using it. Also, this is a skill so success should increase over time but my impression, when I added the tc into the mix, was substantially decreased success catching focus. The tracking was not different but I still cannot find a distant bird in the sky at 400mm with the 1.4 tc. When I zoom out to 100mm, the combination works okay.

jhorse wrote:

dv312 wrote:

If money is the issue then stay where you are

The new lens will not help you much

Blame it on the AFC of the XT4 and not the TC or 100-400

If you want to see improvements, you 'll need to jump to X-H2S

Cheers,

I have no issue with the AFC of the XT4. Just spent the weekend at a polo tournament and the XT4 AFC on galloping horses was fine. I plan to post some examples soonest when I get a moment around work.

What makes you say it is to blame?

Hmmm. I'll try focusing on galloping horses instead of distant birds. I see the teleconverter as the source of the problem because I had a significantly higher success rate finding focus at 400mm without it. Even then, it was better to zoom out a bit but not all the way to 100mm.

I'm in the same boat as you. X-S10 with the 100-400 and 1.4x TC. Trying to figure out if I should sell it but I feel like what I have now is more versatile because I'm able to remove the TC when I don't need it.

My H2S is coming in tomorrow and hopefully I'll have time to test it out on the weekend.

MrKazador31 wrote:

I'm in the same boat as you. X-S10 with the 100-400 and 1.4x TC. Trying to figure out if I should sell it but I feel like what I have now is more versatile because I'm able to remove the TC when I don't need it.

My H2S is coming in tomorrow and hopefully I'll have time to test it out on the weekend.

I am very curious to hear how the H2s handles the 100-400 plus TC. Assuming the 150-600 is F8 I hope the H2s will be fine.

MrKazador31 wrote:

I'm in the same boat as you. X-S10 with the 100-400 and 1.4x TC. Trying to figure out if I should sell it but I feel like what I have now is more versatile because I'm able to remove the TC when I don't need it.

My H2S is coming in tomorrow and hopefully I'll have time to test it out on the weekend.

I didn't cancel my pre-order and decided to go with the advice that YOLO. I'm happy with the 150-600 after a few hours of shooting. The handling is excellent. This is my first zoom with internal focus/zoom.