First photos with the new 150-600 on my XT4

LarsPolarBear wrote:

Hi Doc,

Thanks for the beautiful pictures! Looks like you had a great day! 😃

Could you be so kind and give us your (first) impression on the optical performance of the 150-600mm in comparison to the 100-400mm with the 1.4x extender attached? Since both have f8 as their fastest aperture, and the maximum focal length is quite similar, it is a big question for many of us if there is and optical advantage.

Thanks a lot for you help,

Lars

I plan to look into this more deeply to make a final decision for myself as I am in the return period for all three. Have to love bestbuy total tech. My first impression is that the 150-600 is optically better, significantly. I think AF is the game changer for me but I intend to shoot a lot of BIF and wildlife which can be a big difference in what I need from the lenses vs others. Again I haven't had a ton of time to pixel peep and test for myself but will have to figure that out by the end of the week and I can post what I decided.

I like to shoot rocket launches here in FL and plan to try the 1.4x and 150-600 combo out for a possible Falcon launch on Thursday if they settle on a good time. The toll the 1.4x takes on the AF is so brutal I think that's about all it would be good for and only reason I'd keep it at this point. At these focal lengths we're basically using a telescope so I'd imagine it's really coming down to air quality for a decent shot, not the optics or camera. Handheld shot of Jupiter would be cool, though!

On a side note, I've been struggling with AF so much recently I've started to eyeball the h2s.  Pretty steep price though. Anyone switch to it for BIF or for AF reasons?

Maple888 wrote:

LarsPolarBear wrote:

Hi Doc,

Thanks for the beautiful pictures! Looks like you had a great day! 😃

Could you be so kind and give us your (first) impression on the optical performance of the 150-600mm in comparison to the 100-400mm with the 1.4x extender attached? Since both have f8 as their fastest aperture, and the maximum focal length is quite similar, it is a big question for many of us if there is and optical advantage.

Thanks a lot for you help,

Lars

I get mine tomorrow, ill be able to test it on Thursday with some raptors and buzzards, if it doesn't outperform the 100-400 with and without the 1.4tc in every way I will be very disappointed and would return it and stick with adapted lenses like the Nikon PF lenses.

Please post back here with some images and your thoughts when you get a chance! I'm afraid I'm not confident enough with my images just yet having just made the switch to mirrorless, Fuji is also a new brand to me and I haven't really shot in a couple years.

DocShaka wrote:

Yeah I should probably clarify that they both behave the same in that they will both jump or stutter as I pan when tracking a subject. They're both impressively steady when holding still.

Edit: yes running 1.5. It's almost like the horizontal stabilization algorithm is overpowered or just can't tell when I'm tracking a moving subject.

And you have Ibis set to  'always?'

White-collar wrote:

DocShaka wrote:

Yeah I should probably clarify that they both behave the same in that they will both jump or stutter as I pan when tracking a subject. They're both impressively steady when holding still.

Edit: yes running 1.5. It's almost like the horizontal stabilization algorithm is overpowered or just can't tell when I'm tracking a moving subject.

And you have Ibis set to 'always?'

Yeah this has been my default setting unless I have a tripod out.

Thought I would try out the 150-600 with the 1.4x on the moon last night. Difficult to hand hold at 1260mm, guess I missed but still very impressed with the results at this length!

but seriously JWST is rocking my stuff right now!

Doc

DocShaka wrote:

Thought I would try out the 150-600 with the 1.4x on the moon last night. Difficult to hand hold at 1260mm, guess I missed but still very impressed with the results at this length!

but seriously JWST is rocking my stuff right now!

Doc

LOL. Nice work, but I’m afraid I’m gonna have to see the EXIF file on that one. This looks a tad suspicious.

And, yeah, that image is just unreal.  Many more amazing images to come I suspect.

DocShaka wrote:

Thought I would try out the 150-600 with the 1.4x on the moon last night. Difficult to hand hold at 1260mm, guess I missed but still very impressed with the results at this length!

but seriously JWST is rocking my stuff right now!

Doc

There is quite a bit of flare!

Morris

Jerry-astro wrote:

DocShaka wrote:

Thought I would try out the 150-600 with the 1.4x on the moon last night. Difficult to hand hold at 1260mm, guess I missed but still very impressed with the results at this length!

but seriously JWST is rocking my stuff right now!

Doc

LOL. Nice work, but I’m afraid I’m gonna have to see the EXIF file on that one. This looks a tad suspicious.

And, yeah, that image is just unreal. Many more amazing images to come I suspect.

Ya, and I'm looking for the one that shows the Big Bang did not happen or a parallel universe!

If the above dose not jive, catch up on your Physics!

Morris