Initial impressions of 150-600

I was prepared to cancel my preorder but I didn't do it in time, so the XF150-600 arrived. I am evaluating it against my existing XF100-400 plus 1.4TC. I haven't had good opportunities to evaluate focusing on birds-in-flight. However, handling is excellent for general photography. It is well-balanced, seems lightweight for its size, and the internal zoom/focus is an amazing upgrade.

Juvenile Cliff Swallow sadly watching a parental fly-by
Little Compton, RI on July 12, 2022
X-S10 with XF150-600mm at 600mm
ISO 500, 1/1600Sec, F8

Piping Plover chick
Little Compton, RI on July 12, 2022
X-S10 with XF150-600mm at 600mm
ISO 500, 1/1600Sec, F8

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it but what is the minimum focus distance? I don't need exact measurements just a rough estimate. The 100-400 is about 6 feet.

MrKazador31 wrote:

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it but what is the minimum focus distance? I don't need exact measurements just a rough estimate. The 100-400 is about 6 feet.

The "hands-on" article at this very website says: It also has a fairly respectable minimum focusing distance of 2.40 m (94.49″) at 150mm, which should offer fairly shallow depth-of-field, even at F5.6.

I got mine today also. Build quality is top notch and feels very premium. Weight is pretty much perfect for this focal range. I only had a hour of decent light to test it and the autofocus does seem quick and noiseless, don’t feel any elements moving.

I think my only concern still is the f8 which I knew prior to getting this lens. I think I have to be open to having a better tolerance for higher iso otherwise I feel I will struggle to capture things in motion.

Cant wait to take to out on the weekend for a proper test drive.

These posts seem to show it's what we thought it'd be--more reach but higher iso. I guess when choosing between this and the 100-400 you want to see how many more pictures can fill the frame when you get to 600.

I was surprised how nice Fuji high iso looked if the subject can fill the frame. But if you're doing heavy crops it probably won't look that nice on any of the lenses. Just because these are the best and most expensive telephotos doesn't mean it was enough reach for what you were trying to do.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe if you can't even fill the APSC frame then that photo would not have looked better on a full frame camera and you don't get any iso advantages.

I imagine the internal zoom is nice because you can keep it at 600 and it's kind of like a prime. Then you can zoom out if something is big or gets close. It is a little unwieldy keeping the 100-400 extended when it's not in use.

Keep the pictures coming!  This might be the one and only Fuji zoom I’ll ever buy!

Love the piping plover chick photo!

In real life I wouldn't have taken this photo, let alone post it to a forum, but it shows a low-light image with the 150-600, so its interesting.

Blue Jay in the woodsy wood
X-S10 with XF 150-600 at about 500mm
ISO 12500, 1/1600 sec, F7.1 Processed with DxO PhotoLab using DeepPRIME noise reduction, then downsized.

Mark Levine wrote:

In real life I wouldn't have taken this photo, let alone post it to a forum, but it shows a low-light image with the 150-600, so its interesting.

Processed with DxO PhotoLab using DeepPRIME noise reduction, then downsized.

Which focus mode were you using here ? All/zone/single point? subject : bird? animal? Eye focus on/off?

TFS

Mark Levine wrote:

I was prepared to cancel my preorder but I didn't do it in time, so the XF150-600 arrived. I am evaluating it against my existing XF100-400 plus 1.4TC. I haven't had good opportunities to evaluate focusing on birds-in-flight. However, handling is excellent for general photography. It is well-balanced, seems lightweight for its size, and the internal zoom/focus is an amazing upgrade.

So what's likely your verdict: Keeper, or returning?

dv312 wrote:

Mark Levine wrote:

In real life I wouldn't have taken this photo, let alone post it to a forum, but it shows a low-light image with the 150-600, so its interesting.

Processed with DxO PhotoLab using DeepPRIME noise reduction, then downsized.

Which focus mode were you using here ? All/zone/single point? subject : bird? animal? Eye focus on/off?

TFS

Single point focus. Eye focus off. I use back-button focus.

Tim van der Leeuw wrote:

Mark Levine wrote:

I was prepared to cancel my preorder but I didn't do it in time, so the XF150-600 arrived. I am evaluating it against my existing XF100-400 plus 1.4TC. I haven't had good opportunities to evaluate focusing on birds-in-flight. However, handling is excellent for general photography. It is well-balanced, seems lightweight for its size, and the internal zoom/focus is an amazing upgrade.

So what's likely your verdict: Keeper, or returning?

Great question. Probably keeper but I still must see how much an upgrade the new lens is for birds-in-flight. It seems to be a good upgrade but I have to experiment more with finding focus at 600mm (which is the distinct weakness of the 100-400 plus 1.4tc combo). Here is another image that I would typically toss because of the composition but the results are interesting. I suspect that I would not have got anywhere near focus with the teleconverter because I noticed the action late and aimed very quickly.

"Look ma! One hand!" 
Goosewing Preserve, Little Compton, RI
X-S10 w/ XF 150-600 at 600mm
ISO 640, 1/2500sec, F8. AF-C, Zone

Continuing to add info to this thread, just in case it is useful. Below find an image of a gull flying by. What is notable is that this is the first image in a series, after aiming and holding down the AF-On button at 600mm. It is tough to say precisely but I don't think I could have gotten this shot with my 100-400+1.4TC. With the older combination, I expect that the camera would seek focus and never find the bird until I zoomed out. Of course I am comparing what did happen with what I think might have happened. In any case, the camera found this relatively close bird right way and produced a decent shot. (I keep posting photos that are pretty mediocre because they are interesting to me as I evaluate this body/lens combination!)

Gull fly by. Zone focus. AF-C custom settings: 0-2-auto

Thanks for posting! I also am a bird photographer with an X-S10 and have been waiting for the call from my local camera store. It's definitely "in focus" but seems to be lacking basic sharpness, although that could be due to the light, as I've seen other sharp photos from this lens already.

I'm still toying with different setup for BIF since subject tracking may be a tad slow for some fast small birds (may be Zone with subject tracking off is the better method? like on my A9)

But what I like about bird tracking is the ability for the AF to find the bird's eyes once it locks onto the bird

Something my A9 wasn't able to do (I had to use single spot focus and point it to the eyes)

Here's an example of a Munia under the shade (a tad dark and among the tricky vegetation) but once the AF sees the bird it switches to the eyes quickly without my intervention