vulpess
Active member
Hi everybody,
My name is Lukas and I am a 27 year old hobby nature photographer. The last two years or so, I have mostly taken bird photos and I am now struggling a bit with knowing how to move forwards with regards to lenses and a possible move to a mirrorless system.
A quick backstory: I started photography with the Pentax K system and in the end used the K-3II with the optically wonderful but extremely slow Pentax 300 f4. In spring last year, my camera needed a repair in while waiting for the return of my camera, I jumped on a used Nikon D500 and finally sold all my Pentax gear for the Nikon. Now I am using the D500 with a Tamron 150-600 G2 (and the surprisingly good AF-P 70-300 FX for when I need less weight).
To begin with I was extremely impressed with the Tamron. Focus speed was not too impressive but the image quality was outstanding when the focus was spot on. However, more recently, I have found more and more situations where I felt that the lens let me down in decisive moments, in a way that either the focus speed was simply too slow or that focus was not precise enough. The latter case would often be that I shoot bursts of a stationary (small) bird and only find a small percentage of the shots to be in focus, meaning the AF-C was wondering about and not really finding a stable lock on the subject. Due to this, I feel that I can't really trust that I manage good focus even though the camera seems to have a good lock on.
I am now not really sure on what I want or need to regain confidence in my camera and lens combination to pull of perfect focus in situations where I only have one shot.
1. I shoot the 150-600 wide open at f6.3 which results in pretty shallow DoF. Is it maybe almost impossible to nail focus all the time with such focal lengths? I have been looking a bit at the 500 PF. How much of a confidence boost would this lens give me with such shallow DoF? Would it be a noticeable difference or not really? In other words, am I expecting too much of the Tamron that also more expensive (and first party) lenses would not be much better at?
2. I have the chance to buy a used Nikon 300 2.8 VR for a reasonable price. Having used a 300 f4 a lot, the ability of using a 2.8 fascinates me. However, having used 600mm for a while now, I reckon, I would want to use some teleconverters with the 300mm. I have read quite different opinions on the 1.7x and 2x TCs with regard to AF speed and image quality, so I am really unsure whether using one of the two longer TCs would actually give me any advantages compared to the 150-600 (which again, I find good optically).
3. Looking at videos showcasing tracking modes and bird (eye) AF in recent mirrorless models makes me fancying a move to a mirrorless system. I really like the Z6II and some of the Z lenses, however, I feel that as of today, I would not be gaining anything in terms of AF compared to my D500.
I liked the rumours prior to the Sony A7 IV release and was kind of preparing to go for a A7 IV + 200-600 combination, however, the limitation of 5 fps and the more video-centric look of the camera stopped that feeling.
The Canon R6 also looks fascinating in terms of AF, however, I don't know what lens I would pair the camera with as the RF 100-500 is out of my league financially and the two f11 primes don't seem to appealing as the only lenses to own.
I see that I potentially could get a used A9 for around the same price as the A7 IV new. So maybe that would be the best entry into the Sony system. However, I find it quite difficult to tell exactly what features the the A9 now has with recent firmware updates. It gained "Animal eye AF" according to Sony with the latest firmware update. Does this also apply to birds or only mammals? Are the A1 and A7 IV the only alternatives for real bird eye AF?
I am sorry for writing such a long post and mostly just rambling on about my thoughts without actually knowing what kind of response I want from you guys.
Maybe I can put it like this: Do you think buying a better lens (300PF, 500PF, 300 2.8 + TC) would give more confidence and trust in the D500 and would put off me thinking of Sony or Canon mirrorless? The dream would be Nikon releasing a mirrorless D500 ...
Cheers,
Lukas
My name is Lukas and I am a 27 year old hobby nature photographer. The last two years or so, I have mostly taken bird photos and I am now struggling a bit with knowing how to move forwards with regards to lenses and a possible move to a mirrorless system.
A quick backstory: I started photography with the Pentax K system and in the end used the K-3II with the optically wonderful but extremely slow Pentax 300 f4. In spring last year, my camera needed a repair in while waiting for the return of my camera, I jumped on a used Nikon D500 and finally sold all my Pentax gear for the Nikon. Now I am using the D500 with a Tamron 150-600 G2 (and the surprisingly good AF-P 70-300 FX for when I need less weight).
To begin with I was extremely impressed with the Tamron. Focus speed was not too impressive but the image quality was outstanding when the focus was spot on. However, more recently, I have found more and more situations where I felt that the lens let me down in decisive moments, in a way that either the focus speed was simply too slow or that focus was not precise enough. The latter case would often be that I shoot bursts of a stationary (small) bird and only find a small percentage of the shots to be in focus, meaning the AF-C was wondering about and not really finding a stable lock on the subject. Due to this, I feel that I can't really trust that I manage good focus even though the camera seems to have a good lock on.
I am now not really sure on what I want or need to regain confidence in my camera and lens combination to pull of perfect focus in situations where I only have one shot.
1. I shoot the 150-600 wide open at f6.3 which results in pretty shallow DoF. Is it maybe almost impossible to nail focus all the time with such focal lengths? I have been looking a bit at the 500 PF. How much of a confidence boost would this lens give me with such shallow DoF? Would it be a noticeable difference or not really? In other words, am I expecting too much of the Tamron that also more expensive (and first party) lenses would not be much better at?
2. I have the chance to buy a used Nikon 300 2.8 VR for a reasonable price. Having used a 300 f4 a lot, the ability of using a 2.8 fascinates me. However, having used 600mm for a while now, I reckon, I would want to use some teleconverters with the 300mm. I have read quite different opinions on the 1.7x and 2x TCs with regard to AF speed and image quality, so I am really unsure whether using one of the two longer TCs would actually give me any advantages compared to the 150-600 (which again, I find good optically).
3. Looking at videos showcasing tracking modes and bird (eye) AF in recent mirrorless models makes me fancying a move to a mirrorless system. I really like the Z6II and some of the Z lenses, however, I feel that as of today, I would not be gaining anything in terms of AF compared to my D500.
I liked the rumours prior to the Sony A7 IV release and was kind of preparing to go for a A7 IV + 200-600 combination, however, the limitation of 5 fps and the more video-centric look of the camera stopped that feeling.
The Canon R6 also looks fascinating in terms of AF, however, I don't know what lens I would pair the camera with as the RF 100-500 is out of my league financially and the two f11 primes don't seem to appealing as the only lenses to own.
I see that I potentially could get a used A9 for around the same price as the A7 IV new. So maybe that would be the best entry into the Sony system. However, I find it quite difficult to tell exactly what features the the A9 now has with recent firmware updates. It gained "Animal eye AF" according to Sony with the latest firmware update. Does this also apply to birds or only mammals? Are the A1 and A7 IV the only alternatives for real bird eye AF?
I am sorry for writing such a long post and mostly just rambling on about my thoughts without actually knowing what kind of response I want from you guys.
Maybe I can put it like this: Do you think buying a better lens (300PF, 500PF, 300 2.8 + TC) would give more confidence and trust in the D500 and would put off me thinking of Sony or Canon mirrorless? The dream would be Nikon releasing a mirrorless D500 ...
Cheers,
Lukas