In between snow storms (13" yesterday, 4" last night, another 8-14" predicted tonight), the sun appeared and I decided to venture out for mental health reasons
Dead of winter, not much going on aside from the typical feeder birds, and of those, the Dark Eyed Juncos continue to be my ride-or-die winter companions.
This 600PF continues to impress, the shots captured with it are so crisp, clean, and full of detail, almost 3D in nature.
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Nice images Matthew!
The Nikon 600PF is looking good.
I have three birding trips planned for this year, sort of catching up on the missed trips during corona...
On the first two, to small islands in Europe, the 600GM will go along without question. But the third trip to Costa Rica in november is a different story. At the switch from the rainy season to the dry season in a small group with guide and with many ventures through rainforest and over water. I got a Mindshift firstlight 30L to júst fit the Sony 600GM, and be allowed to carry on during the flight, but it quickly dawned on me that however great it would be to take the lens along, it just isn't going to be practical, and it would kill the holiday atmosphere as well (my spouse is coming along).
So I run into the limitations of a big 600/4 prime after all, and find myself with the quest for an addition, nót a change or system switch like in the past. I will hang on to the Sony 600GM for as long as I can shoot it handheld.
Due to the positive experiences with the Nikon 500PF, the new 600PF is an obvious choice, even though I would have preferred it slightly heavier, with larger front and f5.6, ánd fit on my A1.
But the small size and weight combined with the prime quality, and coupled with the Z8, would be a huge plus on the Costa Rica trip.
The only other serious option I can see, is the new Sony 300GM with both converters, giving me the versatilty of an added 300/2.8 and 420/4 lens for the hummingbirds in low light, but no doubt sacrificing on the 600mm end. I really hope Steve will be tempted by the Sony 300GM, and that he will do a comparison between the two. The options are very similar in size and weight. Common sense though tells me that adding a 2xTC is a precarious endeavour and will harm the bokeh and the 3D effect. I used the Canon 400DOII strictly with converters and it drove me to the 500PF. Especially a 2xTC really compresses the images, taking all spacious atmosphere away.
