Sony FE 400-800mm F-6.3-8

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I see the initial reviews for the new Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 have hit Youtube and the press. Price looks around £2550 in the UK.

As a current 200-600 user for Wildlife and Airshows etc more reach is always welcome and as I use the 1.4 converter with the 200-600 it is the top end I find myself using most often.

Looks like the new 400-800 performs well with his sharpness so I'll probably trade in my 200-600 for the new lens and then keep my 100-400 for the lower end.

 

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Did you get your hand on the 400-800

I'm not sure they have actually released yet, Parks are still saying pre orders will ship in March.

 

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It looks an interesting lens. The elephant in the room is f8 at the magic 800mm so flight/movement shots are going to mean pushing isos another stop and in darker/overcast conditions call for a bit more creativity and thought with how things are shot, but none of that is insurmountable and I expect it will sell well. Internal zoom and short zoom throw are pluses.

Currently using my 200-600 with a 1.4x TC pushes it to f/9 at 860mm so the 400-800 at 800 is f/8 at the top end so performs a 1/3 stop better which is not much but always welcome. Also the image quality is likely to be improved over using a TC adapted lens and seems to reviewing pretty well. Also with modern photo software denoise tools I feel like higher ISO is less of an issue and can be worked around.