Sony Alpha

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A community for users and fans of the Sony Alpha range of cameras, and any lenses on the E-mount format.

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Experience with Sony 70 - 200 f2.8 GM II (self.sonyalpha)

submitted 1 year ago by titaalik to c/sonyalpha

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Hello everyone!

I‘m thinking about selling some of my lenses to get the new 70 - 200 mentioned above.

Has anyone used this lens, especially on hikes? How versatile ist it?

I mostly do wildlife and some landscape photography but I fear that the lens is too zoomed in for landscapes and too wide for wildlife.

The lens would be used on an A7R IV and it would „replace“ a sony 20mm f1.8 G (which is too wide for my uses) and the Sony 135mm f1.8 GM.

Thanks for your advice and have a good time!

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[–] titaalik 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks for the reply.

Yeah, for landscapes the large aperture won‘t be too useful, but it would be great for wildlife in the late or early hours with little light.

I feel like the f4.0 version ist way too expensive for what it does and compared to the f2.8 version it seems to be lacking in sharpness, which is quite important on the A7RIV’s high megapixel sensor.

I have to look into the Tamron though, thanks for the suggestion!

Also I‘m planning to go to a store and ask if I can put on the lens to my camera for a few minutes

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I feel like the f4.0 version ist way too expensive for what it does and compared to the f2.8 version it seems to be lacking in sharpness, which is quite important on the A7RIV’s high megapixel sensor.

I overlooked this aspect while reading the SonyAlpha.blog review, which concludes that the sharpness is excellent only up to 150mm, so yeah, it might be limited on your body:

It provides excellent sharpness up to 150mm but only very good wide open at 200mm on 61Mpix.

I was suggesting using a teleconverter with it to increase the lenses reach but he discourages its use:

It is compatible with teleconverters to get a 280mm f/5.6 [with the 1.5x TC] and a 400mm f/8 [with the 2x TC] but with degraded [sharpness] performance, so limit its use to 42Mpix [sensors]. (translated from the French conclusion)

To note, the review also compares it against the Sony f/2.8 and the Tamron 70-180 f/2.8.

Also I‘m planning to go to a store and ask if I can put on the lens to my camera for a few minutes

From experience testing a lens in a shop doesn't give the full experience, that's why I prefer renting to test the lens in the field.