Out of interest what lenses/systems do you guys use at the moment? Jumping ship isn't cheap if you are already heavily invested and besides, it seems to swing from one company to another as to who is leading the way.
Dave, I'm using a Nikon D7200 with Tamron 150-600 f6.3 G2.
I also have a Tokina 12-28mm f4 Pro DX (which gives me an effective focal range of 18-56mm accounting for the 1.5x DX crop, and using the 1.3x in-camera crop at the top end - pretty handy).
Both versatile and lightish for what they are, but I'm looking for more speed and IQ. My issue is a ruptured lumbar disc injury playing up, so the big 600 f4's are out (Canon's new 600 f4 MkIII at 3kg sounds interesting, but is probably still too physically long for me - too much leverage. I know other people handle more weight/size, sometimes with ease - but that's just me at this point, and I do love the walk around aspect. The, at this stage, gestating/mythical? 600 f4 DO at about ~2.5kg and compact sounds ideal and would be around my max desired weight).
A 300 f2.8 + 2xTC, or 400 f4 DO II + 1.4xTC would give me a boost in speed and IQ, handles nicely and fits the weight criteria (I can manage these setups for hours), but so far only Canon offers these formats at a light enough weight, and I'm not overly impressed with the 7DMkII body's DR and hence IQ. There's not even a whisper of a MkIII yet (though Canon tend to be much quieter and less 'leaky' about their products in development than Nikon). Why Nikon hasn't come in with a 300 f2.8 FL nearer 2kg yet is beyond me, at 3kg it's not even a consideration - Canon has really totally stolen the march in lenses at this point.
The most likely prospect for a slight upgrade at this stage would be the rumoured 600 f5.6 PF probably on a D500(S?), though if it's not clearly better than the current rig, I can wait (and save!) for Canon's big DO as I don't have much time/fitness to get out at the moment anyway. I was interested to see if Nikon would release these new PF's in native Z mount, but it seems that won't be the case.
I'm not that heavily invested in a system that I won't totally write off what I have and completely change. Something like the 58mm f0.95 Noct sounds appealing, but I think it's another iteration or two or three, before I'm tempted Z way as an overall system. I think the future is mirrorless, but at this stage there's a good 5 to even 10 years of DSLR shooting available - I don't think Nikon or Canon will be in a rush to offer native mirrorless supertelephotos any time soon ..... they'd probably be quite happy for you to invest in both systems! :-O
It's almost like a game of cat and mouse between the photographic giants and their customers at this point ! :eek!: :cat:
Chosun :gh: