Alan Shearman
Member
I'm seriously considering it and have been looking at Sony's a7r iii. But not sure which lens to go for. Any advice on switching or lenses appreciated. Alan
I've shot the Nikon d500 and now the d850 w/ 9FPS battery grip. I use the Tammy 150-600g2 and now mostly the Nikon 500 f/5.6e.
I have tried the Oly E-M1m2, E-M5m2 with the Panny 100-400 and Oly 300mm f/4. The E-M5 is out for action, not responsive enough. I did like the E-M1m2 + Panny 100-400. It is not quite as responsive as the nikons, especially coming out of sleep, but it does a pretty good job. The IQ can be very good and I think if I shot it more I'd get used to the handling. But after only 1 week of trying one out, I still had not gotten used to the handling differences. I found it not as responsive. I am very happy with many of the photos I got from it.
I have also tried the Nikon Z7. IQ-wise it is right up there with the d850 and the mirrorless AF can knock them out as good or better than the DSLR, but I still do not think it is as good for action with cluttered scenes. I have still not gotten used to the extra turn-on delay compared to the DSLR. I try to keep the focus around the distance I expect to shoot to help it lock on better, and if I need to press the shutter release early, it will focus up close and then need to seek again to try and lock on. I need to sell the Z7 and get a 2nd gen Z, or a Sony.
I shot the Sony a6400 + Sigma 150-600 C and Sony 100-400. It was a clear win for the 100-400, so I would think the Sony 200-600 would be the lens to get for birding nowadays. The a6400 took excellent pictures. The menus and all the AF & drive modes takes some learning to figure out what modes you really want to be using. I was not totally sold on the a6400 ergonomics, but it was a better experience for me than the Oly. I think the Z7 can take better images in most circumstances, but the a6400 was better for action and reach. I got some very nice hummingbird shots with the a6400 tracking them from a perch into flight.
I am waiting for the end of August announcements, as I think Sony will be releasing a sports-oriented crop camera. I'd like to see that with the 200-600.
I bet if you wait just a little bit, you'll see a lot more used A7R3 and more discounts on new ones (or more open boxes / demos) as the A7R4 sales pick up. From what I have heard the A7R3 for action is only very good (as opposed to a9 fantastic), and it will miss a bit and does have some blackout when shooting. It's not the a9. I am pretty sure I would always be inadvertently hitting the exposure comp on the A7R3 too -- putting a lock button on the A7R4 is an improvement. I suspect the next batch of cameras, like the RX100VII, will fix most of those shortcomings.
Marc
I'm currently using Nikon D7200 + Tamron G2 150-600 f6.3I'm seriously considering it and have been looking at Sony's a7r iii. But not sure which lens to go for. Any advice on switching or lenses appreciated. Alan
I'm seriously considering it and have been looking at Sony's a7r iii. But not sure which lens to go for. Any advice on switching or lenses appreciated. Alan
Niels
Thanks and you have some stunning images
Wow thanks for all your feedback it really is helpful and given me more to think about lol. One or two comments mentioned waiting six months or so as more technology appears to be in the pipeline and that is probably what I will do for now. But blown away by the detail of all your replies, thanks
At the risk of setting off endless to/fro discussion, I'm just going to say that currently the best bird photography setup available is the DSLR NIKON D500 + 500mm f5.6 PF lens ...... that will be ~$5K and ~5lb.