Looks like I will have another dance with the Sony 400-800mm lens. Yep, and at a cost of about $700 more!! Ugh… After realizing that 16,000 ISO may not be the kiss of death. I have started to rethink the usefulness of the Sony 400-800 lens. I was talking about the lens with a few friends and colleagues and I should have worked with the 400-800 lens a bit more than I did. I used it for just one workshop in Patagonia. I was drawn to the lens for more reach but got caught up on that f/8, more on that later after I’ve worked with it a bit.
I have hesitated on purchasing another 600mm prime mostly because of the size and maneuverability, plus traveling with the lens (except in Africa) means I’ll need to start lugging around my tripod and head— not something I was looking to do. After all, I’m in that group of travelers looking to reduce weight and travel size— since I do so much traveling. When I switched over to Sony, I had initially kept my Canon 600 prime lens for when I photographed near home, but that didn’t happen much so i sold it.
When I go on my safaris, I sit in the front seat next to the driver, I don’t have a lot of space for an assortment of lenses. In this situation, I find a zoom lens does double duty. A prime 600mm lens is limiting and difficult to maneuver in the small space upfront.
On some workshops (like Japan) where my clients are lined up with their big lenses, if someone needs help I have to leave my camera/lens on my tripod to go assist them; it’s much easier to work with clients and check on them frequently using a lens that I can handhold and walk around with.
On my recent trip to Grimsey Island where I was focused on primarily puffins and seabirds I felt at times, that more reach would have been helpful. Not entirely necessary but helpful for some situations. That got me thinking that I should have kept the lens to try it out for birds or at the very least for Africa— which brings me to back to this, I am going to give the Sony 400-800mm lens one more try. But this time it will be a hearty try.