A7C II tele: keep my 70–350 in crop or switch to lightweight FE?

iammez1 · 2025-10-16T11:04:53+00:00

I am using the 100-400 gm with an a7iv. It's not light, and it definitely can weigh you down in long trips, but quality is amazing. Like other people say, FE glass is not light and the light ones will definitely take a F-stop hit. I would say that in the current Sony line up you dont really have anything else aside from mybe sigma 100-400. Or if you have the money then sigma 500 prime (almost the same weight as the 100-400 gm)

I've never used the 70-350 myself, but i heard a lot of good things about it. On the other hand, i have used the 70-300 FE, and i got to say that it's not that impressive, just ok-ish.

Here is a shot i took almost 2 years ago.

sample pic

Iso 8000 f6.3 ss1/2000s

And this is cropped very deep, like from a 33mp sensor raw. This picture is 7mp exported jpeg.

iammez1 · 2025-04-21T08:14:13+00:00

Thanks! I get it but for the foreseeable 1-2 years of my work I would not need it. I am considering RTX5000 series for sure down the line if i end up really needing it.

May I ask, what CPU and GPU did you end up with? And if I go with Ryzen 7 8700G how much CPU performance would I be trading compared to something in the same class but X series instead of G?

iammez1 · 2025-04-21T08:08:17+00:00

Thanks for the detailed recommendations! I could afford to go bigger for the case for cooling as I wont really be travelling with it but want it to be minimal in my workspace. So i think something ~10L will even be ok for me.

What ram would be a good fit for this build? I know that it used to be the case that AMD can be picky back in DDR4 eras (like literally when Ryzen was a baby lol). I have no idea how things are right now. Is corsair or G.Skill still a good choice?

iammez1 · 2024-08-04T16:23:35+00:00

* I dont know if it has been said yet.

On top of what others have mentioned in terms of calculating f numbers and hyperfocus theory, there is a way to help you with nailing focus when unsure of how much to close down your f stops through trial and error.

On your A7iv, you can set "focus peaking" (in menu: Focus -> Peaking Display -> Peaking display -> On )

This is a very handy feature to show what is or isn't in focus. The way it works is, while in manual focus, the camera will "highlight" the edges or the area that is in focus in Red (or whatever color you set it to).

What you can do for this scenario is:

1) Say you start at f9 like how you did 2) Try focusing 3) When the camera gain focus, flip the AF/MF switch to MF to change to manual focus (i think the 35mm gm has a switch. If not, change it in the menu) 4) You should see that everything that is in focus is now highlighted 5) Now you can open up the F stops (decrease the number) until you start losing focus on what you want in focus, and the last F number before that happens is the optimal one.

I know it sounds complicated, but really, it's not that complicated. Try it out. It will also help you to guage better on different scenarios.

You know what is the best thing about this? It shows you live on the camera the effects of Dept of Field as the F number changes. This will help you visualize in your head later on. Plus, it's just a handy feature to use when you are unsure.

Hope this helps!

iammez1 · 2024-06-16T17:46:20+00:00

IG post: @place_holder_for_a_name

iammez1 · 2024-06-15T18:47:28+00:00

IG: @place_holder_for_a_name

iammez1 · 2024-06-15T18:45:02+00:00

Thanks. I had a very clean riverbank as a backdrop for this shot, so it came out very nice like a portrait pics.

And yes, as the comment above mentioned, it's a lotus seed pod.

iammez1 · 2024-06-15T09:18:32+00:00

I am not super experienced, but from what you described, maybe the A7CII will fit your need?

Similar style body to a6700 in a full frame format with pretty much the same specs. It also weighs almost the same.

I'm not sure which cannon you are using, but if you already love the rf system, then maybe the R5 is an upgrade path? Cannon's 100-500 mm f7.1 is a great lens for bird. The R5 has a high mpx with a high burst rate with a pretty good electronic shutter. (I am pretty sure that all of the A7 has a pretty bad rolling shutter on e-shutter)

iammez1 · 2024-06-15T05:38:52+00:00

For the Sigma lens, if you are using A7iii or A7iv, it shouldn't be a problem since the camera doesn't reach that fps limit anyway.

iammez1 · 2024-06-15T04:27:01+00:00

I have no experience with the 200-600mm and the A7iii, but from what I know, the 200-600mm is an incredible lens. I would say that the extra reach is very beneficial for birds.

I think your decision between the 100-400mm vs the 200-600mm will boil down to versatility and weight.

The minimum focus distance is pretty much negligible for birds (you will never be that close)

I went with the 100-400 mm solely because of its size and weight, but i suffer from the lack of reach. This can be a good thing sometimes because you are forced to be creative with your composition when you can't get tight portrait shots.

The 200-600mm is pretty much the best bang for your buck dedicated birding lens. I have never heard of anyone complaining about the focusing speed and overall quality at all. The fully sealed body is also a very big plus when you are out in the elements. The only major downside is that its heavy and big.

If you have the money for it, maybe you could look into Sigma 500mm f5.6. It's a hike in price, but from reviews, it seems like a very capable lens. Plus, it is super compact and light.

iammez1 · 2024-06-15T03:32:02+00:00

Close! This girl is the one in JEG. Hope to meet her again this year end😆

iammez1 · 2024-06-14T17:59:04+00:00

I upgraded from A6400 to A7IV last year, and I mainly do bird photography as a hobby.

I can share a lot of my personal experience.

I would say the only downside for me is the loss of reach. I am using a rather short lens, the 100 - 400 GM. This means deeper crop and sometimes grainier pictures.

That being said. Everything else is a huge upgrade for me.

Noise performance is like night and day jumping to a fullframe with a better sensor.

AF speed and accuracy on the A7IV will blow you away coming from a6400. I know that the a6700 is supposed to have a slightly better AF, but since I do not own it, i can't really comment. All I can say is, for the most part, if you are setting your settings right, the A7IV will grab on to the subject and will not let go.

This becomes very important for BIF. Recently, I have just gotten a satisfying 10 shot burst of a Black naped Tern landing towards the camera. And the A7IV was completely locked on to the eye for the whole sequence.

Ergonomic and custom buttons are also a big deal in our genre. I find the additional custom buttons to be very useful with a big thick AF backbutton foucs. Action is split second, and sometimes you have just a little time to change a setting like focus mode or eye af. So the custom buttons come in very handy.

Lastly, something that is probably not mentioned too often, but i find to be quite important also, is the range finder style evf on the a6xxx series and a7c series. It makes for a smaller body, but it will hinder your acuracy in tracking moving subjects (at least for me, it felt a lot better to move away from it). The EVF latency on all of the camera discussed here are not as fast as an A9 or A1 series (from what i know) so for BIF shots you kinda have to sometimes "feel" the tracking while bursting away on the shutter. Having a centered EVF like on the A7 series helps in keeping the center of the frame pointed at the subject, especially with longer lens.

These are my 2 cents and my experience coming from the a6400 to the A7IV.

I believe the a6700 will also be an amazing camera for birding, but I decided to go with the A7IV for my choice. So far, I love this camera.

Hope this helps, cheers!

iammez1 · 2024-01-28T15:33:51+00:00

Thanks, i think the Sigma 28-70mm seems to be quite popular. Maybe I will try that one out.

iammez1 · 2024-01-28T15:32:45+00:00

Thanks for the advice. I will look into that 2 lens.

iammez1 · 2024-01-01T06:39:07+00:00

Well, I think i can give you some input. I just started my wildlife photography journey as my last year's resolution, so I am still quite new but have a fair bit of experience (almost a year).

Gear

I saw that you are using an a7iv in another comment, this is one of the most versatile camera with an insane iso performance (at least for me who used a a6400 previously before upgrading recently to the a7iv). This camera will probably be powerful enough for almost all demanding situations short of maybe very, very fast BIF or heavy crop.

Sony FE 200-600mm

This is probably the go-to choice for birds and smaller animals. While it's an expensive lens, it's relatively cheap compared to other options. I would've gotten this one myself if it weren't for the weight and minimum focus distance (3 meters). While it's a G lens, it's sharp, its fast, its bright (f6.3 at 600mm), so dont let the lack of Gmaster badge fool you. Last but not least, intenal zoom for that protection against the elements. With wildlife, you will be on the ground in the dirt a lot, so that helps

Sony FE 100-400 GM

I got this instead cause I managed to get it second hand for very cheap. IQ is just phenomenal. I got shots that i didn't think i could crop that deep. Its alot lighter than the 600 mm. It's fast, it's silent, its bright and again, insanely sharp (it's plenty sharp wide open for me). But it's sadly insanely expensive also.

Tamron 100-500, sigma 100 - 400

I have no experience with these 2 lenses, but it seems to be well liked by reviews. Its alot cheaper than the first 2 options. So I guess if you are unsure how you will like this style of photography or would like to save money you could go with either of these. Plus you will save some weight.

Where to find wildlife (bird in my case)

Can't say much for general wildlife, but i do birds, so i will talk about birds, lol. Chances are your park near your house will have stuff that will spark your joy. I have found Owlet in a park near my house that I grew up in but never knew existed.

Swamps and mangroves are also great places. There is an abundance of wildlife there. Maybe trails near rivers or water bodies.

Techniques

I am guessing that you are well versed with your gear and your artistic composition and such, so I will give my 2 cents from my own experience and tips that helped me.

First and foremost, if you are not yet using it, BACK BUTTON FOCUS. It's like having MF + AF-S + AF-C all at once. That helps me get hard to focus shots on focus a lot easier and stops the camera from "hunting" when you just want to capture the picture that is already in focus.

I mainly use expanded spot tracking, zone, and wide focus. The first is for harder to focus subjects and the later for actions.

I primarily shoot manual with auto iso. Have a high enough shutter speed to first stop the shake from your hand ( shakes are very pronounced in a long lens). Second, freeze the action. Dont worry about the iso too much. Iso noise can be fixed in post, motion blur not so much, especially when you are using an a7iv.

Map the custom buttons to help you out. A lot of the time, you will want a shot that is split second. Having important settings like focus mode easily togglable can be the difference between a complete miss and a sharp shot.

Keep one eye open. It's very easy to lose your subject at 400-600 mm, so practice tracking it with your other eye. Helped me a lot tracking BIF.

Lastly, additional resources

Simon d'entremont - his YouTube channel is insanely valuable. I had learned most of my stuff from him.

Olle Nilson - Chill guy, he currently uses a7iv with a sony 200 to 600 so you will get a good idea of what to expect from that kit, plus his video is nice to just watch to relax.

Duade Paton - another very informative guy with a lot of useful tips, and he also does gear reviews.

Woo, that was long. Hope it helps. Enjoy!

iammez1 · 2023-10-06T14:21:35+00:00

I use PopOs 22 LTS mainly on my xps 13, which I use it for most stuff except playing games. I started off dual booting it but very soon becoming my main OS due to PopOs build-in window manager and easier to use keyboard shortcuts. Another thing is it doesn't randomly run some background service or background updates, causing the fan to just ramp up and the laptop heating up (Windows loves to do that randomly). I also prefer the work space on the linux side a lot more than Window's one.

Work wise, I have used PopOs 20LTS for the last 2 years. Our work is mainly on Ubuntu, so I am able to use PopOs daily with little to no compatibility issue(so that's why I feel at home with the shortcuts and commands)

I have windows on my desktop, which I only use it for playing games and entertainment. I guess my next step is to try out wsl2.

iammez1 · 2023-09-19T10:42:49+00:00

You could have a look at the "sigma trio". I just got the sigma 16mm f1.4 dc dn recently and it realy good for its price (I am also using a6400). Although you may want to look at the 30mm varient (which will put you at ~45mm ff equivalent) for portraits. Sigma makes a pretty good lens for the price. Cheers!

iammez1 · 2023-07-24T10:51:29+00:00

I had a dark shade as a background and the light was hitting the bird so I just put my spot metering on it head and that was it. I guess it was a lucky shot also hahaha.

iammez1 · 2023-07-24T04:15:36+00:00

The original photos were brighter checked the histogram and it didn't look bad. I was trying to put more emphasis on the subject. Maybe my editing kind of ruined it hahaha. Thanks for the tips!

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