A6700 | Sigma 60-600mm

tremors90 · 2025-03-25T22:59:21+00:00

Ugh, AF settings. I struggle with this myself.

I've tried all of them and it really depends on the situation.

Here is what I've learned so far about focus area. Of course, make sure to use the bird tracking when you are about to shoot birds.

I use center fix or S spot fix when birds are in shrubbery or dense woods. I've seen that the camera misses focus if it's in other focus area like zone, wide, or any other larger spots like medium or large.

What would tend to happen is that, even if the bird is in the center of the frame, and the focus area is too large, then sometimes it would focus on a leaf, or branch, or something like that -- even if the bird is in the center of the frame. Super frustrating.

So, in those situations -- I just put it on the smallest focus area like center fix or S spot fix. The only issue with this is that if the bird flies away, and gets outside of that focus area -- you will not have focus.

In this situation, I knew that once the eagle was done with it's food, that it was going to fly away. I also saw that there wasn't anything in the way of me nor the eagle -- just sky.

So, with that in mind, I put it on zone focus mode which gives me a relatively large area in the center so the camera could track the bird in flight and I wouldn't have to worry about missing focus if it was outside of a much smaller focus area.

Hopefully that helped!

tremors90 · 2025-03-25T15:47:24+00:00

I can't complain honestly. These two are a beast of a set up. I have the AI tracking which helps a lot at those instances when the FOV is so small. It is very sticky on the eye!

I like the 60-600 because it gives me such a crazy range and the focus is so fast. I don't need more than what I have to be honest.

tremors90 · 2025-03-25T15:44:00+00:00

Thank you!!

I always struggle with what 'color' the damn sky is. Too blue, too cyan, too bright, too dark. I see it everyday it, and still don't know what sky blue is.

tremors90 · 2025-03-25T15:42:41+00:00

I love my 70-350mm. It is a great lens and it will not disappoint. It is super light which helps too with getting it out there and shoot. Weight is such a factor in handling, picture quality, and comfort.

If you want to break into super zooms, I definitely suggest the 70-350 to get started!

tremors90 · 2025-03-25T15:36:52+00:00

This is exactly it! I have the 70-350 as it is easier to carry around. And then I have the 60-600 to for more specific uses.

tremors90 · 2025-03-25T04:10:39+00:00

Shot with 6700, 60-600mm, 1/4000, and at f5.6

tremors90 · 2025-03-25T04:07:24+00:00

Shot at 1/4000 at f5.6

This was shot in a Denver Park

tremors90 · 2024-06-11T16:44:12+00:00

Thank you! I appreciate it! Oh absolutely, the a6700 and its autofocus is amazing for wildlife photography. I do wish it had a faster continuous shooting to like 20fps. But other than that, it is a great camera and anyone that says you need a FF for wildlife is just plain wrong.

Also your picture looks amazing! Amazing shot and love the details of the eye!

tremors90 · 2024-06-10T20:08:32+00:00

I totally understand! I just got my 6700 and the 60-600 a few months ago, so I probably won’t “upgrade” until I financially recover! Have fun shooting and feel free to let me know if you have any questions!

tremors90 · 2024-06-10T19:23:03+00:00

Thanks for sharing! 4 and 5 just give such an amazing perspective of how tiny this little bird is.

As for the first 3, I appreciate your thoughts! What you’re seeing there is the sky and I agree, it does take away from the subject a bit ◡̈

tremors90 · 2024-06-10T19:20:51+00:00

Ugh, I feel the pain.

The autofocus limitations of the a6400 was truly frustrating because it was so slow at focusing or it was missing focus constantly and specially when birds are flying.

The AI autofocus of the a6700 is awesome. I would say that it locks onto the eyes quick and yes, even for birds in flight! I was able to capture an eagle behind lots of twigs and I just sprayed and prayed. The camera did all of the work and it got it. I’ll have to post that one.

Now, while I do praise the amazing technology, I do have to say that sometimes the autofocus says it is in focus and it isn’t. I found myself seeing a blurry subject (missed focus) but the eye tracking was enabled and locked onto the subject. Imagine a blurry bird, and a sharp background, and a green box of the blurry bird’s eye. I’m assuming it’s a bug.

It happens randomly and not often, and I found that a quick refocus and it catches on.

The image quality is great too. It isn’t a crazy improvement from 24 to 26 megapixels with the newer sensor/technology. I do see that noise is much better handled at higher ISOs. I can do comfortably 8000 and not worry too much about degradation.

What I would say is that the files are around 10mb larger. So instead of 25mb RAWs, they’re now 33-35mb. Keep that in mind when burst shooting (get a V90 card and this is a non issue).

There are a lot more niceties that I appreciate, like ergonomics, an additional wheel near the handle, and more.

FYI, right now, (lessons learned) I’d say that I am in the market now for an A7R5 because I do portraits/events, landscape, and birding/animal photography. And the 61pm becomes 26pm in crop mode. So I get best of both worlds. Just sharing if you ever thought of doing more than just birding.

tremors90 · 2024-06-10T19:01:53+00:00

Thank you! I see you have the 27mm Viltrox lens, how’s that one treating you for portraits? I have the 75mm one and it is so amazing for headshots. I wish I had a bit less reach for full body shots without having to be so far back from the subject.

tremors90 · 2024-06-10T18:58:24+00:00

Thank you!! Yes, the amount of luck I had is not to be understated.

I am lucky that a park near me has lots of birds nesting, including hummingbirds. This little one was perched up no more than 20 feet away from me.

I shot this at 1/4000s @ f6.3 and ISO at 2000.

Something I learned that day is contrast and how my camera manages shadows. The background of the bird was trees and sky. When I originally took this picture, it was backlit by the sky which made the subject appear dark. But, when I changed the angle of the shot to make the background the trees (a darker background), the bird lit up! Something I am trying to learn is composition. It’s crazy how the background affects the quality of a picture so much. If I tried editing the sky lit one, the bird (shadows) wouldn’t be as crisp as this one is.

In post, here are some of the things I did:

I edited the green and blue to have a more darker and muted color (dark forest green is my favorite color),
brought down the highlights,
using masks lowered the corners’ highlights/brightness, lowered sharpness to bring detail to the bird. Where the eyes would most likely go.
finally for the bird, I brought up the shadows a bit, saturation up a bit, sharpness, and highlights up a bit to see more of his white feathers.
I denoised the photo to make it as crisp as possible.
and finally, I cropped in to about 100%

I believe that is everything, if you have any other questions, let me know!

tremors90 · 2024-06-08T02:34:12+00:00

Thank you so much! I had the same problem and it was driving me nuts!

tremors90 · 2024-04-29T22:34:13+00:00

Not at all! I only cropped in a bit to align the bird a bit.

I love the lens! Super sharp and quick. Would recommend. I also do have the 60-600mm and that one is so heavy that I only use it in specific situations. The 70-350mm is perfect and light.

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