Amateur Photographer - UK (2019-06-28)

subscribe 0330 333 1113I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI 22 June 2019 9

First impressions

Sony 600mmf/

super-tele unveiled

SONYhasalso

launcheda new

super-telephotoprime,

in theshapeof theFE

600mmF4GMOSS.As

thetenthmemberof the

firm’spremiumG Master

range,thispromisesto

produceultra-sharp

imageswithattractively

blurredbackgrounds.But

in contrasttothe200-

600mmF5.6-6.3,it’s

unlikelytofinditsway

intomanyamateur

photographers’kitbags,

withanaskingpriceof

£12,000whenit goes

in salein September.

Keybenefits of thenew

opticincludelightest-in-

classconstruction,at

3,040g,withthebalance

pointplacedtowardsthe

centreof thebarrelrather

thanthefrontformore

comfortablehandling.The

magnesium-alloybarrel

is dust-andmoisture-

resistant,whilethelens

hoodis constructedfrom

carbonfibreforlight

weightanddurability.Sony

saysthatit hasincreased

themountstrengthand

reliabilitytoo,withseven

screwsconnectingit to

themainbarrel.It hasalso

designedthecontrolpanel

layouttobeidenticaltothe

FE400mmF2.8GMOSS,

sophotographerscan

switchbetweenthetwo

lensesmoreeasily.

The24-element,

18-group optical formula

In essence,theFE200-600mm
F5.6-6.3G OSSis anultra-telephoto
zoomthat’sdesignedforusewithSony’s
full-framemirrorlesscameras.The
maximumaperturemaylookperilously
slowtoDSLRusers,butoneadvantage
of mirrorlesscamerasis thatthere’sno
penaltyin termsof viewfinderbrightness
orautofocusspeedundermostshooting
conditions.Thelenscanalsobeused
withAPS-Cformatcameras,of course,
onwhichit willgivea 300-900mm
equivalentrange,butI’mnotconvinced
it willbea greatmatchtoSony’ssmall
rangefinder-styleA6000-seriesbodies
in termsof handling.
Makenomistake,thisis a sizeable
lensmeasuring318mmin lengthand
118mmin diameter.Butat 2,115git’s
notasheavyasyoumightthink,thanks
toa liberaluseof magnesiumalloyin the
barrelconstruction.Asbefits a lensthat
willoverwhelminglybeusedoutdoors,
it’sdesignedtobeweather-resistant,
withanarrayof sealsprotectingagainst
wateranddustfromenteringthelens.
Thelens’smostimportantoperational
featureis thatit doesn’tchangelength
onzooming.In practicethismakesit
mucheasiertoshootwiththanTamron
andSigma’s150-600mmDSLRlenses,
whichbothemployextendingbarrel
designsthatgetdistinctlyfront-heavyat
fulltelephoto,andrequirea fairbitof
effort to move. In contrast, the 200-

600mmmaintainsthesamebalance

at allzoompositions,andrequiresjust

a quarterturnof thesmoothlyrotating

zoomringtoprogressfrom200mmto

600mm.It’sdifficulttooverstatejust

howmuchof a differencethismakes

whenyouneedtochangefocallength

quickly.Naturally,opticalstabilisationis

built-intosuppresscamerashake.

Sonyhasemployeda direct-drive

supersonicmotor(DDSSM)for

autofocus,andagainfocusingis entirely

internal.It’sveryquickandessentially

silent,andtestedontheAlpha7 III at

a pologame,I foundit hadnoproblem

at allkeepingupwithhorsesrunning

head-ontowardsthecamera.I also

foundthefocusingtobeperfectly

accuratewithstaticsubjectsbutwith

theexpectedprovisothatdepthof field

is extremelynarrow,soyouhavetobe

verycarefulaboutwhereyouplacethe

AFpoint.ThefirmhasincludeditsLinear

ResponseMFsystem,whichaimsto

givea similarlyintuitivefeeltomanual

focusingasusinga mechanicallens.

Astheicingonthecake,the200-

600mmis alsodesignedtobefully

compatiblewithSony’s1.4xand2x

teleconverters,giving280-720mm

f/8-9and400-1200mmf/11-

optics,respectively.Thefirmsaysthese

combinationsstillgiveoutstandingimage

qualityandAFperformance,butI wasn’t

able to put these claims to the test.

AFTERjusta coupleof sessionsshootingwithit, I suspectthattheFE200-600mm
F5.6-6.3G OSSis settobea bigsuccessforSony,andwillbestronglyin demand
byphotographerswhoenjoyshootingsubjectssuchaswildlife,sportsandairshows.
Despiteitsextremelyusefulsuper-telephotorange,it isn’ttooheavyorunwieldy,
andcruciallyit appearstofocusquicklyanddeliverdecentlysharpimageswideopen
acrossthefullzoomrange– at leastin goodlight.Notonlyis it likelytobehighon
manyAlpha7-seriesusers’wishlists,butit’salsoa uniquelensthatcoulditselfhelp
inducephotographerstobuyintoSony’ssystem.I’mlookingforward to giving it a
more thorough test when review samples become available.

The200-600mm

mountedonthe

Sony Alpha 9

includesthreefluorite

elementsandtwo

extra-lowdispersion(ED)

glasselementstocombat

axialchromaticaberration

andreduceweight,while

Sonyhasalsoincluded

itslargest-everExtreme

Aspherical(XA)elementin

a bidtoeliminatespherical

aberration.NanoAR

coatingsuppressesflare

andghosting,whilefluorine

coatinghelpskeepthe

frontelementclean.Like

otherG Masterlenses,

an11-bladedcircular

apertureis employed

togiveattractivebokeh.

Advancedautofocus

DualXDlinearmotorsare

employedforautofocus,

andSonysaysthat

newlydevelopedcontrol

algorithmswillenable

fast-movingsubjectstobe

trackedprecisely.A switch

onthelensenablesFull

TimeDMFmodefor

manualoverride,with

LinearResponseMF

includedforanintuitive

manual-focusexperience.

Three-modeoptical

imagestabilisationincludes

settingsforpanningand

fortrackingunpredictably

movingsubjects.

Lastbutnotleast,Sony

saysthatthelensis fully

compatiblewithits1.4x

and2xteleconverters,and

is promisingoutstanding

imagingperformance

along with fast, precise AF.

AP technical editor Andy Westlake tries out the 600mm f/