Our reader Dennis Bielsa sent me his review about the new and super exlcusive 500mm f/4.0 lens! I say exclusive because you pay $13,000 for it at BHphoto (Click here)! Thanks Dennis! Her eis the review:
This past month I was in Washington DC to shoot the arrival of Discovery at Dulles airport for the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum and was able to put the 500mm to good use.
I am a working pro and have used both Nikon & Canon with each manufactures long lenses. Before moving over to Sony I did own the Canon 500mm f4 IS L lens and have used the new MKII version of the Canon. On the Nikon side I hear their 500mm f4 is comparable to the Canon. I have used both the Nikon 600 f5.6 manual lens and the current Nikon 600mm f4. Having used the Sony 500 f4 for a few weeks now I would say it is sharper then the Canon 500mm at all edges of a full frame camera. For on the go shooting I used the Sony 500 with the a900 more often, I like this combination better then with the a77 / 500mm. Both cameras were used on a monopod. With the APS size sensor the 500mm becomes a 750mm and that is a very long lens to keep steady. If you use the lens on a good tripod both the a900 and a77 give great results. When shooting on a tripod the in camera stabilization does help. The lens is sharp right out of the gate at f4 and I like this lens for the shallow depth of field. It does have a very small amount of CA that can show up on very contrasty subject like the image included but again it was just a very slight amount ( +8 ) of correction on the red/cyan slider in Photoshops camera raw. Also there is a small amount of vignetting at f4. I tend to like how it looks and it is almost gone at f5.6. At below f8 the lens will start to show signs of diffraction and soften up the image. The focus is fast with both the a77 and a900 and can keep up with a moving object (like a Boeing 747). The viewfinder on the Sony a900 shows more of the lens movement/shake then with the Canon or Nikon glass since they have the stabilization in the lens and not the camera.
Sony 500mm f4 G Lens:
Likes
Fast focus
Sharp images at f4
Shape edges on full frame camera
3 mounting holes in lens foot
Focus hold button
Smaller then both the Nikon or Canon 500mm f4
Dislike
No click stops as you rotate the lens/camera from horizontal to vertical on the tripod. So you’re not sure of where the horizontal or vertical placement is
Lens hood – you have to take the cover off of the hood the take the hood off and rotate it to attached it. It takes time to do this I wish it was built in like some
other manufactures have it.
t is a tool that I use to create images and get paid for them. I would say not many people will need a lens of this caliber but for me I can justify it by the quality of the build and sharp image it can create for my work.
Cost – no one wants to pay a lot for a lens no matter what camera system
Hi here are 2 shots one of the 500mm with my a900 and the view of the house I shot the window of with the 500mm taken with a Sony NEX-7 and 50mm lens
For fun I shot this with a Sony NEX-5n, the Sony Alpha LAEA1 adaptor and the 500mm of the moon if you would like to use it as well.
17 Responses
Cool. Where’s the moon pic mentioned at the end?
http://www.dyxum.com/dforum/sony-500mm-f4-g-lens_topic87351.html
Thats it?
hé ! What did you expect ? ^^
This article and many comments make me wonder if future SLTs will use their stabilization during framing too. Now that we use EVF that is through the sensor it should be possible to run SSS and stabilize the the viewfinder.
This will be really nice thing to do as it will bring the in-camera SSS on par with lens stabilization for telephoto applications.
If anyone from Sony is reading this – could an A77 firmware upgrade bring stabilized image in the viewfinder while framing?
Isn’t that already the case ?
I would have thought that would be inevitable if the viewfinder image comes off the moving sensor.
i would love to see a comparison between the 500f4 and the 500F8reflex lens 😉 i still wonder why Sony stopped selling this awesome lens(the reflex)
but the 500f4 is awesome i’m sure!
ah yes, the inbody stabilizer is far from being on par with inlens stabilizers, sadly..such a nice idea
beacause they don’t sell enough 500/8 ?
because the 500/8 was more expensive than a Sigma 120-400 HSM OS ?
maybe, its too bad though.. i own both the sigma and the reflex and i use the reflex a 100 times more, just because i can take it on hikes, shoot handheld for a while and with the A77 the af is crazy fast and precise. the sigma is also quite blurry on the long end..but it looks more pro 😀 and is especially funny on a nex 😉
This lens is bigger than I thought it was. It dwarfs the A900. My 70-400 does not look so bad in comparison to this monster. I hope i win a lottery soon.
The last “big” segment is a lens shade.
Forget the lottery. Invest wisely.
He needs to post a pic of the nex+adapter+500mm setup just for laughs lol
“The focus is fast with both the a77 and a900 and can keep up with a moving object (like a Boeing 747).”
This is funny as my cheapo Sigma 50-500mm could also keep up with the Boeing 747 (actually even my $30 Sigma 75-300m APO for that matter) with my A77, A700. Plane subject is large and predictable and any decent cheap lens should be able to keep up :=).
At this price point and size, it should have optical stabilization that can override the IBIS when attached.
Yup, he is a Sony user. AwsOme test shot of the house window. When can we see a mailbox pic?
i own this lens to , but i`m sure you feel the click-stops when you rotate the lens vertical and/or horizontal
the best way to photograph with this lens , is that u use a lens-support ,
i`ts not enough when you place only the trypod on the feet of the lens ,
if you use a lens-support , the lens shall be support on several place`s on the lens , that is important , when you have a slow shutterspeed , and when you photograph with windy weather
canon and nikon user`s have there stablisation in this lens , but they use also a lens-support
He has a lot of money to spend on Sony gears..