A Day out with the sony 100-400gm

SO CUTE!

The other day, whilst overcome by some severely bad GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome), I purchased a second-hand Sony 100-400GM lens off Facebook Marketplace. It may not have been my finest moment — certainly not financially — but it may have resulted in some of the finest photos ever taken on my A7Cii. It’s certainly resulted in some of the cutest!

Upon receiving the lens, I immediately scheduled a visit to one of my favourite places on Earth: Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary on the Gold Coast. This is the perfect environment for testing how effectively a lens can handle wildlife, autofocus on fast-moving subjects, and portability. It’s also the perfect environment for seeing sleeping koalas, singing rainbow lorikeets, lazy kangaroos, and bin-juice-soaked ibises begging for scraps.

Such a big yawn for such a little guy

The Sony 100-400GM features a wide f/4.5–5.6 variable aperture, with nine circular aperture blades, that leads to beautifully dreamy and creamy bokeh. For this focal range, the 4.5 to 5.6 aperture is wider than its contemporaries, resulting in a more versatile lens that is better suited to faster shutter speeds and darker environments — even if only by one stop of light. For comparison, the Sigma 100-400 boasts an aperture of f/5–6.3, whilst Tamron’s two offerings, the 50-400 and 150-500, have apertures of f/4.5–6.3 and f/5–6.7 respectively. However, it must be noted that these alternatives come in at around half the price. So is the GM worth the upgrade? Probably not — but that doesn’t mean I don’t love and adore it!

Aside from the marginally wider aperture, what makes the GM lens worth so much extra dosh? Well, its autofocus is pretty darn fast, even on moving subjects, and the images themselves are remarkably sharp. The autofocus on this lens is the fastest and most accurate I’ve used in this focal range, having previously owned the Sigma 100-400 and currently owning the Sony 70-350mm APS-C lens. I was particularly impressed with the lens’ accuracy when photographing fast-moving birds. While not always 100%, its hit rate was much higher than I had expected — even with high expectations. It’s phenomenally accurate, especially when paired with one of Sony’s newer camera bodies featuring advanced AI autofocus chips. However, when photographing birds in dense foliage, the lens tended to focus on the leaves in front of the bird I was trying to photograph. But when the focus did hit, it was critically sharp and has led to the most gratifying pixel-peeping I’ve done as a photographer. Functionally, this has given me an enormous amount of freedom to crop and reframe my images in post-production. Color me very impressed.

Look at the Sharpness on this little dude’s eye!

The actual user experience of this lens has both pros and cons, however. I love the AF-MF switch — I adore it when it appears on any lens, but find it particularly vital when photographing tricky animals hiding in nature. In fact, all the clicky little switches and buttons are practical and fun to use, although they can be a little hard to reach when shooting. This is exacerbated by how heavy the lens is, weighing a solid 200+ grams more than the Sigma and the Tamron 50-400, and more than double the APS-C 70-350. However, it’s not an unreasonable size and weight either, and using this as a travel telephoto lens is certainly doable — it’s what I intend to use it for (depending on the trip). I also found it challenging to manage just how far this lens extends when zooming in, which can make it harder to hunt for subjects in the field. However, the Smooth/Tight Zoom feature does help mitigate this issue and is a nice addition.

As for the images themselves, they’re nothing short of stunning. As stated, I am enormously impressed by the sharpness and am a big fan of the bokeh produced by this lens, particularly when zoomed in and wide open. Aside from that, the colours produced are accurate and vibrant without coming off as overly clinical. It results in an immensely rewarding user experience when looking back over your photos after a day of shooting.

What are my final thoughts on this lens? It’s pretty expensive, probably not worth it, but a hell of a good time — and it’s begging me to go outside to shoot with it some more. And at the end of the day, isn’t that what buying new gear is all about?

BLARGH!