ACJC.S
Quiet shadows
Another year is almost over, hopefully we can emerge from the shadows soon although much still remains out of focus.
Handheld shot with FE 85mm f1.4 GM late in the evening along this historical street.
Haven’t bought any photographic gear this year although a couple of lenses are firmly in my sight.
The 70-200mm f2.8 zoom is a lens I’ve avoided thus far as it typically weighs as much as a high end 100-400mm zoom which is too much unless we are just carrying this lens alone.
Then came Tamron FE 70-180mm f2.8 (815g) and Canon RF 70-200mm f2.8L IS (1,070g), both however do not work with teleconverters (TC) and the Tamron additionally omits lens stabilization.
Had some initial interest in the Tamron but the just released Sony FE 70-200mm 2.8 GM OSS ii (1,045g) has both lens stabilization which is more effective than IBIS at the long end and works with TCs which can get me to 400mm f5.6 if needed. My FE 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 GM OSS works flawlessly with 2x TC and I expect the same for the new FE 70-200mm f2.8 GM ii.
The Tamron is $1,199 vs the Sony GM ii $2,798 (same as Canon’s RF version), a substantial difference. Looking at the photos taken with the Tamron, it’s a nice lens but there’s no “wow” quality in the photos taken and there are also some distracting structures within the specular highlights.
The photos from the new FE 70-200mm f2.8 GM OSS ii however, are impressive. If we don’t use a 70-200mm f2.8 zoom too often and does not need more than 8fps or TC compatibility, the Tamron version makes a lot of sense. Canon and Sony users have access to lots of lens choices, the same cannot be said for Nikon however.
It seems that Sony achieved significant weight reduction without making compromises in TC compatibility or omitting stabilization but with a more efficient design with less glass used in GM ii with 17 elements compared to 23 in the older version. Is this advancement all due to improved glass quality or software?
I do wonder if they can do the same with their future generation 2 100-400 GM and 200-600 G zooms when the time comes, perhaps even with the soon to be launched 24-70 GM ii?
Meanwhile Tamron has just released their FE 28-75mm f2.8 G2 which appears to be an improved version of its highly popular 1st Gen lens. Personally I’ll rather wait and see what Sony will do with their imminent FE 24-70mm f2.8 GM ii replacement.
Advances in lens making have produced zooms capable of matching Prime lenses at equivalent apertures. For this reason, I stopped bothering with Primes which are just 1 stop faster than f2.8 zooms especially at focal lengths below 85mm.
Those who had aggressively suggested that the Batis 135mm f2.8 was reasonable at $2,000 are clearly shills, you can easily identify these fellas from the various gear forums by now. I’ve spoken out against the value of Batis lenses from inception and in particular the 135mm f2.8 since its release. We really need to be wary of these marketing shills as they are so rampant in gear forums masquerading as hobbyists these days. flic.kr/p/GC4PWY
Quiet shadows
Another year is almost over, hopefully we can emerge from the shadows soon although much still remains out of focus.
Handheld shot with FE 85mm f1.4 GM late in the evening along this historical street.
Haven’t bought any photographic gear this year although a couple of lenses are firmly in my sight.
The 70-200mm f2.8 zoom is a lens I’ve avoided thus far as it typically weighs as much as a high end 100-400mm zoom which is too much unless we are just carrying this lens alone.
Then came Tamron FE 70-180mm f2.8 (815g) and Canon RF 70-200mm f2.8L IS (1,070g), both however do not work with teleconverters (TC) and the Tamron additionally omits lens stabilization.
Had some initial interest in the Tamron but the just released Sony FE 70-200mm 2.8 GM OSS ii (1,045g) has both lens stabilization which is more effective than IBIS at the long end and works with TCs which can get me to 400mm f5.6 if needed. My FE 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 GM OSS works flawlessly with 2x TC and I expect the same for the new FE 70-200mm f2.8 GM ii.
The Tamron is $1,199 vs the Sony GM ii $2,798 (same as Canon’s RF version), a substantial difference. Looking at the photos taken with the Tamron, it’s a nice lens but there’s no “wow” quality in the photos taken and there are also some distracting structures within the specular highlights.
The photos from the new FE 70-200mm f2.8 GM OSS ii however, are impressive. If we don’t use a 70-200mm f2.8 zoom too often and does not need more than 8fps or TC compatibility, the Tamron version makes a lot of sense. Canon and Sony users have access to lots of lens choices, the same cannot be said for Nikon however.
It seems that Sony achieved significant weight reduction without making compromises in TC compatibility or omitting stabilization but with a more efficient design with less glass used in GM ii with 17 elements compared to 23 in the older version. Is this advancement all due to improved glass quality or software?
I do wonder if they can do the same with their future generation 2 100-400 GM and 200-600 G zooms when the time comes, perhaps even with the soon to be launched 24-70 GM ii?
Meanwhile Tamron has just released their FE 28-75mm f2.8 G2 which appears to be an improved version of its highly popular 1st Gen lens. Personally I’ll rather wait and see what Sony will do with their imminent FE 24-70mm f2.8 GM ii replacement.
Advances in lens making have produced zooms capable of matching Prime lenses at equivalent apertures. For this reason, I stopped bothering with Primes which are just 1 stop faster than f2.8 zooms especially at focal lengths below 85mm.
Those who had aggressively suggested that the Batis 135mm f2.8 was reasonable at $2,000 are clearly shills, you can easily identify these fellas from the various gear forums by now. I’ve spoken out against the value of Batis lenses from inception and in particular the 135mm f2.8 since its release. We really need to be wary of these marketing shills as they are so rampant in gear forums masquerading as hobbyists these days. flic.kr/p/GC4PWY