Besides the fast aperture and zooming ability, the clear strength of this lens is just how flexible it is. You can take it and a two times teleconverter and cover a huge range of different shooting situations without ever having to take any other lens with you.
After spending a lot of time with the lens, I think the biggest surprise is actually how capable it is despite its limitations.
To me, this is the kind of lens that you just enjoy taking with you. African safari, Arctic expedition, the local wetland at dawn, you know it will perform.
Light, fast, sharp, and versatile. What more could we possibly want?
I think with the Sony a7 V, Sony has been able to considerably close the gap in that sort of mid-level market segment and now offering us wildlife shooters a very capable camera without spending top level camera money.
Mainly the stickiness of the autofocus and that kind of blackout or slideshow effect in the viewfinder that can make it difficult to track fast action, but it definitely makes up for it on the other hand with the video features.
To me, the Sony FE 400-800mm f/6.3-8 G OSS is basically the de facto replacement of the 200-600mm lens because there's simply so much overlap between the two lenses, and then you get the advantage of the long end with the new lens.
[I]t seems Canon zoom design created an amazing lens with great flexibility, but the tradeoff was a bit of extra size, extra price tag, and also the loss of image quality when using with the teleconverters.
[...] I think this is one of the best and most attractive lenses for many wildlife shooters on the market. It delivers us fantastic overall performance at a price point that is very hard to beat.
[T]he Sony a1 II brings the Alpha 1 series cameras up to modern day flagship standard.
[T]he Canon EOS R1 is probably the best camera that I've ever used, and I've used them all pretty much.
To sum it up Nikon Z6 III is a fabulous little camera that perfectly fits into the Nikon lineup.
In the end, we have to realize that this is a highly specialized peak action camera, and in that field it totally excels and gives you opportunities that no other camera can do.
Ultimately, this is an amazing lens and I know many people will be very happy with it in the field because when it comes to wildlife and bird photography especially, nothing beats reach and this lens has plenty of it.
[...] I'm having a great and successful time with the 600mm PF lens in the field. It has super fast autofocus, it's nice and sharp, and handles really well.
The Z8 is a fantastic camera and a great addition to the Z9, which many thought was a bit too big and heavy, something the Z8 fixes now.
So all in all the Z9 is definitely far improved with the latest firmware update and now works reliably and consistent in the field.
It's hands down the best 600mm prime lens I've used to date because of the built-in 1.4 extender; it works great in the field and offers us flexibility we just cannot find in other prime lenses except for maybe Nikon's 400mm f/2.8 lens with the built-in 1.4 extender.
Personally I think the Canon EOS R6 Mark II is a big step up from the original R6 when it comes to body design, autofocus abilities and video features and also having no overheating is great.
It also has the best overall image quality and good enough autofocus and image stabilization.
[T]he Canon EOS R7 is a fantastic camera and you're getting features unheard of at this price point, and while it does not always perform super consistent, you're still getting some great results with that camera.
For most purposes, this Canon RF 100-400mm f/5.6-8 IS USM is truly amazing because it's just so small and lightweight, and at that relatively little cost, it's almost a no-brainer for someone who doesn't want to spend much and have a nice versatile lens with them in the bag.
All in all, this is the lens I know a lot of Nikon shooters will be very happy with. It's not cheap at around 2,700 US dollars and a lot more in most other countries, but it definitely backs up the price with stellar performance in the field.
I've never had a lens that had this sort of flexibility and reach at the same time and also delivered such amazingly nice image quality, and even with the extenders this lens delivered nice quality.
