On the entire, panorama photographers are recognized for his or her love of ultra-wide lenses, however that’s not all the time an correct generalization. Many want regular lenses and even telephotos as an alternative. However what about lenses meant primarily for sports activities and wildlife – supertelephotos? Might they work for landscapes, too?
That’s one thing I questioned about just lately, due to the arrival of a lens that I’m planning to overview quickly: the Sony 400-800mm f/6.3-8. Usually, I’d wait to check this lens on a visit to someplace like Yellowstone or Bosque del Apache and attempt to seize some attention-grabbing wildlife photographs. However with no such journeys developing for me, I made a decision to take it on our fall colours panorama pictures workshop as an alternative.
I’ve lengthy been a fan of telephoto lenses for panorama pictures. Once I used a DSLR, my favourite panorama lens was the Nikon AF-S 70-200mm f/4G. And within the mirrorless world, I’ve taken a few of my favourite panorama images with lenses just like the Nikon Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 and the Z 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 S. Nonetheless, other than a number of makes an attempt with the Nikon Z 800mm f/6.3 PF out of sheer curiosity, I’ve hardly ever damaged the 400mm barrier for such a pictures, nor felt any severe want to take action.
In spite of everything, everybody is aware of that supertelephotos are unsuited to panorama pictures! Aside from the challenges of discovering good topics at such a distance, there are additionally points like atmospheric distortion and haze to battle towards. It’s nice when your topic is an animal inside shouting distance (although atmospheric points can nonetheless happen), however a distant hillside or far-off mountain? Overlook it.
Then once more…
I believed again to two items of recommendation that Massimo printed in an earlier article on Pictures Life. First, strive the much less appropriate lens. And second, spend 80% of your time in pictures exploring new concepts, even when it’s purely experimental, within the hopes of getting higher and extra distinctive photographs as you develop as a photographer.
These ideas positively argued for bringing alongside the 400-800mm f/6.3-8 and seeing what I may get. And now, after an extended weekend of taking pictures lovely autumn colours in ever-changing climate, I’m satisfied that it was the proper choice.
The primary purpose is that the 400-800mm allowed me to get new varieties of panorama images at a spot that I’ve visited many occasions earlier than. Granted, it is a self-imposed drawback, however we’ve hosted our workshop at this location nearly yearly for greater than a decade. Even with modifications within the climate and the autumn colours themselves, I’m discovering it more durable every time to seize distinctive images.
However take a photograph at 800mm when the longest lens I’ve used there earlier than was a 24-240mm superzoom? That’ll end in one thing distinctive.
Additionally, I’m a fan of the straightforward undeniable fact that the Sony 400-800mm f/6.3-8 is a zoom. I’m not against prime lenses within the slightest, however I believe that the primary good thing about a supertelephoto for landscapes is that you would be able to pick tiny sections of the scene that strike you as probably the most interesting. This requires very cautious framing, and there usually isn’t a lot capability to “zoom together with your toes” in case your topic is located on a distant mountain. Throughout this journey, I discovered myself at some unorthodox focal lengths to get the proper composition. (Any Lilo and Sew followers on the market? 626mm was a enjoyable coincidence for this subsequent shot.)
Aspen timber lend themselves to telephoto lenses. Effectively, that’s not solely truthful – additionally they lens themselves to regular lenses and ultra-wides. They’re very photogenic timber certainly, particularly within the fall once they can flip something from vibrant yellow to fiery purple. However telephotos (and supertelephotos) seize a extra summary dimension of those lovely timber, flattening them into stark traces towards a colourful canvas.
As for the Sony 400-800mm f/6.3-8, I’m nonetheless within the technique of testing it and don’t have an excessive amount of to say, though it did strike me as loads sharp. Atmospheric distortion and haze had been elements, however not horrible given the clear and comparatively chilly air I skilled on this journey. All the images on this article have sufficient element to print fairly massive, which is all I actually care about. And I actually adored the truth that this lens is an inner zoom – a superb contact given the tough circumstances I skilled (severe wind, rain, and hail, generally all three on the similar time).
Lastly, I’d say that my time with the Sony 400-800mm f/6.3-8 was helped by the truth that 400mm isn’t actually too lengthy. Sure, it’s lengthy by panorama requirements, however points like atmospheric haze pose a lot much less of an issue at 400mm, and I discovered that I used to be getting fairly sharp and contrasty outcomes at that focal size even within the rain.
By comparability, I hardly ever felt the necessity to zoom in all the way in which to 800mm – partially as a result of, at that focal size, it’s arduous even to see your topic by scanning the scene in entrance of you. At the very least at 400mm, it didn’t really feel so arduous to identify an attention-grabbing scene with my eyes earlier than pulling out the digital camera.
And what had been my stats from utilizing this lens within the subject? It seems that I took a whopping 63% of my images with it at 400mm precisely, one other 18% within the vary from 401mm to 600mm, and 19% past 600mm. To me, it is a signal that one thing somewhat wider would have been a greater match, just like the Sony 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G or the Nikon Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3; apparently an 800mm lens is extreme for panorama pictures in spite of everything. Nonetheless, I took a number of of my favourite past 400mm, so I do get the sense {that a} 100-400mm or so won’t be sufficient for each scene I’d wish to seize.
Does any of this imply that I’m leaping ship to Sony and shopping for the 400-800mm f/6.3-8 G? No, nevertheless it was an attention-grabbing experiment, and it reinvigorated my curiosity in lengthy telephotos for panorama pictures. On future journeys – particularly if I’m anticipating good telephoto topics like these aspen timber – I’ll positively put extra thought and energy into the longer focal lengths. At the very least this time, I believe it was very a lot value it!
