Is the SONY Alpha 1/200-600 G Lens Combo Right for You? And When Higher is Better Than Lower ...

Twelve SONY 200-600 G Lenses in Stock at Bedfords!

Money Saving Reminder

Many have learned that if you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H and would enjoy free second-day air shipping, your best bet is to click here, place an order with Bedfords, and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If an item is out of stock, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell phone at (479) 381-2592 (Central time). Be sure to mention the BIRDSASART coupon code and use it for your online order to save 3% and enjoy free 2nd-day air shipping. Steve has been great at getting folks the hot items that are out of stock at B&H and everywhere else. The wait lists at the big stores can be a year or longer for the hard to get items. Steve will surely get you your gear long before that. For the past year, he has been helping BAA Blog folks get their hands on items like the SONY a9 ii, the SONY 200-600 G OSS lens, the Canon EOS R5, the Canon RF 100-500mm lens, and the Nikon 500mm PF. Steve is personable, helpful, and eager to please.

What’s Up?

I did well down by the lake on Monday morning with two seven-month old Sandhill Cranes (and their parents) and a pair of fly-by Black-bellied Whistling Ducks in sweet light. Tuesday morning you ask? Not so good; I kept a very few images of a young Turkey Vulture. I spent most of the day working on and sending the Info Letter for the sold-out 2022 Homer Bald Eagle IPT. On Tuesday, I was glad to learn of the sale of Anke Frohlich’s SONY a9.

Today is Wednesday 13 October 2021.

If You Are On The Fence About Joining the Third DeSoto IPT …

Click the play button above.

YouTube Channel Subscription

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I created this image on 7 October 2021, the third morning of the 2nd DeSoto IPT. I used the hand held Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 600mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ISO 500. Exposure determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/4000 sec. at f/7.1 (stopped down 1/3 stop) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that this image exposure was dead-solid perfect; the only Ov-Exp pixels were in the specular highlights of the water droplets. AWB at 11:48am on dead-clear morning. Tracking: Zone/AF-C Bird/Eye Detection AF was active at the moment exposure and performed perfectly. Click on the image to view a hi-res version. Image #1: Sandwich Tern bathing

When Higher is Better Than Lower …

I got tired of making superb flight images of the incoming terns (as seen in the recent blog posts here and in my YouTube Video here). I was so bored that I pulled out the rear screen and put the lens on my ankle to create some low level images of the isolated Royal Terns that were very close to us. When I noticed a single Sandwich Tern from the middle of the flock walk into the surf, I called it out to the rest of the group.

Had I continued to work at ground level I would have been dead; there would have been dozens of birds between me and the single bathing bird. I took the lens off my ankle and sat up as tall as I could. That allowed me to just clear the heads of the intervening terns and get a clear shot at the single Sandwich Tern bathing in the Gulf.

It was a close call, but Image #1 was my favorite from a long series. Check out the short video below to see the rest of the best.

Best of the Best

See how I selected a singe image from 18 keepers created in less than a singe minute in the Picking the Best of the Best video by clicking the play button above.

I created this image on 7 October 2021, the third morning of the 2nd DeSoto IPT. I used the hand held Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens (at 600mm) and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ISO 500. Exposure determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/4000 sec. at f/7.1 (stopped down 1/3 stop) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that this image exposure was dead-solid perfect; the only Ov-Exp pixels were in the specular highlights of the water droplets. AWB at 11:48am on dead-clear morning. Tracking: Zone/AF-C Bird/Eye Detection AF was active at the moment exposure and performed perfectly. Click on the image to view a hi-res version. Image #1A: An unsharpened tight crop of the Sandwich Tern bathing image

Is the SONY 1/200-600 G Lens/SONY Alpha 1 Combo Right for You?

Bedfords has 12 SONY 200-600s in Stock Right Now!

Is the SONY 1/200-600 G Lens/SONY Alpha 1 combo right for you?

If you are interested in a relatively lightweight, hand hold-able for most, super-sharp, astoundingly versatile rig that is the world’s best rig for photographing birds in flight and in action, I would have to answer yes. Use my B&H links above or go with Bedfords to save 3% and enjoy free second day air shipping and you earn a free pass into my Sony Alpha 1 Info and Updates e-mail group. Both items are hard to get but the pipeline is opening. Steve Elkins shipped a load of Alpha 1 bodies last week so his wait list is fairly short right now. Amazingly, Bedford’s has twelve 200-600s in stock right now!

Yikes, I forgot to mention 30 fps and the superb performance with the 1.4X teleconverter.

Sony Alpha 1 AF and Image Quality

With Bird/Eye Detection set up properly, SONY’s various Tracking AF modes are simply science-fiction like. And as seen in Image #1A above, image quality, fine detail, and color are superb. Yesterday, while doing second edits on some older folders with SONY a1 images, I realized for the first time how much better then color is with the Alpha 1 …

Typos

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