669 - Smithsonian Zoo
Today I took out the 200-600mm. And yeah, I did it at a zoo. Shoot me.
Since I’ve been working at District Camera for six months now, I’ve watched countless lens rentals go out. But what I didn’t realize was how many of these people were going on safaris.
At this point, we mind as well open shop in Africa. Because some of these big lenses have been hundreds, if not thousands of times.
I would bet some of them have been on the same safari, in the same spot, with the same tour guide. There can’t be that many dudes popping up on Google when you type in “African safari.”
The point is, I got a hankering for shooting wildlife after hearing all these stories day in and day out. And since I can pretty much take anything out on the weekends, I decided to take out the biiiiig boy. The Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS Lens.
My setup currently maxes out at 400mm, so I was curious what an extra two hundo would do. And what better place to try it out than the free zoo right down the street? AKA… The Smithsonian Zoo.
It wasn’t quite Africa, but it’d get the job done. I recognize that the coolness factor of shooting a tiger at a zoo is zero, if not negative. So bear with me here. It’s a test shoot you internet freaks.
Here’s what I got:
“Tony the Tiger”
Taken with Sony a7rIV + Sony 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G
[ISO 1600 ~ 600mm ~ f/6.3 ~ 1/400s]
“They’re Great!”
Taken with Sony a7rIV + Sony 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G
[ISO 3200 ~ 368mm ~ f/6.3 ~ 1/1250s]
They’re not bad. Needs less concrete walls, but what can you do? This ain’t the Congo.
The detail on the face is insane. Especially because I’m shooting this lens on the 61 MP full-frame resolution of a Sony a7rIV. (If you’re not sure what that means click here.)
My biggest “learning moment” was that you need a monopod for this thing. It was my time shooting at this focal length and the shakiness is real.
But honestly? If I ever were to ever get a super telephoto, I think I’d just go all out with the 400-800mm. That extra 200mm could easily be put to work, and I could never intentionally allow my setup to have overlapping lenses:
12-24mm
24-105mm
100-400mm
✨ 400-800mm ✨
That overlapping 5mm at 100-105 annoys the fuck out of me. But it’s the closest I can get.
Anyway, that was that shoot. Nothing crazy. Next adventure I’ll do something crazy. Just for you guys.
