BackdoorArts
Senior Member
Consider this a placeholder for an evolving set of impressions on this lens. I've spent more time looking at it and thinking about it than actually shooting with it so far. I'll save those observations for my first big post. I did take advantage of the beautiful day and went on the deck to do some bird shooting. Since I'm selling my D7100 and have the D500 on order I did the unusual and stuck it on my D750, locked the lens at 600mm (yes, you can lock at certain specific focal lengths - a great feature), set it on Manual at 1/1600s and f6.3 (wide open) with Auto ISO, and shot handheld - my "worst case scenario" test.
The weight takes some real getting used to. The zoom ring is in the Canon direction (i.e. the "wrong" way), which also messes with me (I forget if the 150-500mm is the same way). It's about 20% longer than the 150-500mm and contemporary version, and a little front heavy, so it's not an extremely comfortable lens handheld, but with the lock feature you can put your left arm beyond the zoom ring and not worry about changing zoom settings (though enough pressure and it unlocks as it's supposed to, and you can push/pull zoom). I've done nothing yet in terms of focus calibration, I just simply stuck it on the body. Focus locks quickly and accurately, and focus tracking is terrific. Image Stabilization seems very slightly less effective than with the 150-500 (some of that may just be me not used to the length and weight), but it also doesn't give me a huge CLUNK when it turns on and off.
Long story short, it's the IQ that I bought this thing for, and it delivers in spades. I'll give you one teaser, the 4th image in a continuous shooting burst, cropped and light adjusted, but no sharpening or clarity added - wide open at 600mm...
The weight takes some real getting used to. The zoom ring is in the Canon direction (i.e. the "wrong" way), which also messes with me (I forget if the 150-500mm is the same way). It's about 20% longer than the 150-500mm and contemporary version, and a little front heavy, so it's not an extremely comfortable lens handheld, but with the lock feature you can put your left arm beyond the zoom ring and not worry about changing zoom settings (though enough pressure and it unlocks as it's supposed to, and you can push/pull zoom). I've done nothing yet in terms of focus calibration, I just simply stuck it on the body. Focus locks quickly and accurately, and focus tracking is terrific. Image Stabilization seems very slightly less effective than with the 150-500 (some of that may just be me not used to the length and weight), but it also doesn't give me a huge CLUNK when it turns on and off.
Long story short, it's the IQ that I bought this thing for, and it delivers in spades. I'll give you one teaser, the 4th image in a continuous shooting burst, cropped and light adjusted, but no sharpening or clarity added - wide open at 600mm...