Left Canon for Sony+Nikon

In 1973 I bought a Canon F-1 and a 500 mm FL-F lens and I was in heaven.  In the following years I bought many Canon bodies and lenses including almost all of the great whites at one time or another.  It was good, solid gear and I had few complaints through the years.  

A couple of years ago I added the Sony A7rII to my bag, adapting my Canon lenses, at least the shorter ones to the Sony. I switched because I lusted after that Sony sensor but also found I liked the way mirrorless performed, it was just a different experience and I liked it.

Late last year I decided to switch to Sony for everything 400 mm and below--3rd party 15mm, Sony 24-105 and Sony 100-400 plus 1.4 and a new A7r III.  I found a ready market and sold all of my Canons for which I got fair prices but didn't hold out for top dollar and sold it all immediately.  

I had initially decided to keep my Canon 500mm IS II and one body but couldn't make up my mind which body to keep.  I loved the file size of the 5Dsr, the all-around usability of the 5DIV and the speed of the 7D II but each choice entailed a compromise.  While researching Nikon 500 mm lenses for a friend I discovered I could sell my 500 and whichever Canon body and pick up a Nikon D850 and 500mm lens at virtually no cost.  I found a very good Nikon 500G which I chose over the the fine Sigma 500 because it was $1500 cheaper and I don't use long telephotos nearly as much as I used to.  The D850 seems to give me what I want without many compromises.

It's likely I suppose that Canon will come out with a great new line of cameras but hey, I'm 71 and shooting as actively as ever and a year in that context is a long time so whatever Canon does, I'm content with my decisions.  As a footnote, the D850 and Sony 24-105 were hard to find but I got them both at list price from Bozeman Camera, Bozeman, MT.  I have no affiliation with them but their service was excellent.  That's where I picked up the used 500mm Nikkor as well.

Hi Pat.

Congratulations and good luck with the new gear.

Best Regards,

Roman

Thanks Roman, now I'm trying to figure out how to set it up.

The D850 does make a compelling argument for Nikon. Congrats on the dark side!

Me too.

I've quite enjoyed my journey from Canon to Sony. It took me over 7 yrs beginning with the Nex5, winding through the various A 7 series. Finally have settled with the A9 for action and A7RIII for everything else. I've sold all my Canon bodies over the past year, the lenses are slowly leaving the house.

I was in Texas last week on a bird photography workshop. For the first time tried out the A9 with the 100-400 using 'wide' zone focus for BIF. Incredible is the word! Never failed to latch on to the bird(s), and most of the time kept a focus lock even when a tree stump came in between. It was uncanny. These were hawks and cara-caras flying quite fast, sometimes one chasing the other for a piece of meat.

I sold my Canon 600MkII a couple of years ago and thought I would miss it a lot. I do sometimes wish I had a lighter version of it, but then I saw my photo buddy struggling with his Nikon 600 on this trip - often saying he had 'too much lens' on the bird or complaining bitterly during the long walks through airports when he had to haul all his gear!

I had only two lenses - the 100-400GM and the 70-200 f2.8 GM. I often shot with both systems mounted on adjacent tripods - the 70-200 on the A7RIII and the 100-400 on the A9. I found the A7RIII files were amazingly detailed and I could crop into the frame so that in the end the 200mm shots were just as good as the A9 at say 320mm or so.

What was even more delightful for me was the confirmation (had never really tested this lens so thoroughly) that the Sony 100-400 GM is indeed stellar. Wide open it is sharper than my Canon MkII used to be. Combined with the A9, it is indeed a very good wildlife/birding (albeit with larger birds) system.

I've predicted to the tour leader and  my long-time photo buddy (who is a die-hard Nikon fan) that they  will both  have switched to  "all Sony gear" in 3 years

Pradeep

OH6Primus wrote:Me too.

I've quite enjoyed my journey from Canon to Sony. It took me over 7 yrs beginning with the Nex5, winding through the various A 7 series. Finally have settled with the A9 for action and A7RIII for everything else. I've sold all my Canon bodies over the past year, the lenses are slowly leaving the house.

I was in Texas last week on a bird photography workshop. For the first time tried out the A9 with the 100-400 using 'wide' zone focus for BIF. Incredible is the word! Never failed to latch on to the bird(s), and most of the time kept a focus lock even when a tree stump came in between. It was uncanny. These were hawks and cara-caras flying quite fast, sometimes one chasing the other for a piece of meat.

I sold my Canon 600MkII a couple of years ago and thought I would miss it a lot. I do sometimes wish I had a lighter version of it, but then I saw my photo buddy struggling with his Nikon 600 on this trip - often saying he had 'too much lens' on the bird or complaining bitterly during the long walks through airports when he had to haul all his gear!

I had only two lenses - the 100-400GM and the 70-200 f2.8 GM. I often shot with both systems mounted on adjacent tripods - the 70-200 on the A7RIII and the 100-400 on the A9. I found the A7RIII files were amazingly detailed and I could crop into the frame so that in the end the 200mm shots were just as good as the A9 at say 320mm or so.

What was even more delightful for me was the confirmation (had never really tested this lens so thoroughly) that the Sony 100-400 GM is indeed stellar. Wide open it is sharper than my Canon MkII used to be. Combined with the A9, it is indeed a very good wildlife/birding (albeit with larger birds) system.

I've predicted to the tour leader and  my long-time photo buddy (who is a die-hard Nikon fan) that they  will both  have switched to  "all Sony gear" in 3 years

Pradeep

i also use Sony exclusively now...A7RIII and A9 also with the 100-400 with and without 1.4 converter. I love it a lot but do miss a longer focal length. I use the Sigma 150-600S with MC11 but , as can be expected, it is slow. I know a Sony 400F2.8 is expected but for me too short and most likely out if my budget. So don’t you miss longer focal length at all? 

rene wrote:

OH6Primus wrote:Me too.

I've quite enjoyed my journey from Canon to Sony. It took me over 7 yrs beginning with the Nex5, winding through the various A 7 series. Finally have settled with the A9 for action and A7RIII for everything else. I've sold all my Canon bodies over the past year, the lenses are slowly leaving the house.

I was in Texas last week on a bird photography workshop. For the first time tried out the A9 with the 100-400 using 'wide' zone focus for BIF. Incredible is the word! Never failed to latch on to the bird(s), and most of the time kept a focus lock even when a tree stump came in between. It was uncanny. These were hawks and cara-caras flying quite fast, sometimes one chasing the other for a piece of meat.

I sold my Canon 600MkII a couple of years ago and thought I would miss it a lot. I do sometimes wish I had a lighter version of it, but then I saw my photo buddy struggling with his Nikon 600 on this trip - often saying he had 'too much lens' on the bird or complaining bitterly during the long walks through airports when he had to haul all his gear!

I had only two lenses - the 100-400GM and the 70-200 f2.8 GM. I often shot with both systems mounted on adjacent tripods - the 70-200 on the A7RIII and the 100-400 on the A9. I found the A7RIII files were amazingly detailed and I could crop into the frame so that in the end the 200mm shots were just as good as the A9 at say 320mm or so.

What was even more delightful for me was the confirmation (had never really tested this lens so thoroughly) that the Sony 100-400 GM is indeed stellar. Wide open it is sharper than my Canon MkII used to be. Combined with the A9, it is indeed a very good wildlife/birding (albeit with larger birds) system.

I've predicted to the tour leader and  my long-time photo buddy (who is a die-hard Nikon fan) that they  will both  have switched to  "all Sony gear" in 3 years

Pradeep

i also use Sony exclusively now...A7RIII and A9 also with the 100-400 with and without 1.4 converter. I love it a lot but do miss a longer focal length. I use the Sigma 150-600S with MC11 but , as can be expected, it is slow. I know a Sony 400F2.8 is expected but for me too short and most likely out if my budget. So don’t you miss longer focal length at all? 

I tried out the 1.4X and while the Sony is better than the Canon (lighter and smaller too), I found that if I can use the A7R3 to take the shot, the final result with cropping is more pleasing to me than say using the A9 with the 1.4x. 

I do miss the creamy bokeh of the 600 with the 'bird on a stick' photo that has somehow become so 'boring' for so many here. I love those kind of images, it is almost a painting when done right. I can get close to that by shooting wide open with the 100-400, keeping the background as far as possible and cropping tight, but it is still not quite the same. However, I don't miss the long lenses for my main passion which is wildlife - mammals and such. On trips to Africa, it is so much easier to take the smaller, lighter gear and 400mm is actually quite enough. Perhaps adding the 1.4X would be useful, if needed. 

On a trip to Namibia last year, I managed some great shots with my A9 and the 70-200GM as the birds (pelicans and gulls fishing near our boat) were quite big in the frame. The 100-400 had not yet been released, will be interesting to see how it performs in the future.

If Sony somehow makes magic and comes up with a really light 500 or 600 I would seriously consider getting it for special needs, but I doubt it will happen. For me too, the 400 2.8 would not be the right choice. If I am not mistaken, in the Canon line-up, their version is one of the heaviest lenses they have, don't think Sony would be any different. I am quite happy with my 100-400. If they come up with a 400 fixed f4 that is light weight and sharp, I may go for it.

Pradeep

For those wanting or needing a longer focal length for their A9 or A7RIII, one possibility to consider is Sigma's 500/4 and the MC11 converter. I recently saw a video by a Sony Artisan of Imagery (Patrick Racey Murphy) who used that combination on an A9 to photograph a college football bowl game. He was quite impressed with its performance. Not quite as good as a native FE mount lens, such as the 100-400, but highly usable for tracking football players in not great lighting at a night game. While the 1.4x converter works, and apparently is quite decent optically, it will not track focus in continuous focus mode. You can find a link to his video at sonyalpharumors.com.

Another option is to get a Sony A-mount lens and use it with the LAE3 adapter (or whatever the model name is). Note that this will work only with A-mount lenses with SSM focusing (in lens), not the older screw-drive A-mount lenses which require a different adapter that has a built-in AF module. I tried both Sony's 500/4 (outrageously expensive new) and 300/2.8 (also expensive, but available used) on an A7RIII at PhotoPlus last fall and was fairly impressed. While that's not real-world shooting experience, I have no reason to think that performance in the field would not be quite good (maybe not up to native FE mount performance, but still quite good). Note that this applies for the A9 and A7RIII. Performance on the A7RII likely would not be as good.

Also, in addition to the announced Sony 400/2.8, there are rumors of a 200-500/600 lens which may or may not come true (one would think it will given the way Sony has targeted the A9). One also could try the Tamron 150-600 G2 in Sony A-mount using the aforementioned LAE3 adapter. Sigma's contemporary version of this lens in A-mount, or either of its 150-600 lenses (contemporary or sport) in Canon or Sigma mount with the aforementioned MC11 converter. No idea how well they would work, but they are possible options/alternatives for more reach than the FE 100-400 provides.