Customer Reviews

Sony SAL70400G 70-400mm f/4-5.6 G SSM Lens

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
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I have owned this lens for nearly a year and use it mainly for shooting landscapes, wildlife and birding. I love the 70-400mm range. I use with both an A300 and A700 camera. There is a definite performance difference between the two camera bodies. The lens is much more responsive on the A700 for moving subjects (try panning a bird going by at 30 mph with quick changes in vertical pitch). Focus is not an issue if I obtain focus on the subject zoomed out and then move in. You cannot get quick focus on a different moving subject when zoomed in. The picture quality is very good with sharpness, color and boken. I believe that most of my missed shots with the lens are my fault. The photographer's skills in using equipment is far more important than specific features of the equipment anyway.

I use a monopod but have good results shooting from the hip so to speak by holding the lens body with only my hands. I was in Yellowstone National Park recently and a person walked up to me and asked me how I could use the lens without a tripod and the answer is because it is attached to a Sony body. The Sony Super Steady image stabilization system works great.

Since I use the lens outside so much, including the winter months, I do not like the silver finish because it is not durable. I would rather have a durable black finish than could take a few bumps without incidents and so wildlife cannot spot me easily. I am very unhappy that the lens does not have a lens lock. I use a holster type bag that I modified myself so the I can protect the lens between shots while keeping the lens hood attached. As I lift the camera out of the bag vertically is a pain since the lens will extend due to gravity.

Overall, I have taken some wonderful pictures with this lens and will use it as long as I have a desire to capture moments among God's beautiful creations.

Update: I have used this lens for another year and remain very pleased. I use a Sony a55 with a Zeiss 16-80mm and this lens with a Sony a700. With this combination I am completely covered for any focal distance. The color, contrast and sharpness is great. I do not mind carrying all of this around because the IQ is worth it. This lens makes either of these camera bodies shine when a long focal length is required. The 70-400mm G autofocus works fine with the Sony a55. Sony image stabilization rocks. I can go to 1/10 sec handheld (when needed) and still get sharp pictures. I only use a tripod for night pictures.

I have been using this lens for the past three weeks. Mostly to shoot local league Rugby, Soccer, and Baseball. Let me say up front, if you do not have a monopod get one now. The total weight of a A700 and this lens is about 4.5 pounds. If you include the A700 grip you are lugging around about 6 pounds of gear. For the images you get its is well worth it the weight. For the bang for the buck this has got to be the best Sony lens out there. With the 1.5x crop factor on most of the Sony DLSR's (only the A900 is full frame) this becomes an effective 105-600mm zoom. It's used mostly at the 400mm (equivalent) setting and my shots are tack sharp even wide open. Since I use this mostly for sports I keep the camera is in shutter priority setting, usually at 1/1000 or 1/800 of a second. Focusing seems a bit faster with the built in SSM as opposed to the screw drive on the other lenses but not much different. Because the SSM uses a bit of battery power you will experience fewer shots per charge. The only negative about this lens is that when zoomed the lens does extend quite a bit. I had hoped that it's length remained the same throughout the zoom range as my Tamron 70-200 F2.8 does. But this is a small quibble when you factor in the image resolution and very fair price for a premium lens. Another plus, the silver finish really looks great. It really stands out nicely when I'm in the press box with the Canikon crowd.

Have owned many lenses of this focal length . Namely the Nikon 80-400mm, Canon 100-400mm , etc and I have to say the Sony is a fine lens . Fast and very quiet AF. Very sharp for a lens in this focal range.Build quality is top notch. The focus limiter is a great help when in low light as all these type lenses hunt a bit in difficult light.Some have a problem with the silver finish on the lens but I thought it looked cool plus is reflective which prevents the lens from getting too warm in sunshine.

positives:
Very sharp wide open throughout its range,
Fast and Silent Focusing with SSM,
Nice Colors,
Build quality

negatives:
None realy, though for some weight could be an issue.
High cost, but you get what you pay for.
Bokeh is not as smooth at times at the long end.
SSM tends to drain the battery faster I have noticed.

compared to:
Sony 70-300G
Sigma 100-300 f4 EX DG

I decided to take the plunge with this lens and see what all the fuss was about. I definitely found out. Wow! I love this lens and it stays mounted on my camera unless I need a wide shot.
It is sharp throughout its range even wide open! I have found that I have a higher "keep" rate with my pictures as compared to the other two above mentioned lens. Both of them are about the same in terms of sharpness to me but this beauty is in another league. What an amazing lens! It even works with my Sigma 1.4TC EX DG non HSM in auto focus mode.
One draw back to this lens is the bokeh is not as pleasing as the Sigma. It is also not as fast as the Sigma.
If you can afford it you will not be disappointed.

For some reasons I didn't trust Sony's lenses until I used this one (psychologically I was unable to connect Sony to photography like I could for Minolta Konica). I bought the A700 camera just because it's rooted in Minolta Konica engineering (and because I can use my existing Minolta lenses without buying more lenses).

But, Sony took photography technology more seriously than I thought. I am very please with the A700 camera, now I'm very please with this lense.

Sharpness: normally worst at max zoom. But at 400mm I took a picture of a bird about 30 feet away, the cropped image was as razor sharp as similar image was taken with a good 50mm lense 3 feet away.
Autofocus is really fast and quiet, it focused so fast and quiet that I thought it didn't do anything, but everything was always in focus as I spanned the camera around. Thanks to the SSM motor (SSM stands for SuperSonic Motor). Having the focusing motor in the lense can reduce the strain on the focusing motor residing in the camera body.

If I have to complain about this lense, it would be its weight. It's almost 4 lbs. Adding your camera's weight on top of that you can't hold your camera steadily for long ! You may want to take a monopod with you.

I use this lens with my A850 for casual birding and wildlife. (and soon I'm going to try it for sports).

Very good construction, hood is a little flimsy but it's probably to keep the weight down. Smooth zoom action for me with no zoom creep.

Images look very nice - I haven't had too much time to shoot with it, but so far I really like the lens - I have no problems shooting wide open throughout the zoom range, though if you can stop down to f/8 at 400mm it looks a bit better.

AF speed is okay - it's not blazing fast, but it's not too slow. AF limiter (3M - Infinity) helps a lot with speed, though sometimes if you miss focus, it still takes too long to rack back to minimum focus and then out again.

The color isn't as bad as I thought it would be - it's not as bling-bling shiny silver as it looks on the web - not a bad lens. Yes, it does extend quite a bit when you zoom out.

It also has a respectable 1:4 reproduction size, so you can use it fairly closely with flowers and whatnot to get semi-decent macro shots - very good bokeh on these occasions. Other times, without enough background seperation, some bokeh can look 'busy', but this is a common problem of the 400mm zooms.

Overall, a very nice lens and one of the reasons I moved from Nikon, as I didn't like their 80-400 lens offering (also, I needed pure MP to crop heavy for wildlife).
I've had a few 100% crops from my A850 and this lens that look awesome, though normally I don't crop that heavy.

This is a nice lens, a bit heavy but what would you expect for a lens like this. Fairly fast, excellent range and nice resolution. I'm going to try the converter and see what I get. Have some wild life in the air. Beautiful! Price was good. No tax yet, thanks california!

I love this lens. It is crystal clear, it has quiet and smooth auto focusing. The manual focus ring is at an optimal place on the lens. It is the heaviest lens I have ever owned and I am thinking about getting a monopod for my slower shots. I am using a Sony Alpha 700.

I received the Sony SAL70400G 70-400mm f/4-5.6 G SSM Lens (Black)on the scheduled day, Its quality is undeniable, I own an Alpha 350 which is an APSC camera, this makes this lens a 105-600, And this is where I was surprised, 105 is very narrow. It is also heavy. In low light, I have had some focusing issues, it tends to get lost before finding it. I like shooting at the end of the day when the light is best, this lens requires a tripod or monopod in those circumstances. Using it for what it is intended, it produces very sharp pictures. I recommend it to bird lovers, it is also wonderfull for day events where you are distant to the subject, overall it is a great lens, now I cant wait to get me the 900 body to really show off its capabilities.

Optical outstanding for a 70-400 I believe no rival in any brand.

Build like a tank (Excellent)
Great overall performing lens, price, you get what you pay for.

Roland