What are the best long lens options on a Nex-7?

[Joachim57]

Hi,

I have a Nex-7 and the Nex zoom E-mount lens SEL18-200mm F3.5-6.3 and am very happy with the stills and video produced by the pairing. However, I found the zoom lacking in light and length when framing distant moving motives, such as wildlife shots.

Sony offers the LA-EA2 adapter which enables the use of Sony A-mount lenses on a NEX camera body. However,  A-mount lenses are built for Alpha DSLRs, which come with a SteadyShot function built into the camera body. The Nex-7 body does not offer this, but the SteadyShot function is built into selected E-mount lenses such as my zoom lens.

With the above in mind, would I still be able to produce good hand-held shots using an A-mount SAL70-400mm F4-5.6 G lens, a LA-EA2 adapter on my Nex-7 or would I end up with a bag full of out-of-focus garbage?

If not the A-mount SAL70-400mm, what are my best options for a longer (400mm or more) & brighter (F5.6 or better) zoom lens for the Nex-7?

I have tried to clarify this issue directly with Sony over the phone, but gave up after having been passed around a dozen departments and support functions for 60 minutes - NOBODY at Sony UK could even vaguely discuss the subject, let alone provide related professional advice - at some stage I was even directed back to the retailer ... but I haven't given up hope yet!

I attach some sample shots taken with the Nex-7 and 18-200mm lens during a recent trip to Guyana, which show the kit's ample abilities.

Message was edited by: joachimbiermann

[blaireau_photo]

Hello joachimbiermann - Welcome to the Sony Forums

A good starting point here would be to take a look at the official Sony page for NEX lenses (the E-Mount range) as this site categorises the available products by their intended usage. From here, you can get some ideas about the lenses available and then move on to other photography forums to see example shots taken by users who currently own the same lens (there are also some samples provided on the official site). The lens page is at http://www.sony.co.uk/hub/nex-compact-system-camera/nex-lenses.

The first thing that you will notice is that for the longer lenses, you will need to choose an A-Mount lens and then add the LA-EA2 adapter. There is no need to worry about the autofocus feature when using this adapter as it incorporates Continuous AF which should give you a comparable performance to having an NEX lens with the built in autofocus feature (more adapter information is here).

This just leaves the choice of lens and this is where you will want to concentrate your research. Looking at the Sony lenses, the one the with the greatest focal length is the SAL-70400G which will give you the features that you are looking for but the price may be discouraging! You may therefore wish to take a look at some of the other lenses on the A-Mount lens page. You may be able to use a teleconverter to increase the zoom by 1.4x or 2x but this will probably lead to the whole setup getting a little too bulky and also it would affect the autofocus performance as well (NEX camera + LA-EA2 + Teleconverter).

Thanks,

Simon

[cmosse]

please note that you can not use teleconverters with the LA-EA2 adapter.

I have used the combination NEX + adapter + SAL70400 once. Using it handheld is really a challege as a NEX body is much smaller than a DSLR/SLT and therefore it is not easy to hold this combination steady. Using at least a monopod is strongly recommended.

Sony currently onle offers the SAL70400 or the "shorter" 70300G SSM in that range. Therefore you might look at alternatives from 3rd party manufactures. E.g the Tamron SP AF 200-500mm F/5-6,3 Di LD [IF] or the

Sigma 150-500mm are good lenses for nature/wildlife photography. The Sigma is equipped with an optical steady shot but I am not sure if it work OK on the NEX when mounted with LAEA2.

You can read some reviews on following site. Dyxum.com is very useful for finding lens information and recommendations!

http://www.dyxum.com/lenses/Tamron-SP-AF-200-500-F5-6.3-Di-LD-IF_lens116.html

http://www.dyxum.com/lenses/Sigma-150-500mm-F5-6.3-DG-APO-HSM-OS_lens569.html

Michael

[Joachim57]

Hi Simon,

Thanks for trying to shed some light on the topic.

However, reading beyond my initial question you will notice that I already mentioned much of what is contained within your reply (e.g. LA-EA2 adapter and SAL-70400mm).

The main points of my post are:

a) can the Nex-7, LA-EA2 and SAL-70400mm combination produce good hand-held stills & videos?

b)  if the answer to a) is "NO", then what are my options using the Nex-7 body?

Thanks again,

Joachim

[Joachim57]

Hi Michael,

I found your reply very relevant and helpful and will follow the link provided.

I'd looked in some detail at both non-native lens options you mention, but had only found feedback for using them on full-sensor DSLRs like the Sony Alphas.

The Sigma seemed to be the most promising of the 2 lenses due to the built-in Optical Steady Shot (OSS) feature.

I also understand that the mm-values of full-sensor lenses would increase by 50% when mounted on a Nex body, e.g. the Sigma would behave like a 225-750mm lens, thus increasing the need for OSS working even further.

It would be great if more forum users with the same requirement would share their experiences here!

Many thanks!

Joachim

[Joachim57]

Hi all,

at Sony's Open Evening on 30th January I was able to take a good look at most longer Alpha lenses and speak to one of Sony's professional camera range experts, who organised the LA-EA2 adapter and the SAL-70400mm for a trial on my Nex-7.

Wow! The auto-focus was very fast and crisp, and hand-helds were acceptable without flash even at normal room lighting.

The lens was much heavier than I imagined but it's now a must have together with a gym membership ... lol.

Cheers,

Joachim

PS: The expert was unable to shed further light on Sony's roadmap for longer half frame lenses, however, he assured me that Sony was highly dedicated to the Nex and extending its range of lenses.

[Mick2011]

Hi Joachim

Just to reiterate what Michael already suggested: with any long telephoto lens you'll need some kind of tripod/monopod support to get good, sharp results, with or without OSS. The accepted wisdom is that optical stabilisers will only really 'give you a couple of stops' – that is, allow you to shoot as if using a much faster shutter speed, or at a given shutter, use a 2-3 stops wider aperture.

Once you get over 200mm or thereabouts it becomes less and less pracitcal to rely on fast shutter speeds. Even less so with moving subjects... and at 750mm it's pretty much essential. Without a tripod or monopod you'd have to shoot at progressively higher ISO, the longer the focal length, to overcome the handheld 'shakes', which might degrade your image almost as much as motion blur.

On the bright side, if you do invest in a good strudy tripod as well as the beefy new lens, there'll be no need to join a gym!

Hope you get it together soon - keep us informed...

Cheers

Mick