. . . on me . . .

On the road there’s little time to pixel-peep. When light and critters are abundant, I just shoot until the weather changes, the light changes, the critters go home, or I drop.

Now with some downtime, it’s a bit easier to see where improvments (and changes) can be made. After putting almost certain blame on the camera yesterday, I shot it again today with the 1.4X attached instead of the 2X.

Yes, I can still see noise in the details, but now at least I can see details! Turns out the 2X teleconverter was 90% of the problem. The sharp salesman who sold me the combo was exactly right. The difference is so stark that even with a third less reach, I’d do better to extrapolate the shots taken with the 1.4X than to shoot with the 2X.

But it leads to another issue. At 280mm, even with the added relative reach of the a7rV sensor, the combo is too short for most situations. That means the 70-200mm will probably get ditched sooner or later.

But what to replace it with? I’m already addicted to the internal zoom, which leaves the 200-600mm G as the only alternative. Or, if rumors are correct, maybe Sony’ll bring a new zoom in the coming year? At least a refresh of the 100-400mm GM is overdue, but I suspect Sony won’t be able to resist introducing a product that’s a direct competitor to a Canon product.

Until then, the best I can do is hope for some trusting critters!

a7rV/70-200mm f2.8 GM II/1.4X . . .

a7rV/70-200mm GM II/1.4X . . .