Angie Birmingham tests whether Sony's 300mm f/2.8 with 1.4× and 2× teleconverters can replace the native 400mm f/2.8 and 600mm f/4 lenses. The 300mm plus converters costs $7,995 versus $11,998 and $12,998 for the native lenses, and weighs significantly less, though each converter costs one stop of light. Side-by-side shots of birds and a dog show the converters deliver acceptably sharp images with slightly less bokeh.
There's a lot of talk online about teleconverters. The idea is to give photographers the versatility and unbelievable range when adding the 1.4x and the 2x teleconverters to their lenses. The idea is to capture subjects with incredible detail, but do they deliver? Today we will focus on prime lenses only, and today my main focus is the, the new Sony 300mm f/2.8 lens, adding both the 1.4x and the 2x teleconverter.
So, teleconverter.
Our goal today is to see how those images compare to the big, to the big brother lenses, the 400mm f/2.8 and the 600mm f/4. And in the end, it's all about images. So let's have a look and see, and you can be the judge on whether the teleconverters with the 300 is a good way to save money, or if you're just gonna go ahead and get the 400 or the 600. So let's go ahead and take a look at some images, and I'll let you be the judge. First thing I need to mention is that all 3 lenses are incredibly sharp and offer incredible bokeh without a teleconverter on them. And if you're interested in how the 400 and the 600 performed with teleconverters, I'll put the link below so you can watch that video after you watch this one. Let's start with a side-by-side comparison of the 300 with the 1.4 teleconverter Which will make that an f/4 at 420mm, and we're going to put that up against the 400mm at f/2.8. And then we're going to add the 2x teleconverter to the 300mm, which makes the 300mm a 600mm at f/5.6, and we're going to put that up against the 600mm at f/4. These images will be of my dog Bailey. She will be our model, and I'm going to put her at the same distance from the background from for every shot so you can compare the bokeh and the details of each image. I will share a link below where you can download those images, the raw images, so you can take a look at them for yourself and you can pixel peep until your heart is content. And all the images will be taken at wide-open apertures, which means that the aperture or f-stop will be the largest possible. So we'll be letting in the most light and getting the shallowest depth of field and maximizing our bokeh. So let's go ahead and head outside and let's go take some images of my darling pooch. The images here, this one, what do you think it was taken with? You didn't know you were gonna have a quiz today, did you? So I'm gonna quiz you on each one, and then afterwards I will have the lens that was used so you can see if you were right. So that was taken with the 400 at f/2.8. What about this one? What do you think? I have a tip. They're not in order. 300 with 2x teleconverter. 600 f/5.6. And this one, what do you think? I know she's darn cute. That was the 600mm lens. And I will have the link below to all these images, the raw images. Actually, I converted them to DNGs so everybody's computer is compatible since they're A9III. Just want to make a mention that if you like the audio in this video, it was all done with Audio Pro, and there's a link below and you can actually get 70% off your your first year of Pro membership with them. Just click the link and use the code below and you can get 70% off. So let's jump on into my real-world image comparison. These were all taken at the Jones Ranch during my photography workshop in April for spring migration. You should join me next year. All right, let's take a look at these images.
300mm with 1.4x teleconverter. Start off here with a beautiful northern cardinal. Notice how tack sharp he is. Here's another cardinal in the water. And we got a mourning dove. Nice beautiful breeding plumage. And here we got a wild turkey. These are all taken with the 1.4, so it's 420mm f/4. Shutter and ISO varies. So here, let's jump on into the 2x teleconverter. All these are taken at 600mm f/5.6, and the ISO and shutter varies on these as well. So I find all these images are Definitely acceptably sharp. This one here is really sharp. And here we got a nice turkey, and she's getting framed out by a cactus there. So let's jump on over to the 400 teleconverter, or 400 lens without the teleconverter. And these here are taken at f/2.8, so they're wide open. Shutter and ISO did vary depending on the image. I find that the 400, I mean, it does offer a little bit better bokeh in some situations, but others it's quite similar. Most of the time you don't even notice it. And here is the 600mm f/4 with no teleconverters.
We got—
had a little session here with some egrets, and all these are taken at 600mm f/4, and the shutter speed was quite high on this. It was in the middle of the day, and these 2 broke out in a fight. All right, so let's jump on over to some specs.
After reviewing all those images and doing the side-by-side comparison, let me know what your thoughts are in the comments below and I will reply to them. And so let's Let's go ahead and dive into a few of the specs that stood out to me and the cost difference between the 3 options. I'm not going to go into great detail on the specs. I'll also have links below to the A9 III and to the 300, the 400, the 600, and each one of the teleconverters so you can take a look at those. And if you decide to purchase any of those things, I would greatly appreciate it if you use my link. I get a little bit of money back from B&H when you purchase at— cost you— doesn't cost you any more, doesn't cost you any less. It just gets me a little bonus in the end. All right, so let's go ahead and let's just take a look here. So the 300mm lens by itself runs $5,995, and then if you add each of the teleconverters at $548 each, you're looking at $7,995. $91 plus tax to have a 300, a 400, and a 600. Not a bad deal in my opinion. The 400 lens f/2.8 comes in at $11,998 plus tax unless you use your Payboo card. And the The 600mm f/4, which I can tell you right now, this is my favorite lens for birding. This one comes in at $12,998. So let's go ahead and jump on over to some specs and see what the differences are. Okay, so we've got, of course, the 300 is f/2.8, 400 is f/2.8, and the 600 is f/4. So if you add the teleconverter to the 300, you get f/4 at 400, and you get f/5.6. So you are losing One stop of light at each one of the teleconverters. And the biggest difference that made a huge difference for me is the weight. So the weight of the 300 comes in at 3.24 pounds, and you add the teleconverter, uh, 2x teleconverter to that And you're at 3.7 pounds. And if you use the 1.4x teleconverter, it's going to be a little bit less because that 1.4x teleconverter weighs just a little bit less. So that's nearly half the weight of these, of the 400 and the 600, not to mention the compactness and easy to travel with. Those were the specs that really stood out to me. Another thing was the, the focus distance. The minimum focus distance on the 300 was 6.6 feet versus 8.6 on the 300 and 14.8 on the 600. But other than that, that's pretty much the only huge differences is the price and the weight. Right, well, thank you for watching my video, and if you want to watch that 400 and 600-watt teleconverters, it's right here. Don't forget to hit that like button, subscribe, and ring my bell so you'll get notified the next time I post a video. See you next time. Bye.
