In this episode of WTF Stop and Jeff and Angie Photography, photographer Angie Birmingham shares a field experiment she conducted in Colorado while shooting big mule deer. Sony provided her with a 400mm f/2.8 lens, which she tested alongside her existing 600mm f/4 lens, each mounted on a Sony A1 body and paired with teleconverters (1.4x and 2x). She shot both lenses wide open at various apertures (f/4, f/5.6, f/6.3, f/8) to compare low‑light performance, reach, and sharpness. The video presents side‑by‑side image samples and a short clip of her shooting, with all RAW files available for download. Angie notes the 400mm f/2.8 excels in low‑light situations, while the 600mm f/4 offers greater reach, which she prefers for birding. She discusses practical considerations such as required light, subject distance, and minimal post‑processing, aiming to help viewers decide which lens better fits their needs.
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Hello and welcome to another episode of WTF Stop and Jeff and Angie Photography. This week I am going to go over the results of Um, that I got from a little experiment I did while I was in Colorado shooting the big mule deer. Sony had sent me a 400mm f/2.8 to use on this trip, so I went ahead and decided to do a little experiment. The lens was sent to me by Sony because I'm part of the Sony Pro And when I put in a request up to 30 days ahead of time, you can get different gear to try out before you buy it. And I'm really hoping that Santa Claus brings me the 400mm f/2.8 lens because my hand feels a little lonely right now because all I got is the 600mm. I need the 400mm. Here, so I can be 2 Prime Angie, the 600 and the 400. Wouldn't that be awesome? Anyhow, so the experiment I did was typically in the evening when we'd go out for the evening shoot when it was fairly good light. I would put the, the 1.4 on one camera and the 2x extender on the other camera and And I would take pictures that day or that afternoon with each of the lenses, the 400 and the 600. Both lenses, I've put both teleconverters on it, and I have images that I'm going to share with you throughout this video, and also a little short video clip of me shooting with both lenses. But That I really, really enjoyed doing. I really like both of the lenses. The 2.8 is really nice to have in the low-light situations for early morning and late night, but the 600 is really nice to have for the reach. So, you know, the age-old question is, which one do you buy? Hopefully these pictures will help you make a decision. I chose the 600 because I shoot a lot of little birds, and the little birds need all the magnification they can get. So anyhow, each one of the cameras— or I'm sorry, each one of the lenses— I had a Sony A1 on both lenses, and I would set both cameras at the same aperture. And I shot them both wide open, so at f/5.6, f/4, just so that it would give you an idea of what the lens potential is at wide open. A lot of times it's better if you don't shoot them wide open, like maybe one stop closed. But I shot them wide open just to get an idea of what it would be like. So anyhow, let's jump into the video— or not video, really just a slideshow of some images— and see what they have to offer. These images are taken with the 400mm f/2.8 lens, which gives you 560mm at f/4. So when looking at these images, keep in mind that they're not taken for composition or anything like that. They are just to record what the lens will do with these extenders on them. And all of these images are available for download in raw image. Um, the link is down below in the description. So you can feel free to pixel peep till your little heart is content. Okay, so this next section is the 400 with the 2x extender, which takes it to 800mm at f/5.6. And the second image here is actually at f/6.3. I opened it up just a smidgen for this one. So don't forget to Like, subscribe, and ring my bell so you will get notified the next time I do a video. So this next set is with the 600mm f/4 with the 1.4x teleconverter on it. So that takes the lens to 840mm at aperture f/5.6. This seems to be a really good setup. Images appear to be sharp as long as you've got plenty of light. Keep in mind that all these images are straight out of my camera. I did very minimal editing Basically, I went from RAW to JPEG, and they are available for download in the RAW form through the link in the description below. So next up, we got the 600mm with the 2x teleconverter on it. That makes it 1,200mm at f/8. Yes, you do need lots of light for this, and you also need your subjects to be a little further away so you can get the whole subject in the frame. Jury's still out on this one. I haven't decided if I like this pair yet.
