A6400/FE200600G Budget wildlife combo

[fuwen]

My recent bird photography started with A7R2 and the very sharp G Master 100-400/4.5-5/6 zoom. Reach is still the key factor for bird photography for me, so next I go for the 200-600/5.6-6.3 G lens.

The surprising part of the Sony 200-600 is the price 😀. Sony made it a non-G Master, and therefore the price is cheaper than the 100-400. So bird photography with a 600mm lens becomes much affordable, compared to the out of reach to most people the G Masters 400/2.8 and the 600/4. Maybe I will get the 600/4 one day, but certainly not now.

Next come to the auto focus speed and capability of the A7R2. Although manual focus is still more effective in some situations, auto focus no doubt is a very important capability for bird photography. The A7R2 is probably too ‘old’ in terms of speed, so I look at the A6400.
A9 will definitely do the job, but I like high megapix. A7R4 with 61 megapix will also likely do the job, but I not willing to invest few thousands on the R4 when my A7R1 and R2 are still working fine. Then the budget A6400 comes into the picture. For A6400, I get the latest (though not the fastest) AF technology from Sony, and for the reach I use full frame at APS-C mode anyway so the A6400 and the 200-600 pair up so nicely for what I want, at reasonable price!!

The new Sony Bluetooth remote RMT-P1BT is really handy and easy to use as no line-of-sight issues like the IR remote.

http://www.fuwen.net/index.php/home/my-digitals/alpha6400/153-alpha6400-fe200600

 

[fuwen]

So there it goes, that I took thousands of shots with the A6400/G200600 compo at one of the nature reserves in land scarce Singapore, the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.
https://www.nparks.gov.sg/gardens-p...-nature-reserves/sungei-buloh-wetland-reserve

Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve is located in the North of Singapore. It is a world filled with rich biodiversity throughout the year with its native inhabitants like mudskippers, crabs, shellfish, water snakes, monitor lizards, otters. Also there are a variety of resident birds like herons, kingfishers and sunbirds, plus the seasonal migrants from September of current year to March the next year. The Reserve now has a new park and the old park. I prefer the new park for along the shore line wildlife and scenery, especially the white-bellied sea eagles, and prefer the old park for crocodiles, kingfishers, herons and egrets. The A6400 and FE 200-600 compo prove very useful and handy for me to capture birds in these parks.

 

[fuwen]

The old park .....

Stork-billed Kingfisher, f9 1/500 @541mm, ISO 1250, 16 Nov 2019.

 

[fuwen]

Collared Kingfisher, f8 1/4000 @600mm, ISO 1250, 27 Dec 2019.

 

[fuwen]

Otters, the SBWR family, f6.3 1/4000 @400mm, ISO 1000, 27 Dec 2019.

 

[fuwen]

Flying Whimbrels, f8 1/1600 @600mm, ISO 800, 12 Dec 2019.

 

[fuwen]

Milky Storks, f8 1/2500 @600mm, ISO 800, 27 Dec 2019.

 

[fuwen]

Oriental Pied Hornbill, f8 1/500 @600mm, ISO 800, 16 Nov 2019.

 

[fuwen]

The new park .....

Little Egret, f6.3 1/2000 @600mm, ISO 800, 29 Feb 2020.

 

[fuwen]

Striated Heron, f6.3 1/1600 @600mm, ISO1250, 26 Jan 2020.

 

[fuwen]

White-bellied Sea Eagles, f6.3 1/800 @600mm, ISO 800, 26 Jan 2020.

All the wildlife photos taken with Manfrotto MT190CXPRO3 with BHQ2 ball head.

 

[pyeh]

That's wonderful, Fuwen, to see Singapore wildlife. Thank you very much.

 

[fuwen]

That's wonderful, Fuwen, to see Singapore wildlife. Thank you very much.

I assume you are in Australia, where wildlife will be so much more interesting than here. Nevertheless we will make do with what we have if we search hard enough for wildlife in Singapore, but have not been able to use the compo after the locked down (we call 'circuit breaker' here in Singapore). Sad.

 

[fuwen]

And really, alpha 6400 with FE 200-600 G is very affordable as a set up for wild life photography (especially for birds where reach is the key). a6400 is very affordable. FE200600 Sony kind enough to make it a G and not GM. The next Sony option at 600mm is almost 10x more.

Not sure why Sony does not market the a6400 as a wildlife camera.

 

[pyeh]

I am indeed in Australia. In Sydney in fact. The wildlife you've photographed and mentioned as well is plenty interesting to me, even though Australia has amazing unique animals.
Singapore's circuit breaker protocol sounds very similar to what we've been enduring here for a month now, although there are some detail differences, like here we don't have to wear face masks when we go out. The latest conversation here is about tracking apps, which the federal government wants to introduce in a week or so. Many people are apprehensive. I read that the takeup in Singapore is 20%, which makes the app unuseful.