I have not posted in a while. Not have much call to take photos while in the middle of a pandemic. However, things are looking up and I have been able to shoot a number of shows recently. I still use the Sony α7 III, with a Canon 24-105 f4 lens nailed to it via a Sigma MC-11 adaptor. It all works well in the majority of cases, but in low light situations, the setup can hunt for focus and may not find the eye of the performer and choose just the face instead.
So time for an upgrade I thought and this time let’s go for a Sony FE 24-105mm F4 G OSS Lens. This is a direct replacement for the Canon 24-105 f4 and does not require the adaptor to function as it is a native Sony lens. After having a chat with London Camera Exchange (where I bought the lens), I walked down to the site of Cleopatras Needle on the north bank of the Thames to take a few pictures and test out the new lens.
The weight is of this lens is 4g lighter than the Canon equivalent and the focus is fast and the motor noise was virtually non-existent. Build quality is excellent. and feels sturdy. There is a button on the side of the lens barrel which can be set to do a number of functions. I pressed it in the hope that someone would bring me a cup of tea, then I recalled the button was for camera functions only. I reluctantly set it to help me quickly adjust the ISO range.
The barrel of the lens is thinner towards the base where it attaches to the body of the camera, there is a lot of space so your fingers do not get squashed. It is also dust and moisture resistant too, not that I would have dipped it in the Thames after rubbing it around in a hoover bag to find out though, I will stick to taking photos.
So below you can see a set of photos taken with the new lens. You can tap/click on each one to see the full version and the next is the 100% zoom on the image. The quality and sharpness are excellent, I did have lens correction enabled in the camera body so did not experience any distortion but I can see a softening in detail towards the edges of the frame.
The one thing I immediately noticed about the Sony versus the Canon is the direction of the zoom ring. It is reversed! I will get used to this over time but while shooting a show for the first time with this lens, I had to keep correcting myself as I would zoom in when I wanted to zoom out and vice versa. I did notice, however, that this lens would pick out the eye of a performer in low light conditions much better than the Canon on an adaptor. This of course would give me many more shots to choose from to send to the client.
At the end of the day I am happy with this lens as it is a native Sony made lens on a Sony body, very fast silent auto focus, lighter weight and does not need an adaptor…does this spell the end of the Canon kit?