Sony FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS Review - Review 2022

Sony'southward total-frame mirrorless camera line has been bolstered by the addition of the a9 body, which shoots at an incredible 20fps rate, merely the organization is a little low-cal on telephoto lens options. The Atomic number 26 100-400mm F4.5-five.6 GM OSS ($2,499.99) enjoys status equally the lens with the longest reach in the family, and if you have enough light yous tin tighten its field of coverage further using a teleconverter. It's pricier than similar lenses for SLR systems, only backs information technology upwards with excellent image quality, a rock-solid build, and speedy autofocus.

Design

The FE 100-400mm ($ii,498.00 at Amazon) is part of the G Master lens series, a designation Sony gives to its top-finish lenses, designed to deliver splendid results on high-res image sensors, and to render out-of-focus areas with pleasing smoothness. It also means the lens is built tough—optics are housed in a gray metallic barrel so yous can feel comfortable shooting in rough atmospheric condition. The front end element is coated with fluorine, which helps to prevent oil and water from sticking to the glass—it's easy enough to wipe abroad fingerprints and rain drops.

Sony FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS : Sample Image

The lens itself measures eight.ane by 3.vii inches (HD) at its shortest 100mm position, simply extends when zoomed. Information technology weighs 3.1 pounds, a bit lighter than Catechism's EF 100-400mm f/4.5-v.6L IS Ii USM ($two,199.00 at Amazon) (3.6 pounds), and supports 77mm front filters. Sony includes a detachable tripod human foot, mounted to a rotating collar, and a reversible lens hood. The hood has a sliding cutout window, a plus if y'all want to adjust the position of a circular polarizing filter.

The manual focus band, covered in textured rubber for comfortable adjustment, sits right behind the front element. The zoom ring, with a similar finish, occupies a wider portion of the middle of the barrel and has markings at 100, 200, 300, and 400mm. In that location's a tension adjustment ring correct behind the zoom control—when gear up to its tighter position you tin all the same accommodate the zoom, and the front element won't creep out when the lens faces downwards. At the looser setting the zoom activity is easier, but lens creep is an issue.

Sony FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS : Sample Image

In that location are iii focus agree buttons—at the 12, iii, and 6 o'clock positions—in the space between the focus and zoom rings. Holding any of them will prevent autofocus from activating when you take a photo, a expert option if you lot want to override it for a unmarried shot. There an AF/MF toggle switch if you want to set up the focus manner for a longer series of images, along with a focus limiter that allows for the lens to hunt beyond its full range or only from 9.8 feet (three meters) to infinity.

The in-lens stabilization system tin be turned on or off with another toggle switch, and can be set to Mode i, for shots when you're not moving the camera, or Style 2, for situations where you're panning to follow a subject. Optical Steady Shot works in conjunction with in-trunk stabilization if your camera supports it. The system works well, especially in conunction with recent Sony bodies with in-torso stabilization—handheld video at 400mm, captured from a sitting position, is not at all jittery.

Sony FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS : Sample Image

The focus limiter speeds focus if you lot know you'll be shooting distant subjects only. But the focus motor is quite fast—even without the limiter enabled, the lens had no problems keeping up with the 20fps maximum capture rate of the a9 when photographing subjects running toward the camera.

The 100-400mm doubles as a near macro lens. At its maximum zoom and minimum 3.2-foot (0.98-meter) focus distance, information technology projects objects onto an image sensor at 1:2.85 life-size. Nosotros experience comfortable calling a zoom a macro if it's ane:3 or ameliorate, although you won't get full life-size reproduction and a truthful flat, baloney-gratuitous field of focus like yous would with a defended prime number macro lens.

Sony FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS : Sample Image

The aperture is fairly dim, but you can employ the lens with a 1.4x or 2x teleconverter if you need more reach. If y'all're happy with 400mm, and you already have an FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS ($2,598.00 at Amazon) , pairing that lens with a 2x teleconverter—that is, turning it into a 140-400mm f/five.6 lens—might arrange your needs. But I'yard non certain how calculation a teleconverter to the 70-200mm volition touch sharpness or focus speed, ii major concerns.

I take used the i.4x teleconverter with the lens, along with the a9, at a nighttime soccer match under stadium lighting. The narrow aperture certainly comes into play—for most of its zoom range, the combination nets a maximum f/8 aperture. To freeze action under those atmospheric condition I ended up shooting at 1/1,000-2d and pushing the a9 to ISO 12800. I was however happy with the results; the a9 delivers first-class loftier-ISO Raw images, and while there is certainly a grainy quality, the a9 didn't miss a beat focusing at f/8 and 560mm—even at 20fps.

Sony FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS : Sample Image

Sony shooters besides have the choice of using Canon EF lenses via an adapter, like the Sigma MC-11, and in that location are more exotic telezooms available if you take that road. I'1000 a fleck wary of using long zooms with the adapter, however, equally my feel has been that autofocus operation suffers compared with native glass. I call up you'd be better off calculation an APS-C camera to your Sony kit, like the a6500, if yous demand to get more effective reach out of the 100-400mm than the lens and a teleconverter tin can provide together.

Image Quality

I tested the resolution of the 100-400mm using Imatest software and the 42MP a7R III camera. At 100mm f/4.5 the lens delivers first-class clarity, 3823 lines with fairly even performance across the frame. There'due south an improvement at f/viii, iv,206 lines, which puts it in the outstanding range, and it maintains that level of quality at f/xi (4,136 lines). Diffraction cuts into resolution at f/xvi (3,818 lines) and f/22 (iii,208 lines).

Sony FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS : Sample Image

The maximum aperture closes down to f/five.6 rather apace. It hits f/5 at 119mm and f/5.6 at 164mm. Nosotros adjacent tested resolution at 200mm f/5.6 and the lens shows 3,782 lines, again with first-class epitome quality right up to the edge of the frame. There's an improvement at f/eight (4,206 lines) and f/11 (4,136 lines), and we offset to see a dip at f/sixteen (iii,818 lines) and f/22 (3,208 lines).

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The story is the aforementioned at 300mm—the lens is excellent at f/5.vi (3,395 lines), f/8 (3,929 lines), f/xi (3,952 lines), and fifty-fifty at f/sixteen (3,795 lines), but loses a step at f/22 (iii,132 lines). The numbers aren't that far off at the maximum 400mm setting. At f/5.6 we see 3,779 lines, which improves slightly at f/8 (3,997 ilnes), f/xi (iii,687 lines), and f/16 (3,616 lines), before taking a small footstep back at f/22 (2,975 lines).

Sony FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS : Sample Image

In the real world, this means y'all tin can shoot the 100-400mm from wide open downwards to f/11 and net extremely crisp images. And if depth of field calls for it, diffraction doesn't do too much to harm image quality at f/16 or f/22, though I'd try and avoid f/22 to stay on the safety side.

At that place's a lilliputian flake of pincushion distortion when zoomed. We don't see plenty to worry most in the real world at 100mm (0.4 percent), but it hovers around one.5 percent at 200, 300, and 400mm. You can eliminate information technology via an automatic in-camera correction if you shoot in JPG format, and Raw photographers tin use Lightroom for one-click lens profile corrections.

Sony FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS : Sample Image

In that location is a loss of illumination at the corners of the frame when compared with the eye. Imatest'southward Uniformity assay shows a two-stop (-2EV) drop from centre to corners at 100mm f/4.5, which gives photos a noticeable vignette. The deficit is cut to -1.5EV at f/5.6, and is negligible at f/8 and narrower, where it falls nether -1EV.

At 200mm f/v.6 we see a -ane.3EV drop, but at narrower apertures the difference isn't visible. The story is about the aforementioned at 300mm f/5.6 (-1.7EV), merely the vignette increases at 400mm. At f/five.half-dozen at that place's a -2.3EV driblet at the corners and it's nonetheless -1.7EV at f/8—information technology doesn't get away until f/xi. This testing was done with illumination correction turned off in-camera, so if you shoot JPGs you can leave it turned on and the effect volition be compensated for automatically. The same Lightroom contour that corrects distortion for Raw images corrrects illumination, so you tin can use that if you incorporate Lightroom into your Raw workflow.

Conclusions

Sony FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS : Sample Image

The Iron 100-400mm delivers fantabulous image quality, a pro-form build, fast autofocus, and strong prototype stabilization. There's a little distortion and some corner dimness to debate with, though both are easily removed with some lite editing. But y'all pay for it—information technology'due south the most expensive 100-400mm of this type that nosotros've seen. For photographers who need the range it's a worthy purchase, but exist prepared to push your ISO high when shooting in dimmer conditions, especially if you need to add a teleconverter.

Sony has a 400mm F2.8 GM lens coming out next year for photographers who demand long telephoto reach and a wide aperture, merely it's expected to be very expensive, and you can't disbelieve the importance of zoom adjustment when shooting sports from the sideline. If you're on a budget, don't forget virtually the FE 70-300mm F4.5-5.vi G OSS—it doesn't have quite the reach or teleconverter compatibility, just is priced much lower.