Just three months after launching its last 100-400mm lens, Sony has just announced another one – but this new super telephoto zoom is aimed at a very different audience.
Back in May, the company gave us the Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5 GM OSS – a constant aperture, internal-zoom super tele with a $4,300 / AU$6,899 price tag. But now Sony has revealed a far smaller, lots lighter and much more affordable alternative.
The new Sony FE 100-400mm f/5.6-8 OSS is described as a lens "built for the future to grow your skill", which really underscores who it's intended for: budding photographers and hobbyist users who've never experienced telephoto shooting but have always wanted to.
As Sony says, "great cameras deserve the best lenses" – but most super-tele zooms are too bulky, heavy and pricey for amateur and even enthusiast shooters.
That's where the Sony FE 100-400mm f/5.6-8 OSS comes in. Costing under a grand, this non-G Master offering enables E-Mount users to experience genres like birding, wildlife and aircraft or trainspotting, along with fully exploring other areas like travel, landscapes and family photography.
The new lens is much more lightweight and compact than the GM versions, weighing just 654g and measuring a mere 78.2 x 164.5mm (collapsed). That's less than half the weight of the Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS (1,395g) and almost a third of the 100-400mm f/4.5 GM OSS (1,840g).
It's also smaller and lighter than the Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG DN (86 x 199.2mm, 1,140g) and the Tamron 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VXD (88.5 x 183.4mm, 1,155g).
And while it's about the same size but 19g heavier than the Canon RF 100-400mm f/5.6-8 IS USM (79.5 x 164.7mm, 635g), Sony is quick to point out that its lens comes with a lens hood – which Canon's does not.
Sony's lens boasts a 10-group optical formula with 15 elements, including a pair of extra-low dispersion (to suppress chromatic aberrations) and a pair of aspherical (to control aberrations), with new multi-coatings.
Along with a nine-blade aperture for circular bokeh, the Sony FE 100-400mm f/5.6-8 OSS boasts a maximum magnification of 0.41x and a minimum focus distance of 1.13m at the wide end and 0.86m at the long – making it excellent for telemacro work.
But that's not all; the lens is also compatible with Sony's teleconverters, enabling you to achieve up to 800mm of reach.
All this is backed up by dual linear motors, which offers fast and precise autofocus without noise – and also enables the lens to keep up with the tracking and lightning-fast burst speeds of Sony's top cameras, whether it's 30fps on the Sony A7 V or 120fps on the Sony A9 III.
Tech like this enables this lens to grow with you as your telephoto skills improve. This extends to the comprehensive controls on the lens body, from a focus hold button to a focus mode and focus range limiter switch, to an OSS switch to toggle Opotical SteadyShot stabilization and even a zoom lock.
The Sony FE 100-400mm f/5.6-8 OSS goes on sale in September and carries a retail price of $849 / £799 / AU$1,399.
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See how this new lens compares to the best Sony telephoto lenses, along with the best Sony lenses across all categories.
