Sony 200-600mm Lens - An Absolute Beast!

The Sony 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens is a versatile and high-performance zoom lens designed for Sony E-mount cameras.

Are you a birder? If so, you’ll know all about it already.

Are you a crusty old veteran cameraman who wants to know a little more about this beast? Read on…!

This lens is part of Sony’s G-series lineup, indicating that it is a premium lens in terms of build quality, performance, and optics.

The lens was first released in mid-2019 and has received rave reviews from photographers for its impressive image quality, fast and accurate autofocus, and excellent build quality.

I made a video review too, find that here - Sony 200-600mm lens review.

Sony 200-600mm lens review.

Build Quality and Design

The Sony 200-600mm lens has a robust and durable build quality that is ideal for outdoor photography. The robust and durable quality that we’ve come to expect from the Sony G series.

The lens is weather-sealed against dust and moisture, making it suitable for use in challenging conditions. It has been made with an “internal zoom’’ so there’s no dust or water-inducing telescopic action going on here. Brilliant.

The lens also has rubberized focus and zoom rings that are easy to grip, even with gloves on. Perfect for those winter camping trips into the mountains…..?!

It has a relatively large size and weight, which may concern some photographers, especially those who plan to shoot handheld for extended periods, or cart it up huge Welsh mountains. However, the lens has its own tripod mount that can be used to balance the lens on a tripod or monopod, making it easier to use for extended periods.

The physical size of the Sony 200-600mm caught me out a little bit, I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so big. It doesn’t fit in my camera backpack very easily. To do this, I need to strip out all the pockets and dividers and reverse the front hood.

Speaking of which, I’m a big fan of that hood. It sticks out a good few inches and as well as preventing glare and reflection, it does a great job of protecting it from knuckledraggers like me bashing into rocks.

The weight is what you’d expect from a lens this big. At around 2kg, you wouldn’t want it hanging around your neck.

Image Quality

The Sony 200-600mm lens delivers impressive image quality with excellent sharpness, contrast, and colour rendition. It features two extra-low dispersion (ED) elements and one aspherical element that help to minimize chromatic aberration and distortion, resulting in crisp and clear images. The lens also has a maximum aperture of f/5.6-6.3, which is relatively fast for a telephoto lens, allowing for good subject separation and background blur.

There are almost certainly some fancy comparisons that could be made here with Sony’s flagship 600mm F4 GM lens, but that’s outside of the scope of what I’m interested in or qualified to discuss. I’ve not used it, and at around £12,000, I don’t plan to for photography reasons.

What I will say is that the 200-600mm is that it is very impressive. On a couple of occasions, I’ve felt like it seemed a bit soft and had to remind myself of the environment I was using it. Shooting mountain summits miles away through thick humid air at 600mm with an APS-C crop.

Bonkers really. Make sure to cut it some slack in those conditions.

Autofocus Performance

One of the most significant advantages of the Sony 200-600mm lens is its fast and accurate autofocus performance. The lens uses Sony’s advanced Direct Drive SSM (Super Sonic Motor) focusing system, which is known for its speed and accuracy. The autofocus system is also very quiet, which is important for wildlife photography, where loud focusing sounds can scare animals away. The lens also has a focus limiter switch that allows you to limit the focusing range, making it easier to focus on a particular distance.

Stabilisation

One of the first things I did with the Sony 200-600mm lens was to take it up into the mountains of Snowdonia. Obviously.

This proved to be a great test of image stabilisation, as some windy weather pushed it to the limits.

That brutal Welsh wind ruined a whole load of shots….

The longer length and diameter of the 200-600mm really catches the wind and even on my Manfrotto 055, it was shaking like a shivering dog.

Amazingly, I salvaged enough shots to make it worthwhile, but I wouldn’t suggest you consider using the Sony 200-600mm lens for landscape photography or video unless you’re as bonkers as I am. The whole experience was a pain in the backside.

Mountains and strong winds aside, the stabilisation is impressive. I can’t fault it really. Couple the 200-600mm with the IBIS of a Sony Alpha for great results.

Taking the Sony 200-600mm lens up into the mountains,

Cost

The Sony 200-600mm lens comes in at around £1600 here on AMAZON, but my advice would be to buy it here on WEX, preferably during winter, where you may be able to buy it in the £2-300 Sony winter cashback deal that seems to run every year. They often like to include the 200-600mm.

Does the 200-600mm lens justify the cost? I can’t answer that. For me…? No, not really, TBH, but that’s because I use it so infrequently and I pretty much exclusively shoot video.

I keep it around for a bit of fun, and for me. I always see good full-frame Sony glass as a bit of an investment. It’s likely that this lens will hold its value well into the future.

That’s my justification anyway….!

Compatibility

The Sony 200-600mm lens is compatible with Sony E-mount cameras and can be used with both full-frame and APS-C sensor cameras. The lens is also compatible with Sony’s 1.4x and 2.0x teleconverters, which can extend the focal length up to 840mm or 1200mm, respectively.

Worth noting again here is the APS-C crop mode, when used on an A7iii or similar. The crop mode on the 200-600mm will give you up to a 900mm equivalent, in video mode only, of course, as doing this in photo mode will just cut into your resolution.

Conclusion

Overall, the Sony 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens is an excellent choice for photographers who need a versatile and high-performance telephoto zoom lens. The lens has a robust and durable build quality, delivers impressive image quality, and has fast and accurate autofocus performance.

It’s a bit heavy and bulky, which can be a concern for some photographers, but the lens's performance and image quality more than make up for its size and weight. If you are looking for a high-quality telephoto zoom lens for Sony E-mount cameras, the Sony 200-600mm lens is undoubtedly worth considering.

For those of us who shoot primarily video, primarily landscape, primarily in the mountains, and primarily in the cold wet winter winds of Wales…. maybe consider something else.

Or keep it around as a very expensive lens to have fun with now and then. How about a bit of street photography???

Street Photography with the Sony 200-600mm lens?

Seriously?

Yes! Why not?

I use “street photography” loosely here because I know the street photography folks get a bit funny about the classical purity of it, but I’m using the 200-600mm to shoot photography, on a street, so it’s “Street photography”, officially. Case closed.

I’ve found it quite fun to take this monster out walking city streets occasionally. It offers something different, something wildly different. Street photography has never really interested me, for lots of reasons, but wandering around with the Sony 200-600mm I found to be pretty cool. Lurking in the shadows, observing from afar, almost like a sniper.

A photography sniper.

Street photography for the introvert.

If you can get past the feeling and look of being a bit creepy, street photography with the Sony 200-600mm lens is worth a go. I’ve taken it out quite a few times and made a couple of videos that show some examples of what’s possible.

Street photography in Birmingham with the Sony 200-600mm lens.

Street photography in Dudley with the Sony 200-600mm lens.