Lens recommendation for Costa Rica

[wmjivey]

Going to Costa Rica with my two Sonys 6k and 63k, I will be bringing my 18-105G and Rokie 12mm but looking for suggestions what lens to rent for the jungle?  I was thinking getting the new 70-350G made for crop cameras or should I go to reliable 70-400 G? Thanks upfront.

 

John

[pierces]

20 hours ago, wmjivey said:

Going to Costa Rica with my two Sonys 6k and 63k, I will be bringing my 18-105G and Rokie 12mm but looking for suggestions what lens to rent for the jungle?  I was thinking getting the new 70-350G made for crop cameras or should I go to reliable 70-400 G? Thanks upfront.

 

John

 

What are you going to be shooting? Is this a day stop on a cruise of a multi-day visit? If you are going deep into the canopy for wildlife, you might consider renting the 70-200 f/2.8 since it can get pretty dark. We were there many years ago and the general open scenery would be covered nicely by the 18-105. Others can chime in, but I don't remember many opportunities for distant wildlife beyond birding.

 

Dave

[wmjivey]

Doing a multiday land, That lens was my original thought but some others told me for the sloths, monkeys and toucans I will need a large telephoto. We will be on the Pacific side so the jungle is less dense.  The other thought is also renting a good marco lens for the second body for the all the smalls, frogs, flowers and such.  I always get the best advice here so...

John

[Hezu]

On 1/10/2020 at 2:44 AM, wmjivey said:

Going to Costa Rica with my two Sonys 6k and 63k, I will be bringing my 18-105G and Rokie 12mm but looking for suggestions what lens to rent for the jungle?  I was thinking getting the new 70-350G made for crop cameras or should I go to reliable 70-400 G? Thanks upfront.

I did briefly play with 70-350G (with A6600) at a Sony demostration event in a local camera store and it seems to be quite decent telephoto lens for APS-C E mount cameras. And reasonably compact, at least if you compare with 70-400G. The latter I probably wouldn't suggest for E mount cameras since that model (or models since there are two versions) is for A mount and if you want to use it on E mount, which your cameras have, you will need a lens adapter. For E mount the comparable model is Sony FE 4.5-5.6/100-400 GM OSS, but I have feeling it is better suited to be paired with A7(R) series or A9 than lowly A6x00 series. And yes, none of the mentioned lenses are not aperture-wise fast, so in low light situations they may not work that well.

 

And in case you decide to choose to get a macro lens, the best option for E mount is probably Sony FE 2.8/90 Macro G OSS.

 

Since you are thinking to rent the telephoto or macro lens, I think it is advisable that you make the renting sufficiently early to this trip and familiarize using the lens at home first as some advantages of the better equipment could be lost when using unfamiliar kit in new environment. Ok, a telephoto lens might be slightly more straight-forward, but the macro lens has some features that you must learn to properly use it.

[Victress2007]

I took these yesterday.  It was my first time using the 70-350 on my 6300. They are straight out of the camera.

 

 

 

 

I like it MUCH more than the full sensor 24-240 I traded in on it.  I look forward to using it in better light.

 

Vic

 

[wmjivey]

sorry for the late response I was out of town, Thank you for the advise

John