Hi,
for whom it may be interesting, I just came from photokina. I was especially interested and checked out: 7DII, 400 DO II, Sigma 150-600 Sports.
7DII:
Autofocus seems reeeally cool. I have been using FF bodies exclusively so far but might consider buying a 7DII now. (1Dx is too heavy and expensive for my type of photography). Of course I couldn't check out the image quality. They said it is the same sensor as in the 70d, but a different read-out method and therefore it is faster AND BETTER (that's at least what they said). Autofocus points are all crosstype, but EV-3 is only the center point (like in the 6D). You can pick any of the focus point as a point to lock the focus on and from there the camera uses all other points to track the subject that was unter that point when the autofocus was engaged. I had the camera in my hand with a 2.8 100 Macro and the autofocus was amazing, but then I have to say that I work with 1DsIII, 5DII and 6D so for. Can't say if the autofocus is better than with the 1Dx.
400 DO II:
Looks real tiny and feels very lightweight. But maybe that's because I am used to using a 600 L II. I am considering the lens for excursions where I cannot or don't want to take the 600 L. But then the IQ with the 2xIII has to be as good as that of the 2.8 300 II with 2xIII. We will see. Not sure if this lens will be a huge success. Price is still quite high (€ 6,500 in Germany) and the 2.8 300 II might be considered more versatile by most photographers - except for those who really need the bit more reach. Pricewise they are almost the same.
At the Canon booth I asked for a 100-400 II and the guy said that he thinks there will be a new one some time, but he has NO information on any development, so for now, there really is none ...
Sigma 150-600 L Sports:
Now this lens feels really heavy. Solid, but heavy. It felt like twice as heavy as the 400 DO II (I just looked it up, its weight is 2850 g vs 2100 g for the 400 DO, but somehow it feels heavier). The zoom ring was very tight, too tight for my taste. When I mentioned that to the presenter he pointed out that the focus change could also be achieved by pushing and pulling, so this lens is half zoom ring, half zoom push-pull. In this case I liked the push-pull more, but I would have hoped they had made the zooming via the ring smoother. But I find the lens interesting. I asked if the quality of the lens will decrease to the extremes of the zoom range and he said that the contrary would be that case, but not sure how trustworthy that statement was. And they will present extenders that are tailored to this zoom, so I am curious if the 210 - 840 that results with a 1.4x extender will be usable (in good light). The IS (OS in their lingo) didn't work on the first model they gave me and on the second it worked but not as good as on the Canon's, at least that's what I experienced when looking through the viewfinder.
I also looked at the Sigma 1.4 50 and will probably buy it. I also had the OTUS in my hands and found it was quite easy to focus manually, but still not as easy as a spot-on autofocus on the Sigma. Of course I couldn't "see" any differences in image quality through the viewfinder, but testing the Sigma really made me want one.
Then I had a look at the Samsung 2.8 300 too. It is not so massive as it was described in another thread. I couldn't gauge its weight, since it was fixed on a gimbal. If I remember correctly there were 4 of them, so I don't think the one that was shown in the other thread was a prototype. Rather preproduction models.
Last thing to I found noteworthy is that Leica had an enormously big booth, almost as big as Canon's and Nikon's, even bigger if you add the image galleries that were incorporated in that booth. They basically had the complete Hall 1 (but hosted Arri and Sinar on their booth as well).
for whom it may be interesting, I just came from photokina. I was especially interested and checked out: 7DII, 400 DO II, Sigma 150-600 Sports.
7DII:
Autofocus seems reeeally cool. I have been using FF bodies exclusively so far but might consider buying a 7DII now. (1Dx is too heavy and expensive for my type of photography). Of course I couldn't check out the image quality. They said it is the same sensor as in the 70d, but a different read-out method and therefore it is faster AND BETTER (that's at least what they said). Autofocus points are all crosstype, but EV-3 is only the center point (like in the 6D). You can pick any of the focus point as a point to lock the focus on and from there the camera uses all other points to track the subject that was unter that point when the autofocus was engaged. I had the camera in my hand with a 2.8 100 Macro and the autofocus was amazing, but then I have to say that I work with 1DsIII, 5DII and 6D so for. Can't say if the autofocus is better than with the 1Dx.
400 DO II:
Looks real tiny and feels very lightweight. But maybe that's because I am used to using a 600 L II. I am considering the lens for excursions where I cannot or don't want to take the 600 L. But then the IQ with the 2xIII has to be as good as that of the 2.8 300 II with 2xIII. We will see. Not sure if this lens will be a huge success. Price is still quite high (€ 6,500 in Germany) and the 2.8 300 II might be considered more versatile by most photographers - except for those who really need the bit more reach. Pricewise they are almost the same.
At the Canon booth I asked for a 100-400 II and the guy said that he thinks there will be a new one some time, but he has NO information on any development, so for now, there really is none ...
Sigma 150-600 L Sports:
Now this lens feels really heavy. Solid, but heavy. It felt like twice as heavy as the 400 DO II (I just looked it up, its weight is 2850 g vs 2100 g for the 400 DO, but somehow it feels heavier). The zoom ring was very tight, too tight for my taste. When I mentioned that to the presenter he pointed out that the focus change could also be achieved by pushing and pulling, so this lens is half zoom ring, half zoom push-pull. In this case I liked the push-pull more, but I would have hoped they had made the zooming via the ring smoother. But I find the lens interesting. I asked if the quality of the lens will decrease to the extremes of the zoom range and he said that the contrary would be that case, but not sure how trustworthy that statement was. And they will present extenders that are tailored to this zoom, so I am curious if the 210 - 840 that results with a 1.4x extender will be usable (in good light). The IS (OS in their lingo) didn't work on the first model they gave me and on the second it worked but not as good as on the Canon's, at least that's what I experienced when looking through the viewfinder.
I also looked at the Sigma 1.4 50 and will probably buy it. I also had the OTUS in my hands and found it was quite easy to focus manually, but still not as easy as a spot-on autofocus on the Sigma. Of course I couldn't "see" any differences in image quality through the viewfinder, but testing the Sigma really made me want one.
Then I had a look at the Samsung 2.8 300 too. It is not so massive as it was described in another thread. I couldn't gauge its weight, since it was fixed on a gimbal. If I remember correctly there were 4 of them, so I don't think the one that was shown in the other thread was a prototype. Rather preproduction models.
Last thing to I found noteworthy is that Leica had an enormously big booth, almost as big as Canon's and Nikon's, even bigger if you add the image galleries that were incorporated in that booth. They basically had the complete Hall 1 (but hosted Arri and Sinar on their booth as well).
