Sony' has just announced the 70-200 f/4 G OSS II lens and I go hands on with the new lens. 12 things you need to know about the new Sony 70-200 f/4 G OSS II lens.

The Sony 70-200 f/4 G OSS II Lens at BH Photo - https://bhpho.to/43ntMSU

Best Filter System - http://photorec.tv/filters

Alternatives Tamron 35-150 f/2-f/2.8 https://bhpho.to/44zHuUx

Tamron 70-180 f/2.8 https://bhpho.to/43o7oZV

12 things to know about the new Sony 70-200 F/4 G OSS II Lens

1) It is more compact- noticeably more compact - enough so that in the camera bag I use I can now drop this in vertically making a big difference in what I can fit in the bag. It is 5.8” x 3.2 without the tripod collar

2) It is lighter -Sony claims 15% lighter than the original. My kitchen scale gives me 1048 g or 2lbs 5oz for the original and the new one is 939 g or 2lbs 1oz. That’s not a big difference. I can get closer to the 15% difference when you weigh them naked, almost half that weight savings comes from the reduced size of the tripod collar which brings me to one of my few complaints. The tripod collar does not have an integrated arca swiss foot like Sigma does. So I have to take this thing of beauty and slap on a tripod plate. Honestly, I shot mostly without the collar so it isn’t a big deal. The lens doesn’t weigh much and it’s balanced nicely, not front heavy so I didn’t have any worries with it on a tripod via the camera mount.

3) It has more switches than the original including a lock switch that locks it at 70mm only.

A full time DMF switch- DMF stands for direct manual focus which when ON means you can autofocus but then use the focus ring to adjust - this is often useful in macro when your depth of field is so very narrow and maybe AF almost nailed your subject and DMF allows you to make a quick adjustment.

And added to the focus limiter switch you now have a macro category - that’s right.. This lens can do macro - hang on because one more switch update

You now have THREE modes of image stabilization 1- standard, 2 for panning with action and 3 is for more erratic moving subjects - and that’s really helpful for framing more than anything because you should be at fast enough shutter speeds that you don’t need IS..- leave a comment if you ever use mode 3 on your lens and take a second to thumbs this video up if you find it helpful.

4) Now on to the fact that this lens does macro - technically Half macro across the range and I find it quite impressive and massively improved over the original. Here is a shot of some flowers - this is as close as I could get with the original 70-200 and here is what you can do with the new 70-200. And look at this shot where I thought I was just taking pretty flower photos and this guy was hiding waiting for a chance to grab the lens from me And break the NDA - I heard he has a very popular youtube channel. You can actually get true macro when you add a 2x teleconverter, I only have the 1.4x with me and that’s what I used to capture that shot.

5) Wait, WHAT!? Yes!! - this lens is now compatible with Sonys 1.4x and 2x teleConverters. One of the questions I get so often from our Workshop participants that shoot Sony - can they buy the 70-200 and use it with teleconverters that's true of the 7200 F28 and now it is also true of the 70 to 200 F4 - using the 1.4 teleconverters you get a 98-280mm f/5.6 lens and with the 2x it becomes a 140-400 f/8 lens. A 140mm f/8 lens isn’t very exciting but a very sharp 400mm f/8 - with the current sensors from sony able to handle high ISO in this small and lightweight of a package. Well, that's nice. Plus the fact that is becomes a true macro lens with the 2x teleconverter just makes this that much more versatile.

6) Many of us our using larger megapixel cameras that have a very usable crop mode. Combine 1.4x teleconverter plus 1.5x aps-c and you now have an effective 147mm to 420mm lens or the 140-400 becomes 210 - 600mm.

7) The original 70-200 was an internal zoom - the new one is a telescoping design and I usually point out that this could make the lens more susceptible to dust but I realized that my 100-400 that I have carried with me around the world for the last 5 years and some of those trips have been DUSTY - it is spotless inside. So I wouldn’t worry about that and over all build quality is excellent - very nice fit and finish. Note that the new lens hood is the petal design and the old one is more like the 100-400.. I prefer the old one - it is just a little more stable to set it lens down. You can do it with the new one but I’d be more careful on uneven ground.

8) Internally the design is updated to reduce focus breathing in video use and reduces focus shift while zooming

9) Now with 4 XD linear motors for 20% faster AF performance. I saw snappy and reliable AF in all of my use and I really only used the old 70-200 when comparing sharpness and it exhibited a little focus hunting a few times in low contrast where the new version did not.

10) Supports AF tracking while zooming

11) Filter Size is 72mm I recommend these fantastic magnetic filters - link below,

12) Image quality - excellent. Noticeably better than the original I tested from f/4 to f/8 and could immediately tell which lens was which - looking in the center or the corners.

The Sony 70-200 f/4 G OSS II Lens at BH Photo - https://bhpho.to/43ntMSU

Best Filter System - http://photorec.tv/filters

Alternatives Tamron 35-150 f/2-f/2.8 https://bhpho.to/44zHuUx

Tamron 70-180 f/2.8 https://bhpho.to/43o7oZV

Photos Captured with the Sony 70-200 f/4 G OSS II