Together, Metabones, Sony and Canon Hit Grand Slam

[dcstep]

Together, Metabones, Sony and Canon hit a grand slam. I put Metabones first because, without MB, Sony and Canon would never get together.
Most have heard by now that Sony’s new α9 (aka a9 or ILCE-9), which has incredible performance with Sony’s native G-Master lenses. The autofocus can latch onto and track a subject forever, while the camera shoots an unheard of 20-frames per second.

As a Canon bird and wildlife shooter, the AF is what first attracted me to the α9. I also like the smaller size than competing Canon DSLRs. The thought of an electronic viewfinder that previews the exposure value of the image while you’re aiming has enticed me for years. In-body image stabilization, which can be used in combination with in-lens stabilization just seems like icing on the cake.

That’s all great and good, BUT Sony only has a handful of lenses designed for the α9 mount and system. The longest is a very sweet 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6. OTOH, Canon has loads of super-telephoto lens, that sport and wildlife photographers cherish and willingly lug around, in order to get tight shots of ballplayers, birds, bees and bears. I couldn’t live without my 500mm f/4, which allows me to shoot at 500mm and 700mm and 1000mm, when I add my 1.4x and 2.0x teleconverters into the mix.

The α9 bug really bit hard and deep when I attended a puffin workshop led by wildlife photographer extraordinaire, Christopher Dodds. Chris is a long-time Canon shooter, in fact, he was a Northern Explorer of Light for Canon, which means that he puts on seminars and demonstrations for Canon, in exchange for most-favored treatment from them. Chris WAS SHOOTING AN α9, with that incredible 100-400mm Sony G-Master lens. What!
As Frank Barron used to say, “Holy Crap!” Chris was shooting puffin flying 50-mph by cliffs, bushes, back-drops of contrasty shoreline, etc., etc. and getting an insane keeper rate. I’m pleased with my shots, with my Canon 5D MkIV and 5DS-R, but I earned every friggin’ one of them. I battled the autofocus as the birds moved from in the water, on the shore, against and bush and then against a cliff, in rapid succession. Others tried Chris’ rig and were having immediate success. I didn’t even try, thinking that if I didn’t experience it, then I wouldn’t be tempted to buy. Wrong!

My last line of defense was that it probably wouldn’t work with my Canon EF lenses. I called one of my local Mike’s Camera stores to see if they had the α9 and an adapter that I could try with my 500mm lens. In fact, Shelly answered the phone and said that he had a personal Metabones adapter and the store sold some other brands. I took my lens to Mike’s for a tryout, with the α9.

First, we tried the α9 with my 500mm lens and a Sigma adapter, which Mike’s sells. Fail! It didn’t even begin to work. Next, we tried Shelly’s personal Version IV Metabones EF-to-E adapter and it seemed to work. He moved around in the store and I tracked him easily. I went and ran an errand for an hour or so, thinking about the potential purchase and Shelly’s offer to let me borrow his personal Metabones adapter. I bit and left the store with my own α9 and Shelly’s adapter.

That afternoon, I rushed out to Cherry Creek Reservoir to try out the rig. My very first series of shots was of a snowy egret doing a pirouette on some rocks, in shallow water. Every image was in sharp focus. Holy Crap! I moved to another place to shoot egrets, herons and gulls in calm water. My excitement totally died when a boat cruised by and I couldn’t get a single shot in focus. Then the AF started hunting in and out, never stopping at the in-focus position. I rebooted the system for 30-seconds and it worked for a minute or so and started hunting again. Fail number 2!

I did some research and found that the firmware had just been updated in June, 2017. A call to Shelly confirmed that his Metabones firmware was out-of-date. I made a quick run back to the store fixed that.

The next morning, I went shooting with a newbie friend at a sure-shot location where I knew that we’d see egrets and other birds. My friend was getting shots right and left, but I didn’t get a single keeper. The AF was too slow to acquire initial focus and it wouldn’t stay locked on. We moved to another location and I had similar problems. The AF system wasn’t as good as my Canon’s. In fact, it was quite a bit worse. Fail number 3.

Luckily, on the day that I brought the α9 home, I’d ordered a Metabones Version V adapter. I had to wait a couple of days. The first evening that I used it I got good, but not great results. My settings were, Autofocus-Continuous (AF-C), Wide Autofocus Area (switching to Single-Point for tight spots) and Face Detection Enabled. Lastly, and probably most importantly, I moved Autofocus Sensitivity from level 3 to level 5.

With the change in sensitivity, the AF system came alive. I could focus close, then move to a faraway target and it’d jump to the new target quickly. The thing that floored me was that I could set the AF to “Wide”, activating all 690+ AF points, acquire focus and the camera stayed locked on as the bird flew and moved around in the wonderful EVF. The subject could move out to the edge of the EVF and still be tack sharp. Holy Crap!

I did one series of 33-images, with an egret flying around a crowd of other egrets. Only one images wasn’t tack sharp. (I look at the eye at 100% and 200% to judge sharpness). Here’s a shot from the tail-end of that burst:

One Out Of 33 by David Stephens, on Flickr

Here’s a shot from a series of 55-images, were only one was OOF:

One Out Of 55 by David Stephens, on Flickr

The available AF patterns were:
• “Wide” which used all AF points
• “Flexible Spot” which is single-point that can be steered with joy stick
• “Center” which is fixed box in the center with 9-points
• Missing, due to the adapter, are Flexible Spot – Expanded and Zone.
I didn’t feel constrained.
BTW, the system will even track a flying bird behind cattails and keep the eye in focus behind the cattails. I’ve done that several times and there are examples over on my Flickr Photostream.

Yesterday, I shot for a couple of more hours, with the same setups. All stayed consistent. I have over 2,000-shots and about six-hours of shooting. Here’s my favorite shot from yesterday:

I Am Here! by David Stephens, on Flickr

BTW, battery life was fine, but I do plan to buy the optional Sony grip, hoping that it’ll help me get more leverage when handholding the big lenses. The small body put more strain on the gripping hand (right), because it’s too small for my hand. This is not an issue with smaller lenses, like a 100-400mm

I just thought that I’d post my findings, since I’m not finding any reviews of the α9, from the perspective of a handheld, bird-in-flight shooter.

[Itsed65]

Very nice write-up Dave.

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by Itsed65

Very nice write-up Dave.

Thanks Ed.

[dcstep]

Here are some other, miscellaneous comments, not necessarily related to using long Canon lenses. Remember, this is all with the Metabones EF-to-E T Adapter MkV. Any other adapter might give totally different results.

Works very well with these lense:
EF 14mm f/2.8L II (in-body image stabilization is a big plus here)
EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II
EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II
EF 1.4x TC-III
EF 2.0x TC-III (had to manually jog focus every so often, shooting at 1,000mm)

Other pluses:

In-body stabilization can be used in conjunction with built-in lens stabilization.
WYSIWYG EVF (there's no excuse for forgetting to check your settings when shooting Manual)
If there's any latency in the EVF, I'm not seeing it.
Controls fall naturally for a Canon user (after only an hour, I didn't need to look at the back to change ISO, SS and Aperture)
Small body is nice with smaller lenses.
Battery life is very reasonable.
Quiet operation

Minuses:
If buffer fills, the camera becomes a useless brick (You need to avoid at all cost. With Canon, you keep shooting, just at a much slower rate)
Small body is a disadvantage with a super-telephoto, requiring more grip force.
The JPEG files embedded in RAW files are extremely low resolution, making them worthless for culling fur and feather shots. You have to convert to JPEG< TIFF or DNG to get a use preview with decent resolution.

[san~man]

Sellout! J/K Dave

Beautiful shots

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by san~man

Sellout! J/K Dave

Beautiful shots

Thanks.

[Terry989]

Thanks for the detailed write up on your experience with Sony!

A few months ago I was considering getting the Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 II IS L USM Lens to pair with my Sony A6300, but ultimately decided to wait and see what new telephoto lens's Sony would come out with for their mirrorless mount. The Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS is looking like a great lens, but I'm waiting a little longer to see what the promised upcoming Sony FE 400mm f/4 GMM OSS can do.

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by Terry989

Thanks for the detailed write up on you experience with Sony!

A few months ago I as considering getting the Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 II IS L USM Lens to pair with my Sony A6300, but ultimately decided to wait and see what new telephoto lens's Sony would come out with for their mirrorless mount. The Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS is looking like a great lens, but I'm waiting a little longer to see what the promised upcoming Sony FE 400mm f/4 GMM OSS can do.

You're welcome.

The 100-400 G Master is surely a winner. I'll likely buy it by January and sell my equivalent Canon.

400/f4 is an ideal bird-in-flight lens. With converters, you're good for 400mm, 560mm and 800mm, plus, it should be light in comparison to a 500 or 600mm. I'm waiting to see if Canon's 600mm DO BR materializes and actually weighs less than the current 500mm and is shorter. That'll be killer, so I'm waiting it out.

[Itsed65]

My camera store is offering a $500 trade in bonus on top of the used value of your trade in toward an a9. A 5D2 is on the list of eligible cameras. I haven't picked mine up years.

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by Itsed65

My camera store is offering a $500 trade in bonus on top of the used value of your trade in toward an a9. A 5D2 is on the list of eligible cameras. I haven't picked mine up years.

You'll need $400 of that for the Metabones V.

[Itsed65]

Yeah, that offer is good through the end of September, so I have time to think about it. I'm waiting to see how my car situation shakes out next week.

[infinitekidM2C]

I don't remember seeing DCStep this excited ever. lol

[apexlocator]

Hmmm, maybe its time for an upgrade. I've been shooting with the Sony a7r2 + metabones IV + canon-mount sigma Art lenses for the past few years with great results. Of course you lose some AF modes, mostly tracking modes and eyeAF. I've been following the alpha9 and good to see its positive outcome.

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by apexlocator

Hmmm, maybe its time for an upgrade. I've been shooting with the Sony a7r2 + metabones IV + canon-mount sigma Art lenses for the past few years with great results. Of course you lose some AF modes, mostly tracking modes and eyeAF. I've been following the alpha9 and good to see its positive outcome.

With a non-Canon lens, I think you'll need to try it for youself. If I didn't get the tracking and eye-AF, I wouldn't have jumped. Still, it depends on how you'll be ujsing it.

[apexlocator]

Originally Posted by dcstep

With a non-Canon lens, I think you'll need to try it for youself. If I didn't get the tracking and eye-AF, I wouldn't have jumped. Still, it depends on how you'll be ujsing it.

Interesting. So eyeAF works for your new setup? Maybe its a metabones thing; just need to upgrade to the version V. I use eyeAF whenever I can when I have Sony Zeiss lenses mounted; soooo useful for portraits. Thanks for the info.

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by apexlocator

Interesting. So eyeAF works for your new setup? Maybe its a metabones thing; just need to upgrade to the version V. I use eyeAF whenever I can when I have Sony Zeiss lenses mounted; soooo useful for portraits. Thanks for the info.

Well, the MB IV did not work AT ALL with my 500/f4 II, so I can't deduce anything for you. I think it's a lens-by-lens kind of thing.

[dcstep]

A little more follow-up:

I shot over 2,000 shots this weekend with the Sony a9, Metabones EF-to-E T-adapter MkV and my Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II, with and without my Canon EF 1.4x TC-III. Subjects included Painted Lady butterflies, egrets, heron and deer. I took loads of test shots of passing cars, bicyclists and runners.

As my subjects changed, I changed the AF pattern from "Wide" (using all 693-AF points), to "Center" (using 9-AF points in the middle) and "Single-Point Adaptable", which allows you to steer a single point with the joystick.

Shooting butterflies on a windy day, with both the butterflies and wildflowers moving in the wind, Wide couldn't decide what to focus on, so I quickly switched to Single-point, for dozens of in-focus shots as below:

Painted Lady Butterfly by David Stephens, on Flickr

I was shooting white-tail deer crossing the road, using Wide pattern. This doe allowed me to get close for a portrait and I left the pattern on Wide:

Doe Eyes by David Stephens, on Flickr

When using Wide and the with a subject that's not real contrasty, you have to move the AF grouping to the subject. I found myself able to "will" the points onto my subject. I didn't use the joy stick and I can't really explain how I do it. I see where the AF points are "dancing" in the EVF and move the aim enough to get them where I want them. I did this with the doe. Face detect and eye detect are on, but it does not detect animal faces. I know that it does detect human faces, because I shot runners and bikers and a square would lock onto their faces.

Shooting a contrasty subject with Wide AF pattern is easy as pie. The system locks onto the nearest contrasty object and tends to stay locks, whether the subject is still or moving. The dancing AF pattern tends to go to the head, but can move from head to body, so I would "will" it to stay on the head, with subtle movements of the camera.

Catch by David Stephens, on Flickr

Tracking cars, bikers and runners with Wide AF pattern was also easy as pie. After initial lock-on, I would get an infinite number of in-focus shots as the subjects moved toward me from 8-mph to 35-mph. This was not at all challenging the system. I didn't keep any of those images to share, so you'll have to trust me.

Occasional problems including missing focus by a long shot and requiring a second or so to regain focus, if ever. It's critical to prefocus. As clouds came and contrast dropped, there were times when prefocusing was hard, particularly with the 1.4x TC attached. I recycled the body once or twice, or cranked the manual focus ring to deal with this. This was only an occasional problem. If a bird is small in the EVF and you don't grab focus right off the bat, the hunting was generally not successful.

Once in a while, I'd see AF dancing right on top of the subject, but later inspection would show them OOF. If I was taking a series, the whole series would be OOF. With Canon, you can start OOF, but keep battling and then end up with a shot or two in focus. I had no such luck with the Sony. It was either all or nothing.

Bottom line is, I prefer my 100-400mm on the Sony body vs. the Canon 5D MkIV. There's learned art to using both.

Full disclosure requires me to state that I'm going to order the Sony 100-400mm G Master lens and the Sony 1.4x TC. I'm Jonesing for the 20-fps and even quicker reflexes and reliability; HOWEVER, if I couldn't afford to do that, I'd be very happy with the Sony/Metabones/Canon combo.

[Terry989]

Another quick review from Chris Dodds:
Sony a9 and Sony G Master 100-400mm lens ready for bird photography

[dcstep]

Originally Posted by Terry989

Another quick review from Chris Dodds:
Sony a9 and Sony G Master 100-400mm lens ready for bird photography

That "kudo" at the bottom is from me.

BTW, I received my Sony G Master 100-400mm last night. Shooting at 20-fps is life changing. I'm processing them right now, but I took a 22-image burst of a white-tail buck, jumping a fence and ALL were in critical focus, with a sharp eye at 100%. I'll post samples later today.

I haven't been able to find any really fast birds to test the AF on, but out of my 489-shots this morning, four were OOF. Those were due to operator error, not switching AF to single-point when a deer was in deep grass. At 20-fps, 4-shots only take .2-sec. Shooting deer, bikers and cars is a piece of cake.

[dcstep]

As promised, here's a favorite from a series of 1-images, taken with the a9/10-400mm G Master combination:

Young Buck Jumps Fence - 5 of 19 by David Stephens, on Flickr

Here's an Album showing all 19-shots:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dcstep...h/37265811671/

It's also interesting to note that these were shot at ISO 8000. I applied DxO's PRIME noise reduction in RAW conversion. The files are Sony's Compressed RAW files, which must be selected to get 2-fps.

If you shoot wildlife and/or birds, you need to look at this rig.

[dcstep]

I don't shoot sports, per se, but I do shoot the occasional biker, when they pass close as I'm shooting wildlife. Here's a jolly guy that I shot this morning. 1 of 22 images with a tack-sharp eye:

Jolly Biker by David Stephens, on Flickr

This kind of shooting is literally point and shoot. It hardly matters what focus mode you're in. Here, I was in "Wide", with all 693-AF points activated.

[Terry989]

Originally Posted by dcstep

As promised, here's a favorite from a series of 1-images, taken with the a9/10-400mm G Master combination:

Here's an Album showing all 19-shots:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dcstep...h/37265811671/

It's also interesting to note that these were shot at ISO 8000. I applied DxO's PRIME noise reduction in RAW conversion. The files are Sony's Compressed RAW files, which must be selected to get 2-fps.

If you shoot wildlife and/or birds, you need to look at this rig.

Amazing photos! Your Album is like a frame by frame movie. ISO 8000, I'm always afraid to shoot as such high ISO! Guess I'll have to experiment more.

The good new for sports and nature photographers now is that you may no longer need that heavy, expensive f/2.8 glass since you can always dial up the ISO and still get fantastic photos in low light.