Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS Lens Review

The Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS Lens has wildlife photography written all over it. The Sony FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS Lens is a super popular wildlife lens, especially because of its long focal lengths, sharp image quality, and relatively small fixed size, light weight, and moderate price. The Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS Lens adds 200mm while maintaining the same concepts, and the new kid on the block vies strongly for selection.

Especially for wildlife photographers, the FE 400-800mm G has an extremely high fun factor, and it is destined to be one of the all-time favorite Sony wildlife lenses. A significant number of photographers, both amateurs and professionals, are going to find this lens's long range of telephoto focal lengths, reaching an exceptionally and differentiatingly long 800mm, in a relatively compact, handholdably light, weather-sealed body, with good image quality, G-series build quality, fast and quiet Dual Linear AF, optical image stabilization, and a moderate price measures up to the perfect choice for pursuing wildlife and numerous other subjects, including sports, kids, and aviation.

Focal Length Range

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When you can't or don't want to get closer, a 400-800mm lens is usually a good choice. With 800mm available, getting closer is less important and cropping is less often required (an image quality factor), and the entire range of focal lengths is super useful.

Reasons for selecting a long focal length lens include:

• Physical barriers (streams, cliffs, fences, etc.)
• Legislated barriers (lines on a field, property boundaries, etc.)
• Subject intolerance to closer photographers (skittish birds, for example)
• Subject behavior impact (such as the natural activity of wildlife)
• Safety reasons (dangerous wildlife, high-speed vehicles, etc.)
• Stealth requirements (such as for law enforcement missions)
• A requirement to avoid being a viewing obstruction (such as getting in front of the audience at a venue)

When you want to capture a compressed look from a distant perspective, you might want an 800mm lens.

When you want to create a strong background blur, isolating a subject from an otherwise distracting background, an 800mm lens might be just right.

If you simply don't want to get closer, an 800mm lens might be just right. Sit in the comfort of your car or house, avoid the need to cross a creek, stay back from the surf, stay out of view, etc.

Many lenses, including the FE 200-600 G, reach 600mm, but few zoom to the considerably narrower 800mm length.

As mentioned, wildlife photography is the standout use for 400-800mm. 400-800mm is optimal for subjects ranging from large animals at moderate distances to small animals far away, including birds and squirrels.

The relatively light weight of this lens, along with the long focal length, makes it a consideration even for birds in flight. While keeping a moving subject in the narrow 800mm angle of view is challenging, this lens can be zoomed wide for viewfinder subject acquisition and then zoomed long for the desired tight framing.

Though 400mm is often not wide enough for environmental portraits, it still works well for that use if the subject is distant. Pets are another good subject for this lens.

Use this lens for chasing the kids from afar at the park, beach, or backyard.

While this lens can be used for portraits, it will more often be used to photograph people participating in outdoor sports. I say "outdoor" because the max aperture is insufficient for stopping most indoor action. This focal length range is optimal for watersports, such as surfing, and it will reach deep into a large field, such as for baseball and soccer, while still providing closer subject coverage at 400mm.

Photojournalists and others covering events may find this lens's focal length range useful, including for photographing over large crowds, such as at outdoor concerts.

This lens is an outstanding choice for photographing air shows. Many details are suitable for 400-800mm capture.

This lens is an excellent option for photographing the moon (or the sun if the proper solar filter is in place).

The video uses for this focal length range mirror the stills uses.

An ASP-C sensor format camera model's 1.5x FOVCF (Field of View Crop Factor) will see an angle of view like a full-frame-mounted 600-1200mm lens. This narrower angle of view has similar uses but with smaller subjects or longer working distances. Bird photographers rarely have too much focal length, and distant wildlife can often make full use of this focal length. Keeping a moving subject in the 1200mm angle of view is challenging.

Just because you have an 800mm-capable lens doesn't mean you can create sharp images at that focal length, even when using the fastest shutter speeds and best techniques. When present, heat shimmer will create optical distortion that diminishes the quality of long-distance-captured photos. Artificial turf sports fields and asphalt tracks are among the most notorious venues for heatwaves — sun on artificial turf ensures terrible image quality at subject distances where 400-800mm is typically used.

The following images illustrate the 400-800mm focal length range:

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The 700mm to 800mm difference caught my attention. Should it be more? Not sure. However, the Canon RF 800mm F5.6 L IS USM Lens frames the site's test chart from a longer distance, 22.5 vs. 20.5' (6.86 vs. 6.24m). Geometric distortion can affect the framing distance, but the 800mm prime lens appears to have a narrower angle of view than the Sony zoom. The Canon RF 200-800mm F6.3-9 IS USM Lens frames the chart from an even shorter distance than the Sony lens, 19.9 vs. 20.5' (6.06 vs. 6.24m).

Regardless, 800mm is super long and useful.

Max Aperture

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How much light does the lens provide to the imaging sensor? Usually, that question is the second most important when selecting a lens.

The f/6.3-8 in the name refers to the maximum aperture, the ratio of the focal length to the entrance pupil diameter, available over this lens's focal length range.

The lower the aperture number, the wider the opening, and the more light the lens can deliver to the imaging sensor. Each "stop" in aperture change (full stop examples: f/5.6, f/8.0, f/11.0) increases or decreases the amount of light by a substantial factor of 2x.

Want a long range of long focal lengths in a zoom lens without a large size, heavy weight, and high price? Expect that lens to have a narrow and variable max aperture. A smaller aperture opening facilitates the use of smaller, lighter, and less expensive lens elements, and, from a relative standpoint, the Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS Lens has those attributes.

Because this lens's maximum opening does not increase sufficiently with focal length increase to maintain the same aperture measurement ratio, the max aperture is efficiently variable, smoothly ranging from f/6.3 to f/8.0 as the focal length range is increasingly traversed. While the aperture change is continuous (not stepped), the camera rounds the EXIF-reported aperture to the nearest 1/3 or 1/2 stop. Here are focal length ranges reported by the FE 400-800mm Lens in 1/3 stop apertures.

400-482mm = f/6.3
483-590mm = f/7.1
591-800mm = f/8.0

For reference, the FE 200-600's reported apertures are:

200-299mm = f/5.6
300-600mm = f/6.3

While the 400-800's f/8 on the long end sounds especially narrow, the max aperture within the 200-600's overlapping range is the same or mostly 1/3 stop less.

With its narrow max apertures, this lens is not a good choice for photographing low-light motion, including indoor sports or even outdoor sports on dark, cloudy days. Setting the ISO to a high number is the narrow aperture option for sharp low-light images of in-motion subjects, and the resulting noise is an image quality factor. A narrow aperture reduces low-light autofocus performance, slowing or inhibiting focus lock.

Only a 1/60 second shutter speed (twice the framerate) is needed for 30 fps video capture, and wide apertures are not often required to get 1/60 in normally encountered ambient lighting.

Despite having relatively narrow apertures, the long focal lengths provided by this lens can create a diffusely blurred background. These examples illustrate the maximum blur this lens can create:

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The background is a significant percentage of many images, and when the background is not complementary to the subject (or even distracting), blurring it away is highly advantageous. The details in these images are gone. Observe the background blur in the focal length range section sample images. All were captured with the widest aperture available, and most utilized 800mm.

Image Stabilization

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The longer the focal length, the larger the subject details (captured at the same distance) are rendered, and the steadier the camera must be held to avoid subject details crossing imaging sensor pixels during an exposure, the source of image blur. Image stabilization, IS/OS/OSS (Optical SteadyShot) in this case, is an extremely valuable feature in any lens and an especially valuable feature in a handholdable long telephoto lens.

Sony cameras also feature IBIS (In-Body Image Stabilization), and "When paired with an Alpha camera body featuring in-body stabilization, stability is further enhanced." [Sony] One example of the IBIS benefit is camera rotation correction, which the lens cannot perform.

Sony does not disclose a stops rating for this lens's stabilization, but the difference enabling this high-performing OSS implementation makes in the viewfinder is dramatic.

Three stabilization modes are provided. Mode 1 (general-purpose), Mode 2 (for panning with a subject, one axis of stabilization is provided), and Mode 3. Mode 3 is useful for tracking erratic action, with stabilization only in effect during the exposure. As a result, the view seen through the viewfinder is not stabilized, which allows a moving subject to be tracked without fighting against IS trying to stabilize the view.

Image Quality

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Is the Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS Lens sharp? Let's talk.

The f/6.3 center of the frame test chart results at 400mm are reasonably sharp, and real-world details look good. At 500mm, the results improve slightly, but the max aperture narrows to f/7.1, and the 400mm at f/7.1 results improve to match the 500mm performance. That story is repeated at 600mm, with the results improving slightly, but the max aperture narrows to f/8, and the 400mm and 500mm results improve at f/8 to match the performance. The Sony a1 test camera's diffraction-limited aperture is f/6.7, so f/8 results show slight diffraction impact.

The review lens's 700mm f/8 results are slightly soft, softer than the 600mm results, but the 800mm performance is like that of 600mm.

In general, lenses become sharper as they are stopped down one or two stops from their wide-open apertures. However, f/11 yields a stronger diffraction softening impact, and only 700mm shows improvement at f/11 over f/8.

Lenses typically produce decreased sharpness in the periphery of the image circle, where light rays are refracted to a stronger angle than in the center. This lens shows a gradual sharpness decline from the center to the corner, but the wide-open corner performance is relatively good.

The resolution chart is merciless on image quality, so let's take the testing outdoors, next looking at a series of center-of-the-frame 100% resolution crop examples. Taking the testing outdoors, we next look at a series of center-of-the-frame 100% resolution crop examples. These images were captured in RAW format using a Sony Alpha 1 and processed in Capture One using the Natural Clarity method. The sharpening amount was set to only "30" on a 0-1000 scale. Note that images from most cameras require some level of sharpening, but too-high sharpness settings are destructive to image details and hide the deficiencies of a lens.

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These results are nice.

Next, we'll look at a series of comparisons showing 100% resolution extreme top left corner crops captured and processed identically to the above center-of-the-frame images. The lens was manually focused in the corner of the frame to capture these images.

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Count on samples taken from the outer extreme of the image circle, full-frame corners, to show a lens's weakest performance. The 400mm and 600mm corner results are slightly soft, but relatively good, and the 800mm results are slightly softer.

For wildlife and sports photography, I seldom place an in-focus subject in the corner of the frame and usually want the background strongly blurred, making corner sharpness performance less important.

This lens does not exhibit focus shift, the plane of sharp focus moving forward or backward as the aperture is narrowed (residual spherical aberration or RSA). Many modern lenses automatically correct for focus shift, though focus breathing (more later) can create slight angle of view changes.

When used on a camera that utilizes its full image circle, a lens is expected to show peripheral shading at the widest aperture settings. However, this one shows practically none, only about 0.5 stops wide open.

Lateral (or transverse) CA (Chromatic Aberration) refers to the unequal magnification of all colors in the spectrum. Lateral CA shows as color fringing along lines of strong contrast running tangential (meridional, right angles to radii), with the mid and especially the periphery of the image circle showing the most significant amount as this is where the most significant difference in the magnification of wavelengths typically exists.

With the right lens profile and software, lateral CA is often easily correctable (often in the camera) by radially shifting the colors to coincide. However, it is always better to avoid this aberration in the first place.

Color misalignment can be seen in the site's image quality tool, but let's also look at a set of worst-case examples. The images below are 100% crops from the extreme top left corner of a1 frames showing diagonal black and white lines.

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These images should only contain black and white colors, with the additional colors indicating a minor lateral CA presence, primarily at the two ends of the range.

A relatively common lens aberration is axial (longitudinal, bokeh) CA, which causes non-coinciding focal planes of the various wavelengths of light. More simply, different colors of light are focused to different depths. Spherical aberration, along with spherochromatism, or a change in the amount of spherical aberration with respect to color (looks quite similar to axial chromatic aberration but is hazier) are other common lens aberrations to observe. Axial CA remains somewhat persistent when stopping down, with the color misalignment effect increasing with defocusing. The spherical aberration color halo shows little size change as the lens is defocused, and stopping down one to two stops generally removes this aberration.

In the real world, lens defects do not exist in isolation, with spherical aberration and spherochromatism generally found, at least to some degree, along with axial CA. These combine to create a less sharp, hazy-appearing image quality at the widest apertures.

The wide-open aperture examples below compare the fringing colors of the defocused specular highlights in the foreground to the background. The lens has introduced any differences from the neutrally colored subjects.

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These results show moderate color separation, mostly at the wider end.

Bright light reflecting off lens elements' surfaces may cause flare and ghosting, resulting in reduced contrast and sometimes interesting, usually objectionable visual artifacts. The shape, intensity, and position of the flare and ghosting effects in an image are variable, dependent on the position and nature of the light source (or sources), selected aperture, shape of the aperture blades, and quantity and quality of the lens elements and their coatings. Additionally, flare and ghosting can impact AF performance.

While this lens features "advanced coatings" to suppress flare and ghosting, the high 27-element count increases that challenge. Long focal length lenses never fare well in the site's standard sun in the corner of the frame flare test, but this one didn't show abnormalities.

The FE 400-800 has moderate pincushion distortion throughout the zoom range. This distortion can be corrected, with stretching or cropping required to true the geometry.

As seen earlier in the review, it is easy to illustrate the strongest blur a lens can create, and telephoto lenses are inherently advantaged in this regard. Due to the infinite number of variables present among available scenes, assessing the blur quality, bokeh, is considerably more challenging. Here are some f/11 (for diaphragm blade interaction) examples.

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These example shows defocused highlights reasonably smoothly filled and. Wide open apertures on variable max aperture lenses are nearly round, f/11 doesn't require much stopping down for this lens, and 11 blades spread out the narrowing task load, keeping the shapes especially rounded.

Except for a small number of specialty lenses, the wide aperture bokeh in the frame's corner does not show round defocused highlights, instead showing cat's eye shapes due to a form of mechanical vignetting. If you look through a tube at an angle, similar to the light reaching the frame's corner, the shape is not round. That is the shape we're looking at in the upper-left quadrant test results shown below.

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The truncation shown in these results is modest. As the aperture narrows, the entrance pupil size is reduced, and the mechanical vignetting diminishes, making the corner shapes rounder.

Usually, an 11-blade diaphragm will create 22-point sunstars (diffraction spikes) from point light sources captured with a narrow aperture. Generally, the more a lens diaphragm is stopped down, the larger and better-shaped the sunstars tend to be. Unfortunately, a narrow max aperture lens does not afford much stopping down before reaching apertures where diffraction causes noticeable softening of details, and these lenses typically do not produce the biggest or best-shaped sunstars. If sunstars are on your requirements list, this is not the right lens to select.

The example above was captured at f/16.

The design of this lens, featuring six ED (Extra-low Dispersion) glass elements, is illustrated above.

Overall, the Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS Lens provides good image quality, especially for the size, weight, and price.

Focusing

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"Two precision linear motors drive the lens’s focus group for fast, accurate focusing. Tracking easily keeps up with the 120 fps maximum burst speed of the a9 III, and continues uninterrupted even while zooming so important moments are not lost." [Sony]

This AF system checks all of the boxes. It is internal, fast, smooth, and quiet, with only a faint whir audible.

While relatively narrow max apertures hinder low-light AF performance, this lens gets that job done. Expect long focus times in dim conditions.

Non-cinema lenses usually require refocusing after a focal length change. As illustrated in the 100% crops below, the reviewed lens exhibits close to parfocal-like characteristics. When focused at 800mm, zooming to wider focal lengths results in nearly optimally focused images.

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This lens features a focus distance range limit switch that allows distance selection to be limited to full, near-32.8' (near-10.0m), or 26.2' (8.0m) - ∞ with the narrower range potentially decreasing focus lock times (reduced hunting).

Three customizable AF hold buttons are provided. With the camera set to continuous focus mode, press an AF hold button to lock focus at the currently selected focus distance, permitting a focus and recompose technique. Or, customize the buttons to numerous other functions via the camera's menu.

The FE 400-800's rubber-ribbed manual focus ring is large, smooth, ideally damped, and its 270° of rotation adjusts focus at the right rate. The MF ring is positioned at the balance point of the lens, which means it is easy to inadvertently change if active (DMF or MF enabled) when shooting handheld. Balancing the lens on the foot also avoids touching the MF ring.

This lens has a minimum focus distance of 66.9" (1700mm), and at 400mm, it generates a good 0.23x maximum magnification spec.

Model	Min Focus Distance		Max Magnification
Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM Lens	35.4"	(900mm)	0.33x
Canon RF 200-800mm F6.3-9 IS USM Lens	31.5"	(800mm)	0.25x
Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG DN OS Sports Lens	22.8"	(580mm)	0.34x
Sony FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS Lens	38.6"	(980mm)	0.35x
Sony FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS Lens	94.5"	(2400mm)	0.20x
Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS Lens	66.9"	(1700mm)	0.23x
Tamron 150-500mm f/5-6.7 Di III VC VXD Lens	23.6"	(600mm)	0.32x

At 400mm, a subject measuring approximately 5.6 x 3.7" (142 x 95mm) fills a full-frame imaging sensor at this lens's minimum MF distance. At 800mm, a 6.8 x 4.5" (173 x 115mm) subject does the same. Here are maximum magnification examples.

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The individual USPS love stamps measure 1.19 x 0.91" (30 x 23mm).

This lens produces sharp center-of-the-frame details at minimum focus distance with a wide-open aperture, but the 400mm image periphery is soft due to field curvature. F/11 brings on increased depth of field that noticeably improves corner image quality. The 800mm minimum focus distance corners are considerably sharper.

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Teleconverters

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This lens is compatible with the Sony FE 1.4x and Sony FE 2.0x Teleconverters.

Teleconverters behind an already long focal length lens create crazy-long focal lengths (with narrow max apertures). Adding the 1.4x creates a 560-1120mm lens with a 1-stop narrower max aperture (f/9-11), and adding the 2x creates an 800-1600mm lens with a 2-stop narrower max aperture (f/13-16). OSS remains functional (and even more important).

The site's teleconverter image quality test results are obtained only at the longest focal lengths because the primary purpose of teleconverters is to obtain focal lengths not natively available in the lens. However, the studio isn't long enough to test 1600mm with the smallest chart. Thus, a 1288mm test result must suffice.

Image circle magnification always impacts image quality. However, the impact of the 1.4x on this lens's image quality is remarkably low. The lateral CA increase is minor, and the increased barrel distortion negates the lens's native pincushion distortion.

The 2x's image quality impact is strong, including the diffraction impact. As with the 1.4x, lateral CA increases modestly, and increased barrel distortion negates the lens's native pincushion distortion.

Design & Features

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The difference between Sony's "G" and "GM" (G Master or Grand Master) branding continues to be vague, and my direct question to Sony remains unanswered. GM lenses tend to have the widest apertures, so we can perhaps use that reasoning here. Still, this lens is well constructed and has a great design.

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The FE 400-800 is a fixed-size lens.

The zoom ring is large with an impressively light resistance. I can quickly span this ring's relatively short 70° of rotation in one turn while handholding.

The switch bank is shallow with a depth change to tactually differentiate the pair of OSS setting switches from the three focus-related ones. The switches are shallow, protecting them from inadvertent changes but challenging with-glove use.

This lens is dust and moisture-resistant, which is important for a lens primarily used outdoors.

The front lens element has a fluorine coating that repels fingerprints, dust, water, oil, and other contaminants and makes cleaning considerably easier.

Is the Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS Lens small? That answer depends on what it is compared to. Yes, compared to the FE 600mm F4 GM OSS. No, compared to the FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS II. That said, the FE 400-800's size and weight make it suitable to carry for wildlife treks and similar uses.

Model	Weight oz(g)		Dimensions w/o Hood "(mm)		Filter	Year
Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS	48.2	(1365)	3.7 x 8.2	(93.8 x 207.6)	77	2020
Canon RF 200-800mm F6.3-9 IS	72.4	(2050)	4.0 x 12.4	(102.3 x 314.1)	95	2023
Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG DN OS Sports	74.1	(2100)	4.3 x 10.4	(109.4 x 263.6)	95	2021
Sony FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS II	36.9	(1045)	3.5 x 7.9	(88.0 x 200.0)	77	2021
Sony FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS	49.2	(1395)	3.7 x 8.1	(93.9 x 205.0)	77	2017
Sony FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS	74.8	(2120)	4.5 x 12.5	(115.5 x 318.0)	95	2019
Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS	87.4	(2475)	4.7 x 13.6	(119.8 x 346.0)	105	2025
Sony FE 600mm F4 GM OSS	107.3	(3040)	6.4 x 17.7	(163.6 x 449.0)	DI 40.5	2019
Tamron 150-500mm f/5-6.7 Di III VC VXD	60.9	(1725)	3.7 x 8.3	(93.0 x 209.6)	82	2021

View and compare the complete Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS Lens Specifications in the site's lens specifications tool.

Here is a visual comparison:

Positioned from left to right are the following lenses:

Sony FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS
Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS
Canon RF 200-800mm F6.3-9 IS USM

The same lenses are shown below, extended with their hoods in place.

Use the site's product image comparison tool to visually compare the Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS Lens to other relatively large lenses.

Despite the size of this lens, it still accepts threaded front filters, and the 105mm thread size seems relatively small. Still, 105mm filters are large and expensive, but they can sometimes make the difference between a good image and a great one.

The FE 400-800 has a nicely integrated, nonremovable, smoothly rotating tripod ring that is solidly constructed. Click stops are not featured.

The foot has 1/4" and 3/8" threaded inserts for mounting, and the foot is removable to enable use of a tripod foot.

The Sony ALC-SH181 is included in the box. This plastic hood is substantial — large and rigid, with thick sides. Most hood designs switch to thumbscrew locking when they reach this size, but the ALC-SH181 stays with the faster, more convenient bayonet mount. A release button makes this hood even easier to use.

I'm not a fan of filter adjustment windows (they provide inadequate space), but this hood provides one in case you want it. The window firmly clicks closed, averting the accidental opening issue.

A strap is included.

A lens case is not included, but the caps are.

Price, Value, Compatibility

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The Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS Lens is priced high enough to stay off the radar of most casual photographers. However, this lens is far cheaper than the top-of-the-line, fixed focal length lens alternatives, and this lens is a great value for enthusiasts and professional photographers.

As an "FE" lens, the Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS Lens is compatible with all Sony E-mount cameras, including full-frame and APS-C sensor format models. Sony provides a 1-year limited warranty.

The reviewed Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS Lens was retail sourced.

Alternatives

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The perfect lens does not exist. However, the best lens for your needs does. Determining that answer requires a look at the alternatives.

At the top of the comparison list for the Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS lens is the FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS. While these lenses are similar in many ways, including having 401mm of overall focal length range coverage, the 400-800's focal lengths are considerably longer. Still, those who would be best served by the 400-800 were likely shooting with the 200-600 before the newer lens hit the streets.

The image quality comparison shows the 200-600 slightly sharper in the wider overlapping range and the two lenses performing similarly at 600mm. The 200-600 has stronger peripheral shading.

The Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS vs. FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS Lens comparison shows the 400-800 is modestly larger and heavier. The 400-800 uses 105mm filters vs. 95mm. The 200-600 has slightly wider apertures at some focal lengths. Ideally, select the lens with the optimal focal length range for you, but the 400-800 costs 50% more.

Let's cross over to the Canon camp for a comparable lens that exceeds the 400-800mm focal length range, the Canon RF 200-800mm F6.3-9 IS USM Lens. The image quality comparison shows the Sony lens slightly sharper in some comparisons and noticeably sharper at 800mm, which translates into better teleconverter performance. The Canon lens has stronger peripheral shading and slightly less pincushion distortion.

The Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS vs. Canon RF 200-800mm F6.3-9 IS USM Lens comparison shows the Canon lens is lighter and smaller. The Canon lens extends when zoomed to longer focal lengths, and at 800mm, it becomes longer than the Sony lens. The Sony lens has 11 aperture blades vs. 9, and slightly wider apertures. The Canon lens uses 95mm filters vs. 105mm, includes the useful 200-399mm focal length range, and has a considerably lower price.

Use the site's tools to create additional comparisons.

Summary

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The Sony FE 400-800mm F6.3-8 G OSS Lens is a great choice for birds and other wildlife, large field outdoor sports, and aviation pursuit. This lens's long range of telephoto focal lengths, reaching a differentiatingly long 800mm, in a relatively compact, handholdably light, with good image quality, weather-sealed G-series build quality, fast and quiet Dual Linear AF, optical image stabilization, and a moderate price, seals the deal for many enthusiasts and professionals.