New Sony Super Telephoto Prime Lens

According to a press release, the FE 600mm F4 GM OSS, weighing in at only approx. 3040 g, features an extremely balanced design to ensure the best possible shooting experience. Along with the acclaimed FE 400mm F2.8 GM OSS lens, the new 600mm gives professional sports, wildlife and news photographers more options for capturing subjects at great distances with extreme accuracy and detail.

“With two new lenses announced today, our growing E-mount lens line-up now includes 33 full-frame models and 51 lenses in total. The 10th model from our flagship G Master series, the new 600mm F4 raises the bar for speed, mobility and control in a super-telephoto prime lens,” said Yann Salmon Legagneur, Director of Product Marketing, Digital Imaging at Sony Europe. “Combining the extensive 600mm reach with features like 20 fps shooting and AF/AE calculations at 60 times per second on the α9 or extremely high resolution, high speed performance on the α7R III allow professional photographers to create images that were simply not possible to capture before.”

To take best advantage of the highly evolved autofocus systems of Sony’s latest full-frame E-mount cameras, the new FE 600mm F4 GM OSS lens features two XD (extreme dynamic) Linear Motors that drive the lens’ focus group to provide fast, precise AF and reliable subject tracking. These motors are supported by specially developed motion algorithms to minimise lag and instability, as well as to control noise levels, resulting in exceptionally quick, accurate and quiet autofocus performance, allowing the lens to capture dynamic, fast moving athletes or wildlife with ease.

As a member of Sony’s flagship G Master series lenses, this new large aperture super-telephoto prime lens features an incredible level of image quality and detail, with outstanding contrast and resolution maintained all the way to the corners of the image. The unique optical design includes a large XA (extreme aspherical) and an ED (extra-low dispersion) element that effectively suppress all common telephoto lens aberrations, plus three fluorite elements that help to minimise chromatic aberration and suppress any amount of colour bleeding. Sony’s latest bokeh simulation technologies and XA element are also utilised to control spherical aberration and help achieve exquisite bokeh.

The lens also features an 11-blade circular aperture mechanism that contributes to the high quality of bokeh in images, and has been coated with Sony’s original Nano AR coating to suppress any unwanted reflections, glare, or ghosting in images.

The new FE 600mm F4 GM OSS is compatible with Sony’s 1.4x and 2.0x E-mount tele-converters, producing outstanding imaging performance at extended focal lengths while maintaining fast, precise AF performance.

To withstand the harsh conditions of sporting events and wildlife photography, Sony’s new FE 600mm F4 GM OSS is built with a durable magnesium alloy and a strong, lightweight carbon fibre hood. The lens is also dust and moisture resistant, and its front element is coated with fluorine to resist dirt and fingerprints.

There is also an ample number of hard controls on the lens, including customisable focus-hold buttons in four different locations on the lens barrel, which can be programmed for control of features, if desired. There is also a ‘Full-Time DMF’ switch to immediately engage manual focus at any point, and a focus ring that features Linear Response MF for fine, responsive manual focus.

The FE 600mm F4 GM OSS will ship in Europe in August 2019, priced at approximately Euro 14,000.