I recently purchased a Sony A9 along with the new Sony 200-600mm lens and the 1.4X teleconverter. Previously I shot with a cropped frame Nikon D7200 and the first generation Tamron 150-600 mm lens. I fully understood that the A9 is a full frame camera with a wider field of view, but the transition from the cropped frame Nikon has been difficult, especially for small birds. I am displeased with the use of the TC as it means shooting at f9 at 600 mm with the Sony lens. The midwinter sun is especially weak now and a high ISO is needed that results in a lot of noise.

The vast majority of my shooting is what I call travel wildlife photography. I go to international destinations where wildlife is abundant. While there, I am as happy to shoot small birds as I am tigers, jaguars, or Komodo dragons. I shoot handheld as a tripod is too unwieldy for the situations I experience, not to mention the limited weight allowed by airlines. Of course, each destination is different, varying from excellent lighting to dark forests.

I am considering getting the A6400 to use for the smaller wildlife species, and change cameras as needed for the situation at hand. Is this a valid consideration, or is it better to crop down from the A9 to get the same field of view? I understand that doing that would result in an image containing fewer pixels. Or should I use the teleconverter in spite of the lack of light? I do love the A9 and the electronic shutter as well as the amazing tracking ability, so going back to the Nikon system is not a possibility.

Thanks in advance for your help!

I found myself going to shoot xmas lights with the latest 105mm 2.8 macro nikkor with VR, on my Nikon D850. As I'd last been shooting closeups, the lens showed the lights out of focus in the extreme, and in an interesting way. One of them is at

https://www.flickr.com/photos/samyaffespix/49264383318/in/dateposted/

Someone pointed out that, while the lights in the middle are nearly if not perfectly round, others are more ovoid. My question is why, and what might be done to assure that all the lights appeared (nearly) perfectly round?

(I tried to attach an image, but I guess that's another technique I haven't mastered yet.)

So I just discovered a box store a half hour from where I recently moved. What a wonderful surprise. I’m still fairly new to all of this. I bought a D850 as my starter camera which caused quite a stir on this forum ;). But I love my new camera and could not be happier with my decision. I will grow with it for a long time. I am ready to add a new lens to take pictures of my brand new and older grandkids. All of them will be here for Christmas. I can’t really get both right now so I’m wondering if a 50mm or an 85mm would be most useful and why? I’d like to take both single portraits and a group setting. Thanks in advance for your responses.