WOW! This was a FUN SHOOT! While I usually spend the vast majority of my time teaching and not shooting at my workshops, I’ve learned to do a demo shoot at every workshop to help my students understand exactly what I’m teaching. I’ve also received feedback over the years that for some of my students who are visual learners, the demo session of the workshop is invaluable to their learning experience.
The other thing that’s so much fun at my workshops is when I have fellow photographers who are attending bring lenses that I haven’t had the chance to use before. At my Houston workshop in December 2018 a photographer named Jose brought the Canon 300mm f/2.8. I was thrilled to be able to borrow it and see how it worked with my Sony A7Riii using the Metabones Mark 5 Adapter.
As an early adopter to the Sony Mirrorless system, I am very accustomed to using Canon lenses on my Sony bodies to be able to supplement the Sony lens lineup that was lacking when I first switched over. I currently own 7 Canon L lenses and have used the 400mm f/2.8 and the Canon 200mm f/1.8 on my Sony bodies….BUT, the 300mm f/2.8 was one I hadn’t gotten my hands on yet.
Until Houston.
Jose was so kind to let me borrow the lens and his Metabones Mark 5 Adapter. In the past I’ve always used the Metabones Mark 4 Adapter or the Sigma MC11 Adapter. To answer the easy question for those reading this and wondering…did I notice a difference using the Metabones Mark 5 over the others? No. So if you’re like me, you don’t need to rush out and spend money on it unless you currently don’t have an adapter.
But, back to the lens.
Yes, it’s heavy.
Yes, it requires an adapter to use.
But yes, it delivers some pretty stellar results. Check out the shots below from the shoot:
As you’ll see when you watch the video I tested this lens in a variety of ways. First I shot with it just doing portraits as most people would use it.
Then I decided to up the ante and added the Westcott Eyelighter to the equation with the Godox AD600 Pro light that I was using inside of the Westcott Rapid Box XXL.
And THEN I decided to add some ambience to the background of the shots by asking the photographers there to throw sand and leaves behind the model (@macanoniii). You’ll also see that I added a rim light to the back of the shot by having a photographer hold the light behind the model to illuminate not just the model, but also all of the particles flying in the air.
Throughout the shoot I used different focusing modes to be able to adequately acquire focus. Did the lens acquire focus as fast and reliably as using the Sony 400mm f/2.8 lens? No. It didn’t.
Is it more than usable in most circumstances if you have the lens and want to use it on a Sony? Yes.
I switched to manual focus and had the lens situated on my model for the last set of shots when a lot of stuff was flying in the air because I didn’t want the lens to hunt for focus and miss the eyes of my subject.
I hope this helps!
If you have any questions about the lens or how it performed make sure to notate it in the comment section below.
Thanks again for being here and if you like what you see, make sure to check out some more of our posts and videos!
If you’d like to join us at a workshop please visit www.jasonlanier.com/register.
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Thanks again for stopping by!
Jason