I have been using the A99II for a few month an totally love it for action, sports and overall it is a great camera. This time I decided to use it with my Minolta 600mm f4 APO high speed lens from 1993. That is a pretty old lens.
I attached the A99II and it just worked like with the old A99 not sure the AF is any faster but it supports the new AF points. It is definitely not the fastest and the age is showing but still good enough to shoot some real football (soccer). This was shot this week for the first game of the season. An evening game with not great lights. I had to push the camera between 2000-5000 ISO nost are shot at 4000 to get a reasonable shutter speed even at f4.0.
Here some sample pictures not too bad for this old lady.
For this lens a monopod is an absolute must have ! I use this gitzo monopod we got it on clearance sale, any cheap one will do just as well if you pick a sturdy one. And you will need a gimbal head and a dedicated bag. This big lens may be your gear phantasy . Yes it is an awesome lens but also one that requires commitment when you carry or use it. Also 600mm get you pretty close to the subject. Also at this distance you will notice many annoying tings in the air. Rain, Haze, Fog, heat, …. they all impact the pictures and can be terrible to work with. In many cases there is not much you can do in post to fix this.
I have listed the few accessories I use with the monster.
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instead of a gimbal I use the Manfroto bracket it is big and gets the job done
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This monster lens also needs a dedicated “camera” bag to move it. Lets just say I am happy I only go from the parking lot to the media room and on the field
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