I'm in the early stages of producing a "How to Shoot Wildlife Video" master class, and last month I asked Sony if they would lend me four of their most popular telephoto lenses that I could test and evaluate. Those lenses were the 200-600, 100-400, 70-200, and 70-300. I only had the lenses for a couple of weeks -- and it was the rainiest July on record in Massachusetts -- but nevertheless, I was able to put each of the lenses through it's paces check their suitability for wildlife shooting. I'll have a more complete review of the pros and cons of the various lenses later, but in the meantime I thought I'd post some footage I shot using the lenses and my Sony FX6 camera.

This one was shot with the 70-300 ($1200) and 200-600 ($2000) -- with and without Sony's excellent 2x teleconverter ($550). BTW, the teleconverter is not compatible with the 70-300.

https://youtu.be/KHARHB-3TJ0

Doug, I believe I could hand you any camcorder ever made and you would return with stunning visuals. Thanks for posting such beautiful clips. Bob

In addition to all the technical stuff, Doug is also a master of animal choreography. At 0:35 you see the butterfly take off and then the bird comes around for a fly buy. Magical stuff.

Truly, Walt Disney would have been proud to have those skills and not have to settle for drawing the action.

Andrew

Thank you for the compliments, but when I watch great wildlife films, such as the Our Planet series, I'm reminded I'm just a hobbyist. Speaking of getting animals to move on cue, many people have asked me how I got the alligator to start swimming @ 1:30 in this video AFTER I started panning the camera. As much as I'd like to say I trained him, the truth is sometimes you just get lucky. That's what keeps it interesting.

https://youtu.be/sn0WXg9pYI0?t=90

I am sure it helped that he was using the $3,400 Sachtler aktiv8 system to support the camera and lens.

Obviously a professional tripod is required if professional results are expected. But $3400 is not expensive at all for a tripod of this caliber.