If you primarily photograph athletes and wild animals, you will find the performance of this lens ideal, thanks to impressive specifications such as a bright f/4 aperture and the ultra-telephoto 500mm focal length. This lens, with 11 elements in 10 groups, was specially developed to deliver beautiful background and foreground defocusing. Its smooth circular aperture, formed by 9 aperture blades, contributes to rounder, more beautiful bokeh. A Nano AR Coating and velvet lining also minimize flare, eliminate opacity and tighten blacks. Furthermore, three ED (Extra-low Dispersion) glass elements compensate for color aberration to realize sharper image quality.
SSM (Super Sonic wave Motor)
A built-in lens motor for faster automatic focusing with high torque at low speed, quick start/stop response, and quiet, smooth operation.
ED (Extra-low Dispersion) Glass
Three precision ED Glass lenses correct chromatic aberrations to provide extremely sharp telephoto images distant subjects as well as dramatic sports close-ups.
Versatile Focus Hold
Four focus hold buttons in different lens locations, plus electronic slider focus range selector switch.
Nano AR Coating
Sony’s Nano AR Coating with nano-precision structure contributes to high-quality images with reduced ghosting and flare. This proprietary Sony coating technology features aligned microscopic asperities that reduce the effects of the reflective interfacial boundary on the surface of the lens, thus dramatically reducing the amount of undesirable reflections entering the lens.
2 DMF (Direct Manual Focus) Modes
Allow you to quickly revert to manual focus by just turning the manual focus ring of the lens.
Lightweight Design
A strong, light magnesium lens barrel makes shooting more comfortable even on long wildlife or sports assignments.
High Performance AF
Newly developed circuit board in the internal focusing mechanism achieves approx. 4 times faster object tracking performance during autofocusing than lenses using conventional circuit boards. This speed makes the lens perfect for capturing fast moving subjects like athletes and wild animals, including birds.
Internal Focusing System
Internal lens elements move, so the overall length does not change -- creating an auto-focus zoom lens that doesn’t affect the balance of your camera.
Dust and moisture resistance
The dust and moisture resistance design makes this lens appropriate for heavy-duty outdoor use, especially when combined with a DSLR that employs weather resistant measures.
