Thanks to Sony they sent me within a week and I planned a trip to Swat, which is also known as Switzerland of Pakistan. Well, when I received this lens I was unable to process how a 70-200 lens can be that much light weight? I have used 70-200 for years but this has no weight compared to others, making it world’s lightest 70-200mm lens. Secondly, I am using prime lenses from few years instead of tele lenses, my fav in Sony prime lenses is 135mm f1.8 GM, Extremely sharp and fast lens. I planned to get 135mm f1.8 earlier in 2022, but literally when I used this 70-200mm f2.8 GM OSS II, it changed my mind and I got this lens in my kit.

Image (1)
Sony A7M4
Sony FE 70-200mm f2.8 GM OSS II
ISO 400 | 1/250 sec | F2.8 | FL 145mm

Image (1) It was New year 2022, The very first day I was in Kalaam Valley of Swat, Pakistan. I planned to celebrate new year with new beast Sony 70-200mm f2.8 GM OSS II. It was snowing all night and all day, this young lad was out to buy something from shop, I loved his apple cheeks and the snow fall on his jacket. I brought out 70200 tele lens, and made this shot, Surprisingly it was heavy snow and the lens caught the eye and didn’t let it go despite of heavy snow fall in between, the reason I choose to shot from 145mm or 150mm was to check how it get the subject sharply. This image is almost a Raw image, it’s so very sharp and the separation it does between background n foreground is amazing.

Image (2)
Sony A7M4
Sony FE 70-200mm f2.8 GM OSS II
ISO 800 | 1/1600 sec | F2.8 | FL 200mm

I am shooting tent pegging sports from more than 10 years. I have used many lenses for this sports photography, but 70-200mm f2.8 GM OSS II took it to another level. I was using new Sony A7M4 body on hi-speed shooting mode with this tele lens, it surprised me, it didn’t let the horse and the rider focus away. As the Horse was coming towards me I was surprised that from first to last shot around 16-17 shots all were sharp focused. Image (2) was taken in low light when sun was set and I was worried that how I can manage to get sharp shots and the noise maybe get high as I was increasing ISO, but it didn’t disappoint and gave me one of the best and famous tent pegging shot.

Image (3)
Sony A7M4
Sony FE 70-200mm f2.8 GM OSS II
ISO 250 | 1/400 sec | F2.8 | FL 200mm

As I mentioned, from many years I was using 135mm f2 of Canon and 105mm f1.4 of Sigma as I was working on Cultural Portraits of Pakistan. Prime lenses were always my favorite for portraits, but when I talked to a Sony user he said man give Sony 70-200mm f2.8 GM OSS II, a try for portraits you will not regret, ahan I sad okay let me try it in Kalash Valley famous for Cultural Portraits. It really did the magnificent work, given me such sharp portraits and amazing natural bookeh that I loved. I came back and printed it around 48 inches long, it was corner to corner sharp and the feeling after I saw the print were WOAHHHH… So, after that I am using this lens for Portraits primarily and it’s always in my bag.

Image (4)
Sony A7R V
Sony FE 70-200mm f2.8 GM OSS II
ISO 160 | 1/400 sec | F22 | FL 200mm

One of the challenges a Travel photographer face is to carry the gadget to the mountains and far places, the more you carry the heavier it gets and the difficult it is to hike. When I carried 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS II in hands with Sony A7M4 I was like whattttttt? Is it something I have put on my body ? or is it a 50 mm lens. I was used to carry very heavy DSLR’s and Lenses but this beast of just 1045 grams was another reason to keep in my bag. I hiked to Pakistan Highest lake in 2021 and that was around 5000 meters, the most difficult thing was to manage my gadget weight.

Above (Image 4) is taken in Pasni Village of Gwadar, One of most unique landscapes on Earth. Where you can find Sand Dunes, Plains, Mountains and Beach altogether at one place. We were shooting for newly launched Sony A7R V, I used this lens along that body and look at above Raw image it was sharp from foreground to background in far distance. This shot is taken at 200mm and the Image quality is Superb.