The last two weeks, I’ve been testing what are probably the most popular long zoom lenses. Here is my review.

These are fast, image stabilized and well-built lenses. The autofocus works very well on the Canon and Tamron (Sigma’s AF was disappointing).

Here’s where you can get these lenses:

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens on B&H, Henry’s, eBay, Amazon, Amazon.ca, Amazon UK, Amazon.de

Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2 lens (EF mount) on B&H, Henry’s, eBay, Amazon, Amazon.ca, Amazon UK, Amazon.de

Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG APO OS HSM lens (EF mount) on B&H, Henry’s, eBay, Amazon, Amazon.ca, Amazon UK, Amazon.de

The battery grip I used for my Sony a6500 is the Vello BG-S4. It’s made specifically for a6300, but also works with the a6500.

It’s a very good grip. Thanks to it, I don’t have to swap the batteries out as much (the a6300 and a6500 are small, so they don’t last long). Also, the grip allows me to hold the camera vertically and snap photos in portrait mode (it has a dedicated button for photos).

The only thing I don’t like is that you have to connect the little camera control cable from the grip to the camera body. I wish it could connect directly to the camera, but it looks like Sony doesn’t allow a direct connection. One time I was pressing the shutter button and couldn’t take the photos, until I realized the cable was disconnected.

Vello BG-S4 Battery Grip on B&H

The backpack I used is the Ruggard Thunderhead 55L, which you can check out on B&H

Here are the ND filters that I discovered a couple of months back and love using them since:

Aurora-Aperture PowerXND 2000 Variable ND filters on BH Photo Video, eBay, Amazon