Sony FE 100-400mm f/5.6-8 OSS: affordable telephoto range for Sony photographers

Tuesday 4 August 2026, 17:17 by Elja Trum | 980 views | 0 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Sony has announced the FE 100-400mm f/5.6-8 OSS. A relatively compact and affordable telephoto zoom lens for full-frame mirrorless cameras with a Sony E-mount. A substantial zoom range, for photographers who do not want to spend thousands of euros straight away. Earlier this year, Sony introduced the professional FE 100-400mm f/4.5 GM OSS. That lens has a constant aperture of f/4.5, weighs 1,840 grams and costs around 5,000 euros. The new FE 100-400mm f/5.6-8 OSS clearly takes a very different approach: less light and a simpler design, but also much lighter and more affordable.

Just 654 grams

The low weight is probably one of its most important selling points. The Sony FE 100-400mm f/5.6-8 OSS weighs just 654 grams and is 164.5 millimetres long when retracted. The filter size is 67 millimetres. That makes the lens less than half the weight of Sony's older 100-400mm G Master and almost 500 grams lighter than the Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG DN OS Contemporary. For photographers who want to take a telephoto zoom with them on a walk or trip, that difference can be quite noticeable. On a Sony camera with an APS-C sensor, the lens provides a field of view comparable to that of a 150-600mm lens on full-frame. This also makes it an interesting lens for, for example, bird and wildlife photography.

The price of f/8

To keep the lens so light and affordable, Sony has made most of the compromises in terms of aperture. At 100mm, the maximum aperture is f/5.6. Around 135mm, this already drops to f/6.3, at about 180mm to f/7.1, and from 220mm the maximum aperture is f/8. For daytime photography, this does not have to be a major problem. In low light, for example early in the morning, at the end of the afternoon or in a dark forest, you will soon need to use a high ISO setting. Especially when you need a fast shutter speed to capture moving animals or sportspeople sharply. Fortunately, the lens has Optical SteadyShot image stabilisation. This helps prevent camera shake caused by the photographer, but obviously cannot freeze movement by the subject.

Autofocus and controls

Sony uses two linear motors for focusing. They are not the more advanced XD Linear Motors found in the more expensive G and G Master lenses, but the lens does support the high shooting speeds of Sony's modern cameras. Even autofocus and exposure metering at 120 frames per second on the Sony A9 III are supported. The lens has, among other things, a focus hold button, a switch for the focus mode and focus limiter, a switch for image stabilisation and a zoom lock. According to Sony, the construction is resistant to dust and moisture, and a lens hood is included as standard.

Also suitable for close-ups

The maximum magnification ratio of 0.41x is notable. The minimum focusing distance is 1.13 metres at 100mm and 86 centimetres at 400mm. This means you can also use the lens well for close-ups of flowers, insects and other small subjects. The optical construction consists of fifteen elements in ten groups. These include two ED elements and two aspherical elements. The aperture consists of nine rounded blades. The lens can also be combined with Sony's 1.4x and 2.0x teleconverters. This allows you to reach up to 800mm. In practice, the combination then becomes very slow: at 400mm, the 1.4x converter gives you 560mm f/11 and the 2x converter gives you 800mm f/16. It will only be really pleasant to use in plenty of light.

Solid rather than spectacular

The first hands-on impressions from PetaPixel are reasonably positive, but not overly enthusiastic.

The lens delivers decent sharpness and usable image quality, but cannot match Sony's more expensive G and G Master lenses. According to the first test, the autofocus is also generally good enough, but not always equally convincing with fast-moving subjects or at short focusing distances. That is probably not what Sony is targeting with this lens either. The FE 100-400mm f/5.6-8 OSS is primarily intended to offer a light, affordable and accessible way to photograph at up to 400mm. For those who mainly photograph during the day and want to take the lens with them regularly, this may be more appealing than a faster but much heavier alternative.

Price and availability

The Sony FE 100-400mm f/5.6-8 OSS is expected to appear in September 2026. The recommended retail price in the United States is 849 dollars and in the United Kingdom the lens costs 799 pounds. A price of around 899 euros has been quoted for Europe.

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