Sony's Ultra-Light 600mm Telephoto Defies Expectations on Weight and Price

For generations, the longest lenses in photography have functioned as quiet gatekeepers — their weight and cost separating those who could reach distant subjects from those who could not. Sony's release of the FE 400mm f/2.8 GM OSS and FE 600mm f/6.3 GM OSS in September 2026 challenges that arrangement directly, offering professional-grade telephoto optics at roughly a quarter of the price and a third of the weight of previous options. Early reviews suggest the tradeoff photographers expected — that lightness and affordability would come at the cost of image quality — has not materialized. Whe