Gamander López, 20, is a nature and wildlife photographer, documentary filmmaker and soon to be a biology student at university. As a child, his mother took him on long walks outdoors and she was the one who inspired his passion for nature. When he was ten, he got his first camera, and without really thinking about it, he began photographing and filming animals in the wild. In 2020, he started sharing his work on social media and already has more than seven million followers on TikTok. We asked Gamander to try out the new 70-200mm f/2.8 G Master II lens and the dedicated nature filmmaker – who captures his spectacular photos and videos of birds and other animals with a Sony Alpha 1 – shares his experiences with the new lens and what excites him most about it.

Gamander:
Before I owned and began relying on Sony lenses for my wildlife work, I used third party lenses on the Sony Alpha 7 III. I was generally happy with the image quality but struggled with the autofocus. I remember one situation when a fox came walking towards me and I couldn’t get even one sharply focused shot. I soon got my hands on the original FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM and my results improved dramatically. When I was able to upgrade to the Alpha 1, the difference in performance was staggering and it was only the smallest of birds that the camera occasionally missed focus on.

So naturally I was keen to see how the updated version of the lens would tackle the small birds in my local area.

I was immediately impressed by the ergonomics of the lens. I love the button layout and the zoom ring is extremely smooth. The internal zoom is one of my favourite features of the lens, as being an internal mechanism, it doesn’t change length. That’s a huge advantage because it makes it extremely easy to balance the camera on a gimbal or a video head, and it lets me zoom in and out very quickly. This is especially crucial in situations where I have to react in a split second – and that’s pretty much the essence of wildlife photography. The new GM lens is also wonderfully lightweight and compact. When I held it in my hands for the first time, I was really surprised how light it is. That’s a big relief for long shooting sessions – and especially for my back!

I can set the tracking AF point on a perched bird, no matter how small it is, and the Alpha 1 will track the bird very reliably – even if it comes flying towards me. The smaller birds move so quickly, but the combination of Alpha 1 and the 70-200mm Mk II means that every single shot is pin sharp, even at 30 fps.

When I’m shooting video, I also love the option of tapping the screen to AF track a subject and this takes so much stress out of the filming process. I’m often very concentrated trying to keep the focus point on the subject or even trying to focus manually. But when I have the tracking AF engaged in video mode (which works best with subjects in front of neutral backgrounds), I can concentrate framing the composition and observing the animals’ behaviour.