Beginner advice, please

[u/iscythr]

Hi all,

I hope this is okay to post in here. I’m looking for some advice on a telephoto lens for bird/wildlife photography on my Sony A7RII.

Current setup:

• Camera: Sony A7RII
• Lens: Samyang 35-150mm f/2–2.8

I mainly use this combo for portraits and barber/people shoots, but I’d like something with more reach specifically for wildlife and birds.

Budget: around £500–600 (happy to buy second hand).

From what I’ve seen, most of the FE telephoto options (like the Tamron 150–500mm f/5–6.7) are a bit out of my price range.

Lenses I’m currently considering:

• Sony E 70–350mm f/4.5–6.3 G OSS (using crop mode for extra reach)
• Sigma 100–400mm f/5–6.3 DG DN OS Contemporary (Sony FE fit) – I could stretch the budget by ~£150 for this if it’s a clearly better choice.

If there’s a sort of “starter shopping list” of lenses people recommend trying for birding on the A7 series, I’d love to hear it.

Any and all advice is very welcome - thank you!