The Amazing Sony A1/A7/A9/APS-C & Anything else welcome Mega Thread!

Unless canon changes their line up numbering system.

It goes from single digits pro, double digits semi pro, triple digits consumer and 4 digits … beginner.

And in the single digits 1 is always the flagship and that historically has had all the tech thrown in, it’s always been the best at everything, size irrelevant. And then refreshes like every 5-6 years with its tech trickle down.

So going by how they have done their numbering historically, the R3 and R1 will be better, not different like Sony splits it’s S and R range, but just more tech the higher you go.

Unless they decide to throw that out the window this time round.
 
GyRob said:
This is a nice review A1 v R5
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA_aV9MyDiE
over all there is not much in it .

Rob.
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had a quick watch and just like most people he misses the main point of the stacked sensor.
He does briefly touch on the zero blackout vs. slideshow affect and rolling shutter. I remember when canon people used to complain about a-mount cameras (and some e-mount cameras) having slideshow affect and how it was usable for action and suddenly its all ok now is it? why? because apparently they are used to it now :D
And somehow he prefers canon's slideshow vs. real blackout free shooting, that is just plain bias tbh.

The main point of A1 is you can use electronic shutter for almost everything inc. flashes. Canon takes a massive hit to dynamic range with electronic shutter.
At 30fps even though you are shooting compressed lossy RAW, Sony's lossy RAW will have close to zero affect on image quality that is not the case with canon.

Anyway whatever makes people happy about their conformational bias :P
 
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Mike.P said:
Looking at buying the 200-600mm and 1.4x.

Panamoz will do them at the same price as E-infinity as long as I am prepared to wait 7-14 days but at least I get the 3 year warranty.

Not used either before as I always buy used ... how long to E-infinity take to deliver?
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Mike I ordered weds shipped Friday was here Monday Lunch

friend ordered weds last week his also turned up today mine was A1 with 2 lens his was Nikon zii kit

panamoz

EInfinity take slightly longer from experience both good panamoz for me though the warranty is king
 
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woof woof said:
A pretty glowing Sony A1 review... but it isn't perfect...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5opadf9Utw
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Not watched it but is any camera perfect? And even if they make the perfect camera today then tomorrow it will no longer be perfect.
trevorbray said:
A7r4. Has anyone ditched it in favour of another model to get more reliable eye af. Struggled a bit over the weekend in shadow and when my subject was wearing a hat.
Not actually the end of the world..
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Me as it was poor at picking up the eyes on my dog and if she was running towards the camera AF tended to back focus whether eye af was on or not.

The A9-II is better in this regard but still back focuses more than expected but I just think Betty has a face with bad contrast so the cameras struggle. I’ve checked where the AF point was afterwards to rule out user error ;)

I do prefer the A9-II overall though, faster in use with menus and writing etc and blackout free shooting makes a huge difference. I’ve also got used to the silence, it was weird at Donington over the past couple of weekends hearing those noisy shutters machine gunning away :lol:
 
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Stonehenge - part 2

both images are 15 image stacks giving a net of 195s (17mm) and 75s (35mm) exposure shots below respectively.

51307559628_e0419d4c17_b.jpg


51308373825_e833cba020_b.jpg
 
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nandbytes said:
Stonehenge - part 2

both images are 15 image stacks giving a net of 195s (17mm) and 75s (35mm) exposure shots below respectively.
roughly speaking exposed for about the same amount of light since 17mm was f2.8 and 35mm was f1.4.

51307559628_e0419d4c17_b.jpg


51308373825_e833cba020_b.jpg
Click to expand...

(y) Certainly a lot more contrast & stars in the stacked images - I think I prefer the wider shot though still :)
 
LeeRatters said:
Didn't have the clear night skies I was hoping for whilst off of work last week but managed a few sunrises & a rare few hours out in the old girl on Friday whilst it was a dry day!!


*** by Lee, on Flickr
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nice car, is it yours and if not did you nick it? :ROFLMAO:
 
LeeRatters said:
(y) Certainly a lot more contrast & stars in the stacked images - I think I prefer the wider shot though still :)
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indeed. seems like there's plenty you can do without a tracker.
though I think the general consensus is tracker is still better overall.
I would especially love to do tracked panos with 85mm lens and get more detail/stars and contrast.

Personally I prefer the 35mm shot :)
 
LeeRatters said:
Yes. Mine. Not used it much lately..... Few more details on Flickr :p
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beauty, the drive through Cheddar Gorge in that is certainly what dreams are made of :love:
I was wondering if Cheddar Gorge would lend itself nicely to a some astro shots, though I am not sure where I'd shoot from....
 
nandbytes said:
beauty, the drive through Cheddar Gorge in that is certainly what dreams are made of :love:
I was wondering if Cheddar Gorge would lend itself nicely to a some astro shots, though I am not sure where I'd shoot from....
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I have seen some (more upward) night sky shots from there but it doesn't really face South and there would be a lot of light pollution I would imagine.

Cheddar is a nice drive of you don't catch too many cyclists on the way through ;)
 
Raymond Lin said:
Car…Astro…I have an idea…

What app do people use to find Polaris?
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Stellarium here also.
I also have photopills too which is really good app for planning but costs a tenner.

I could spot it with my eyes on a good night but I'm still not confident to do that. Tbh I don't even need to spot it at the moment, haven't got a tracker.
But if are wanting to do deep sky stuff it helps to be able to spot the constellations.
 
LeeRatters said:
I have seen some (more upward) night sky shots from there but it doesn't really face South and there would be a lot of light pollution I would imagine.

Cheddar is a nice drive of you don't catch too many cyclists on the way through ;)
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Yeah thought it wouldn't be right direction but I was thinking may be it's possible get a Pano across it. But light pollution is a problem.

I have been through it only once, I only saw couple cyclists, I guess I got lucky :D
 
I wonder if the ioptron can hold the Sony with the Sigma 105/1.4...the numbers says it can hold 3kg and the lens is 1.65, the camera is 600g but add the battery, gitzo ballhead. it will be hitting 2.5kg+ which is quite a lot to spint around at an angle?
 
Raymond Lin said:
I wonder if the ioptron can hold the Sony with the Sigma 105/1.4...the numbers says it can hold 3kg and the lens is 1.65, the camera is 600g but add the battery, gitzo ballhead. it will be hitting 2.5kg+ which is quite a lot to spint around at an angle?
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It can take that weight but some would say it's pushing it, some people take it over the recommended weight without problems. I think it would depend how long your exposures would be. My usual gear would be the Samyang 135mm with 1.4x TC, Sony A5000 and ballhead, that weighs in at 1.9Kg, I've also used the Sony A9 with that lens and head which weighs in at 2.5Kg and I've done 2 minute exposures for an hour without problems.
 
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footman said:
It can take that weight but some would say it's pushing it, some people take it over the recommended weight without problems. I think it would depend how long your exposures would be. My usual gear would be the Samyang 135mm with 1.4x TC, Sony A5000 and ballhead, that weighs in at 1.9Kg, I've also used the Sony A9 with that lens and head which weighs in at 2.5Kg and I've done 2 minute exposures for an hour without problems.
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What's the technique ? You set it up to expose the sky correctly, say 60s exposure. Is there an recommended number of stack images to take per shot? (with a cable release).

And then when do you shoot the foreground? The start or the end as I suspect either way the angle of the camera will be vastly different.
 
Raymond Lin said:
I wonder if the ioptron can hold the Sony with the Sigma 105/1.4...the numbers says it can hold 3kg and the lens is 1.65, the camera is 600g but add the battery, gitzo ballhead. it will be hitting 2.5kg+ which is quite a lot to spint around at an angle?
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you can put any amount of weight you want but you will be stressing the motors inside the tracker which isn't good.
I thought you had the 135GM? weights a good 600g less than the sigma. thats a much better lens to use in this case.
 
Raymond Lin said:
What's the technique ? You set it up to expose the sky correctly, say 60s exposure. Is there an recommended number of stack images to take per shot? (with a cable release).

And then when do you shoot the foreground? The start or the end as I suspect either way the angle of the camera will be vastly different.
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I've never done any landscape shots only wide field deep sky so I can't advise about foreground imaging but I do know people find it easy using layers blending. The way you take the shots is totally variable, some people take light subs plus darks, flats and bias frames but they're obviously happy to be there all night. Others produce fantastic images just with stacked light subs.

The best way to decide what's best with your equipment is to start at lowish exposure times such as 20 seconds and gradually work your way up, it sounds tedious I know.
I just went straight in with 30x 120 second subs and it was great with that tracker, the stars were perfect. Do you have an intervalometer?

The camera angle will change in the Right Ascension axis but after an hour it's hardly noticeable.
 
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nandbytes said:
you can put any amount of weight you want but you will be stressing the motors inside the tracker which isn't good.
I thought you had the 135GM? weights a good 600g less than the sigma. thats a much better lens to use in this case.
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I had the Canon 135L but sold that when i changed over, as I seldom used the 135L in the 10 years i had it I bought the 105/1.4 because 1.4 is more fun than 2.0 lol

To make up for any lose of reach i bought a 70-200GM if i ever need it.

Although for foreground, it won't be for the 105mm, that's too long for that, probably for the 24/35 or 50.

Don't have a intervalometer, guess i need to get one, i have the Sony cable release but it doesn't do that. What do you use?
 
Raymond Lin said:
Don't have a intervalometer, guess i need to get one, i have the Sony cable release but it doesn't do that. What do you use?
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if your A7III is on latest firmware it has a in built intervalometer.
It sucks a little in that you are forced to have 1s gap between each shot which isn't ideal. you just want to fire off as quickly as possible
but hey ho... its in the camera and you might as well make some use of it right?
 
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nandbytes said:
if your A7III is on latest firmware it has a in built intervalometer.
It sucks a little in that you are forced to have 1s gap between each shot which isn't ideal. you just want to fire off as quickly as possible
but hey ho... its in the camera and you might as well make some use of it right?
Click to expand...

I guess I need to update and see how that goes first.
 
Raymond Lin said:
I guess I need to update and see how that goes first.
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I also have one of these (an older version of it anyway)

JJC Multi-function Timer Remote Control with Tripod Holder Clamp for Sony Alpha A6500, A6300, A7 II, A7R, A7R II, A7R III, A7S, A7S II, A9, HX60, HX90, HX300, RX1R II, RX1R, RX100M5 Replaces RM-SPR1: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

Shop JJC Multi-function Timer Remote Control with Tripod Holder Clamp for Sony Alpha A6500, A6300, A7 II, A7R, A7R II, A7R III, A7S, A7S II, A9, HX60, HX90, HX300, RX1R II, RX1R, RX100M5 Replaces RM-SPR1. Free delivery and returns on eligible orders.
www.amazon.co.uk

you can get cheaper versions by neewer (they are all probably made by the same people anyway).
I have never actually used it for this though. but I see no reason why it wouldn't work.
for now I have stuck to just using the camera for astro shots.
 
I will see how the inbuild one goes first, there is a danger of spending more money get into the trap of all the gear, no idea....which I am frankly usually the mayor of! At least in this case I already have most of the stuff in the first place!
 
I wouldn't say that it is either but they do say "If you’re not particularly after extremely wide focal lengths, 24mm is a pretty versatile choice." Maybe they're concentrating on the f1.4 which is nice in a wide lens?

I sort of agree. 24mm is wide but maybe not so wide that you really have to start to be too careful about what you're doing and of course after having 12mm available with the Sigma 12-24mm, no, 24mm is not ultra wide.

PS.
I used my 17mm the other day and it just didn't seem wide enough :D
 
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GyRob said:
nice Read about the A1
Rob.
https://arihazeghiphotography.com/b...JG55_KrJRyoikdmfHRjTYvGGc_y1-xPCDYB7vgTZcFiJY
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"The Sony A-1 is the hyper car of the camera industry. In reality it is a supercomputer in a camera shell with the level performance and features that seems ahead of the time even in 2021 and would have been considered almost “science fiction” only a few years back. When it comes to action and BIF, it is the best camera on the planet by far. At $6500 the A-1 is the most expensive still camera Sony have ever made. In comparison however it looks like a great value for money when compared to the similarly priced Nikon D6 and Canon EOS-1D X MKIII both of which are outclassed and frankly obsolete next to the Sony."

I read some comments on another forum about the A1 being ridiculously overpriced just the other day. Are people still stuck in the mindset that Sony make DVD players and you can get one for £40 so a Sony camera should be cheap too?

At Wex.
A1, £6,499.
D6, £6,299.
1D x MKIII, £6,999.

I'll probably never look at the A1 as it's just overkill for me but I can at least see that it's a market leader with some clear advantages over the similarly priced dinosaur competition for some people. Apart from being a market leader I hope the A1 points to the sort of features and abilities we can hope to see in some future A7 that I might consider buying, if/when my A7 dies.
 
nandbytes said:
Stonehenge - part 2

both images are 15 image stacks giving a net of 195s (17mm) and 75s (35mm) exposure shots below respectively.

51307559628_e0419d4c17_b.jpg


51308373825_e833cba020_b.jpg
Click to expand...

Lovely Anand. Great processing and super colours.
 
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