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

meh. humbug. They always seem friendy at the park and I/we have spent many happy hours feeding them.
 
nandbytes said:
All three systems offer different things but none of them offer everything I want in the same system :-/
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It has always been thus and ever will be so.

No such thing as the perfect camera system.

For me, if I was buying FF mirrorless I'd want the A7R4 or even the A1 sensor, in the Z9 body, but with some of the GM Sony and some of the Z mount lenses - oh and with the Canon R5 eye AF.
 
@Matt. Seen your lens choices.

Gut would say Tamron 28-200 or 24-105. The long end of a lens can be very useful for landscape photography - and I know the sort of places you like and quite often 70mm won't be long enough in certain scenarios.

The other option might have been a Z6ii and Z 24-200. I've read comments that the lens is very satisfactory and 24-200 gives you a huge field of view variety in one lens.

The more I write this - now you've gone for the A7iv - the 28-200 Tamron seems an excellent call out.
 
woof woof said:
I've been thinking about either the 40 or 50mm f2.5 G but as I have the 35 and 55mm f1.8's and the 35mm f2.8 I really shouldn't bother.
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I have enough trouble choosing between the 55 1.8 and my A mount 50 1.4 : the 55 has much more detail and better AF, the 50 nicer rendering and bokeh. 55 usually wins for convenience.
 
SFTPhotography said:
It has always been thus and ever will be so.

No such thing as the perfect camera system.

For me, if I was buying FF mirrorless I'd want the A7R4 or even the A1 sensor, in the Z9 body, but with some of the GM Sony and some of the Z mount lenses - oh and with the Canon R5 eye AF.
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as true as that may be there no reason why one of them couldn't do it all :p
May be i should build my own :ROFLMAO:

SFTPhotography said:
@Matt. Seen your lens choices.

Gut would say Tamron 28-200 or 24-105. The long end of a lens can be very useful for landscape photography - and I know the sort of places you like and quite often 70mm won't be long enough in certain scenarios.

The other option might have been a Z6ii and Z 24-200. I've read comments that the lens is very satisfactory and 24-200 gives you a huge field of view variety in one lens.

The more I write this - now you've gone for the A7iv - the 28-200 Tamron seems an excellent call out.
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nikon 24-200mm doesn't seem all that good tbh. I'd be looking at their new 24-120mm f4 and hope for the best ;)
 
nandbytes said:
as true as that may be there no reason why one of them couldn't do it all :p
May be i should build my own :ROFLMAO:


nikon 24-200mm doesn't seem all that good tbh. I'd be looking at their new 24-120mm f4 and hope for the best ;)
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It was the same with the DSLR's - you'd want Nikon bodies - with Pentax weather sealing and probably the Canon lenses or a lot of them anyway.

As you know I like a big body - the Z9 actually looks very appealing to me - but it won't bring anything to the table the 645z or D850 doesn't do for my photography.

If I was buying FF mirrorless I'd have a hell of a time agonising over a 2x 7RIV, 16-35 2.8 24-70 2.8 and 70-200 2.8 GM or 20.18 GM or 2x Z9 14-24, 24-70 and 70-200 all 2.8s. I'd be torn between the extra MP of the Sony, and the build/layout of the Z9 and the features of that camera which are very relevant to me (namely the sensor dirt guard and auto shutter off). I hate sensor dirt and any camera that offers a solution to mitigate against that goes very high up the shopping list. Then again, 16mp is quite a lot as is the massive cost difference between the two bodies. Edit - there is the 24-105 and 100-400 and 24-120 and 100-400 lenses in each range - I'd have an agonising choice in FF mirrorless land. I wouldn't be buying Canon RF - it's abilities aren't quite relevant to me.

And the GFX100s hasn't even entered the room. Basically that's the ultimate sensor stacked into not a brilliant body - you are paying for that sensor really - but what a sensor it is.

This is my thought process if everything got stolen tomorrow and I decided to not rebuy what I had.
 
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nandbytes said:
as true as that may be there no reason why one of them couldn't do it all :p
May be i should build my own :ROFLMAO:


nikon 24-200mm doesn't seem all that good tbh. I'd be looking at their new 24-120mm f4 and hope for the best ;)
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For the large range it covers it probably does quite well all considering. Granted it’s not to going to be as good as a lower focal length multiplication lens but it covers the range of two lenses making things a lot easier in the field. There are a few pros using it for a living printing big who seem to rate it well enough to use it for their living.
 
rob-nikon said:
For the large range it covers it probably does quite well all considering. Granted it’s not to going to be as good as a lower focal length multiplication lens but it covers the range of two lenses making things a lot easier in the field. There are a few pros using it for a living printing big who seem to rate it well enough to use it for their living.
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I am simply comparing it to the tamron 28-200mm. Granted tamron lacks 24mm but its sharper and nearly a stop faster for the 28-100mm range.
 
nandbytes said:
I am simply comparing it to the tamron 28-200mm. Granted tamron lacks 24mm but its sharper and nearly a stop faster for the 28-100mm range.
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Quite a few users of the 24-200 will likely be landscape photographers. The nearly one stop faster between 28-100mm probably wouldn’t matter as much to them compared to having the 24-27mm range up to 200mm in one lens. That’s a great range for landscape photographers. Sharpness for me comes down to if it’s good enough for the output it’s used for. As long as it produces the goods does it really matter if it’s slightly not as sharp as another lens that not available on the same system?

I got the tamron 28-200 as it was the best option on Sony that I could find to do the same as the Nikon 24-200 (I’d likely have that if I was still with Nikon). My only down point about the tamron is that I’d prefer having the 24-27mm range especially over a slightly faster aperture that I likely won’t use. One thing I like about the 28-200 is that it can be easily paired with the 17-28 as the filter size are both 67mm, but that in turn loses the 14-16mm range of the Nikon UWA. All swings and roundabouts really depending on the user.
 
nandbytes said:
as true as that may be there no reason why one of them couldn't do it all :p
May be i should build my own :ROFLMAO:


nikon 24-200mm doesn't seem all that good tbh. I'd be looking at their new 24-120mm f4 and hope for the best ;)
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The Nikon 24-200 is good enough for Stuart McGlennon and Nigel Danson (though he uses others as well). Their work is better than 99% of photographers so if it’s good enough for them it’s good enough for most.
 
rob-nikon said:
Quite a few users of the 24-200 will likely be landscape photographers. The nearly one stop faster between 28-100mm probably wouldn’t matter as much to them compared to having the 24-27mm range up to 200mm in one lens. That’s a great range for landscape photographers. Sharpness for me comes down to if it’s good enough for the output it’s used for. As long as it produces the goods does it really matter if it’s slightly not as sharp as another lens that not available on the same system?

I got the tamron 28-200 as it was the best option on Sony that I could find to do the same as the Nikon 24-200 (I’d likely have that if I was still with Nikon). My only down point about the tamron is that I’d prefer having the 24-27mm range especially over a slightly faster aperture that I likely won’t use. One thing I like about the 28-200 is that it can be easily paired with the 17-28 as the filter size are both 67mm, but that in turn loses the 14-16mm range of the Nikon UWA. All swings and roundabouts really depending on the user.
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I actually find the having a faster aperture useful even for landscapes. I don't always shoot landscapes at f8-11 on a tripod. I also shoot handheld in less than ideal lighting.
And some times I want a faster shutter speed.

The Nikon 24-200 isn't sharp enough or fast enough for me (YMMV).
I do miss the 24mm focal length over my previous 24-105mm/4

UWA is one area I just can't seem to find a lens I really like (across brands). The new RF14-35mm seems perfect for most part.



TGphoto said:
The Nikon 24-200 is good enough for Stuart McGlennon and Nigel Danson (though he uses others as well). Their work is better than 99% of photographers so if it’s good enough for them it’s good enough for most.
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I don't think it's good enough. If it was why does Nigel himself own other lenses that are better. In fact he actually does comparison between iPhone and his Nikon to show good an iPhone can be too. Doesn't mean an iPhone is good enough for most and that's all we need.
Basically iPhone and that lens and my film camera from 1980 are all capable of taking good pictures but I don't use any of them because there are better options which provides more creative freedom which even Nigel appreciates.
 
I took pictures with my old Sigma 28-300mm that I still look at today, but it was technically one of the worst lenses I've ever had :D
 
nandbytes said:
I actually find the having a faster aperture useful even for landscapes. I don't always shoot landscapes at f8-11 on a tripod. I also shoot handheld in less than ideal lighting.
And some times I want a faster shutter speed.

The Nikon 24-200 isn't sharp enough or fast enough for me (YMMV).
I do miss the 24mm focal length over my previous 24-105mm/4

UWA is one area I just can't seem to find a lens I really like (across brands). The new RF14-35mm seems perfect for most part.




I don't think it's good enough. If it was why does Nigel himself own other lenses that are better. In fact he actually does comparison between iPhone and his Nikon to show good an iPhone can be too. Doesn't mean an iPhone is good enough for most and that's all we need.
Basically iPhone and that lens and my film camera from 1980 are all capable of taking good pictures but I don't use any of them because there are better options which provides more creative freedom which even Nigel appreciates.
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Stuart seems to think it is.

By that same token, if it wasn’t good enough for Nigel, pretty sure he wouldn’t use it at all. He admits others are ‘better’ but still says the 24-200 is good enough for him to use.
 
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woof woof said:
I took pictures with my old Sigma 28-300mm that I still look at today, but it was technically one of the worst lenses I've ever had :D
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I occasionally look at pictures taken with a Sigma 18-275, but that lens is junk really, and I often wonder why I ever thought it a good idea.
 
ancient_mariner said:
I occasionally look at pictures taken with a Sigma 18-275, but that lens is junk really, and I often wonder why I ever thought it a good idea.
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Probably for similar reasons to me. These superzooms may be relatively poor lenses but they're flexible and make good day out and holiday lenses if you can resist pixel peeping, don't expect sharpness into the corners, don't mind a little distortion and don't mind the aperture range.
 
This might interest some. Dunno when we'll see it on Amazon though...

petapixel.com

New ‘5D’ Disc Storage Can Store 500TB of Data for 13 Billion Years

It could withstand temperatures up to 1,000 degrees Celcius and last 13.8 billion years at room temperature.
petapixel.com petapixel.com

"They say that with the writing density available, the disc would be able to hold 500 TB of data which could be written to that single disc in about 60 days (if writing in parallel). That sounds like a long time, but given the amount of time it can take to upload and download data remotely even with good internet, two months of time for 500 TB of long-term storage isn’t terribly inefficient, and the robustness of the storage medium would make it more than worth it."

Oh dear.

But...

"What’s more, the team is now working on ways to increase the writing speed of their method to make it feasible to use outside of a laboratory. If that speed can be increased, they will have developed a small and practical method for long-term data storage."

That's nice.
 
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T_J_G said:
Has anyone sent in their Sony cameras for a service/shutter replacement?
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I know 3 people that have had shutter replaced one was recently, the other 2 was a while back.

Not sure if it's a Northern Ireland thing or not but they were all told to go through Fixation, there is a postcode checker on the Sony website which tells you what repair agent to use depending on where you are based, even though they were all Sony Pro Support registered.

Biggest issue seems to be availability of parts, the actual repair work can be done very quickly. Even with pro support people seem to be waiting a few weeks. The recent one has been away for over a month already awaiting parts.

I ran into this myself a while back when I needed to get an evf replaced. The actual job of replacing the evf took less than an hour, but the part took just under 4 weeks to source.
 
The rumor site has more reviews on that new anamorphic lens...

Sirui 50mm T2.9 1.6x Full-Frame Anamorphic launched on Indiegogo. First reviews from Gerald Undone and Kai W | sonyalpharumors

SIRUI launched the 50mm T2.9 1.6x Full-Frame Anamorphic Lens on Indiegogo. Here are the first reviews from youtubers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgXPfieMFBk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQs9kDDcQC4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8p6lW0DiD3Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2FDu9tAeVA
www.sonyalpharumors.com www.sonyalpharumors.com

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgXPfieMFBk


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQs9kDDcQC4


And there are a couple more on the rumor site.
 
f/2.8 said:
I know 3 people that have had shutter replaced one was recently, the other 2 was a while back.

Not sure if it's a Northern Ireland thing or not but they were all told to go through Fixation, there is a postcode checker on the Sony website which tells you what repair agent to use depending on where you are based, even though they were all Sony Pro Support registered.

Biggest issue seems to be availability of parts, the actual repair work can be done very quickly. Even with pro support people seem to be waiting a few weeks. The recent one has been away for over a month already awaiting parts.

I ran into this myself a while back when I needed to get an evf replaced. The actual job of replacing the evf took less than an hour, but the part took just under 4 weeks to source.
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Thanks for the information, doesn’t sound ideal. Nothing needs doing but want to get atleast my highest shutter body looked at as it’s approaching 100k activations. I don’t think I have a 4 week period in the next 18 months where I don’t need a camera.

I may end up replacing one, and dedicating a body to 360/video work where it’s less of a crucial moment if it breaks on me.
 
T_J_G said:
Thanks for the information, doesn’t sound ideal. Nothing needs doing but want to get atleast my highest shutter body looked at as it’s approaching 100k activations. I don’t think I have a 4 week period in the next 18 months where I don’t need a camera.

I may end up replacing one, and dedicating a body to 360/video work where it’s less of a crucial moment if it breaks on me.
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I wouldn't worry about it if you are not having any issues, 100k is nothing really.

I don't think there is anything they could help you with anyway if a shutter is going to fail it will fail there isn't any preventative measures or servicing that can help as far as I know.

No point replacing the shutter until it actually fails.

While the A7III gets a bit of a bad rep in terms of shutter failures I know lots of people that have shot 300k plus with no problems at all, more than I know who have had shutter failures.

If you think it needs sent of they should be able to tell you over the phone if the shutter mechanism is in stock or not. If it's in stock lead time should only be a few days at the most.
 
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I just went to tools.science.si to check my shutter count and dragged over the raw file of the last photo I took. I've been careful not to overdo the continuous shutter for worrying about getting a high shutter count and wearing the camera out too soon. Had the camera about a year now and I must admit I was mostly using AF-S until a few months ago so I wasn't firing off lots and lots of shots, but recently I've been firing off more as people walk by and I try to get the best frame. But my shutter count is much lower than I expected, almost like a new camera.

DSC04368.ARW
SONY ILCE-6600
digitized on
2021:10:31 16:35:06
Exposures made up to this file: 3799
 
T_J_G said:
Thanks for the information, doesn’t sound ideal. Nothing needs doing but want to get atleast my highest shutter body looked at as it’s approaching 100k activations. I don’t think I have a 4 week period in the next 18 months where I don’t need a camera.

I may end up replacing one, and dedicating a body to 360/video work where it’s less of a crucial moment if it breaks on me.
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100,000 is 50% of Sony’s expected life span. Couldn’t you keep on running it (guessing you already have two bodies) and replace when it fails whilst a new shutter is fitted?

Merlin5 said:
I just went to tools.science.si to check my shutter count and dragged over the raw file of the last photo I took. I've been careful not to overdo the continuous shutter for worrying about getting a high shutter count and wearing the camera out too soon. Had the camera about a year now and I must admit I was mostly using AF-S until a few months ago so I wasn't firing off lots and lots of shots, but recently I've been firing off more as people walk by and I try to get the best frame. But my shutter count is much lower than I expected, almost like a new camera.

DSC04368.ARW
SONY ILCE-6600
digitized on
2021:10:31 16:35:06
Exposures made up to this file: 3799
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I don’t worry about shutter count too much. A high shutter count isn’t necessarily bad as it depends which way it got it. With the high FPS of some cameras a high shutter count doesn’t necessarily mean excessively used. Usually you can tell by body condition. A high use camera will likely have signs of wear on the grips and lens mount. Sony cameras seem to have higher rating than I remember Nikon DSLRs having.

I use an A9 which is rated at a crazy 500,000 actuations (doesn’t mean it will get to 500,000 before the shutter fails). As I mainly use electronic shutter I don’t think it makes much difference to the mechanical shutter count. Have to do a shutter count at some point to see.
 
nandbytes said:
I actually find the having a faster aperture useful even for landscapes. I don't always shoot landscapes at f8-11 on a tripod. I also shoot handheld in less than ideal lighting.
And some times I want a faster shutter speed.

The Nikon 24-200 isn't sharp enough or fast enough for me (YMMV).
I do miss the 24mm focal length over my previous 24-105mm/4

UWA is one area I just can't seem to find a lens I really like (across brands). The new RF14-35mm seems perfect for most part.




I don't think it's good enough. If it was why does Nigel himself own other lenses that are better. In fact he actually does comparison between iPhone and his Nikon to show good an iPhone can be too. Doesn't mean an iPhone is good enough for most and that's all we need.
Basically iPhone and that lens and my film camera from 1980 are all capable of taking good pictures but I don't use any of them because there are better options which provides more creative freedom which even Nigel appreciates.
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I can see the point about fast aperture for faster shutter speeds but personally I’d take image stabilisation over faster aperture for landscapes if handholding.


Regarding Nigel I’d say he uses the best kit for particular situation and has a preference to having the best kit he can. Like many photographers he may want to get the very best even though it doesn’t necessarily really matter to the actual outcome. The 24-200 has its place when the situation needs a single lightweight option.

Same for me with the tamron 28-200. I don’t really need it as I have the Sony 24-105 and 100-400 which should both be better but in certain situations the 28-200 wins for me. That’s mainly because I don’t want to lug heavy kit about. It isn’t much different to the reason I now have 100-400 over what I previously used whilst with nikon (300mm f2.8 and 200-400 f4) . Granted Ive noticed the difference in lens quality (the loss of being able to keep iso lower and better subject isolation) but I don’t miss the weight.

Stuart on the other hand is likely using what gives him enough for him to keep his customers happy. Let’s face it only photographers really care (obsess) about the detail in images. The general public don’t care about noise and critical sharpness. They generally don’t see it.

Manufacturers must love photographers as many obsess about getting the very best even though it doesn’t really matter too much to the actual outcome (hence they can sell minor upgrades to us and we buy them). I don’t think any kit I’ve used in the last 10 years has stopped me getting a photo. Kit has generally improved over that time and made things easier but it’s probably not really been needed as it was good enough previously to get results.
 
rob-nikon said:
100,000 is 50% of Sony’s expected life span. Couldn’t you keep on running it (guessing you already have two bodies) and replace when it fails whilst a new shutter is fitted?
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Yeah I have multiple bodies, I guess that's probably the way to go. I may just have to treat myself to a A7IV early next year.
 
rob-nikon said:
100,000 is 50% of Sony’s expected life span. Couldn’t you keep on running it (guessing you already have two bodies) and replace when it fails whilst a new shutter is fitted?


I don’t worry about shutter count too much. A high shutter count isn’t necessarily bad as it depends which way it got it. With the high FPS of some cameras a high shutter count doesn’t necessarily mean excessively used. Usually you can tell by body condition. A high use camera will likely have signs of wear on the grips and lens mount. Sony cameras seem to have higher rating than I remember Nikon DSLRs having.

I use an A9 which is rated at a crazy 500,000 actuations (doesn’t mean it will get to 500,000 before the shutter fails). As I mainly use electronic shutter I don’t think it makes much difference to the mechanical shutter count. Have to do a shutter count at some point to see.
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Thanks rob. I'd say about 99% of my shots have been silent shutter. Does my 3799 shutter count include those or only non silent shutter?
 
woof woof said:
Probably for similar reasons to me. These superzooms may be relatively poor lenses but they're flexible and make good day out and holiday lenses if you can resist pixel peeping, don't expect sharpness into the corners, don't mind a little distortion and don't mind the aperture range.
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Quite honestly, at the long end you can tell it's not great at 1024px on the long edge. In the 18-35 range it's just the edges are soft as you say, at f8, and it's possible to make acceptable prints at the wider focal lengths, but otherwise you might as well just crop a wider angle - which is what the lens is doing optically anyway.

FWIW I've had a couple of older Sigma 28-200s, and they can be genuinely useful, so I imagine the Tamron Anand keeps talking about could give decent results.
 
rob-nikon said:
100,000 is 50% of Sony’s expected life span. Couldn’t you keep on running it (guessing you already have two bodies) and replace when it fails whilst a new shutter is fitted?


I don’t worry about shutter count too much. A high shutter count isn’t necessarily bad as it depends which way it got it. With the high FPS of some cameras a high shutter count doesn’t necessarily mean excessively used. Usually you can tell by body condition. A high use camera will likely have signs of wear on the grips and lens mount. Sony cameras seem to have higher rating than I remember Nikon DSLRs having.

I use an A9 which is rated at a crazy 500,000 actuations (doesn’t mean it will get to 500,000 before the shutter fails). As I mainly use electronic shutter I don’t think it makes much difference to the mechanical shutter count. Have to do a shutter count at some point to see.
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With the 'recent' electronic shutters it's hard to tell how much use a camera's had so condition will be everything when looking at used. I think my mechanical shutter's been used less than 50 times.
 
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