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

[woof woof]

A7 and 20mm f1.8.

I suppose this is one way to avoid the pouring rain, stick your head under water.

Every time I pointed my camera at them they lunged at me but once they realised I didn't have any food they sailed away.

It's a good job my A7 and 20mm f1.8 are adequately sealed as they and I got soaked

 

[JohnMcL7]

Not the right thread I know but I’ve just been reading about the X-T5 and that it crops the image when using burst mode with electronic shutter, why is this?

I'm not familiar with the Fuji but I'd assume it's a hardware processing limitation similar to a number of cameras which crop the sensor when they're in video modes.

I like the extreme distortion on ultrawide lenses as you can make a normal scene look quite different although I find the lenses a bit of a pain as I find myself swapping back and forth to something for more range when I've a subject I want to capture.

 

[snerkler]

I'm not familiar with the Fuji but I'd assume it's a hardware processing limitation similar to a number of cameras which crop the sensor when they're in video modes.

I like the extreme distortion on ultrawide lenses as you can make a normal scene look quite different although I find the lenses a bit of a pain as I find myself swapping back and forth to something for more range when I've a subject I want to capture.

I’ve always hated swapping lenses all the time when out and about but until they make a 16-200mm f1.8 with a weight of 500g or less I don’t have much choice

 

[woof woof]

You don't need to crop anything those shadows could be removed in under a minute using content aware.

Thanks for the prompt.

I've never used this before and maybe it'll vary with different scenes but for the pictures I posted earlier it creates issues as you'll easily spot what it's done as there are repetitions all over the place. I initially started just cloning out the obvious repetitions but there are just too many to make this a practical thing to do with these pictures.

eg...

I suppose on a phone or tablet these could go unnoticed by a lot of people but when looking closely or even just looking people like us geeks will see these repetitions are just all over the affected area. I might give it a go with other pictures at some point.

 

[snerkler]

Thanks for the prompt.

I've never used this before and maybe it'll vary with different scenes but for the pictures I posted earlier it creates issues as you'll easily spot what it's done as there are repetitions all over the place. I initially started just cloning out the obvious repetitions but there are just too many to make this a practical thing to do with these pictures.

eg...

I suppose on a phone or tablet these could go unnoticed by a lot of people but when looking closely or even just looking people like us geeks will see these repetitions are just all over the affected area. I might give it a go with other pictures at some point.

I would then use clone stamp to remove the repetitions, however in your case the foreground added nothing of interest so it's just easier to crop it out. Shadows are a royal PITA with a lot of landscapes and can be really time consuming to remove and get it to look good.

 

[Durbs]

Any particular recommendations for a (super)tele to hire?

Off on holiday in August, doing Pacific Coast Highway, San Fran up to Seattle, then a cruise from Seattle into Alaska.
Hoping for some bears, bald eagles, whales etc.

Will be taking my usual 24/35/50/85 primes, but was looking to hire something long.
Main contenders are the 100-400, or 200-600, with a curve ball of a 70-200 + a teleconverter.

Never used super-tele's before - so don't really know what to expect.

Mounting on a A7R2 if that makes a difference

 

[Raymond Lin]

Any particular recommendations for a (super)tele to hire?

Off on holiday in August, doing Pacific Coast Highway, San Fran up to Seattle, then a cruise from Seattle into Alaska.
Hoping for some bears, bald eagles, whales etc.

Will be taking my usual 24/35/50/85 primes, but was looking to hire something long.
Main contenders are the 100-400, or 200-600, with a curve ball of a 70-200 + a teleconverter.

Never used super-tele's before - so don't really know what to expect.

Mounting on a A7R2 if that makes a difference

Do not leave anything in the car in San Fran/LA.

No bags in the cabin or even hidden in the boot. They smash the windows to peak into the boot and if they see anything they'd grab it. The crime is so bad some people parked with their boot open to show these thieves there is nothing inside to take.

 

[snerkler]

Any particular recommendations for a (super)tele to hire?

Off on holiday in August, doing Pacific Coast Highway, San Fran up to Seattle, then a cruise from Seattle into Alaska.
Hoping for some bears, bald eagles, whales etc.

Will be taking my usual 24/35/50/85 primes, but was looking to hire something long.
Main contenders are the 100-400, or 200-600, with a curve ball of a 70-200 + a teleconverter.

Never used super-tele's before - so don't really know what to expect.

Mounting on a A7R2 if that makes a difference

With wildlife you normally want as much reach as possible, however do you really want to be carrying the 200-600mm around? The 100-400mm is a good compromise and can be used with a tc if you need to.

 

[Mike.P]

With wildlife you normally want as much reach as possible, however do you really want to be carrying the 200-600mm around? The 100-400mm is a good compromise and can be used with a tc if you need to.

This.

I have both the 100-400mm & 200-600mm but only take the longer zoom out if carrying little else. The 100-400mm with the 1.4x is a very good compromise and quite a bit shorter (although weight wise I doubt it would make much difference)

 

[mav]

Any particular recommendations for a (super)tele to hire?

Off on holiday in August, doing Pacific Coast Highway, San Fran up to Seattle, then a cruise from Seattle into Alaska.
Hoping for some bears, bald eagles, whales etc.

Will be taking my usual 24/35/50/85 primes, but was looking to hire something long.
Main contenders are the 100-400, or 200-600, with a curve ball of a 70-200 + a teleconverter.

Never used super-tele's before - so don't really know what to expect.

Mounting on a A7R2 if that makes a difference

i would go with the 200-600 if the weight isnt a Problem, Haines was the hotspot for bears and Eagles when i went most ships stop near haines cant temember the port , but if you are going book a tour , there was a place in haines that done it , it was the highlight of our Holiday ,

 

[snerkler]

This.

I have both the 100-400mm & 200-600mm but only take the longer zoom out if carrying little else. The 100-400mm with the 1.4x is a very good compromise and quite a bit shorter (although weight wise I doubt it would make much difference)

100-400mm plus 1.4 TC is still 600g lighter than the 200-600mm so I think it’ll be noticeable

 

[woof woof]

I would then use clone stamp to remove the repetitions, however in your case the foreground added nothing of interest so it's just easier to crop it out. Shadows are a royal PITA with a lot of landscapes and can be really time consuming to remove and get it to look good.

Clone stamp is what I normally use but it'd take too much time to clone out the multiple repetitions in those "fun" shots. They were taken to deliberately include shadow as just fun shots but if I wanted a shadow free picture then maybe I'd do it, but not for these.

As for the foreground, I like expanses of sky and beach and very often include these "empty" areas and to me they are areas of interest. Luckily I took those shadow pictures knowing the shadows would be there, they're just fun" pictures and wont be printed or framed, I just mentioned the difficulty in avoiding shadows as one drawback of wide lenses particularly when the sun is low in the sky.

 

[Mike.P]

100-400mm plus 1.4 TC is still 600g lighter than the 200-600mm so I think it’ll be noticeable

Guess it depends what you are used to carrying around, for me it's the length of the 200-600mm rather than the weight which is a pain.

 

[snerkler]

Guess it depends what you are used to carrying around, for me it's the length of the 200-600mm rather than the weight which is a pain.

Always the weight that bothers me, but that’s down to the fibromyalgia.

 

[Durbs]

Do not leave anything in the car in San Fran/LA.

No bags in the cabin or even hidden in the boot. They smash the windows to peak into the boot and if they see anything they'd grab it. The crime is so bad some people parked with their boot open to show these thieves there is nothing inside to take.

That bad huh? We're not city people, so will likely spend one night in SF (the night we land), then rent a car the next day and head out...

 

[Durbs]

Hadn't actually considered weight! Good points though - maybe the 100-400 then. Also the shorter 100mm end is more practical for general use if it's on the camera I guess?

 

[Mike.P]

Of course if you really want the length then the 200-600mm with 1.4x is also very good (in decent light)

 

[Raymond Lin]

That bad huh? We're not city people, so will likely spend one night in SF (the night we land), then rent a car the next day and head out...

It's awful. These are not single random thieves but like a gang. They would drive around and "patrol" an area and make note of any new cars that are not local, or new different cars, stop and peak inside, smash that little panel in the rear window, pull up the rear seat and look into the boot.

They are not interested in taking the actual car, they just want anything inside.

They do it very quickly, about 10 seconds from a car pulled up, a passenger comes out, smash, look and grab then go back into their getaway car and gone. It's got so bad this guy made a video on it.

 

[chphoto]

It's awful. These are not single random thieves but like a gang. They would drive around and "patrol" an area and make note of any new cars that are not local, or new different cars, stop and peak inside, smash that little panel in the rear window, pull up the rear seat and look into the boot.

They are not interested in taking the actual car, they just want anything inside.

They do it very quickly, about 10 seconds from a car pulled up, a passenger comes out, smash, look and grab then go back into their getaway car and gone. It's got so bad this guy made a video on it.

Was just about to link that video after your first message above. It's crazy, they've certainly got it down to a fine art, for want of a better phrase...

 

[woof woof]

Manny on the pros and cons of Sony kit. Soz if people have seen this, I hadn't so just skimmed it today...

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


I've never had the hotshoe error message but I don't think I've ever taken the cover off so that could be why or it could be that my ancient A7 doesn't have the error message.

It's interesting that he thinks lenses I think are quite big are tiny but all things are relative

While I'm here...

When she held up two chocolates I assumed I was getting one. I was wrong. That'll teach me.

A7 and 24mm f2.8 G.

I didn't get any of the Nature Valley Crunchy bar either.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Sony lenses are tiny, relatively speaking, especially compared to Canon. Canon lenses have always been on the larger size even on EF, on RF they added IS inside some of the lenses which makes it even larger.

Pretty much the only exception is when they make a STM lens.

 

[woof woof]

Sony lenses are tiny, relatively speaking, especially compared to Canon. Canon lenses have always been on the larger size even on EF, on RF they added IS inside some of the lenses which makes it even larger.

Pretty much the only exception is when they make a STM lens.

He goes on to mention focus breathing as a downside to smaller lenses. He says later bodies have focus breathing correction. Anyone used this? I just wondered how it looks whilst your focusing.

 

[woof woof]

WoW.

The center, mid frame and corner sharpness results from this lens are interesting. I've never seen anything like this focus shift before. Amazing.

Review: Pergear 35mm 1.4 - The cheapest 35mm fullframe lens -

The Pergear 35mm 1.4 is the cheapest small and at the same time fast fullframe 35mm lens. For $129 what can we expect from this

phillipreeve.net

 

[simonbarker]

He goes on to mention focus breathing as a downside to smaller lenses. He says later bodies have focus breathing correction. Anyone used this? I just wondered how it looks whilst your focusing.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3SDB-ujCXI

 

[woof woof]

That seems to be very effective but I disagree with the commentators description of a "sight crop" as it is IMO a significant crop. If that'll matter to people or not I don't know but I think it'd matter to me.

 

[f/1.2]

Thanks for the prompt.

I've never used this before and maybe it'll vary with different scenes but for the pictures I posted earlier it creates issues as you'll easily spot what it's done as there are repetitions all over the place. I initially started just cloning out the obvious repetitions but there are just too many to make this a practical thing to do with these pictures.

eg...

I suppose on a phone or tablet these could go unnoticed by a lot of people but when looking closely or even just looking people like us geeks will see these repetitions are just all over the affected area. I might give it a go with other pictures at some point.

You must have used a large selection are, use a smaller selection and you won't run into that.

 

[woof woof]

You must have used a large selection are, use a smaller selection and you won't run into that.

The effectiveness may vary with different scenes but for this/these pictures chopping the shadow into three actually gave a worse result than selecting one area including and beyond the shadow which for me gave a better result than just selecting the shadow. Selecting one large area beyond the shadow gave a more natural look although when you look closely the issues are easily seen.

One problem with only selecting a portion of the shadow area is that the content aware will then possibly go on to select areas of shadow to use... and that's what it did... unless you stop it.

I appreciate you prompting this feature and I might use it in future but for these particular pictures the results are just not good enough for a geek looking anything like closely, but they will be ok for phone viewing.

 

[ancient_mariner]

The effectiveness may vary with different scenes but for this/these pictures chopping the shadow into three actually gave a worse result than selecting one area including and beyond the shadow which for me gave a better result than just selecting the shadow. Selecting one large area beyond the shadow gave a more natural look although when you look closely the issues are easily seen.

One problem with only selecting a portion of the shadow area is that the content aware will then possibly go on to select areas of shadow to use... and that's what it did... unless you stop it.

I appreciate you prompting this feature and I might use it in future but for these particular pictures the results are just not good enough for a geek looking anything like closely, but they will be ok for phone viewing.

I've not used Photoshop, but used to find the manual clone-stamp tool in GIMP very good for this kind of work. With care one can clear a busy beach without it being too obvious. TBH I've never found a content aware eraser that was good on a large area despite many videos to the contrary.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Content aware can be hit and miss. It's not a 1 click solution like the demo video like you to believe.

It's a bit like the clone tool in lightroom, where it picks to sample from at times is baffling.

 

[woof woof]

I've not used Photoshop, but used to find the manual clone-stamp tool in GIMP very good for this kind of work. With care one can clear a busy beach without it being too obvious. TBH I've never found a content aware eraser that was good on a large area despite many videos to the contrary.

As above I'm no stranger to cloning and whilst content aware fill might for all I know work well for some shots clearly it's less good with others. I think manual cloning is better but it'll take longer. A combination of content aware with some tidying up manual cloning could be a good enough for many shots way forward and be quicker than manual cloning on its own.

Anyway. I'm glad I tried it.

Content aware can be hit and miss. It's not a 1 click solution like the demo video like you to believe.

It's a bit like the clone tool in lightroom, where it picks to sample from at times is baffling.

Playing with it I found that the results can vary, do it once and get one result, do the exact same area/thing again and get a different result.

 

[robj20]

Do not leave anything in the car in San Fran/LA.

No bags in the cabin or even hidden in the boot. They smash the windows to peak into the boot and if they see anything they'd grab it. The crime is so bad some people parked with their boot open to show these thieves there is nothing inside to take.

Sounds like a lovely place to visit.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Sounds like a lovely place to visit.

Even in the spot near where people take photos of the Golden Gate Bridge. The thieves have got wise that the people go there with expensive photo equipment so just because you are out of the city, still be on guard and do not leave anything in the car.

 

[woof woof]

Thom's Predictions and Thom's Outlandish Predictions...

Outlandish Predictions | Cameras and Photography Explained | Thom Hogan

Some (tongue in cheek) wild predictions about the future of cameras

www.bythom.com

 

[robj20]

Even in the spot near where people take photos of the Golden Gate Bridge. The thieves have got wise that the people go there with expensive photo equipment so just because you are out of the city, still be on guard and do not leave anything in the car.

I just wouldn't visit somewhere like that at all.

 

[woof woof]

I just wouldn't visit somewhere like that at all.

I remember reading once that in the olden days... the way back olden days... people travelling north (in Britain) were advised to do so in a party of 30 or 40 to put off would be robbers. One successful anti ambush measure was to cut the vegetation back a certain number of yards from the "roads."

Maybe there's an answer to the current problems there, if travelling to certain places do so in large groups, appropriately armed and able to defend themselves.

 

[woof woof]

A couple of interesting things on the rumor site...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHplML9YzIk&t=485s


and...

LEAKED: Sigma 60-600mm F4.5-6.3 DG DN OS Sports Images and MTF Charts - sonyalpharumors

The images as well as MTF charts of the upcoming Sigma 60-600mm F4.5-6.3 DG DN OS Sports have now been leaked by Nokis***a (via digicame-info). We already reported about specs and pricing in this article. The Sigma 60-600mm lens for Nikon F and Canon EF is available for about 2000 Dollars/Euro...

www.sonyalpharumors.com

 

[andybod]

evening, a little advise if possible new to Sony, I've just joined the gang with a s/h a7iii, 24/105, 55 1.8 ziess and fe85mm, I've bought these to travel with over Easter. I'm thinking of adding either a 35mm 1.4/1,8 or something like a 16-35 f2.8 type wide angle zoom i'm wanting a relatively fast lens for getting out at night doing some cityscapes neon light's etc mostly shooting hand held (not sure if i'll have capacity for a tripod in luggage). budget wise i'll be looking to spend £3-400 so looking for some recommendations/ options I'm more than happy with 3rd party lenses.

 

[snerkler]

evening, a little advise if possible new to Sony, I've just joined the gang with a s/h a7iii, 24/105, 55 1.8 ziess and fe85mm, I've bought these to travel with over Easter. I'm thinking of adding either a 35mm 1.4/1,8 or something like a 16-35 f2.8 type wide angle zoom i'm wanting a relatively fast lens for getting out at night doing some cityscapes neon light's etc mostly shooting hand held (not sure if i'll have capacity for a tripod in luggage). budget wise i'll be looking to spend £3-400 so looking for some recommendations/ options I'm more than happy with 3rd party lenses.

With £300-400 you’ll need to rule out the 16-35mm f2.8 as it’ll be well over budget, and to be honest so will the f4 ones, even used/grey are circa £600 for a decent one.

Likewise a 35mm f1.4 will be well over budget so it’s really down to 35mm f1.8. Samyang do a good 35mm f1.8 if you can find one without decentering issues. The Sony 35mm f1.8 should be in budget used, and every now and again they come up on offer on Amazon. I’ve got the Sony and it’s a great little lens although I do prefer the rendering of the Samyang.

Sony and Samyang also do a teeny tiny f2.8 35mm, ideal for travel.

 

[woof woof]

evening, a little advise if possible new to Sony, I've just joined the gang with a s/h a7iii, 24/105, 55 1.8 ziess and fe85mm, I've bought these to travel with over Easter. I'm thinking of adding either a 35mm 1.4/1,8 or something like a 16-35 f2.8 type wide angle zoom i'm wanting a relatively fast lens for getting out at night doing some cityscapes neon light's etc mostly shooting hand held (not sure if i'll have capacity for a tripod in luggage). budget wise i'll be looking to spend £3-400 so looking for some recommendations/ options I'm more than happy with 3rd party lenses.

If you have the 55mm f1.8 is a 35mm justified?

How about a fast wider lens? I have the 20mm f1.8 but that could be a problem if you want to stick to the budget. Another way to go could be with one of the very small Sony primes to make the smallest possible camera and lens combination for those times you might want the smallest possible camera and lens combination 35mm 2.8 or the newer 24mm f2.8 or 40 or 50mm f2.5.

Or you could go the fun route and get the manual TT Artisan 50mm f2 for about £70 for again a very compact combination.

 

[imattersuk]

evening, a little advise if possible new to Sony, I've just joined the gang with a s/h a7iii, 24/105, 55 1.8 ziess and fe85mm, I've bought these to travel with over Easter. I'm thinking of adding either a 35mm 1.4/1,8 or something like a 16-35 f2.8 type wide angle zoom i'm wanting a relatively fast lens for getting out at night doing some cityscapes neon light's etc mostly shooting hand held (not sure if i'll have capacity for a tripod in luggage). budget wise i'll be looking to spend £3-400 so looking for some recommendations/ options I'm more than happy with 3rd party lenses.

I’ve had the A7 III & 24-105 combo, you can push the ISO surprisingly high, it’s worth trying it out before buying a fast lens as I never had any problems using it doing street at night.