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

Raymond Lin said:
Question, What’s the quality control like on Sony Zeiss lenses? I’m still new to this system and I know you can micro adjust the body but does anyone ever do that?

It’s just I found a used lens I want to buy but don’t know if QC is ever an issue on the Sony Zeiss lenses.
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It can be an issue with some of the primes. What lens?
 
dcash29 said:
Dry-out is mainly a problem associated with the pigment based inks, not the dye based.

Seeing that City inks have been mentioned, you wouldn't go far wrong with this cheap A3 option below.

https://www.cityinkexpress.co.uk/cheap-printer-bundles/cheap-printer-bundles-for-canon-printers/a3
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thanks for the idea, and funny you should mention that particular printer as there are couple of open box ones at wex going for £135 which I was considering seriously.

hmmm... do you use this printer?
 
nandbytes said:
thanks for the idea, and funny you should mention that particular printer as there are couple of open box ones at wex going for £135 which I was considering seriously.

hmmm... do you use this printer?
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No, however a mate of mine uses one with a CISS and produces some great prints. The printer itself isnt as robust as the Canon Pro's, however it does the job successfully.
 
twist said:
Not heard anything bad yet, bloody amazing lens!
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It's done.

6M89W0X.png
 
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chrism_scotland said:
Meant to be a belter and haven’t heard any QC issues, they do plague some of the earlier Sony Zeiss glass, in particular the 35mm f1.4
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I've heard that lens isn't the best even with a good copy anyway, it's not worth the price tag and considering I do have the Canon 35mk2 it makes even less sense to get a lens of a lesser quality.

Planar 50….well, they say 50mm is the best focal length. Personally I prefer 35mm more but I can make 50mm work too and in a way I prefer it for half body portraits.

Riz_Guru said:
Nice one :) You'll replace all your Canon gear eventually ;)
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Not until there is a good 35/1.4 :p
 
Raymond Lin said:
I've heard that lens isn't the best even with a good copy anyway, it's not worth the price tag and considering I do have the Canon 35mk2 it makes even less sense to get a lens of a lesser quality.

Planar 50….well, they say 50mm is the best focal length. Personally I prefer 35mm more but I can make 50mm work too and in a way I prefer it for half body portraits.

Not until there is a good 35/1.4 :p
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If you get a good copy of the sony zeiss 35mm f/1.4 its actually quite good. in fact I personally prefer its rendering to canon version (then again I am a sucker of zeiss glass, always have been :P ).
 
twist said:
... This is CISS....

Basically a tank system... costs about £75, but I think prints then work out something like 15p each.

Canon_Pro_9000_CISS_1.w.jpg
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sorry for more questions, but how did you work out the 15p cost? is that including cost of the paper, if so what sort of paper and size?
 
Raymond Lin said:
It's done.
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That's a good price, I assume it's a nice used one?

After reading your comments and seeing your pictures I'm sure you've done the right thing, having a f1.8 would always have eaten away at you.

I'll look forward to seeing your usual excellent shots but now with a new tool :D
 
woof woof said:
That's a good price, I assume it's a nice used one?

After reading your comments and seeing your pictures I'm sure you've done the right thing, having a f1.8 would always have eaten away at you.

I'll look forward to seeing your usual excellent shots but now with a new tool :D
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In their rating it is M-, which is Mint, almost like new, boxed with hood which is excellent. Much easier to swallow than £1300, and if I bought one new it'll be used the minute I get it anyway. Lenses like these holds their value and should still get £999 from it years from now if I sell it.
 
Raymond Lin said:
In their rating it is M-, which is Mint, almost like new, boxed with hood which is excellent. Much easier to swallow than £1300, and if I bought one new it'll be used the minute I get it anyway. Lenses like these holds their value and should still get £999 from it years from now if I sell it.
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Yup unlike cameras.
 
Raymond Lin said:
And especially the L glass or Zeiss lenses, they get replaced with newer models much less frequently too. The 35L had like an 18 year before it got a mk2.
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Sony is yet to provide upgrade for any of its lenses on e-mount. They will probably start doing that once they complete their lineup which is a fair distance away.
 
nandbytes said:
Sony is yet to provide upgrade for any of its lenses on e-mount. They will probably start doing that once they complete their lineup which is a fair distance away.
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If they redo the 50mm macro I might take a look.
 
nandbytes said:
why what's wrong with the current version?
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The one I had wouldn't focus reliably on my A7.

I'd read reviews that said it could hunt but it was much worse than I expected plus it was inconsistent. It'd maybe hit the target on the first attempt or fail then do the opposite. Switch to another subject and maybe it'd hit or maybe it wouldn't, go back to a subject it had previously locked on to and maybe it would miss. With peaking on you could see the focus was all over the place. Switching to my 55mm cured everything.

All in all it was terrible and the only lens I've ever returned for naff performance.
 
woof woof said:
The one I had wouldn't focus reliably on my A7.

I'd read reviews that said it could hunt but it was much worse than I expected plus it was inconsistent. It'd maybe hit the target on the first attempt or fail then do the opposite. Switch to another subject and maybe it'd hit or maybe it wouldn't, go back to a subject it had previously locked on to and maybe it would miss. With peaking on you could see the focus was all over the place. Switching to my 55mm cured everything.

All in all it was terrible and the only lens I've ever returned for naff performance.
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Normally I don't expect macro lenses to be good with AF but what you say sounds rather bad even for a macro lens. Hope they update this and also the FE50/1.8
 
woof woof said:
The one I had wouldn't focus reliably on my A7.

I'd read reviews that said it could hunt but it was much worse than I expected plus it was inconsistent. It'd maybe hit the target on the first attempt or fail then do the opposite. Switch to another subject and maybe it'd hit or maybe it wouldn't, go back to a subject it had previously locked on to and maybe it would miss. With peaking on you could see the focus was all over the place. Switching to my 55mm cured everything.

All in all it was terrible and the only lens I've ever returned for naff performance.
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Did you try more than 1 lens?
 
nandbytes said:
Normally I don't expect macro lenses to be good with AF but what you say sounds rather bad even for a macro lens. Hope they update this and also the FE50/1.8
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The only other af macro lenses I've had are a Canon 50mm f2.5 and Sigma 150mm. I'd expect a macro to be on the slow side but to still hit but this wasn't the issue.

I suppose it could have simply been faulty and maybe I should have asked for a swap but I'd lost confidence in the thing so got my money back.

At the time I couldn't find anyone else using one on an A7 so had no one elses experience to take into account.
 
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Raymond Lin said:
In their rating it is M-, which is Mint, almost like new, boxed with hood which is excellent. Much easier to swallow than £1300, and if I bought one new it'll be used the minute I get it anyway. Lenses like these holds their value and should still get £999 from it years from now if I sell it.
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That's £1300 with VAT though, without it's £20 less than that used price?
 
woof woof said:
The only other af macro lenses I've had are a Canon 50mm f2.5 and Sigma 150mm. I'd expect a macro to be on the slow side but to still hit but this wasn't the issue.
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Seems to be a trend then, the 90mm macro I just got works well but misses a couple of things consistently (wood grain on my table, white on white edges) while the 85mm Batis doesn't have as much of a problem with these. From medium/long range the AF is actually pretty snappy but when it misses something close it can take a while.
 
Raymond Lin said:
I've heard that lens isn't the best even with a good copy anyway, it's not worth the price tag and considering I do have the Canon 35mk2 it makes even less sense to get a lens of a lesser quality.

Planar 50….well, they say 50mm is the best focal length. Personally I prefer 35mm more but I can make 50mm work too and in a way I prefer it for half body portraits.



Not until there is a good 35/1.4 :p
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I know the AF maybe isn't 100% but I've always had a soft spot for the adapted Sigma 35mm Art lens, worked great on my A7riii, I assume the native one will be even better once it released.
 
Oh nos, time to get some lenses ready. Im thinking I can get a Samyang 35 1.4, CZ 55 1.8 and Sony 85 1.8...... or a CZ 35 and Sony 85 1.8 for thereabouts the same money. :thinking:

The FLs are fairly similar but in favour of option 1, I also have the 55 as a smallish walk around prime package.
 
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twist said:
Oh nos, time to get some lenses ready. Im thinking I can get a Samyang 35 1.4, CZ 55 1.8 and Sony 85 1.8...... or a CZ 35 and Sony 85 1.8 for thereabouts the same money. :thinking:

The FLs are fairly similar but in favour of option 1, I also have the 55 as a smallish walk around prime package.
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Option 1
 
twist said:
Oh nos, time to get some lenses ready. Im thinking I can get a Samyang 35 1.4, CZ 55 1.8 and Sony 85 1.8...... or a CZ 35 and Sony 85 1.8 for thereabouts the same money. :thinking:

The FLs are fairly similar but in favour of option 1, I also have the 55 as a smallish walk around prime package.
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Back to Sony? What camera you getting?
 
twist said:
Oh nos, time to get some lenses ready. Im thinking I can get a Samyang 35 1.4, CZ 55 1.8 and Sony 85 1.8...... or a CZ 35 and Sony 85 1.8 for thereabouts the same money. :thinking:

The FLs are fairly similar but in favour of option 1, I also have the 55 as a smallish walk around prime package.
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I think I’d go second option
 
Well I've still not managed to get my hands on an A7riii yet but today I did manage to try the A7rii with 24-70mm and 70-400mm f4 (didn't have the f2.8) and it wasn't good news. I caught by knuckles a couple of times on the lens when using a grip, and when I was holding it to change the functions etc there was pressure on my knuckles from the lens. Also, my pinky finger didn't have anywhere comfortable to rest. It normally hangs off the bottom anyway (even with the D750 and EM1) but it somehow it feels natural, which it didn't with the Sony. I know my hands are larger than average but I didn't think they were as shovel like as the A7 makes them feel. I know the A7riii's grip is slightly different and might be enough to make a difference, but then reports I've read say that the deeper grip means you wrap your fingers around more and so your knuckles are even more likely to foul against the lens.

Also it felt very front heavy with the 70-200mm f4 let alone the f2.8 so I'd definitely need the grip, but with how much my pinky finger hangs off the bottom I'm not sure that the grip would be comfortable to use as I'd imagine my pinky finger would be cramped up against the actual grip part of the battery grip. I'm a bit gutted tbh, but there's no way I can shell out that much for a camera and system that doesn't feel right. I'll still try and get hands on the A7riii but in all honesty I think I'll be going for the D850 and then waiting to see what Nikon do with their mirrorless. I should get good use out of the D850 as it will be a long time for Nikon to master a mirrorless camera and build up a decent lens lineup. I tried the D500 whilst I was there (didn't have the D850 but it's pretty similar) and it did feel so much better.
 
dancook said:
@snerkler the grip helps with my pinkie :) if I don't use the grip I tend to hold the camera very differently
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Useful to know ta. I like living in a small town, but at times like this it can be a pain as stores are limited so it makes it difficult to try anything :(
 
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