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

twist said:
Probably only the kit 28-70.
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Alan Clogwyn said:
For full frame coverage: 28-70 kit lens, 35mm f2.8 and 55mm f1.8. 24-70mm f4 should be about in January. Don't think the 55mm has started shipping yet but 35mms have.

Plus with the right adapter, Minolta/Sony alpha lenses will all AF, as will Contax G and some Canon EF lenses.

For APS crop mode all current NEX lenses will work too.
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Cheers. Looking like a promising piece of kit from Sony who are taking the bull by the horns. Looks like the ball is in Canon and Nikon's court now to come up with a rival.
 
Canikon will leave Sony to do the dirty work until there's enough profit to be made and r&d has been done. They tried bringing out mirrorless cameras, massive fail IMO.
 
Alan Clogwyn said:
Hmm, Mine's on it's way by Parcelfarce 24. This could be fun, he never delivers to my house, always dumps it at a friends shop in town, but he's closed Mondays.
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Mine is on its way too but sadly I wont have a MD adapter as that ebay fool isn't playing ball so I've had to order from another supplier and in the meantime will at least have the kit lens.
 
A lot has been said on various forums about wide angles m fit lenses not working well on the two Sony's, does anyone know if that will also be the case for other wide angle lenses or is it just for m fit lenses because of their unusual mount properties?
 
the old rangefinder wide angles have a angle of light at the corners, so they splay light like \|/. As the rear element is close to the film.
a slr lens will be much straighter across all the sensor ||| because of the rear element being further forward to clear the mirror box
 
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Seems to be a lot of posts about complex colour casts, smearing and other complaints about using RF lenses. Not sure I'd be buying the A7/R for use with RF lenses based on all these reports, especially the wide angles. Are people going for the cheap adapters or the more expensive ones?
 
I've previously bought cheap ones on the basis that it's just a chunk of metal and the ones I've had so far have been fine.

If you really fancy using RF lenses some specific research on the lenses you're interested in may help as from what I've read in passing some are a problem and some aren't depending upon the design of gthe lens.

Personally I'm just avoiding the issue by using (or rather intending to use) my Rokkor's and maybe my Zuiko's too.
 
Test shots with a newly acquired Leica Elmarit-R 2.8/24 and a Canon 24 1.4. The Canon adapter I have doesn't have aperture control so that shot is at 1.4. You're looking for the garden pics in this set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tobinators/sets/72157637943103785/

Results are a bit mixed so far and I need to do more tests with the Leica 24 somewhere other than my garden.

In other news, I just used the A7R for its first proper paid job this afternoon. I used mainly the Leica R 2.8/90 and the results are nothing short of astonishing from a clarity, sharpness and detail perspective (when I had it focused right). It was an on-location shoot with portable studio lighting, with the A7R triggering the flashes using pocket wizards at 1/160th and f/4. In reality I could have done with a smaller aperture and more depth of field as the focus plane is very narrow, but I was after a certain look. Can't post the pics unfortunately, but rest assured the detail is incredible.

Manual focus under pressure was a bit tricky, and I used focus peaking and magnification to get it right. I need to practice but much prefer the control you get with manual focus lenses that are designed for just that.
 
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chrism_scotland said:
How easy is manual focus using the peaking?
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Not too shabby at all. Easier than rangefinder focusing as you can zoom in obviously. Also no problems with longer lenses either. With very narrow depth of field like 2.8 on my 90 you just need to take care as the focus plane is about 1cm or something silly.
 
Slightly confused - if I'm looking primarily to use one of these with old manual legacy lenses, should I be getting the a7 or a7r? Seen it suggested that the a7 might perform better with older glass.
 
travellingcello said:
Slightly confused - if I'm looking primarily to use one of these with old manual legacy lenses, should I be getting the a7 or a7r? Seen it suggested that the a7 might perform better with older glass.
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Only if you are using rangefinder lenses though. SLR lenses will be great on either, I'm sure.
 
manualfocus-g said:
Only if you are using rangefinder lenses though. SLR lenses will be great on either, I'm sure.
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Hmm.. that doesn't make my decision any easier really as I plan to use some wide OM lenses like the 16mm 3.5 fisheye and 21mm 3.5 and 24mm 2.8, but I also have two leica m fit lenses at 50mm and 135mm which I inherited which I particularly want to use. However am I right to think that any rangefinder lenses 35mm and up shouldn't have any issues?

Can anyone point out anything I haven't thought of? I like the idea of the extra detail due to the lack of the AA filter with the a7r but obviously want the best solution and if I can spend a little less money and get a better solution with the A7 then all the better!
 
Well... I went for the A7 thinking that I don't need the really high mp count chip or files plus the on chip focus cleverness will/may help with AF lenses although I intend to use mostly manual lenses.

In the past I've never thought that any of my cameras have lacked detail or sharpness so I'm pretty sure that the lower (24mp!!!!) mp count A7 will be more than enough as even my G1 gives enough scope to crop to 100% and still look good.
 
chrism_scotland said:
I'm very close to ordering an A7 to try but it seems the 35mm is hard to get hold of.
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If you like the 35mm focal length why not just get a cheap £10 adapter and a legacy 35mm manual lens? You can pick up a 35mm f2.8 for way under £50 and a f1.8 for a little more. At least then you'll be up and running until the AF lens becomes available. I had a Rokkor 35mm f2.8 and it was really sharp and the f1.8 I changed it for is equally sharp.
 
woof woof said:
If you like the 35mm focal length why not just get a cheap £10 adapter and a legacy 35mm manual lens? You can pick up a 35mm f2.8 for way under £50 and a f1.8 for a little more. At least then you'll be up and running until the AF lens becomes available. I had a Rokkor 35mm f2.8 and it was really sharp and the f1.8 I changed it for is equally sharp.
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You've got a point, my concern is that I'd want to see what the AF is like on the A7/A7r before committing to it and I can't do that without an AF lens, while I like the idea of a very compact full frame body that can produce imaqe quality like my old D600 size isn't the be all and end all for me, I'm quite happy to carry a D600 with the fairly heavy Sigma 35mm 1.4 and find it not a drama.

If the AF is as poor as some have suggested then it won't be for me, I don't mind manual focus but not all the time.

I've had some issues with smaller bodies before (EM5, XE-1) however the A7/A7R look like they have got a good grip and are a little larger than some of the smaller CSC cameras, the optional grip looks handy too.

I've got time to try one I think, if I don't get on with it the D610 will be getting ordered and it appears to be dropping in price by the day so delaying a little will likely just save me money anyway!
 
Congrats Tobers you made it onto SAR!

Having fired an A7 yesterday and expecting the shop window to break I was somewhat dismayed when all I got back was a dull little thud, probably only a little louder than my nex!
 
Brazo said:
Congrats Tobers you made it onto SAR!

Having fired an A7 yesterday and expecting the shop window to break I was somewhat dismayed when all I got back was a dull little thud, probably only a little louder than my nex!
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Yeah - saw that. My page impressions have gone through the roof.
 
A question - would my Macbook Pro Retina 13' with 8gb RAM 2.5 i5 with SSD be able to handle RAW files from the a7r without issue?
 
YaY! My A7 has arrived and is currently charging the battery.

One thing that did surprise me is that there's no software in the box... you have to download it... ok... that's the modern way I suppose :D

Until my MD adapter arrives all I have to use is the kit lens and as (I think?) I'm one of the few people to have ordered this I'll post sme impressions later. For now I'll say that I am impressed with the build quality, size and weight. It's a nice little thing and IMVHO quite compact and light for a FF kit lens especially has it has IS. It's a long time since I've had a lens like this but from what I remember my Canon 17-85mm was quite a bit bigger and my Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 too. I don't suppose I'll use it a lot but I thought it was worth buying for occasional use.

PS. The free Billingham bag looks nice too :D
 
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twist said:
How exciting!

Where did you order the MD adapter?
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Some random bloke on ebay... there are loads for sale but of course when your adapter turns up it may be a set of extention tubes... such is modern life.
 
travellingcello said:
A question - would my Macbook Pro Retina 13' with 8gb RAM 2.5 i5 with SSD be able to handle RAW files from the a7r without issue?
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My ancient Acer has no issue with A7R Rawfiles at all with about half the spec of your mac!

My A7R has arrived too and also on charge, I've had a brief play and the IQ is just unbelievable with my Samyang 35mm, even if it does look ridiculous!

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First impressions are it's incredibly capable, though the interface is a bit sucky compared to other cameras I've had. The EVF is similar to that in my old GH1, although it's considerably better in terms of lag and refresh rate, don't think there's much in it in terms of clarity. For composition though I love it, can compose shallow DOF shots with nailed focus in far less time than AF or MF could manage on my DSLR or SLRs.

Right then, off to town to collect another parcel from the PO, which I believe contains more gear for the A7!
 
twist said:
So is it just MD to NEX? thanks
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Yes, that's right, it was less than £9 with free postage. I'll probably pick up a Zuiko one too as might as well at that sort of price. Also bought a charger and extra battery for very little dosh.
 
The kit lens is very quick to focus, it's pretty much instant.
 
Haven't had chance to view on pc yet... will report back.
 
I'm sure that the kit lens will be ok for occasional use for me :D

I've just loaded my first test shots onto my pc and I can't say that I like the Sony raw software... apart from that ISO 6400 looks to be very good indeed with good detail retained. SOOC jpeg's look good and to be honest I couldn't match them with raw and processing with the Sony sottware so I'll have to shoot raw + jpeg. I hope to eventually be able to convert the Sony raws to DNG and process in CS5, I don't really want to give Adobe any more money.

Dynamic range looks good and so far despite provokation I can't get it to blow... anything.

I'm looking forward to doing a three way test with my A7+Rokkor 50mm f1.4, 5D+ Sigma 50mm f1.4 and G1 with Voigtlander 25mm f0.95. Should be fun.
 
Does anyone with the A7R have any feedback with regards to auto focus is it slow?
 
A good mini review, thanks Alan. That will be a good test, Id imagine the Sigma will be the star there. The Rokkor renders nice bokeh and colour but its a little soft at 1.4 compared to the Sigma.
 
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