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

woof woof said:
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.
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Thanks look forward to your photos :)
 
Does anyone know...

Is there a way of turning the display OFF without going into the menu?

My G1 has a button and if I want to use the back screen I just press it... easy!

The Sony flits between screen and EVF when it detects my eye and I'd like to assign a button so that I can turn the screen on / off without diving into the menu but so far I can't do it.

Is it possible?
 
woof woof said:
Does anyone know...

Is there a way of turning the display OFF without going into the menu?

My G1 has a button and if I want to use the back screen I just press it... easy!

The Sony flits between screen and EVF when it detects my eye and I'd like to assign a button so that I can turn the screen on / off without diving into the menu but so far I can't do it.

Is it possible?
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Yes, you can assign it to a custom function or you can just set it to use the EVF all the time regardless of where your eye is. Unlike Panasonic though the same display is not shown on the EVF and rear screen so I have mine set to Auto with each showing different stuff.

Now can anyone tell me how I turn focus peaking on? Found it, quite useful depending on subject. It's rather amusing when the dogs' eyes light up red!
 
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Here's a shot from the A7R with a Leica Elmarit-R 2.8/24mm at f/8. I chose this location as it has decent detail in the corners. This is an out of camera jpeg with no tweaks other than going into then out of Lightroom. Overall, not bad at all. OK, so it's known not to be Leica's best lens, but it's reasonably priced at under £500 and for most uses I'll put it to it will either be at f/8 to f/11 for landscapes, or f/2.8 to f/4 for commercial work where central sharpness is key as everything else will be blurred out anyway. With a tad of post processing I think it will look excellent for landscapes.

11052509383_689f9e22b8_o.jpg

A7R with Leica Elmarit-R 2.8/24 at f/8 by Tobers, on Flickr

Click on the link for full 100% res.
 
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[quotef, post: 5963404, member: 22277"]Does anyone know...

Is there a way of turning the display OFF without going into the menu?

My G1 has a button and if I want to use the back screen I just press it... easy!

The Sony flits between screen and EVF when it detects my eye and I'd like to assign a button so that I can turn the screen on / off without diving into the menu but so far I can't do it.

Is it possible?[/quote]
On my a77 theres a switch to the right of viewfinder for manual eevf switch, but u need to change it to manual switching in a menus sometime.
 
Well you certainly wasted no time getting out and about with your A7R! Mine hasn't been outdoors yet! Boy does it take a while to charge!
 
pingu666 said:
[quotef, post: 5963404, member: 22277"]Does anyone know...

Is there a way of turning the display OFF without going into the menu?

My G1 has a button and if I want to use the back screen I just press it... easy!

The Sony flits between screen and EVF when it detects my eye and I'd like to assign a button so that I can turn the screen on / off without diving into the menu but so far I can't do it.

Is it possible?
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On my a77 theres a switch to the right of viewfinder for manual eevf switch, but u need to change it to manual switching in a menus sometime.[/quote]

There doesn't seem to be a switch near the A7's VF.
 
Alan Clogwyn said:
Yes, you can assign it to a custom function or you can just set it to use the EVF all the time regardless of where your eye is. Unlike Panasonic though the same display is not shown on the EVF and rear screen so I have mine set to Auto with each showing different stuff.

Now can anyone tell me how I turn focus peaking on? Found it, quite useful depending on subject. It's rather amusing when the dogs' eyes light up red!
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I can't see how to assign it to a C button at the mo... I'll have to try harder.

I can see how to turn it off in the menu but I'd like to be able to toggle on/off via a button. I'll keep playing.
 
Alan Clogwyn said:
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!

View attachment 1368



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!
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Alan Clogwyn said:
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!

View attachment 1368

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!
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I bet that combo produces fantastic results, but a also reminds me that mft still has a future :)
 
woof woof said:
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.
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I don't know if you use a Mac, Alan, but you could try Irident Developer if you do and you're after an alternative Adobe-free option

http://www.iridientdigital.com
 
ISO 25600...



You wouldn't want to print it at A3 and look at it with a magnifying glass but it's usable. I hope that DNG gets updated soon as I want to start processing these in CS5. This one is SOOC jpeg opened as raw in CS5 and processed.
 
manualfocus-g said:
I accidently just bought an a7...eek. I'd better sell some stuff to pay for it!
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Do you have the Zeiss 50/2 Planar? I'd be very interested too know how you like it with your A7. I'm very tempted to get an A7 (plus kit lens because it seems daft not to) and the ZM 50. I loved the C/Y 50 on my old 5D2 but focusing it was beyond me 99% of the time.

I wonder if I'm going to spend the whole time wishing I'd got the A7R :bang:
 
paulcamcas said:
Do you have the Zeiss 50/2 Planar? I'd be very interested too know how you like it with your A7. I'm very tempted to get an A7 (plus kit lens because it seems daft not to) and the ZM 50. I loved the C/Y 50 on my old 5D2 but focusing it was beyond me 99% of the time.

I wonder if I'm going to spend the whole time wishing I'd got the A7R :bang:
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I must be daft as I didn't get the kit lens lol :D In all seriousness, the kit lens looked a bit big for my liking and I wanted to put the extra towards the 35/2.8 (eventually).

I don't have the Planar 50/2 sadly, but I have a number of C/Y Zeiss lenses which I already use on the Canon EOS 6D:

25/2.8, 28/2.8 and 35/2.8 Distagon, 50/1.4 and 85/1.4 Planar, 100/2.8 Makro-Planar, 85/2.8 and 135/2.8 Sonnar and 35-70/3.4, 80-200/4 and 100-300/4.5-5.6 Vario-Sonnar.

I suspect, however, that I'll end up using smaller lenses with this cam e.g. Jupiter-8 50/2, Jupiter-12 35/2.8, Konica 40/1.8 :)
 
Ha ha. You are manual focus-guy - you aren't allowed the kit lens. You're right about it being big, I just had a look at it on camerasize.com and it is a bit of a shocker.

Hmmm... Jupiter-8, I've got one of those. And a collapsible Summicron. Perhaps I don't need another 50.
 
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Big? I'm quite impressed with the kit lens and I think it's more compact than I thought it'd be.

Here's the A7+kit next to a G1+24mm f2.8.



It's hardly a monster :D

PS.

And next to G1+14-42mm.

 
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woof woof said:
Big? I'm quite impressed with the kit lens and I think it's more compact than I thought it'd be.

Here's the A7+kit next to a G1+24mm f2.8.



It's hardly a monster :D

PS.

And next to G1+14-42mm.

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woof woof said:
Big? I'm quite impressed with the kit lens and I think it's more compact than I thought it'd be.

Here's the A7+kit next to a G1+24mm f2.8.



It's hardly a monster :D

PS.

And next to G1+14-42mm.

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Haha I always thought the Panny kit lens was too large as well!
 
manualfocus-g said:
135/2.8 Sonnar
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I'll be interested to see how you get on with that on the A7. I have far too many 135mm lenses*, but I'm very tempted to fill out my C/Y Zeisses with one just because I like the focal length so much.

* Too many =
FDn 135/2.0 (chunky and heavy bokeh monster)
FD 135/2.5 SC (chunky and heavy, but it's a loverly lens; to my eye an almost Zeiss like drawing style)
FDn 135/2.8 (small and light + 2.8 means it gets used a lot)
FDn 135/3.5 (even lighter)
OM 135/3.5 (smaller still)
 
manualfocus-g said:
Haha I always thought the Panny kit lens was too large as well!
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It really isn't too big. Just look at Canon DSLR kit type zooms and this Sony will look like something from Lilliput. Plus with your left hand where it should be, under the zoom ring, it fits in the hand very well and feels well balanced. I probably wont use it much but I'm glad I got it.
 
Im in :confused:. A7 body only, rather put the extra funds towards the 35mm. I prefer fast lenses. Also be looking at Jupiters till my 55mm arrives.
 
Well my Minolta adapter arrived, and it's going back, complete mess. Won't mount some lenses, ones that do mount are loose and floppy and focus way beyond infinity. :rolleyes:
 
Alan Clogwyn said:
Well my Minolta adapter arrived, and it's going back, complete mess. Won't mount some lenses, ones that do mount are loose and floppy and focus way beyond infinity. :rolleyes:
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b****r. That extention tube bloke gave me a refund and I bought off someone else... I hope it works...
 
I like the quality of the Metabones adapters, never had a problem with them and they fit snug with no rattle.
 
It'll be Metabones or Novoflex for me. Probably Novoflex as they are superbly built whereas Metabones are "just" very good.
 
Alan Clogwyn said:
Well my Minolta adapter arrived, and it's going back, complete mess. Won't mount some lenses, ones that do mount are loose and floppy and focus way beyond infinity. :rolleyes:
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It looks like all the cheapo ebay adapters are the same so Im guessing they will all be this poor.
 
twist said:
It looks like all the cheapo ebay adapters are the same so Im guessing they will all be this poor.
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Maybe, maybe just a bad batch as I have to say that the two cheapo ones I bought for MFT both work with all of my lenses as does my Oly to eos adapter too.
 
Just been looking and expensive Minolta Rokkor adapters seem thin on the ground but I did find a £100 Zuiko adapter so I may order that and see how it looks next to a cheapo Rokkor adapter.

It's a gamble... as these adapters are basically just a spacer (and my metal £10 MFT ones look like they'll last until hell freezes over) and although it's a few decades since I did any metal bashing I think that I could make a quality one myself for under a tenner so I assume that of my £100 a tenner is for materials and £90 is to pay a German to machine it.

I may be wrong but I tend to think that these expensive adapters are just that, expensive.
 
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twist said:
It looks like all the cheapo ebay adapters are the same so Im guessing they will all be this poor.
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For my Nex I got all cheapo adapters (all under £10) and they all work fine - full frame/ A7 may be more demanding though, I don't know? As Alan says it's basically just a bit of metal which acts as a spacer, so the prices of the expensive ones do seem - well expensive.
 
Just for fun (err.. and for £100...) I've bought a brand name Zuiko adapter and if it doesn't seem £90 better than a £10 one from China I'll scream and screan until I'm sick.
 
applemint said:
For my Nex I got all cheapo adapters (all under £10) and they all work fine - full frame/ A7 may be more demanding though, I don't know? As Alan says it's basically just a bit of metal which acts as a spacer, so the prices of the expensive ones do seem - well expensive.
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Yes, its a piece of metal spacer but lens tolerances are tight. Why buy a £1k+ camera with some nice legacy glass to ruin it with some cheap ugly adapter that may or may not focus correctly or to infinity.
 
Yes, but a cnc mc in China might just be set up exactly the same as a maching in Germany and when you press the little green button they'll both make the same thing but one will say Made in China on the box and will cost £8 including postage and the other will say Made in Germany on the box and will cost £99.

I may just have been lucky but in my little box of bits and pieces I have four mount adapters, none of which cost £10 and all work just fine.

Dunno why I've just paid £99 really, but just a little experiment :D
 
Sorry but I wont believe that the £8 version from China is built to the same standards as Metabones/Voigtlander etc. You can see from pictures they arent.

EDIT: But I wouldnt pay the big bucks for an adapter unless I planned on having loads of MF lenses, which I dont. Fotodiox seem to be a decent bet.
 
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twist said:
Yes, its a piece of metal spacer but lens tolerances are tight. Why buy a £1k+ camera with some nice legacy glass to ruin it with some cheap ugly adapter that may or may not focus correctly or to infinity.
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Well mine is a £300 Nex with legacy lenses and as I said they all work fine on that. Not buying an A7 (yet). As for ugly - never really thought about it - it's a piece of black metal - doesn't make any difference to me if it doesn't say Metabones or Voigtlander on it. Maybe I was just lucky too but have read plenty of other people on Nex forums who have had no problems either with the cheap adapters.
 
applemint said:
Well mine is a £300 Nex with legacy lenses and as I said they all work fine on that. Not buying an A7 (yet). As for ugly - never really thought about it - it's a piece of black metal - doesn't make any difference to me if it doesn't say Metabones or Voigtlander on it. Maybe I was just lucky too but have read plenty of other people on Nex forums who have had no problems either with the cheap adapters.
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Horses for courses.
 
woof woof said:
Just for fun (err.. and for £100...) I've bought a brand name Zuiko adapter and if it doesn't seem £90 better than a £10 one from China I'll scream and screan until I'm sick.
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Spill the beans... which brand name?
 
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