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

The hook for me is that the A7 will match the image quality I got from my 5D (actually it's better at higher ISO's) in a body the size of my Panasonic G1. Add ISO 100 and a max shutter speed of 1/8000 and I'm happy.

I'd be even happier with a built in flash and being able to assign "Screen Off" to a button but JPEG quality isn't exacty top of my list of things to worry about either.
 
Does anyone know if you can power the camera through the charging port while using it? if so, do you need a 7.2V power supply? or alternatively does the constant power supply simply slow the drain of power from the battery?
 
Hmmm. So the Sony A7r gets an 80% score and the Nikon DF gets 81%. Wonder what history will judge to be the better performer.
 
For me it's nothing to do with "performance" in the way that DPR seem to use the word. For me it's about the image quality I can get in a compact package which allows me to use legacy lenses and especially wide aperture legacy lenses in the way I want to.

The image qualiy is (very possibly) at least the equal of any other DSLR or compact system camera and the ability to use legacy lenses is way beyond what is possible with any DSLR... unless you are happy shooting with a DSLR back screen. So, for me the only real game in town is the A7/r as MFT. Fuji and Sony come close but fail to meet the spec I want and DSLR's are just too bulky and heavy.

Performance in the sense of slower than the best start up time and iffy JPEG quality hardly register with me. There are things I'd like to see improve, the lack of a "screen off" button being the biggest gripe I have at the moment.
 
woof woof said:
Performance in the sense of slower than the best start up time and iffy JPEG quality hardly register with me.
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DP Review said:
Operational Speed
While most mirrorless cameras start up in under a second, the a7 isn't ready to shoot for nearly two. We've also noticed that if the power is quickly cycled, this delay can be double that. Interestingly enough, the camera is ready to shoot in nearly half a second with no lens attached, so the delay may have something to do with initializing the lens.
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I suspect that's why I've never noticed the slow startup, since, as far as the camera is concerned, I never have a (native FE) lens attached.

I certainly used to notice the 2.5 sec it took for my old Canon 300D to start up. The A7 never gets in my way.
 
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woof woof said:
For me it's nothing to do with "performance" in the way that DPR seem to use the word. For me it's about the image quality I can get in a compact package which allows me to use legacy lenses and especially wide aperture legacy lenses in the way I want to.

The image qualiy is (very possibly) at least the equal of any other DSLR or compact system camera and the ability to use legacy lenses is way beyond what is possible with any DSLR... unless you are happy shooting with a DSLR back screen. So, for me the only real game in town is the A7/r as MFT. Fuji and Sony come close but fail to meet the spec I want and DSLR's are just too bulky and heavy.

Performance in the sense of slower than the best start up time and iffy JPEG quality hardly register with me. There are things I'd like to see improve, the lack of a "screen off" button being the biggest gripe I have at the moment.
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I agree. When I said performance I meant the overall including and especially the image quality. I just can't see how they can give the Nikon DF (a universally panned camera that looking now seems to be a defensive move against the Fuji X-T1) a higher overall rating than the A7r that most other sites think is a bar raiser. Just my tuppence.
 
Magnus said:
Does anyone know if you can power the camera through the charging port while using it? if so, do you need a 7.2V power supply? or alternatively does the constant power supply simply slow the drain of power from the battery?
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Been discussed before in here, no you can't. You need a battery shaped thing that plugs in the mains, only Sony sell it so pick your best kidney.

manualfocus-g said:
Mine can take several seconds to power on or switch to evf mode when using legacy lenses. I missed several shots at the weekend because of it. Hopefully they'll fix it in firmware along with the 1/60th second issue.
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Mine seemingly takes an age to fire up when I'm wanting to do something quickly but it's rarely a major issue, I'm never gonna miss shots because of it as it'll take me much longer to work out which way the lens focusses!
 
Alan Clogwyn said:
Been discussed before in here, no you can't. You need a battery shaped thing that plugs in the mains, only Sony sell it so pick your best kidney.



Mine seemingly takes an age to fire up when I'm wanting to do something quickly but it's rarely a major issue, I'm never gonna miss shots because of it as it'll take me much longer to work out which way the lens focusses!
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Haha, brilliant! Just a standard MF user (in my case, hoarder) hazard :D
 
manualfocus-g said:
Mine can take several seconds to power on or switch to evf mode when using legacy lenses. I missed several shots at the weekend because of it. Hopefully they'll fix it in firmware along with the 1/60th second issue.
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That's be nice but I'll manage until it happens.

My G1 defaults to 1/30 so 1/60 is an improvement :D I fix the issue the same way I did with my G1 - by selecting Manual and with the Sony it's a much better fix as auto ISO works in manual, it doesn't with the G1.

I did wonder what DPR were on about when I read critisisms of A7 use with manual lenses as that's what I use - old Rokkor's and Zuiko's and I can't think of another camera they'd work better on. I suppose you could argue for in body IS but other than that I'm happy with the magnified view and peaking.
 
Alan Clogwyn said:
I agree with most of that really. Peaking is pretty pants unless you just need a reasonably focussed grab shot.
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Dunno about that. I've found peaking to be pretty good. It's not going to get you a sharp image of a galloping horse at f1.4 but it should get you a good image at a more reasonable aperture.
 
I'm not having too many duff shots with peaking and magnified view. Peaking in particular seems to be very good. I use shutter priority and let the auto I so take care of adjutments...I shall try the Manuel route as suggested by woof woof. I'm impressed by this camera and it's a great solution to having manual lenses kicking about. Until my eyes really do give up the ghost.
 
What is considered the best and least rattly brand of Nikon F mount adapter for the A7R? I have a Kiwi one for my NEX 5 but it isn't exactly going to win any design or engineering awards.
 
steveclem said:
I'm not having too many duff shots with peaking and magnified view. Peaking in particular seems to be very good. I use shutter priority and let the auto I so take care of adjutments...I shall try the Manuel route as suggested by woof woof. I'm impressed by this camera and it's a great solution to having manual lenses kicking about. Until my eyes really do give up the ghost.
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Yeah, that is the worry as time passes but I'm still ok at the moment and still liking the mamual lens experience.
 
Laudrup said:
What is considered the best and least rattly brand of Nikon F mount adapter for the A7R? I have a Kiwi one for my NEX 5 but it isn't exactly going to win any design or engineering awards.
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I've got a Fotga one from the auction place, I've ordered a second as it's a good fit-£6.49.
 
woof woof said:
Dunno about that. I've found peaking to be pretty good. It's not going to get you a sharp image of a galloping horse at f1.4 but it should get you a good image at a more reasonable aperture.
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Actually stuff that's moving is when it'll shine, you can't use magnified view on moving stuff but you can use peaking and an element of luck!
 
Laudrup said:
What is considered the best and least rattly brand of Nikon F mount adapter for the A7R? I have a Kiwi one for my NEX 5 but it isn't exactly going to win any design or engineering awards.
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Metabones or Novoflex. Been covered pretty thoroughly in this thread already. :)
 
Quick question, does the charging lamp switch off when the battery is fully charged, or remain on? I switched the camera on and battery was at 100%, but when charging the light remained on
 
Alan Clogwyn said:
Actually stuff that's moving is when it'll shine, you can't use magnified view on moving stuff but you can use peaking and an element of luck!
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?? Of course you can use the magnified view on moving stuff, I don't understand the point. Less peaky things show up in the magnified view so peaking is less use but the magnified view makes focusing easier anyway.

Of course manual focus and moving things are going to lead to a lower hit rate but as long as you aren't shooting with settings and in circumstances that are going to lead to thin DoF you should have a pretty good chance of capturing an image that'll look good. Your image may not stand up to extreme pixel peeping to check the focus accuracy, not in the way that an image from a DSLR with good tracking would but I guess you're not going to be shooting birds in flight, horses passing the post or Wayne Rooney scoring a try (or whatever he does...) with a manual focus setup anyway.

And there's always the question of how people shot moving things in the days before AF and focus tracking :D
 
It must have been even more difficult for them.

I doubt I could go back to just an OVF now.

Try shooting moving things with a Leica or other RF. You can of course, by zone focusing not by looking at the tiny little square.
 
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There are those out there critical of the AF, the exposure system and the shutter shock of the A7r. These people have never used the camera in field. I've popped a load of pix taken with the A7r on flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/112219945@N04/

There's no shutter shock and the camera worked perfectly in field with 99% correct exposure and focus.
 
I prefer MF.

AF gets in the way when and is frustrating as hell when it's choosing the wrong target.

For moving objects just a pre focus and a burst of shots gets me what I want 99% of the time. It's the same if I don't have time for magnified zoom. Get is somewhere near with peaking and move the camera back and forth a few cm while shooting a burst of frames.

It also helps none of my lenses are Nikon (they all focus the same way)
 
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Had my first outing with my new A7 yesterday, surprised how comfortable it felt, more than any other camera I've owned previously. The kit 28-70 lens performed well enough too, although I'm tempted to go for the native 35mm f/2.8 lens when Panamoz get it back in stock.
 
ShrubMonkey said:
Had my first outing with my new A7 yesterday, surprised how comfortable it felt, more than any other camera I've owned previously. The kit 28-70 lens performed well enough too, although I'm tempted to go for the native 35mm f/2.8 lens when Panamoz get it back in stock.
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I gave up buying the 35mm from them and bought elsewhere, it seems to be permanently out of stock. I haven't seen it in stock since about November.
 
I've used a few cameras, and imo the evf is fine, its better than crop sensor dslr, and in a lot of cases better or just as good as a pre autofocus film slr with fast prime. Which is better than dslr

and the lacking of manual aids is bizzare as I thought sony has best peaking and you get zoom too. Are there any other tools out there not in the sony?

you can get generic battery mains power adapters btw
 
you can probably do shutter prioity, manual lens and auto iso, think I've done that with my a77. Think its even worked in auto mode with a random lens on...
 
With legacy lenses that works.

Manual Mode allows Auto ISO, which has the same net result with all lenses.
 
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