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

dancook said:
Went for a 12mile walk, went through 1 1/2 ex pro batteries - which seemed to be fair.
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How many pictures did you take? Do you turn the camera off when you think you are not going to take a picture for a while?

I turn the rear screen off in the menu and I turn the camera off if I don't think I'm going to shoot for a few minutes and although I have one in the bag I rarely need the second battery. I can take up to 100 pictures when on maybe a 3 - 4 or 5 hour walk.

On the rumour site they said that Zeiss had been developing a 85mm f1.2 but Sony said it was too big and heavy, so that was that. I think they should have made it, it might have been big, heavy and... expensive but I'm sure it would sell if only in smaller number.

Anyone else think that they should have made it?
 
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No, not if it would have taken up time and resources developing more useful lenses that people actually want.
 
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dancook said:
Well I want something for street photography, and I want something for professional use.

So 35mm 1.4 ZA has AF - great for professional use - but not zone focussing and it's quite bulky for street.
The loxia 35mm f2 would be ideal for street, but I don't mind going wider and the 25mm has the oled gauge.

So 25mm for street, 35mm for walkabout + pro usage.
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how is the balence on the 35 1.4, I know it's big and heavy but no reviews ever talk about the balance and how it feels on the camera

i'm still looking for a good 35mm lens, and by now i've been through a fair few!

I currently have an a7 which I use with a voigtlander 35 1.4, voigtlander 35 1.2, canon 35 f2 and the canon 35 1.4, I won't use the voigtlander at larger appertures than f2, the 35 1.2 is perhaps a little heavy (less heavy, but more importantly badly balanced), the canon 35 1.4 is a little bulky and the 35 f2 has a scratchy focus ring

i'm concerned the 35 1.4 might be way too front heavy, or at least would balance better on the a7ii, and since i'm not that fond of my A7 (it's too loud), my options are get the a7II if the shutter really is any quiter, the a7S with the fully electronic shutter, or just
all I want is a 35 f2 af lens that's quite small, the 28mm f2 is close but Idont want 28mm I want 35mm

i'm half tempted to sell up and go for the fuji xt1 and 23mm!
 
And you can't live with the quite small Sony 35mm f2.8? Is the additional f0.08 over f2 too much?

Is it that you're shooting in very low light and need a very wide aperture or do you like the shallowest depth of field? Or is the problem something else like focus speed?
 
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woof woof said:
How many pictures did you take? Do you turn the camera off when you think you are not going to take a picture for a while?

I turn the rear screen off in the menu and I turn the camera off if I don't think I'm going to shoot for a few minutes and although I have one in the bag I rarely need the second battery. I can take up to 100 pictures when on maybe a 3 - 4 or 5 hour walk.
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I took maybe 50 photos tops, but I left it on most of the time I was walking
 
woof woof said:
I'm surprised people are going back to DSLR's. They are a cheaper package I suppose and each to his own but there's no going back for me as I'd miss the combination of FF in a small package, no front / back focusing silliness and all the goodies like WYSIWYG, peaking and magnified view etc.
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All I've got left is my 5D2 & 135L but I've not used it since getting the A7 2 months ago..... So the A7 is a win for me. I tried all my manual lenses I used on the 5D2 with it initially but not overly happy so sold a handful on [along with my other Canon stuff] & I'm now settled on the A7, Voigtlander 40/1.4 & Leitz Tele-Elmarit 90/2.8 :) Nice little lightweight package :)

 
They look nice lenses and a bit more expensive than the mass market film SLR stuff I have.
 
woof woof said:
And you can't live with the quite small Sony 35mm f2.8? Is the additional f0.08 over f2 too much?

Is it that you're shooting in very low light and need a very wide aperture or do you like the shallowest depth of field? Or is the problem something else like focus speed?
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2.8 vs f2 is twice the light, half the iso, twice the shutter speed. I do a lot of low light event work and need 1/60 shutter with f2 or faster lenses to keep iso under 6400, ideally under 3200

I also like the look of f2, I think f2 is the sweet spot, dramatic decrease in dof compared to 2.8, 1.4 doesn't add too much but it's nice to have, although you pay for it in money and weight. An extra third stop would make me happy, 35 1.8 would do it for me. But choosing between a slightly wider f2 or a bigger/heavier 1.4 is the choice I have to make, the 2.8 isn't an option
 
Well, if you want faster than f2.8 and you need AF then the options are limited. Maybe the 35mm f1.4 will suit you if the 28mm f2 doesn't.

My old Minolta 35mm f1.8 is ok for me but it's obviously manual focus.

Not too long ago I shot a lot of gigs with ISO 1600 film and an f4 lens and no one complained but these days the quality that gave just doesn't cut it :(
 
I'm also pretty annoyed at how expensive the zeiss lenses are, IMO especially loxia lenses are way over priced, getting exif data is nice but you can get a Damm fine m mount lens for that price

I have the 55 1.8 and it's amazing and relatively inexpensive, although mine was used, I've never seen a loxia sell 2nd hand on ebay
 
Gigs are relatively well lit. I can shoot 2.8/4 all day long in a gig if it's properly lit :D

I'd like to play with a 35 1.4 but afaik no where on the high street stocks them

woof woof said:
Well, if you want faster than f2.8 and you need AF then the options are limited. Maybe the 35mm f1.4 will suit you if the 28mm f2 doesn't.

My old Minolta 35mm f1.8 is ok for me but it's obviously manual focus.

Not too long ago I shot a lot of gigs with ISO 1600 film and an f4 lens and no one complained but these days the quality that gave just doesn't cut it :(
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re
 
woof woof said:
Well, if you want faster than f2.8 and you need AF then the options are limited.
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To get really picky I don't just want af, I want good mf performance too, as sometimes you just want to mf or the light is too low to af, although I borrowed an a7s to shoot an event and it focussed much better in low light than the a7. Focus ring on the 55 1.8 is lovely and I'm sure the 35 1.4 is too, but they don't have linear motion, so that faster you turn the ring the quicker the focus moves, totally stupid as if I move from point a to point b on the focus ring I want it to move the focus by the same distance every time regardless of whether I move the ring fast or slow- I can't get over this and I've got 10 years of manual focus action muscle memory to try and counter, not sure if fuji lenses act this way, I suspect not

One option I'm considering is the sigma 35 art with lea4 adapter as my work lens and the 28 f2 as my fun lens
 
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Shame about the mf speed issue.

ISO 1600 and f4 shots were often ok if the shot was taken when the band/subject wasn't moving much but away from the stage I could often not get a decent shutter speed so motion blur was visible in some shots but the saving grace was that the prints were relatively small and few people looked at them with a magnifying glass.
 
I am going to new York soon for a couple of weeks and debating if I should bring my a7s or 5d3. Or maybe both? Not like the a7s is heavy to carry along with my 5d3
 
You should know your own kit/style better than anyone else. If it was me I'd be thinking more about what lenses I wanted to shoot with and then pick the body accordingly. Do you really need/want to carry two bodies around New York?
 
I've no idea why anyone would pay more for the 50 f2 when theres already a fantastic 55 1.8. Manual only....whoopee :/ got me so thrilled...not.
 
rodd1000 said:
I've no idea why anyone would pay more for the 50 f2 when theres already a fantastic 55 1.8. Manual only....whoopee :/ got me so thrilled...not.
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I suppose it could be smaller? I'm guessing... but I suppose the main thing is the manual lens experience. Nice though the 55mm f1.8 is IMVHO it's the same as any other FBW to use... horrible. They are IMVHO joyless things. If the 50mm f2 handles like my old manual lenses then I can certainly see the appeal.
 
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rodd1000 said:
I've no idea why anyone would pay more for the 50 f2 when theres already a fantastic 55 1.8. Manual only....whoopee :/ got me so thrilled...not.
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Kinda agree with the 50, theres also an abundance of decent legacy 50mm lenses that manual focus for a lot less!
The 35mm is interesting though, faster than the f2.8 Sony lens and looks a lot smaller than the new f1.4 Sony Zeiss 35mm too.
 
Yes, there are lots of old legacy lenses and even some new manual lenses that you can mount on an A7 but you need an adapter and the Zeiss ones may justify themselves by being good.

At the mo I have 5 legacy 50's (and a macro too making 6) but to be honest non of the 5 are excellent. The Zeiss lenses may not be to everyones taste but I can see a market for them.
 
I was just wondering on the off chance if anyone had used the light trail app ( ok so I guess no one on here is going to admit to this). I was just curious because the description sounds a lot like the live composite mode on the olympus em1/em10.

Anyone?


Never mind I found out. It is the same as live.composite but it's only for A7s or a5100
 
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Is the a7ii really a quieter shutter than the a7? I'm reading conflicting reports, and I can't get hands on with one as no where local stocks them- not jessops not calumet
 
It's quieter but not by much, just sounds more damped compared to the A7.
Plenty of YouTube comparisons.
A7S has full electronic shutter which is silent.
A7R is even louder than the A7.
 
I'm not 100% convinced that the problem of shutter loudness isn't all in my head, But for me the a7 shutter is too loud for events, canon 5d3 in silent mode is quiet enough, normal mode is too loud and similar to a7, a7s is totally silent but it's such an expensive body, especially as I'd like 2 of them. I could buy 2 xt1's for the price of an a7s, and the lenses are cheaper, smaller and f2 equivalents
I'm extremely tempted to jump ship, or at least run fuji alongside the sony
None of the sony lenses thrill me either, the 55 is nice, I've decided the 35 1.4 is too big and expensive, 28 f2 would be good but then that's where it stops- I have a few nice voigtlander lenses and I use canon lenses on adapters but until the 25 and. 85 come out ( and god knows how expensive they're going to be)
 
Hi gang , I have a a7 and until nowhere used it only with mf lenses , what is my most cost effective way of getting auto action on it ?
Fe lenses or via a Sony adaptor and Sony A lenses ?
 
Damo1 said:
Hi gang , I have a a7 and until nowhere used it only with mf lenses , what is my most cost effective way of getting auto action on it ?
Fe lenses or via a Sony adaptor and Sony A lenses ?
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Depends what your looking for but the kit lens (28-70) is actually pretty good and seems to be around £200 used
 
My Minolta 50mm f1.2 has had a good day out :D well over 100 pictures with it, ISO's all in the thousands :D I've been using white peaking but decided to try red and yellow and have decided that yellow is perhaps the best to see for me.
 
domart said:
I'm extremely tempted to jump ship, or at least run fuji alongside the sony
None of the sony lenses thrill me either, the 55 is nice, I've decided the 35 1.4 is too big and expensive, 28 f2 would be good but then that's where it stops- I have a few nice voigtlander lenses and I use canon lenses on adapters but until the 25 and. 85 come out ( and god knows how expensive they're going to be)
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Meh. You only live once... buy the 25 and 85mm! :D It's only money.

The Fuji system looks nice but I've been put off by internet talk of iffy focusing, quality problems and mushy raw files with some converters (even though these may not be a real world issues) and the thought of having to learn a new one (processing package) doesn't appeal, plus it's APS-C and one of the main points of the A7 series is that it's 35mm. It'll be interesting to see if the latest Fuji firmware update is as all singing and all dancing as it seems to be but on the whole I'm sticking with what I have, A7 and MFT :D
 
The rumor site is saying that there will possibly be two new FF cameras. An A7rII and a 50mp model too.

Read all about it...

http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sr3-...ming-within-the-next-feew-days/#disqus_thread

But as the release of these cameras has been rumoured several time in the past and they've been no shows I suppose we'll just have to wait and see what happens. Hopefully after a few false predictions we'll see them sooner rather than later.
 
woof woof said:
The rumor site is saying that there will possibly be two new FF cameras. An A7rII and a 50mp model too.

Read all about it...

http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sr3-...ming-within-the-next-feew-days/#disqus_thread

But as the release of these cameras has been rumoured several time in the past and they've been no shows I suppose we'll just have to wait and see what happens. Hopefully after a few false predictions we'll see them sooner rather than later.
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I'm almost stunned it justified a new rumour on that side to be honest!
 
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