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

woof woof said:
Batis lenses getting a good thumbs up here...

http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/85mm-sonnar-rocks/#disqus_thread
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Just had the Zeiss rep in to show us the Batis lenses. Very simple design, not too heavy and as sharp as a very sharp thing pretending to be even sharper. The focus distance scale is digital which you can see in feet and/or meters. Worth a look at they are not overly expensive.

There is also a Zeiss App where you can see the range and look at example images plus distortion comparisons. The Batis lenses are not on the app yet but will be in due corse
 
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I bought an A7 today, its charging at the moment :) I bought it with the kit lens to get me up and shooting right away, but i want to use it mostly with old manual lenses, are there any websites i should be checking out regarding old glass and adaptor information?

I don't know anything about the adapters I might need, they seem to vary in price greatly. I"m probably going to start out with a fastish 50mm prime, probably F1.4 or F1.8, i don't want to spend huge amounts of money, are there any I should be looking at for no more than £100?

I can't get over how tiny the A7 is, not much bigger than my Panasonic GX7 other than the viewfinder :)
 
Battery life is quite poor and the AF system not as fast as I thought for street photography. Need to tweak the settings a bit
 
sinar said:
I bought an A7 today, its charging at the moment...
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Congratulations :D You have two of the same cameras I have :D A7 and GX7 :D

You can get cheap adapters off the auction site beginning with e from under £10 and upwards. Just search for lens mount to camera, for example Minolta Rokkor to Sony A7.

Some people have had poorly made ones but I've been lucky so far and all of mine have been ok but I treated myself to Novoflex adapters for my A7, they're about £90-100 each. One thing to possibly watch out for is that some adapters for the Sony Nex cameras aren't machined out for FF and will get in the way and cause severe vignetting at wider focal lengths. I have one which gets in the way of my 24mm but is ok from 28mm and onwards. You might have to contact dealers/sellers to find out if adapters are FF compatible if you are going for wider lenses.

I have Minolta Rokkor, Olympus Zuiko and Canon FD lenses. I went for these as they're pretty mass market, reasonably easy to find and reasonably priced but having said that prices seem to be rising and the lenses seem to be getting harder to find presumably because more people are buying into CSC and buying up old lenses. The Rokkors seem to be about the best (compared to the Olympus and Canon lenses) specifically the 50mm f1.4 and 85mm f1.8/2 but at 24, 28 and 135mm there doesn't see to be much difference IMVHO.

I have 50mm f1.2, 1.4 and f1.8 lenses and to be honest I think that the smart money is on the 50mm f1.8 as they're cheap and probably smaller and lighter than the wider aperture 50's and you (arguably) don't really gain a lot by going for a f1.4 or wider lens.

IMVHO a good little collection would be a 28mm f2.8, 50mm f1.8, 85mm f1.8 or f2 and 135mm f2.8 and maybe a macro too :D Even with the rising prices if you shop around you should be able to find a 28mm f2.8 for under £30 and a 50mm f1.8 for under £25. To save a bit of money you can go for third party lenses in whatever mount you decide to go for.

I've probably bought lenses from all of the following, just browse their used stock...

http://www.ffordes.com/
http://www.mifsuds.com/
http://www.rockycameras.com/
http://vintageclassiccamera.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=55
http://www.redboxcameras.com/
http://www.lcegroup.co.uk/

Hope that helps :D
 
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Thanks for the info, that help a LOT :)

I've just had a quick play with the A7, the shutter sounds and feels very different to the GX7!
 
sinar said:
I bought an A7 today, its charging at the moment :) I bought it with the kit lens to get me up and shooting right away, but i want to use it mostly with old manual lenses, are there any websites i should be checking out regarding old glass and adaptor information?

I don't know anything about the adapters I might need, they seem to vary in price greatly. I"m probably going to start out with a fastish 50mm prime, probably F1.4 or F1.8, i don't want to spend huge amounts of money, are there any I should be looking at for no more than £100?

I can't get over how tiny the A7 is, not much bigger than my Panasonic GX7 other than the viewfinder :)
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Check out http://forum.mflenses.com for discussion about old lenses :)
 
New a7II owner here, got the 55mm 1.8 and 70-200 f4 so far, currently trying to decide how to cover off a fast wide-ish option, tempted by the new 28mm.

Also trying very hard not to buy one of the Mitakon f0.95s for a bit of fun and practice with peaking etc, I'm aware of the pitfalls but used well there are some absolutely stunning inages wide open from them.
 
ukaskew said:
Shocking, I know. Picking up an X-T10 at some point, love Fuji but missed full-frame.
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I like having at least two cameras. I use my A7 for the best quality and playing with manual lenses and I use my GX7 + 20mm for when I want the smallest kit. Mostly, and most days, I use my G1 with either 25mm f1.8 or much more often an old Sigma 50mm f2.8 macro.
 
minnnt said:
So have you sold the X-T1's Chris?
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Yep all gone, did really well on the Fuji stuff I offloaded so managed to get more Sony kit than expected.
 
ukaskew said:
New a7II owner here, got the 55mm 1.8 and 70-200 f4 so far, currently trying to decide how to cover off a fast wide-ish option, tempted by the new 28mm.

Also trying very hard not to buy one of the Mitakon f0.95s for a bit of fun and practice with peaking etc, I'm aware of the pitfalls but used well there are some absolutely stunning inages wide open from them.
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The mitakon is very nice, bargain at the price. Hard to focus even with mf aids but when you nail it, it's great. Also very front heavy on an a7.
 
I have a A7ii, but still decided to buy another a6000 because of the A7ii's weight.

Now I pretty enjoy using two cameras though a6000 lens only got FE lens to use (28mm F2 equivalent 42mm, and 55mm F1.8 equivalent 82.5),
 
How are A7r owners storing their RAW image files and processing them? I'm using Lightroom with a Macbook Pro 13 inch Retina screen with SSD, but I feel I must be handling the files in a really clumsy way because all the files are really slow to load in Lightroom.

After I come home, I put the SD into the computer, and copy the files straight to a USB 3.0 external disc hard drive and then synchronise Lightroom with the hard drive and import. The only thing is it takes forever to load previews and I'm a bit hazy about how to set it up in the best way to handle the large files of the A7r. I obviously can't just put the files on my SSD because of the large files but the slowness of editing is starting to put me off.

Can any A7r owners recommend the most efficient way of storing and editing their files?
 
If you are using lightroom 5 or 6, set lightroom to create smart previews on import. Once processed, exit lightroom, disconnect your external HDD and lightroom will work with the much smaller smart previews instead.

You only need to hook back up if you want to export full resolution images.

Importing images will be even slower using this technique though.
 
Think I will bring both my a7s and 5d3 to new York. Reason is because I am not 100 percent happy with the AF with a native lens. Can't do spontaneous shots.

Also i am looking to do a photo shoot with someone in new York. Stay tune for that one.

Exciting stuff
 
Not having any issues with my A7R files must have about 800gb by now, I have my files on one ssd and the catalogue on another.
 
Well u just ordered an a7. Was very close call between that an the Fuji xt1. But thought I'd go for full frame and higher MP.


Now I need a lens or several. Can some owners help me out with a littke advice.Something small and wide and bokeh-yummy.
Also any good adaptors for Nikon glass. I know it will be manual focus only.
Cheers
 
addicknchips said:
Well u just ordered an a7. Was very close call between that an the Fuji xt1. But thought I'd go for full frame and higher MP.


Now I need a lens or several. Can some owners help me out with a littke advice.Something small and wide and bokeh-yummy.
Also any good adaptors for Nikon glass. I know it will be manual focus only.
Cheers
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I only have two native lenses. The 28-70mm kit lens and the 55mm. I've yet to use the kit lens but it seems well made and perfectly adequate and surprisingly compact and light too. The 55mm f1.8 is an excellent lens. I think that DPR said it's the sharpest AF lens they've ever tested (?) Something like that.

If you want an adapter I can vouch for Novoflex. Do your lenses have an aperture ring? If the answer is "no" you're going to need a different adapter.

I've changed my mind a bit on lenses recently. I used to want nice wide aperture primes from wide to short tele but these days I just seem to want a nice standard AF prime so the 55mm f1.8 does that for me and for the rest I'm happy with manual lenses for 24, 28, 85, 135 and macro.
 
woof woof said:
I only have two native lenses. The 28-70mm kit lens and the 55mm. I've yet to use the kit lens but it seems well made and perfectly adequate and surprisingly compact and light too. The 55mm f1.8 is an excellent lens. I think that DPR said it's the sharpest AF lens they've ever tested (?) Something like that.

If you want an adapter I can vouch for Novoflex. Do your lenses have an aperture ring? If the answer is "no" you're going to need a different adapter.

I've changed my mind a bit on lenses recently. I used to want nice wide aperture primes from wide to short tele but these days I just seem to want a nice standard AF prime so the 55mm f1.8 does that for me and for the rest I'm happy with manual lenses for 24, 28, 85, 135 and macro.
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Was a little put of by the size of the 55. Was thinking the 35 2.8 may be a good option. Although its bloody expensive.
 
I got the Samyang 35mm f1.4 yesterday and OMG!! Sharp as a very sharp thing at f2 and beyond. f1.4 is very very good but not pin sharp and there is a little CA and softness on light edges but still pretty stunning. Very pleased. Images to follow.
 
addicknchips said:
Was a little put of by the size of the 55. Was thinking the 35 2.8 may be a good option. Although its bloody expensive.
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It's not that big and it's surprisingly light. If you get the chance to try one on a camera it may surprise you.
 
addicknchips said:
Was a little put of by the size of the 55. Was thinking the 35 2.8 may be a good option. Although its bloody expensive.
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The 55 Zeiss is hands down my favourite lens i've owned. The results are gorgeous - you won't regret it. And the weight isn't that bad - the metal build is nice in the hand.
 
The two photos above are with the 55, it's effortlessly good and so sharp. Balance is really nice on the a7, solid build but pretty compact.

I have the new 28 arriving today so looking forward to playing around with that.
 
ukaskew said:
The two photos above are with the 55, it's effortlessly good and so sharp. Balance is really nice on the a7, solid build but pretty compact.

I have the new 28 arriving today so looking forward to playing around with that.
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Be interesting to hear how the 28 shapes up compared to the 55, particuarly in regard to sharpness and contrast.
 
The 28 arrived earlier, so teeny! Off to Menorca tomorrow so taking that with me for the week.

A few early a7ii impressions (unavoidable comparisons to the Fuji X-T1, which I've just come from)...

- The files are flippin' lovely, out of camera they definitely require more tweaking than the Fuji (particularly contrast), but can be pushed further and heavier cropping is possible
- Handling is really nice, much better than the a7 I used a year ago, start up time and general speed etc is much, much better than I remember the a7 ever managing
- Face tracking is pretty awesome (i.e. it actually works), even at f1.8 it held in there with a very active 8 month old son
- I really, really wish Sony would sort out Auto ISO, Nikon/Fuji etc have this nailed with configurable minimum shutter speeds
- Is there seriously no way of having direct control of AF point (i.e. without pushing at least one button beforehand)?
- The menus are an embarrassment, quite frankly (as is the manual)
- The 55mm 1.8 is awesome
- The shutter is a bit noisier than I would have liked

That probably sounded a bit negative, but I come from a system where the company has pretty much fixed every minor issue or suggestion that the community have come up with, so it's a little frustrating that there are some very easily fixed issues that still haven't been (Auto ISO configurability, direct AF point), but the first time I opened the files in LR last night I actually said wow, I can't give it higher praise than that.
 
ukaskew said:
The 28 arrived earlier, so teeny! Off to Menorca tomorrow so taking that with me for the week.
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Great stuff... and have a nice holiday :D

I keep changing my mind on what to do about lenses... buy the 28 and an 85mm batty or just stick with manual lenses for the focal length that I don't use too often. Hmmmm....
 
you could use manual mode, or a custom mode? then you can use auto iso with a set shutter and f stop
 
That's what I do.

I normally use aperture until the shutter speed drops and then I switch to manual, set my aperture and select something reasonable for the shutter speed and let the ISO float.
 
Well I just pulled the trigger on a used 55mm 1.8. My mrs is going to kill me when the postman comes.

So both camera and lens should arrive in time for my long weekend in Amsterdam.

I'd been looking at the Sony mirror less system for some time. What I like the idea of is the size and weight with a full frame sensor. But I already have Nikon gear. And the poor battery life and over priced glass did out me off. So I waited and waited and waited. And still Nikon didn't join the party and release a full frame mirrorless system. The Fuji system really appealed to me but the smaller sensor and relatively low MP was holding me back. Although it does seem like the have nailed it with a decent lens line up.

So i finally caved in. Ive done something I thought I'd never do: invest into two different systems. I wonder if it will last..
 
I think you've made the right decision.

I keep looking at the Fuji's but I don't believe that they can match the image quality of the A7 and although the relatively low mp count wouldn't worry me too much I know that the relatively low maximum ISO for raw would frustrate me. Those manual controls are nice though but for me not enough of a draw to overcome the negative factors. Sony win :D
 
A little sample o the 28 f2, really nice lens to use, AF feels snappy and it seems nice and sharp wide open.

Hilperton by Chris Harrison, on Flickr

I do miss the Aperture ring of the Fuji lens. Between Sony and Fuji there is a perfect mirrorless system in there somewhere, it will be very interesting to see what I use the most (hopefully adding an X-T10 soon to replaces my X-T1s) as they both have very strong points
 
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sinar said:
I bought an A7 today, its charging at the moment :) I bought it with the kit lens to get me up and shooting right away, but i want to use it mostly with old manual lenses, are there any websites i should be checking out regarding old glass and adaptor information?

I don't know anything about the adapters I might need, they seem to vary in price greatly. I"m probably going to start out with a fastish 50mm prime, probably F1.4 or F1.8, i don't want to spend huge amounts of money, are there any I should be looking at for no more than £100?

I can't get over how tiny the A7 is, not much bigger than my Panasonic GX7 other than the viewfinder :)
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Try the c/y mount zeiss 50mm 1.7 it's a nice old school prime.

Most cheapo adapters are fine. The only ones I had an issue with was for Olympus lenses because the apature ring on those lenses doesn't work unless the pin is pushed in. The first two adapters from China had the catch for this pin in the wrong place. The third was fine, but I sold my OM lenses as they lacked decent micro contrast.

The kit lens is actually very good so hang on to that. I stupidly sold mine then the prices increased.
 
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