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

woof woof said:
I tend to move the focus point for the majority of my shots, if not 100% then the majority and I don't find the Sony A7 a hassle (one button to push and then move the point, push button and recentre when required) but most of my shots are just of scenery or posed people.
Click to expand...
Yeah it's not a total pain, but it could still be much easier, and really think it needs a dedicated control (be that a joystick, or touchscreen, whatever.

twist said:
Totally agree with the bit in bold. My ultimate would be a sonikonuji lol.
Click to expand...
That would suit me. Sony come the closest imo, but NIkon and Fuji have standout features I'd happily take.
 
Iiyama said:
Is the 28-70 sharp?
Click to expand...

It's ok. I posted some examples but God knows what page they're on. If you want me to find some picture I could post them again or drop box you some raws. Just let me know.

I personally don't see sharpness as an issue, I think that it's (the 28-70mm) biggest issue is the pedestrian aperture range, f3.5-5.6. But for occasional use I suspect it's an ok lens. I use primes though.
 
Crossroads said:
Yeah it's not a total pain, but it could still be much easier, and really think it needs a dedicated control (be that a joystick, or touchscreen, whatever.


That would suit me. Sony come the closest imo, but NIkon and Fuji have standout features I'd happily take.
Click to expand...

My fear is that with a joystick it might be easy to nudge it accidentally. Maybe not. It's a long time since I had a Canon DSLR with a joystick but to be honest I don't miss it.

I think that it'll come one day, maybe III or IV or A9 :D
 
Surely most new camera releases should now be looking to have a touch screen. Canon have been doing it for years.
 
Maybe it's only a matter of time, but I'll turn mine off :D

I think my Panny G7 has a touch screen, not sure about the GX7.
 
woof woof said:
oh I do get the odd bit of gas. For example I keep looking at Voigtlander lenses. I think they look lovely...



I keep thinking that I should sell some or all of my manual lenses and get a set of Voigtlanders. I have too much duplication. I have...

Minolta 24 and 28mm f2.8, 35mm f1.8, 50mm f1.2 and 1.4, 85mm f2 and 135mm f2.8 and 3.5, plus Sigma 50mm f2.8 macro and a Tokina 70-210mm.
Olympus 24 and 28mm f2.8, 50mm f1.4 and 1.8, 85mm f2 and 135mm f3.5.
Canon FD 28mm f2.8, 50mm f1.4 and 85mm f1.8.

That's too much duplication but then again the various Minolta, Olympus and Canon lenses are all slightly different and if I did (try and) sell them I'd get what? All of 2p for them? If there was any interest at all. And there are problems with the Voigtlanders, lovely though they are... There's no 85 or 135 or macro and some of the lenses have disappointing minimum focus distances unless you buy gizmos to fit. And of course they're expensive and I have a bit of a conscience problem when I spend a lot on myself. So, I keep looking at the Voigtlanders and then I tell myself that the Minolta's and the rest are ok and I don't bother.

A FE 35mm f1.8 could tempt me but the f2.8 is just about ok and I only wish for a little more sometimes, like sometimes I'd like to be able to throw the background out a little more. I sometimes think about buying the 90mm macro but I only really use a macro lens for flower shots (which I do take a lot of) and for that I usually use my Panasonic G1 and Sigma 50mm macro giving an effective fov of 100mm.

Body wise the A7 suits me and I only have the odd niggle, for example I'd love a button to toggle between EVF and screen on / off... and by off I mean really off. I can't do that on my A7. That's about the only thing wrong with it.

So, I do have a bit of gas but at the mo not enough to get me to spend :D

MFT wise I keep looking at the Olympus 12mm (but I have a Panasonic 14mm but it's not as lovely as the Oly lens) and 60mm macro (but I have the Sigma 50mm macro.)
Click to expand...

get the 40mm 1.4
its really great focal length missed by most people, small and light, ok maybe not silly crazy small and light... until you compare it to the sony 35mm 1.4 xD
 
woof woof said:
It's ok. I posted some examples but God knows what page they're on. If you want me to find some picture I could post them again or drop box you some raws. Just let me know.
Click to expand...
Samples would be appreciated before I pull the trigger!
 
woof woof said:
I keep thinking that I should sell some or all of my manual lenses and get a set of Voigtlanders. I have too much duplication. I have...

Minolta 24 and 28mm f2.8, 35mm f1.8, 50mm f1.2 and 1.4, 85mm f2 and 135mm f2.8 and 3.5, plus Sigma 50mm f2.8 macro and a Tokina 70-210mm.
Olympus 24 and 28mm f2.8, 50mm f1.4 and 1.8, 85mm f2 and 135mm f3.5.
Canon FD 28mm f2.8, 50mm f1.4 and 85mm f1.8.

That's too much duplication but then again the various Minolta, Olympus and Canon lenses are all slightly different and if I did (try and) sell them I'd get what? All of 2p for them? If there was any interest at all.
Click to expand...

I'll give you 4p for your Minolta 50 MD f1.4 :)
 
Morning alphas. Please can someone suggest a hss flash with trigger & receiver.
I seem to remember a couple being posted some time ago.

Thanks in advance.
 
addicknchips said:
Morning alphas. Please can someone suggest a hss flash with trigger & receiver.
I seem to remember a couple being posted some time ago.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
I can recommend the Nissin Di700a flash & commander kit.
Although there has been mixed reviews on the internet I find mine ok with no issues to report yet.
I do however power mine via a PSU instead of batteries. :)
 
Iiyama said:
Samples would be appreciated before I pull the trigger!
Click to expand...

There are reviews on line including some facts and figures. Here's a couple, you might start with Ken Rockwell :D but don't worry as he's being sensible here and actually gives some figures...

http://www.kenrockwell.com/sony/28-70mm.htm

Here's another review with figures and little test charts and the like...

http://www.imaging-resource.com/camera-reviews/sony/a7/sony-a7A4.HTM

And here's a little test shot from me, whole image followed by a 100% crop. These are via Photobucket and may suffer for that but the f8 crop is very sharp on my screen.





I think it's a good 28-70mm and the only real drawback as with the other good ones of this type is the aperture range. A constant f2.8 would be lovely but with that comes size, weight and cost. The f4 may be an attractive compromise between a f2.8 and the kit lens.

PS.
Actually, looking at my example here it's crap and it tells you nothing as it's been completely mangled by photobucket and the downsizing process :( You'll just have to take my word for it that at f8 it's really sharp.
 
Last edited:
Thanks. Just purchased a A7 ii, plus two lenses :) of this forum.
 
woof woof said:
Welcome to the club :D

What lenses did you go for?
Click to expand...

Thanks Alan. I got a 24-70 F4 and 35mm 2.8 along with the A7 ii. So should allow me to dip my toe in the Sony waters.
 
Ah, good choices :D I think you'll like the 35mm f2.8, IMO it's an outstanding lens.
 
addicknchips said:
Morning alphas. Please can someone suggest a hss flash with trigger & receiver.
I seem to remember a couple being posted some time ago.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
The godox system now has hss (and ttl) for Sony required, use the x1s trigger and any of the compatiable flashs.
 
I did some tests today with Sony A7RII + Sigma MC-11 + Canon EF 70-200 F4 L IS
Spent several hours at ZSL London zoo
I am not very impressed.
It works. When it hit focus - it is very good.
In a good light and when the subject is not moving - works very good.
Low light and moving subjects... problem :)
So in general - if i have a model shoot - no problem to use it. For some sport or action - nope.

Sony A7RII - ver 3.10
Sigma MC-11 - ver. 1.01

some examples:
ZSL London Zoo May 2016 by kalpachev1, on Flickr


ZSL London Zoo May 2016 by kalpachev1, on Flickr


ZSL London Zoo May 2016 by kalpachev1, on Flickr
 
photosample said:
I did some tests today with Sony A7RII + Sigma MC-11 + Canon EF 70-200 F4 L IS
Spent several hours at ZSL London zoo
I am not very impressed.
It works. When it hit focus - it is very good.
In a good light and when the subject is not moving - works very good.
Low light and moving subjects... problem :)
So in general - if i have a model shoot - no problem to use it. For some sport or action - nope.

Sony A7RII - ver 3.10
Sigma MC-11 - ver. 1.01
Click to expand...
Yeah, despite that adapters are making good progress (and the Sigma adapter with Sigma lenses shows promise), I still don't think I'd trust them with moving subjects just yet.

To be honest I'm still amazed that they even work at all, and kind of wish that the Nikon ones that are starting to appear had existed when I transitioned over

addicknchips said:
Used mine today mostly wide open. Shots look great on the back of the camera :)
Click to expand...
Hopefully they look as good on a big screen too!
 
Crossroads said:
To be honest I'm still amazed that they even work at all, and kind of wish that the Nikon ones that are starting to appear had existed when I transitioned over
Click to expand...

For me the real Voodoo is the AF adapters for manual lenses.

I wonder how good these things will be in maybe 5 years time?

The A7 system could turn out to be a disruptive system. I don't know what the sales numbers are or if Canikon care but being able to use almost any lens and get them to AF makes me think we're living in interesting times. In 10 years time maybe all cameras will be like this? Who knows...
 
What memory cards are people using with there a7iir/s? I am having issues with the how quickly pictures are being written to the sd card, I guess it's more doesn't on the camera buffer and not the memory cards anyway?
 
si019 said:
What memory cards are people using with there a7iir/s? I am having issues with the how quickly pictures are being written to the sd card, I guess it's more doesn't on the camera buffer and not the memory cards anyway?
Click to expand...

Interested in this as well as I do a lot of long exposure. If I take a 100 second exposure, it takes a further 100 seconds (roughly) to process. I'd assumed it was just a camera trait (A7ii), but now I'm wondering if the cards play a part as well?

I use SanDisk Ultra cards which write at 80mbps by the way.

EDIT - After writing this post I Google'd the question. Turns out in my case it was down to having Noise Reduction switched on in the camera. I just turned it off and tried a quick 30 second exposure. It processed it almost straight away. I'm such an idiot sometimes - lived with this for the last few months lol
 
Last edited:
I use Sandisk 95mbps UHS SD cards but you have to remember the A7RII internal BUS (USB?) limit is around 36mbps, so faster cards are pointless.
 
si019 said:
What memory cards are people using with there a7iir/s? I am having issues with the how quickly pictures are being written to the sd card, I guess it's more doesn't on the camera buffer and not the memory cards anyway?
Click to expand...
I've got a bunch. Sandisk, Lexar, Transcend, and a Sony. Unfortunately the limiting factor is the camera (unless you have real bad cards). The A7 cameras don't come close to maxing out the SD card speeds, it's one of the things they really need to sort out for the next generation.
 
Having some trouble importing to Lightroom.

Did three shoots over the weekend using both the Sony a7rii and Fuji xt1. Friday night I imported the files from the Fuji and did a few edits. No issues.

Then did a shoot Saturday and another on Sunday using both cameras again.

Sunday evening I tried to import the photos but kept getting the error message that the files could not be read.

Since then I've cleared the hard drive, updated the Mac and uninstalled and reinstalled Lightroom. Still no joy. This evening I have tried again by connecting the Fuji to the Mac via usb. This time the import worked but when I try to edit the file the error message is "this file cannot be found".

Still the Sony files won't import at all. I have no idea what has happened as Friday everything was fine.

Any suggestions? I'm pulling me hair out over this.
 
addicknchips said:
Having some trouble importing to Lightroom.

Did three shoots over the weekend using both the Sony a7rii and Fuji xt1. Friday night I imported the files from the Fuji and did a few edits. No issues.

Then did a shoot Saturday and another on Sunday using both cameras again.

Sunday evening I tried to import the photos but kept getting the error message that the files could not be read.

Since then I've cleared the hard drive, updated the Mac and uninstalled and reinstalled Lightroom. Still no joy. This evening I have tried again by connecting the Fuji to the Mac via usb. This time the import worked but when I try to edit the file the error message is "this file cannot be found".

Still the Sony files won't import at all. I have no idea what has happened as Friday everything was fine.

Any suggestions? I'm pulling me hair out over this.
Click to expand...

Copy the card to the desktop. Import that folder, if no luck make sure to uninstall LR then delete any adobe prefs in your library. Then reinstall LR.
 
Golly what a faff.

All I do is plug the camera into the computer via usb, copy the files across, convert to DNG and process in CS5. I used to use a card reader, either way, never ever had an issue.
 
woof woof said:
Golly what a faff.

All I do is plug the camera into the computer via usb, copy the files across, convert to DNG and process in CS5. I used to use a card reader, either way, never ever had an issue.
Click to expand...

Youre misunderstanding, its not a faff, there's an issue with his mac. Lr is quicker than photoshop when it works properly.
 
I'm running LR6 on my mid-2010 MacBook Pro, no issues importing Sony A7RII files straight from the SD cards.
Need to upgrade soon as I'm running out of space! Loo
 
Rizvan said:
I'm running LR6 on my mid-2010 MacBook Pro, no issues importing Sony A7RII files straight from the SD cards.
Need to upgrade soon as I'm running out of space! Loo
Click to expand...

Not been an issue before really. I'm useless with computers so it was probably something I had done, ticked the wrong box or something. Just annoying.
 
Last edited:
twist said:
Youre misunderstanding, its not a faff, there's an issue with his mac. Lr is quicker than photoshop when it works properly.
Click to expand...

Not a faff? You're kidding right? And accepting this crud and massaging it to work just perpetuates the avalanche of crud we all have to wade through when using half developed half compatible buggy crud. I'd love to take an axe to the crappy buggy kit and software the a holes who clear it for release.

I spent years working in computers, decades actually and it looks like absolutely nothing has changed... Every time I come across half arsed crud that doesn't work I think if this had happened at the places I worked I'd have had someone stood in my office and I'd be reaming them a new one. Why doesn't that happen and why doesn't anything work?

Hey-ho. Rant over...

Reinstall and turn it off and back on again...
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top