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

Rizvan said:
Hi,

have you managed to test the lenses back to back, I just saw a YouTube video comparing it with the Sony Zeiss 55mm f1.8 and there wasn't any real-world difference between then two.
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The Sony zeiss is meant to be the sharpest lens on the e mount I thought?

Plus the canon 24-70 is 1 percent sharper then the Sony on a review I saw.

There is also a bug with firmware 3.1 above that cripples the af when shooting on a high dof such as f8
 
stevelmx5 said:
1% sharper. Can anyone really tell the difference between lenses at that level in the real world though or is everyone shooting mtf charts for fun?
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I've learnt to get over the sharpness and enjoy taking photos.

The 55mm is a lovely sharp lens to have. The 28-70 kit lens is plenty sharp enough for me as a walk about lens. Some people don't like it but I do

90mm macro lens is something I like sometime bet that sharp?
 
Rizvan said:
DxO scores are pointless for the GM lens figures as they are still using the older A7R body which has no IBIS and a older generation sensor.

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Err, both lenses were tested on the same body, therefore results are consistent. Also, I'd rather trust controlled tests like this over some random on youtube. That being said, even watching a youtube video which is never the best way to assess a lens the difference between the two looks marked to my eyes. EIther the poster of the video needs to go to specsavers, trying to justify his outlay or has received a little sum from Sony ;) :p

shoshone said:
All the way through watching this my money was on the right hand lens and I can't understand why he felt there was nothing in it?
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Agreed, quite a different to my eyes (y)
 
stevelmx5 said:
1% sharper. Can anyone really tell the difference between lenses at that level in the real world though or is everyone shooting mtf charts for fun?
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But the point is the 55mm was classed as the sharpest lens on e mount.

Question. Would you buy the Sony 24-70 if u already have the Canon version and occasionally still shoot with canon?
 
snerkler said:
Err, both lenses were tested on the same body, therefore results are consistent. Also, I'd rather trust controlled tests like this over some random on youtube. That being said, even watching a youtube video which is never the best way to assess a lens the difference between the two looks marked to my eyes. EIther the poster of the video needs to go to specsavers, trying to justify his outlay or has received a little sum from Sony ;) :p

Agreed, quite a different to my eyes (y)
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Which lens which pls as I am hard of hearing as you know. But yes right hand side for me
 
jonneymendoza said:
But the point is the 55mm was classed as the sharpest lens on e mount.

Question. Would you buy the Sony 24-70 if u already have the Canon version and occasionally still shoot with canon?
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No, if I shot with both canon and Sony, and the AF performance of the canon lens was good enough for what I shoot and I only needed it on one body at a time then it wouldn't make any sense to double up on lenses.

The post by Rizvan suggested that the GM zoom delivered good enough sharpness in comparison to the primes for all real world usage which is probably right.
 
jonneymendoza said:
But the point is the 55mm was classed as the sharpest lens on e mount.

Question. Would you buy the Sony 24-70 if u already have the Canon version and occasionally still shoot with canon?
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I've seen a review in a new mag where the 90mm macro is labelled the sharpest.

Found it this months amateur photographer list is
90mm macro
55mm
Batis 85
Loxia 21
Sony 28
Distigon 35
70-200 f4
Batis 25
Sonner FE 35mm
24-70 GM

Surprised at GM lens, but i do suppose it is a zoom.... good catch for the F4 though
 
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Agree with others, to my eye the right was the better image.

I didn't see what settings were used for this test, did I miss these or were they not stated?

The DOF looked slightly different, maybe the focus?

Kind of splitting hairs though anyway really. Both lenses looked great in my opinion and for that kind of shot it's hard to imagine an image that would be noticeable better (without a zoomed in side-by-side) on either lens. I'd be interested in seeing a side-by-side of a well composed portrait.
 
rookies said:
Which lens which pls as I am hard of hearing as you know. But yes right hand side for me
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RIght hand side is the 55mm.

The 24-70mm looks a cracking lens, and in comparison to other 24-70mm f2.8's right up there. But as sharp as the 55mm? Nah, not for me.
 
Rizvan said:
G Masters here I come...... [emoji39]
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So have you ordered the GM's?

Just seen this on SAR (so take with a pinch of salt lol):
"Due to exchange rate movements almost all camera products will increase in price by around 10%. However the August date for the increase may not be so true as Sony are trying to wait for the competition to raise there prices first. It seems that Sony don’t want to be seen as the bad company that started it. So now it is like a poker game to see which company will show their hand first."

http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/price-increase-sony-cameras-lenses-confirmed-europe/
 
Wissel said:
So have you ordered the GM's?

Just seen this on SAR (so take with a pinch of salt lol):
"Due to exchange rate movements almost all camera products will increase in price by around 10%. However the August date for the increase may not be so true as Sony are trying to wait for the competition to raise there prices first. It seems that Sony don’t want to be seen as the bad company that started it. So now it is like a poker game to see which company will show their hand first."

http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/price-increase-sony-cameras-lenses-confirmed-europe/
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Prices are going up from 1st August, Sony has been cheeky and held back on all new stock shipments to land into stores on 2nd August.
A 10% rise is a understatement, I've been told for example the A7RII bodies are set to increase by £300-400!!!

Ordered and should be with me soon to avoid the price rises.

I'll probably sell off a body, grip and prime lenses.
 
Is there a bulb shutter on the a7ii. As earlier was trying to take a long exposure photo
 
rookies said:
Is there a bulb shutter on the a7ii. As earlier was trying to take a long exposure photo
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Yes.

Rizvan said:
Prices are going up from 1st August, Sony has been cheeky and held back on all new stock shipments to land into stores on 2nd August.
A 10% rise is a understatement, I've been told for example the A7RII bodies are set to increase by £300-400!!!

Ordered and should be with me soon to avoid the price rises.

I'll probably sell off a body, grip and prime lenses.
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Which GM's did you go for?

I tried the 24-70 at the show in March - it's a lovely lens. The 70-200 was in a glass box, wasn't allowed to try that one :)
 
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rookies said:
Is there a bulb shutter on the a7ii. As earlier was trying to take a long exposure photo
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to enable BULB Mode, set the camera to M and turn the rear dial to BULB.

BULB is not selectable while one of the following settings are set on:

- trigger at smile
- AUTO HDR
- picture effect HDR PAINTING=ON or RICH MONOCHROME=ON
- Multiframe-RM
- sequence mode set to: continuous, continuous-time-prio or self-timer (continuous
 
Rizvan said:
Which GM's you say...... well all of them so far! lol. ;) :)
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Did they come from Harrisons by any chance lol

As I bet they did as they had them in stock yesterday and now they gone LOL
 
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rookies said:
You done right
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I think Fuji does have its advantages but the reason I dismissed the XT1 when I was decided between Fuji and Sony was due to the higher IQ from the A7 in a body size very similar to the XT1, that fact hasn't changed so much so I decided to stick with Sony and bite the bullet.
 
Question for anyone that uses the Samyang 14mm?

I'm thinking of getting one of these for astro stuff, but the only lenses I've used to date are Sony FE.

To use this lens, is it just a case of attach it then set the aperture and focus on the lens, or do I have to change any settings in the body?

Does the body recognise the lens straight away so ISO and shutter speed can be adjusted the same as on a Sony lens? Is the EXIF data recorded?

Probably obvious questions to those of you that have used adapted mounts, but I haven't and I'm sure I've read comments about settings in body needing changing for some lenses. Not sure what these settings are and if a native FE manual Samyang would also need changes?
 
The camera won't know anything about the lens, You have to set the camera to "Release w/o lens- Enable" on gear menu 3.

You can then use A or M mode. ISO and shutter speed is all normal and recorded in exif.

One minor problem using the lens for astro is infinity. Due to the depth of field on these lenses setting infinity can be tricky and the focus ring usually allows setting past infinity. Many users like to preset a hard stop as here http://dslr-astrophotography.com/calibrate-focus-ring-samyang-14mm-f2-8/
 
Guys i have 2 questions can you all advise me please.

1. I hear the term star eater for the A7rii is there a specific setting i need to disable to stop the camera eating stars if i doing milkyway shots ? thanks
2. As i also have the D500 I'm finding that straight out of Camera RAW from Nikon is much more pleasing to my eye, i was under the impression that RAW was RAW totally flat, what parameters play a part in the raw file output, I'm presuming ISO/WB/Aperture, the Vivid Neutral stuff wont effect raw will it ? its only Jpeg ?

i enclose these photos both taken with the D500 at the same time within seconds, why is 1 more orange ? could that be WB ? Automatically altering it due to sun ? Ignore the quality of the photos i was fine tuning the 600mm Sigma 1 is without the tune one is with you can see the sharpness change...

https://flic.kr/s/aHskDQjbcj
 
This is the best comment I have found on the star eating - from a post in stargazers lounge..

  • In Bulb mode, the Sony firmware automatically implements an algorithm to reduce hot pixel noise, which appears to be more or less identical to the original infamous Nikon "star eater" algorithm. For any semi-scientific instrumentation e.g. measurements of variable star intensities, star magnitudes, star profiles and FWHM this totally rules out Bulb mode. For producing pretty pictures of the universe (my own main interest) "star eater" does not seem to matter much - see my analysis here: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/55734616 As a workaround 30sec exposures can be used instead of Bulb mode. Read noise at ISO 2000 and above is so low that 30sec exposures become quite practicable in most circumstances.
  • The Bulb mode "star eater" algorithm means a different master dark must be created for Bulb mode imaging since the hot pixel suppression algorithm changes the characteristics of the dark and light frames..
My images fall into the "pretty picture" category.
 
littleted said:
Guys i have 2 questions can you all advise me please.

1. I hear the term star eater for the A7rii is there a specific setting i need to disable to stop the camera eating stars if i doing milkyway shots ? thanks
2. As i also have the D500 I'm finding that straight out of Camera RAW from Nikon is much more pleasing to my eye, i was under the impression that RAW was RAW totally flat, what parameters play a part in the raw file output, I'm presuming ISO/WB/Aperture, the Vivid Neutral stuff wont effect raw will it ? its only Jpeg ?

i enclose these photos both taken with the D500 at the same time within seconds, why is 1 more orange ? could that be WB ? Automatically altering it due to sun ? Ignore the quality of the photos i was fine tuning the 600mm Sigma 1 is without the tune one is with you can see the sharpness change...

https://flic.kr/s/aHskDQjbcj
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A RAW photo is one that captures all the information, but of course will be influenced by exposure, WB, etc etc. Depending on who you talk to WB is less of an issue as you can alter this in post and it should make no difference to your final image. For example if you shoot one shot at 5000k and another at 4000k, then adjust the 4000k to 5000k in post the images will (in theory) be the same, as will the histograms. There are some that argue there will be subtle differences. Likewise some will tell you that camera profiles such as standard, vivid, landscape etc and d-lighting make no difference to the RAW file, but some will argue that it does. Of course if you open your RAW files in something like Nikon Capture NX then this program automatically 'adds' the camera profiles and d-lighting settings so of course can look significantly different to if you opened up the same file in lightroom or photoshop. Of course the one in NX is then not a pure RAW file as it's been processed (not that it's purely RAW in LR ;)).

As for your pics, it's most likely WB. If you look at the WB in lightroom I would imagine that they are different and that one has more magenta tint. If you adjust so that the WB is the same I would expect them to look much more similar.
 
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I'm afraid that I'm about to bring this conversation down a step, from G master lenses and the technical side of RAW files to what strap do you guys use on your Sony? I've got a very thin leather one at the moment which is too femma. A7ii and the 24-70 F4 is my heaviest lens..
 
jonneymendoza said:
But the point is the 55mm was classed as the sharpest lens on e mount.

Question. Would you buy the Sony 24-70 if u already have the Canon version and occasionally still shoot with canon?
Click to expand...

I think the Sony FE 90mm macro is sharper. Insane sharp as some mentioned.
If you go here:
http://www.dxomark.com/lenses/launc...ewMode=graph&xDataType=year&yDataType=effmpix
you can see all tested lens by DXOmark, scroll down and will see a graph, showing the sharpness and which is better.


About your second question -
I am using Sony A7R II + Sigma MC-11 + Canon EF 24-70 F/2.8 L Mark II - I use this combo for my professional shoots all the time and I am very very happy.
Two negatives:
- when the light is dim it hunts a little. Get another light source, LED or something else - problem solved (I am shooting models, so the solution is ok for me)
- not the best combo for fast moving subjects. I tried it on the Wembley moto stunt festival - it works good, even in AF-C mode, but the tracking on A7R II + Sigma MC-11 is not the fastest.
Besides that combo it deliver. A lot.
So I will stay with the Canon version. Sure the Sony option will deliver better focus speed, but for most of my work i am happy.

Example from Wembley stunt festival:
Ace Cafe London Stunt Festival & Streetfighter Show 2016 by Kalin Kalpachev, on Flickr


P.S. There are so many choices of camera/lenses these days that sometimes we don't know what to choose or buy. So many temptations.
But. the truth is that many cameras/lenses will do the job - just pick one, go out and shoot :)
 
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