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

The reason for me asking is because I keep toying with the idea and I want to put it to bed for good.
Either switch or don't.

So far I have an A7II with a 55mm and would look to get a 24/28mm Prime. The biggest issue for me is lens cost regarding Sony!
 
Ashburner said:
Throwing it out there, stirring the pot.

A7II vs Fuji XT-2 - Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I've used both albeit the A7ii more briefly.
IQ wise I think they're fairly similar although the Sony RAW files are easier to work with for landscaping as I struggled a little with the X-Trans processing on the Fuji.

Personally I prefer the handling on the XT2, some folk might think its trying to be "cool" but the various dials make it really easy to use and I love having aperture on the lens! (albeit some of the Sony lenses do this too), I found that adding an "L" grip to the A7ii made it much easier to handle.

AF wise I don't think theres much debate that the XT2 is better than the A7ii, the Fuji is probably the best AF mirrorless currently save for the Olympus EM1ii.

Lens choice isn't anywhere near the issue it used to be, the Fuji range is larger because its been available longer and most of the Fuji glass is stellar however prices have crept up of late but the used market is fairly wide, the "fast primes" are very good and I'd highly recommend the 16mm f1.4 WR as a 24mm equivalent, easily my favourite Fuji lens!

The Sony lens lineup is better than it was although it is dear and tends to be dearer than the Fuji glass but that probably more because your buying Full Frame compatible lenses, however there are some cracking primes available, the Batis 25mm look great!

Also the A7ii is very good with adapting glass, using one of the Canon to Sony Autofocus adapters opens up a huge range of Canon mount lenses, I used a 17-40L for a while on an A7ii and was very impressed, of course you can adapt glass with the Fuji too but only for manual focus.

The biggest difference is of course Full Frame v Crop, I shot almost exclusively with a Fuji X-Pro2/XT2 last year and took some great shots but I did miss that full-frame look and went back to a DSLR (Pentax K1), I'm currently looking for an accompaniment that's a little smaller and lighter for travel and actually am considering an A7ii as the Pentax Full Frame Ltd Primes would be great manual focus lenses on full frame!

Its a tough choice to be fair! A7ii with a 25mm Batis and 55mm Sony Zeiss or a Fuji XT2 with the 16mm f1.4 and a 35mm f1.4.........
 
Ashburner said:
Throwing it out there, stirring the pot.

A7II vs Fuji XT-2 - Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I would go with the Fuji XT-2, the A7II uses the older first generation A7 sensor, its not a bad sensor but many APS-C sensors come close in terms of IQ etc including the XT-2.
You shouldn't compare bodies only as lenses play a big part in the systems abilities overall.
 
Ashburner said:
So far I have an A7II with a 55mm and would look to get a 24/28mm Prime. The biggest issue for me is lens cost regarding Sony!
Click to expand...

I think the Sony 28mm is one of the less expensive lenses, and also has the option of a wide angle converter.
 
It does seem a difficult situation

The reason this was brought up was because I do like the dials to change ISO, Shutter Speed on the Fuji, and agree the A7 Menu can be tricky, but i may need to look into the custom functions buttons a bit more.

I main shoot in the 16-35 range for Street. So a 24mm/28mm and a 50/55mm would pretty much sum up my kit.
 
chrism_scotland said:
I've used both albeit the A7ii more briefly.
IQ wise I think they're fairly similar although the Sony RAW files are easier to work with for landscaping as I struggled a little with the X-Trans processing on the Fuji.

Personally I prefer the handling on the XT2, some folk might think its trying to be "cool" but the various dials make it really easy to use and I love having aperture on the lens! (albeit some of the Sony lenses do this too), I found that adding an "L" grip to the A7ii made it much easier to handle.

AF wise I don't think theres much debate that the XT2 is better than the A7ii, the Fuji is probably the best AF mirrorless currently save for the Olympus EM1ii.

Lens choice isn't anywhere near the issue it used to be, the Fuji range is larger because its been available longer and most of the Fuji glass is stellar however prices have crept up of late but the used market is fairly wide, the "fast primes" are very good and I'd highly recommend the 16mm f1.4 WR as a 24mm equivalent, easily my favourite Fuji lens!

The Sony lens lineup is better than it was although it is dear and tends to be dearer than the Fuji glass but that probably more because your buying Full Frame compatible lenses, however there are some cracking primes available, the Batis 25mm look great!

Also the A7ii is very good with adapting glass, using one of the Canon to Sony Autofocus adapters opens up a huge range of Canon mount lenses, I used a 17-40L for a while on an A7ii and was very impressed, of course you can adapt glass with the Fuji too but only for manual focus.

The biggest difference is of course Full Frame v Crop, I shot almost exclusively with a Fuji X-Pro2/XT2 last year and took some great shots but I did miss that full-frame look and went back to a DSLR (Pentax K1), I'm currently looking for an accompaniment that's a little smaller and lighter for travel and actually am considering an A7ii as the Pentax Full Frame Ltd Primes would be great manual focus lenses on full frame!

Its a tough choice to be fair! A7ii with a 25mm Batis and 55mm Sony Zeiss or a Fuji XT2 with the 16mm f1.4 and a 35mm f1.4.........
Click to expand...

Thank you for the feedback Chris,

I agree if this was an ideal world, I'd get a couple of Zeiss/Batis primes and shut up. The 3 sony Primes I am considering are at 3 price points (28mm ~£300, 24mm ~£600, 25mm ~£900)
 
I wrote a massive reply on he train and it looks as though it hasn't been sent. b****r.

@chrism_scotland has summed it up well.

I prefer the Fuji body for many reasons - but prefer the glass available for Sony.

I swapped between the two systems more times than I care to remember as both are great systems.

My advice would be to stay put for the time being. Check out the 28mm f2. Hugely underrated lens and super portable. Also it takes the same filters as your 55mm does. Consider keeping an eye out for a used A7rii as they may drop in price now and especially if a new line of bodies are released.

Regarding the controls on the Sony I have aperture and shutter speed controller by the front and rear dials and then simply turn the wheel for ISO. It means I can control the exposure triangle with one hand and not take the camera away from my eye. All while seeing in the evf how the exposure is changed. Glorious.
 
addicknchips said:
Regarding the controls on the Sony I have aperture and shutter speed controller by the front and rear dials and then simply turn the wheel for ISO. It means I can control the exposure triangle with one hand and not take the camera away from my eye. All while seeing in the evf how the exposure is changed. Glorious.
Click to expand...
.

Me too, so simple to use, combined with back button focus I'm sorted.
 
addicknchips said:
I wrote a massive reply on he train and it looks as though it hasn't been sent. b****r.

@chrism_scotland has summed it up well.

I prefer the Fuji body for many reasons - but prefer the glass available for Sony.

I swapped between the two systems more times than I care to remember as both are great systems.

My advice would be to stay put for the time being. Check out the 28mm f2. Hugely underrated lens and super portable. Also it takes the same filters as your 55mm does. Consider keeping an eye out for a used A7rii as they may drop in price now and especially if a new line of bodies are released.

Regarding the controls on the Sony I have aperture and shutter speed controller by the front and rear dials and then simply turn the wheel for ISO. It means I can control the exposure triangle with one hand and not take the camera away from my eye. All while seeing in the evf how the exposure is changed. Glorious.
Click to expand...
david357 said:
.

Me too, so simple to use, combined with back button focus I'm sorted.
Click to expand...

I'll have a look into this at the weekend :)
 
Honestly only of passing interest to me...

The A7R2 is pretty future proof for my needs - I can't see what the next gen will offer that would remotely be of interest. The only thing I'd change on the R2 is a joystick for focussing and maybe a dedicated ISO dial*. But I ain't gonna be trading up for this.
Any improvements to the sensor will just be un-noticable to most except pixel peepers.

*I've tried ISO on the back wheel, but don't like it. Keep changing ISO instead of moving focus point.
 
I have a Sony A7 Camera. I am looking for a camera with 4k & faster FFS. I am thinking of keeping the A7 & adding the Sony A6300. A couple of questions about the A6300. What is the best make of card v price to buy for the 4k video? I have a LAEA4 lens adapter that I use with the A7 & a 70-400 lens. Can I use these two with all parts working on the A6300?. I tried a comparison shots with similar settings at a dealer, with the A6300 kit lens & my A7 kit lens. I felt mine was a tad better, I guess that could be the full frame, but maybe the A6300 kit lens is not as good. I have 'Just' read about a Sigma 30mm lens, would that work in full frame with my A7 as well? What cheapish lens would you recommend for the A6300, prime or zoom I'm guessing 18mm upwards, mainly for street photos, landscape etc.
 
Redspider said:
I have a Sony A7 Camera. I am looking for a camera with 4k & faster FFS. I am thinking of keeping the A7 & adding the Sony A6300. A couple of questions about the A6300. What is the best make of card v price to buy for the 4k video? I have a LAEA4 lens adapter that I use with the A7 & a 70-400 lens. Can I use these two with all parts working on the A6300?. I tried a comparison shots with similar settings at a dealer, with the A6300 kit lens & my A7 kit lens. I felt mine was a tad better, I guess that could be the full frame, but maybe the A6300 kit lens is not as good. I have 'Just' read about a Sigma 30mm lens, would that work in full frame with my A7 as well? What cheapish lens would you recommend for the A6300, prime or zoom I'm guessing 18mm upwards, mainly for street photos, landscape etc.
Click to expand...

The Sigma 30mm isn't an FE lens so you will probably get vignetting. i know you can remove the rear baffle on the Sigma 60mm to get almost full coverage with an A7 so the 30 may be the same.

I use the Sony E 50/1.8 90% of the time on my A6000 and it's an excellent all round lens although obviously 50mm on a crop sensor can be a bit too long indoors sometimes. For ultrawide I use a Samyang 12mm F2. It's fully manual but easy to use with peaking as at 12mm its quite hard to get anything out of focus! The kit 16-50 isn't a bad lens but it's obviously a jack of all trades so doesn't have particularly wide aperture or long telephoto. it focuses quickly and is silent for video.
 
stevelmx5 said:
The Sigma 30mm isn't an FE lens so you will probably get vignetting. i know you can remove the rear baffle on the Sigma 60mm to get almost full coverage with an A7 so the 30 may be the same.

I use the Sony E 50/1.8 90% of the time on my A6000 and it's an excellent all round lens although obviously 50mm on a crop sensor can be a bit too long indoors sometimes. For ultrawide I use a Samyang 12mm F2. It's fully manual but easy to use with peaking as at 12mm its quite hard to get anything out of focus! The kit 16-50 isn't a bad lens but it's obviously a jack of all trades so doesn't have particularly wide aperture or long telephoto. it focuses quickly and is silent for video.
Click to expand...

I can second that about removing the baffle on Sigma 60mm.
When you crop the vignette you have approximately 35-36MPx left, which is quite usable, especially for portraits, where you can use the vignette anyway.

Here is a example with Sony A7RII + Sigma 60mm F/2.8
(Thailand, end of October 2016)

Streets of Pattaya by Kalin Kalpachev, on Flickr
 
Thanks stevelmx5 & photosample. The photo looks great. What about a fast card for the 4k video & my question regarding my existing adapter & 70-400 lens?
 
Hi guys, my name is Thomas, I'm from Poland but currently work and live in beautiful Edinburgh. I've just swapped from D700 to A7r. So far I have only Sony 28 f2 (really good lens, fast af, sharp), modified 16 2.8 aps-c and looking for some portrait lens on budget.
I've had Nikon 70 200 2.8 (used around 120-150mm mostly) as my favourite portrait lens together with sigma 85 1.4 but for now I can't afford Sony ones
I struggle between buing two Canon EF lenses: 85 1.8 and 135 2.8 or Samyang 135 f2 for Sony E mount.
Third option is Sigma art 85 1.4 with Sigma adapter but it's hard to find any info of how it works with A7r autofocus. Most tests of this adapter were done on next gen Sony cameras.
Thanks for any help :)
 
thomaas said:
Hi guys, my name is Thomas, I'm from Poland but currently work and live in beautiful Edinburgh. I've just swapped from D700 to A7r. So far I have only Sony 28 f2 (really good lens, fast af, sharp), modified 16 2.8 aps-c and looking for some portrait lens on budget.
I've had Nikon 70 200 2.8 (used around 120-150mm mostly) as my favourite portrait lens together with sigma 85 1.4 but for now I can't afford Sony ones
I struggle between buing two Canon EF lenses: 85 1.8 and 135 2.8 or Samyang 135 f2 for Sony E mount.
Third option is Sigma art 85 1.4 with Sigma adapter but it's hard to find any info of how it works with A7r autofocus. Most tests of this adapter were done on next gen Sony cameras.
Thanks for any help :)
Click to expand...

Forget about autofocus on adapted lenses on the a7r. It'll be much quicker to manual focus with peaking.

Samsung 85mm 1.4 could be a good option for you.
 
Anyone used an A99 and an A99ii?
Is the ii worth the premium over the A99 for a non-pro hobbyist use?
 
addicknchips said:
Forget about autofocus on adapted lenses on the a7r. It'll be much quicker to manual focus with peaking.

Samsung 85mm 1.4 could be a good option for you.
Click to expand...

I have one that i've still to put up for sale in the Classifieds, keep forgetting! It's the Sony FE fit Samyang 85 1.4. Thomas, you're certainly welcome to try it out or buy it if you like - i'm only 20mins outside Edinburgh. :)
 
CharleyBird said:
I like this photo, kind of sharp and smooth

How much is it edited if at all?
How do you find this unusual lens to use?
Does it work well as a portrait lens?
And have you any photos to show off it's bokeh?
Click to expand...

About that photo - I used only Lightroom - preset + little play with the sliders around.

It is quite special lens to me - not very light lens when attached and the manual focus takes some time, especially when you want to nail it. But the results are amazing (my opinion)

More from that combo (Sony A7R II + Laowa 105mm F/2 STF)

British & Classic Bike meet at Ace Cafe London by Kalin Kalpachev, on Flickr


British & Classic Bike meet at Ace Cafe London by Kalin Kalpachev, on Flickr


- Behind the scenes with Laowa 105mm - by Kalin Kalpachev, on Flickr


Ace Cafe London by Kalin Kalpachev, on Flickr


Ace Cafe London by Kalin Kalpachev, on Flickr


Norwich train station by Kalin Kalpachev, on Flickr



Night London with Laowa 105mm STF by Kalin Kalpachev, on Flickr



By the way, if you are in London, or coming to London - If I am around no problem to test it (I drink coffee :) )
 
Toying with the idea of buying an 2nd hand A7 to use only with old manual lenses. I use Fuji cameras for digital but have lots of old film cameras and lenses (Leica R, Olympus OM and Nikon AIS).

I could only afford the original basic A7 which I've seen used for about £600-£650.

Does this seem sensible?
 
Yes. It's the best option for using 35mm film camera lenses if you want to keep them.
 
"About that photo - I used only Lightroom - preset + little play with the sliders around.
It is quite special lens to me - not very light lens when attached and the manual focus takes some time, especially when you want to nail it. But the results are amazing (my opinion)
More from that combo (Sony A7R II + Laowa 105mm F/2 STF)"

Thanks photosample, the lens seems to be a beaut and the bokeh nice too. I suppose the newly announced Sony 100mm 2.8 STF G master will be a direct and more expensive rival?
 
photosample said:
About that photo - I used only Lightroom - preset + little play with the sliders around.

It is quite special lens to me - not very light lens when attached and the manual focus takes some time, especially when you want to nail it. But the results are amazing (my opinion)

More from that combo (Sony A7R II + Laowa 105mm F/2 STF)

British & Classic Bike meet at Ace Cafe London by Kalin Kalpachev, on Flickr


British & Classic Bike meet at Ace Cafe London by Kalin Kalpachev, on Flickr


- Behind the scenes with Laowa 105mm - by Kalin Kalpachev, on Flickr


Ace Cafe London by Kalin Kalpachev, on Flickr


Ace Cafe London by Kalin Kalpachev, on Flickr


Norwich train station by Kalin Kalpachev, on Flickr



Night London with Laowa 105mm STF by Kalin Kalpachev, on Flickr



By the way, if you are in London, or coming to London - If I am around no problem to test it (I drink coffee :) )
Click to expand...




im loving the colours in these photos!!
 
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