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

ChrisHeathcote said:
I recently bought some of these from amazon, however I’m still building up the courage to give it a go :)
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All you have to remember is not to over saturate the swab, allowing the fluid to form a drip. Otherwise its a doddle.
 
Another one from Amsterdam, still need to go through these! This was looking out toward some of the cooler looking buildings on the dock: Shot with the Voigtlander 28mm Ultron f2

Amsterdam Docks by Chris Mitchell, on Flickr
 
LeeRatters said:
I've already some Gamma fluid from before ;) Just the cleaning swabs on their own really. But, not from Bristol Cameras.....!!! I've already got a 2-3 day order on-going with them which is already 2 weeks........ :rolleyes:
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Yeah, they’re good at that. I’ve bought stuff from them twice and had the same issue. It’s a bit annoying - but they do have good prices on certain stuff.
 
Umm.. A post below from someone about the 100-400...

.........

This week I spent a few days shooting golden eagles from a hide in Northern Finland.

I normally shoot wildlife with Canon long lenses and use Sony (A7Riii) for landscapes, but on this trip I took along the 100-400mm GM lens to try it out for this kind of shooting.

I am sad to say that it did not pass the audition. The image quality, focus speed and focus accuracy of this lens are all great but it could not handle the weather. Within less than an hour condensation had built up inside the lens (behind the front element) making it impossible to shoot with. The lens is said to be "moisture resistant"... but it could not handle the conditions. It was a basic Finnish day, about -5C, dry and a little cloudy with occasional snow and the lens was protected from some of the elements by an overhanging roof... it could have been a lot harder conditions. The difference in temperature between the hide and the outside world was enough to cause the problem.

My companions in the same hide had no such issues with their Canon 100-400mm, Nikon 200-400mm and Olympus 40-150mm zoom lenses. It was an embarassing situation to be a Sony shooter [emoji20]

I contacted the retailer where I purchased the lens and have been told that this is a common problem and does not mean that the moisture resistance of the lens is faulty.

I am pretty disappointed.

Has anyone else had any similar issues with this lens or have you had more positive experiences in the same situation?

Andy
 
jonneymendoza said:
Umm.. A post below from someone about the 100-400...

.........

This week I spent a few days shooting golden eagles from a hide in Northern Finland.

I normally shoot wildlife with Canon long lenses and use Sony (A7Riii) for landscapes, but on this trip I took along the 100-400mm GM lens to try it out for this kind of shooting.

I am sad to say that it did not pass the audition. The image quality, focus speed and focus accuracy of this lens are all great but it could not handle the weather. Within less than an hour condensation had built up inside the lens (behind the front element) making it impossible to shoot with. The lens is said to be "moisture resistant"... but it could not handle the conditions. It was a basic Finnish day, about -5C, dry and a little cloudy with occasional snow and the lens was protected from some of the elements by an overhanging roof... it could have been a lot harder conditions. The difference in temperature between the hide and the outside world was enough to cause the problem.

My companions in the same hide had no such issues with their Canon 100-400mm, Nikon 200-400mm and Olympus 40-150mm zoom lenses. It was an embarassing situation to be a Sony shooter [emoji20]

I contacted the retailer where I purchased the lens and have been told that this is a common problem and does not mean that the moisture resistance of the lens is faulty.

I am pretty disappointed.

Has anyone else had any similar issues with this lens or have you had more positive experiences in the same situation?

Andy
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That’s really not very good from a £2k lens :(
 
jonneymendoza said:
I am pretty disappointed.

Has anyone else had any similar issues with this lens or have you had more positive experiences in the same situation?

Andy
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I've only ever had condensation inside a lens with one lens, an old Minolta Rokkor. Either I've been very lucky or this is a rare thing.

This has to be a build issue, surely????
 
Mind you my canon 70-200 F2.8. Fogged up when I was in the amazon rainforest but was fine after half an hour or so
 
There's a nice review of the Voigtlander 35mm f1.4 here...

https://admiringlight.com/blog/review-voigtlander-35mm-f1-4-nokton-classic-e-mount/

I mostly agree but I disagree on a coupe of points but I may be seeing things differently because of the subjects and the effect different subjects and lighting can have or it may be that I'm seeing the same things but thinking they're better than he does :D

Or maybe there's a bit of sample variation and I have a good one when it comes to sharpness at close focus distance and blooming.

The reviewer thinks it's very soft at f1.4 at close distances, I don't, I think it's quite sharp and sharper than I expected it to be. I think he also sees more glow than I do but again this could be a matter of opinion or may change with the subject. For me the lens has less glow than I expected and much less than some other lenses. I think this lens is actually quite sharp at close distance at f1.4 and displays little glow but keep in mind that at close distance at f1.4 what's in focus is very limited.

Since I got this lens I've only used one other and that was only briefly. I like this lens a lot and for me the only proviso is that I need to think about the bokeh at f1.4 to maybe f2 for some subjects. The very corners are never sharp though and that's possibly the biggest issue for me but on the positive side no normal person will ever notice or care and in a whole image maybe even a few geeks like us wont notice.
 
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A few shots from my recent trip to Asia:

The first two are from Singapore Changi airport - the Butterfly garden (Sony a7RII + Sigma 16mm F/1.4 in FULL frame mode):
The Butterfly garden at Changi airport by Kalin Kalpachev, on Flickr



The Butterfly garden at Changi airport by Kalin Kalpachev, on Flickr



This is the view from my balcony in Pattaya, just after sunset. Again Sigma 16mm F/1.4 in FULL frame mode:
Naklua, Pattaya by Kalin Kalpachev, on Flickr



And his is very heavy cropped night shot of Sanctuary of truth (Pattaya). Again shot from my balcony, i think 20 sec. exposure. Using the Sony A7R II + manual Contax G Sonnar 90mm F/2.8:
Sanctuary of Truth by Kalin Kalpachev, on Flickr
 
This is exactly the kind of BS that prevents me from buying Sony's expensive supposedly "pro" range.

I was thinking of getting that 85mm GM, thanks for reminding why I hadn't bought any expensive Sony lenses recently... Canon 85mm/1.2 it is then :P
 
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nandbytes said:
This is exactly the kind of BS that prevents me from buying Sony's expensive supposedly "pro" range.

I was thinking of getting that 85mm GM, thanks for reminding why I hadn't bought any expensive Sony lenses recently... Canon 85mm/1.2 it is then :P
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Does it focus well on the Sony as I believe some don’t
 
nandbytes said:
This is exactly the kind of BS that prevents me from buying Sony's expensive supposedly "pro" range.

I was thinking of getting that 85mm GM, thanks for reminding why I hadn't bought any expensive Sony lenses recently... Canon 85mm/1.2 it is then :p
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I’ve never used the 100-400 but I can confirm that I’ve had no issues whatsoever with build, moisture or dust protection with the other GM glass (16-35, 24-70 and briefly a 70-200)... anyone putting their gear (certainly mirrorless gear) into weather or conditions without covering the kit has to be mental, we’ve all seen the tear down showing that the A7riii isn’t as weather proof as other kit.

But then I wouldn’t necessarily have put any of my Nikon kit in conditions that would risk it (except maybe one trip with a D800 & 16-35 on the Isle of Skye!)
 
Well I been out in the heavy snow with my D500 are we saying the Sony won’t cope as hard as the D500 did ?
 
rookies said:
Well I been out in the heavy snow with my D500 are we saying the Sony won’t cope as hard as the D500 did ?
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Never used a D500, but I certainly wouldn’t put any of the mirrorless bodies up there with a D800/D810/D850 for weather, no.
But then I don’t think any of the mirrorless bodies are officially rated as being all that weatherproof, Olympus EM1 maybe?
 
rookies said:
Does it focus well on the Sony as I believe some don’t
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apparently better than it does on canon bodies :eek:

chrism_scotland said:
I’ve never used the 100-400 but I can confirm that I’ve had no issues whatsoever with build, moisture or dust protection with the other GM glass (16-35, 24-70 and briefly a 70-200)... anyone putting their gear (certainly mirrorless gear) into weather or conditions without covering the kit has to be mental, we’ve all seen the tear down showing that the A7riii isn’t as weather proof as other kit.

But then I wouldn’t necessarily have put any of my Nikon kit in conditions that would risk it (except maybe one trip with a D800 & 16-35 on the Isle of Skye!)
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just because my gear is covered doesn't mean it'll be a nice experience should things break on the field (besides no amount cover will give me all the shots i missed because of shoddy quality). when sony charges the same as or more than competitors i think its reasonable to expect equivalent build quality
 
chrism_scotland said:
Never used a D500, but I certainly wouldn’t put any of the mirrorless bodies up there with a D800/D810/D850 for weather, no.
But then I don’t think any of the mirrorless bodies are officially rated as being all that weatherproof, Olympus EM1 maybe?
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em1 and oly/pana lenses are probably the best out of the lot, not sure about GH5 or panasonic bodies purely because I haven't looked into them. but I don't think mirrorless has anything to do with this. if manufactures bother they can be just as good as DSLRs (eg: em1)
 
nandbytes said:
em1 and oly/pana lenses are probably the best out of the lot, not sure about GH5 or panasonic bodies purely because I haven't looked into them. but I don't think mirrorless has anything to do with this. if manufactures bother they can be just as good as DSLRs (eg: em1)
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Your spot on and they could be but it doesn't seem to be a priority for mirror less, obviously they could make them as weatherproof but currently (M4/3 aside) they don't.
 
nandbytes said:
just because my gear is covered doesn't mean it'll be a nice experience should things break on the field (besides no amount cover will give me all the shots i missed because of shoddy quality). when sony charges the same as or more than competitors i think its reasonable to expect equivalent build quality
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By cover I meant lens cover / rain cover) not insured (although that's important too). You can go expecting equivalent build quality from Sony as much as you want but we both know they seem to suffer from more QC issues (on lenses) that other manufacturers for some reason.
 
chrism_scotland said:
Never used a D500, but I certainly wouldn’t put any of the mirrorless bodies up there with a D800/D810/D850 for weather, no.
But then I don’t think any of the mirrorless bodies are officially rated as being all that weatherproof, Olympus EM1 maybe?
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I will take my EM1 and 12-40mm out into more severe weather than any other camera I've had, I'm pretty confident it can withstand some pretty poor conditions.
 
snerkler said:
I will take my EM1 and 12-40mm out into more severe weather than any other camera I've had, I'm pretty confident it can withstand some pretty poor conditions.
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More than your d750??
 
rookies said:
More than your d750??
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I don't know about Nikons but I have seen people use e-m1+12-40 in sludge and heavy rain.
Other bodies I'd vouch for personally is Sony A77 series with their 16-50/2.8 and canon 7D series.

But I don't need that level of weather sealing, if you do then sony e-mount is definitely not for you.
 
I don’t need proper seal. I don’t shoot in rain full stop. Only snow as it gives effect
 
D500 seems well at the moment
 
rookies said:
I don’t need proper seal. I don’t shoot in rain full stop. Only snow as it gives effect
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I shot in snow recently with A7RII+85mm, I didn't have much issues. But I guess it depends on the snow fall...

Here's an example (I don't post family shots... so for limited time for demonstration purposes only ;) )

39721557425_46fba5e1a9_b.jpg
 
nandbytes said:
I shot in snow recently with A7RII+85mm, I didn't have much issues. But I guess it depends on the snow fall...

Here's an example (I don't post family shots... so for limited time for demonstration purposes only ;) )

39721557425_46fba5e1a9_b.jpg
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That’s a lovely image mate well capture
 
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