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

old bloke said:
Be careful what you say this post may come back to haunt you.
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Perhaps but I just don’t see myself moving back to DSLR technology.... not in its current form.
Mirrorless has so many nice features, Eye-AF is a awesome feature. :)
 
Taken from this review site
http://www.streetsilhouettes.com/home/2017/6/8/sony-a9-vs-leica-m10-and-leica-sl-part-ii

Sony A9 + FE 50mm f/1.4 ZA at ISO 400
1496981914996


Leica M10 + 50mm f/1.4 Summilux-M ASPH at ISO 400
1496981653815


The A9 stuff with the adapted Leica-M lenses look nice, but are they so different that I'd want to give up the AF that could be used to capture more spontaneous moments..

Almost now actually wondering if I keep my M10.. sell the Q still - oh I did just sell the extra M10 batteries - oops
 
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Riz_Guru said:
Perhaps but I just don’t see myself moving back to DSLR technology.... not in its current form.
Mirrorless has so many nice features, Eye-AF is a awesome feature. :)
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"Not in its current form" you say so if it was improved in some way you might, I agree with you on the advantages of mirrorless having changed myself recently but I would never threaten to cut off my balls as even at my age 72 they are still precious to me:jawdrop:
 
old bloke said:
"Not in its current form" you say so if it was improved in some way you might, I agree with you on the advantages of mirrorless having changed myself recently but I would never threaten to cut off my balls as even at my age 72 they are still precious to me:jawdrop:
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Well I said in it’s current form but I’m still not sure where it could be improved. It would need a design change. For example if they kept it a DSLR but went down the Fuji X-Pro route and offered both advantages of EVF and OVF, it could sell.

However if Nikon bought out a Nikon A9 and it offered a giant technological leap over Sony, I’d try it out. :)
 
Well I was hoping to get to try an A7Riii out this weekend but my only local (ish) store does not have one in to demo, nor the 70-200mm f2.8, so the wait continues :facepalm:
 
Sorry for a few more inane questions regarding the Sonys.

  • Can you assign the custom buttons to a menu rather than a specific function, i.e. can I say set C2 button to the metering menu to allow quick access to the different metering modes rather then setting one specific metering such as spot, or a quick link to the AF modes? Likewise can you set my menu to one of the custom buttons for quick access to my menu?
  • Some functions (such as HDR) are jpeg only, if you set these does it automatically change to jpeg or do you have to swap the file type first before you can access HDR function etc?
  • I see that the contrast detect points spread out further than the phase detect points, how do you ensure that you stay within the phase detect area if you want to compose towards the edge of the frame but still ensure quick AF?



@jonneymendoza have you got a link to your youtube channel?
 
snerkler said:
Sorry for a few more inane questions regarding the Sonys.

  • Can you assign the custom buttons to a menu rather than a specific function, i.e. can I say set C2 button to the metering menu to allow quick access to the different metering modes rather then setting one specific metering such as spot, or a quick link to the AF modes? Likewise can you set my menu to one of the custom buttons for quick access to my menu?
  • Some functions (such as HDR) are jpeg only, if you set these does it automatically change to jpeg or do you have to swap the file type first before you can access HDR function etc?
  • I see that the contrast detect points spread out further than the phase detect points, how do you ensure that you stay within the phase detect area if you want to compose towards the edge of the frame but still ensure quick AF?



@jonneymendoza have you got a link to your youtube channel?
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1/ Yes
 
snerkler said:
Sorry for a few more inane questions regarding the Sonys.

  • Can you assign the custom buttons to a menu rather than a specific function, i.e. can I say set C2 button to the metering menu to allow quick access to the different metering modes rather then setting one specific metering such as spot, or a quick link to the AF modes? Likewise can you set my menu to one of the custom buttons for quick access to my menu?
  • Some functions (such as HDR) are jpeg only, if you set these does it automatically change to jpeg or do you have to swap the file type first before you can access HDR function etc?
  • I see that the contrast detect points spread out further than the phase detect points, how do you ensure that you stay within the phase detect area if you want to compose towards the edge of the frame but still ensure quick AF?



@jonneymendoza have you got a link to your youtube channel?
Click to expand...
3/ You can display a rectangle in the viewfinder to mark the outer edge of phase detect points if you wish.
 
snerkler said:
Sorry for a few more inane questions regarding the Sonys.

  • Can you assign the custom buttons to a menu rather than a specific function, i.e. can I say set C2 button to the metering menu to allow quick access to the different metering modes rather then setting one specific metering such as spot, or a quick link to the AF modes? Likewise can you set my menu to one of the custom buttons for quick access to my menu?
  • Some functions (such as HDR) are jpeg only, if you set these does it automatically change to jpeg or do you have to swap the file type first before you can access HDR function etc?
  • I see that the contrast detect points spread out further than the phase detect points, how do you ensure that you stay within the phase detect area if you want to compose towards the edge of the frame but still ensure quick AF?



@jonneymendoza have you got a link to your youtube channel?
Click to expand...
1/ Not sure on my menu but yes to metering etc.
 
Out off the box the C1 button is set to the white balance options, the C2 button to the focus area options and the C3 button to the AF mode options.

You can assign to different functions and where that function has options it will take you to the options screen for that function.

You choose the AF point rather than let the camera choose it and select to turn the phase detect area on, it will then display a grid of the PDAF coverage.

I don't know about auto HDR its not something I use.

Its worth noting that you have "My Menu" which lets you save all your most accessed memory settings to one easy to access place and of course on the A7RM3 you have 3 custom modes to save to as well.
 
Also the function menu is customisable I have change a few of the out of the box settings in there.

You can also set up a button to set the camera up a certain way while the button is pressed. (Reg custom shoot) I have the c4 button set for birds in flight. This means if I am out in a field maybe taking a pic of a horse and a bird flies over I can just hold button c4 down and it will change to CAF, 8 fps, change aperture etc etc. Then release button c4 an go on with shooting horsey.
 
snerkler said:
Sorry for a few more inane questions regarding the Sonys.

  • Can you assign the custom buttons to a menu rather than a specific function, i.e. can I say set C2 button to the metering menu to allow quick access to the different metering modes rather then setting one specific metering such as spot, or a quick link to the AF modes? Likewise can you set my menu to one of the custom buttons for quick access to my menu?
  • Some functions (such as HDR) are jpeg only, if you set these does it automatically change to jpeg or do you have to swap the file type first before you can access HDR function etc?
  • I see that the contrast detect points spread out further than the phase detect points, how do you ensure that you stay within the phase detect area if you want to compose towards the edge of the frame but still ensure quick AF?



@jonneymendoza have you got a link to your youtube channel?
Click to expand...
https://www.youtube.com/user/jonneymendoza/videos?view=0&sort=dd&view_as=subscriber&shelf_id=0
 
magicaxeman said:
Out off the box the C1 button is set to the white balance options, the C2 button to the focus area options and the C3 button to the AF mode options.

You can assign to different functions and where that function has options it will take you to the options screen for that function.

You choose the AF point rather than let the camera choose it and select to turn the phase detect area on, it will then display a grid of the PDAF coverage.

I don't know about auto HDR its not something I use.

Its worth noting that you have "My Menu" which lets you save all your most accessed memory settings to one easy to access place and of course on the A7RM3 you have 3 custom modes to save to as well.
Click to expand...

The Rocket said:
Also the function menu is customisable I have change a few of the out of the box settings in there.

You can also set up a button to set the camera up a certain way while the button is pressed. (Reg custom shoot) I have the c4 button set for birds in flight. This means if I am out in a field maybe taking a pic of a horse and a bird flies over I can just hold button c4 down and it will change to CAF, 8 fps, change aperture etc etc. Then release button c4 an go on with shooting horsey.
Click to expand...
Thanks most helpful. Just for clarification with the AF 99% of the time I use single point AF and move it to where I want the focus (I believe Sony call this flexible spot AF?). Are you saying that in this mode it will just show the phase detect grid points? Does it show all 399 or however many there is, or just a selection? I could imagine trying to move around the frame with all 399 points to select quite time consuming ;)
 
snerkler said:
Thanks most helpful. Just for clarification with the AF 99% of the time I use single point AF and move it to where I want the focus (I believe Sony call this flexible spot AF?). Are you saying that in this mode it will just show the phase detect grid points? Does it show all 399 or however many there is, or just a selection? I could imagine trying to move around the frame with all 399 points to select quite time consuming ;)
Click to expand...

Yes it shows all 399 points and takes 3 years to move the AF point - I wish Sony would think of a solution to this...

at least it can make coffee, though sometimes it adds sugar when i don't want it..
 
dancook said:
Yes it shows all 399 points and takes 3 years to move the AF point - I wish Sony would think of a solution to this...

at least it can make coffee, though sometimes it adds sugar when i don't want it..
Click to expand...

Touch focus on the LCD? It does mean taking the camera away from your eye.

A part of me think they could replace the joystick and replace it with a mini touch pad which you can tap and slide to move the focus point with almost mouse accelerated movement or even tap on corner of the touchpad to focus on corner of the AF spread etc.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Touch focus on the LCD? It does mean taking the camera away from your eye.

A part of me think they could replace the joystick and replace it with a mini touch pad which you can tap and slide to move the focus point with almost mouse accelerated movement or even tap on corner of the touchpad to focus on corner of the AF spread etc.
Click to expand...

Raymond, that would be awesome - touch pad!!
 
snerkler said:
Thanks most helpful. Just for clarification with the AF 99% of the time I use single point AF and move it to where I want the focus (I believe Sony call this flexible spot AF?). Are you saying that in this mode it will just show the phase detect grid points? Does it show all 399 or however many there is, or just a selection? I could imagine trying to move around the frame with all 399 points to select quite time consuming ;)
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Watch from 27.20 it describes it quite well.

 
dancook said:
Raymond, that would be awesome - touch pad!!
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I need to file that patent ASAP :p

It doesn't need to be big, like an inch wide max and because of the accelerated movement like a mouse or Mac trackpad, you can move from corner to corner with 1 swipe.

Double tap to centre.

Drag from edge to start from the edge.

Touch and hold (or triple tap) to cycle through focus points spread.

etc etc
 
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Raymond Lin said:
I need to file that patent ASAP :p

It doesn't need to be big, like an inch wide max and because of the accelerated movement like a mouse or Mac trackpad, you can move from corner to corner with 1 swipe.

Double tap to centre.

Drag from edge to start from the edge.

Touch and hold to cycle through focus points spread.

etc etc
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Or what if it was a 360 directional joystick, with speed sensitivity/control like a ps4 controller :)
 
dancook said:
Or what if it was a 360 directional joystick, with speed sensitivity/control like a ps4 controller :)
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A stick don't allow you to start from the edge and it will never be as fast as a swipe. Plus there is no moving part with a touch pad.

This thought came to me actually when I was moving the AF point around, with the canon I could use the wheel, one for up, one for down but I can't get the same for the Sony as quick and with 693 AF points, that is a LOT to move around, all the way to the edges, compare to like 51 on the Canon. It made me use the touch LCD to focus and then lead me to think I can do the same while my camera to my face.
 
dancook said:
Yes it shows all 399 points and takes 3 years to move the AF point - I wish Sony would think of a solution to this...

at least it can make coffee, though sometimes it adds sugar when i don't want it..
Click to expand...
I always have sugar in coffe so that’s perfect (y)

Raymond Lin said:
A stick don't allow you to start from the edge and it will never be as fast as a swipe. Plus there is no moving part with a touch pad.

This thought came to me actually when I was moving the AF point around, with the canon I could use the wheel, one for up, one for down but I can't get the same for the Sony as quick and with 693 AF points, that is a LOT to move around, all the way to the edges, compare to like 51 on the Canon. It made me use the touch LCD to focus and then lead me to think I can do the same while my camera to my face.
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If you press and hold the joystick does it not quickly shoot in the direction you’re pressing? I can’t get used to using the LCD to focus, have it on my EM1 and don’t like it.
 
snerkler said:
I always have sugar in coffe so that’s perfect (y)

If you press and hold the joystick does it not quickly shoot in the direction you’re pressing? I can’t get used to using the LCD to focus, have it on my EM1 and don’t like it.
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It does move quicker but i always overshoot where i want it to land, because there is a pause between it starts moving to when it does actually start to move. I find it to be faster to nudge it 1 click by 1 click instead of waiting for that pause and then not landing where i want it to.
 
So I’m going to watch the guide but what focus points/mode do people use for action/sports?

Obviously CAF and I will use manual but single point or is there a better option than single point?

Is there a mode that once focused on a subject it will track it in the frame?

I know this is going to take some getting used to but at least I have test subjects ready :LOL:
 
Raymond Lin said:
A stick don't allow you to start from the edge and it will never be as fast as a swipe. Plus there is no moving part with a touch pad.

This thought came to me actually when I was moving the AF point around, with the canon I could use the wheel, one for up, one for down but I can't get the same for the Sony as quick and with 693 AF points, that is a LOT to move around, all the way to the edges, compare to like 51 on the Canon. It made me use the touch LCD to focus and then lead me to think I can do the same while my camera to my face.
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I'm pretty sure you can already use the screen as a touch pad to focus while looking at the view finder.

You could on the a6500
 
JJ! said:
So I’m going to watch the guide but what focus points/mode do people use for action/sports?

Obviously CAF and I will use manual but single point or is there a better option than single point?

Is there a mode that once focused on a subject it will track it in the frame?

I know this is going to take some getting used to but at least I have test subjects ready :LOL:
Click to expand...
I’m sure I’d just use single point AF-C like I always do, tracking doesn’t always stay on the part of the subject you want for sports.

AF modes are very similar to the Nikon ones (with the addition of eye and face detect) just called different names. Like Nikon you can change how ‘sticky’ the AF point is.
 
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