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

NewBeetle said:
I'm mainly a hobbyist with a few paid jobs on the side. I have the A7 III, but I kind of regret not stretching myself and getting the A9. Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy with the A7 III, but I have gotten into some nature and bird in flight photography and the A9 is on another level for fast tracking focus. I may get an A9 if the A9II release seriously effects the A9 price, otherwise I'll happily keep the A7III.
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A9 isn’t as good in low light though as only has 25 contrast detect points.
 
treeman said:
Yes I did see that, but no idea when it'll be out yet?



Yes I'm now erring on the A9, just wondering if its really worth £1k more than the A7iii for my needs.
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A9II is expected before the end of October.
 
f/2.8 said:
A9 isn’t as good in low light though as only has 25 contrast detect points.
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Is it noticeably worse at grabbing focus in low light?
 
treeman said:
Yes I'm now erring on the A9, just wondering if its really worth £1k more than the A7iii for my needs.
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Depends on your usecase. If you shoot a fair amount of landscapes A7III might be better.
If all you do is sports or stuff with a lot of tracking then A9 is better.
 
Just read a Facebook post there from a wedding photographer who shot a wedding on Friday on a Nikon Z6.

She tried to download the images this morning and they are gone. :oops: :$ Corrupted xqd card.

So glad I didn’t decide to stay with Nikon and risk the one card slot. I just knew this would happen to somebody at some point.
 
Has she tried running a recovery program?

I've had a problem or two in the past but I've never lost everything. Fingers crossed for her.
 
f/2.8 said:
Just read a Facebook post there from a wedding photographer who shot a wedding on Friday on a Nikon Z6.

She tried to download the images this morning and they are gone. :oops: :$ Corrupted xqd card.

So glad I didn’t decide to stay with Nikon and risk the one card slot. I just knew this would happen to somebody at some point.
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I guess she bought into the XQD cards are awesome and never fail marketing BS.

Remember long back when SD cards where just taking off firmware in certain cameras would corrupt them. I see the XQD in a similar light. It's still new and while stable all it takes a unknown bug somewhere in the firmware to corrupt the data.

Places like Dpreview are quick to jump on the "why isn't Sony using XQD" bandwagon. Personally no thanks till they are stable with no more firmware updates to unlock CFexpress etc. Time tested and hence cheaper down the line to both buy cards, readers and implement in camera.

My UHS-II cards are incredibly fast too but also stable.
 
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woof woof said:
Has she tried running a recovery program?

I've had a problem or two in the past but I've never lost everything. Fingers crossed for her.
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Apparently they don’t play well with xqd cards and could risk further damage.

It’s being sent for a lab recovery.
 
Umm is the 35mm 1.8 supposed to rattle inside? It's like the focus motor is loose. I only have to tilt it and u hear something inside!
 
jonneymendoza said:
This lens doesn't have is IS as far as I know.

Do I have a duffed lens. It focuses ok no problem so far. Umm
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Totally normal with the 35 f/1.8 due to the floating element. It won’t make the noise when you have it mounted and the camera switched on.
 
The APS-C Sigma Art f/2.8 lenses do this too until the camera is powered on.
 
f/2.8 said:
Apparently they don’t play well with xqd cards and could risk further damage.

It’s being sent for a lab recovery.
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Sounds like a tech that's not developed enough for people who rely on it for a living and a reputation. Looks like it's certainly worth keeping away from it until it's more stable.
 
woof woof said:
Sounds like a tech that's not developed enough for people who rely on it for a living and a reputation. Looks like it's certainly worth keeping away from it until it's more stable.
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As I said above :D
SD cards have gone through the same phase. And SSDs and the rest of it.
I am glad Sony has not added them to the new cameras.
 
Talking of reduced file sizes, as someone was earlier, when I first got the A7III I asked if there was a difference between shooting compressed and uncompressed raw in terms of picture quality. I've shot with the camera set to compress for most of the time I had it, but recently found when shooting with the sun in the frame that I got un-fixable banding in the sky when I started to push the processing a bit. I've switched to shooting uncompressed and the banding isn't a problem, even when pushing things quite hard.
 
Wow too many pages to read through since my last online 10 days ago :eek::D I have just returned from trip to Sweden for wild camping and Autumn colours. Heading to the States in 2 weeks time for more Fall Colours :cool: hopefully covering two continents would settle my lust for golden colours for a while.

Has anybody updated A9 firmware? (y) Some reported that the AF is snappier with adapted super telephoto lenses after the update but my experience is pretty much similar but nonetheless this is just a home test from near to infinity. Maybe in the field would be different? I shall be running this tests over in Richmond Park / Bushy Park for the annual deer rutting in the weekend.
 
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treeman said:
Would I be right in thinking if you want optimum AF then stick with Sony lenses?
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depends on your use case?

In general Zeiss, Tamron and native sigma ones (i.e. sigmas designed for mirrorless not DSLR versions) are basically on-par with Sony lenses.
Samyangs are accurate and fast in AF-S. The AF-C performance varies from lens to lens but in general around 50-75% of what you get with other native lenses in terms of accuracy.
 
nandbytes said:
depends on your use case?

In general Zeiss, Tamron and native sigma ones (i.e. sigmas designed for mirrorless not DSLR versions) are basically on-par with Sony lenses.
Samyangs are accurate and fast in AF-S. The AF-C performance varies from lens to lens but in general around 50-75% of what you get with other native lenses in terms of accuracy.
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My Sigma 1.8 ART 135mm lens is as fast for AF as any of my native Sony lenses except when in such poor light that I would actually be thinking of going to bed. At that point apparently the Sony 135mm will AF easier.
 
nandbytes said:
I guess she bought into the XQD cards are awesome and never fail marketing BS.

Remember long back when SD cards where just taking off firmware in certain cameras would corrupt them. I see the XQD in a similar light. It's still new and while stable all it takes a unknown bug somewhere in the firmware to corrupt the data.

Places like Dpreview are quick to jump on the "why isn't Sony using XQD" bandwagon. Personally no thanks till they are stable with no more firmware updates to unlock CFexpress etc. Time tested and hence cheaper down the line to both buy cards, readers and implement in camera.

My UHS-II cards are incredibly fast too but also stable.
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I think the A9 needs UHS-3 dual card slots.

Seeing how the A7r4 with its dual uhs-2 card slot still suffering buffer speed slowness leads me to believe the a9mk2 needs something faster
 
nandbytes said:
Samyang 18mm f2.8 seems rather good for the size and price going by review below.

View: https://youtu.be/f-nb6BpntFI
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I watched that earlier, seems pretty decent and I do find my 14mm too wide for a lot of landscape shooting (though good for interior/architecture). I'm just a little torn on whether to go with a zoom instead.
 
NewBeetle said:
I watched that earlier, seems pretty decent and I do find my 14mm too wide for a lot of landscape shooting (though good for interior/architecture). I'm just a little torn on whether to go with a zoom instead.
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Well this lens is rather small and weighs 145g. Doesn't get lighter as far as UWA goes.
 
nandbytes said:
Well this lens is rather small and weighs 145g. Doesn't get lighter as far as UWA goes.
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Yes that's definitely one of it's strengths
 
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