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

rookies said:
As you have the 200-600 I not too sure if you got the 100-400 i cant remember if it was only one lens which would you go for.. At the moment in time I am thinking 100-400 as it be better long for long term for it size and weight..
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No, I don't have the 100-400 it came down to a choice of one or the other and I decided that the 200-600 suited my needs better. I decided on the 200-600 as I have the 135G.M and having sold my 70-200 some time ago I knew I didn't anything between 135-200.

For me there didn't seem to be much difference between the 100-400 and the 200-600 in terms of image quality and the 100-400 with a t.c didn't seem as good as the 200-600, I am only basing this on some raw files another photographer who has both lenses sent me though.

For your purpose because you don't have anything else longer than 85mm the 100-400 might be the better option.
 
@rookies just buy a Sony A7R IV too, and both the 100-400mm GM.
Feed your GAS, its been bubbling for quite a while now :D lol ;)
 
Riz_Guru said:
@rookies just buy a Sony A7R IV too, and both the 100-400mm GM.
Feed your GAS, its been bubbling for quite a while now :D lol ;)
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Nope I am not changing body for sake of it. So lens is what I am going to get
 
twist said:
Responses to all the hype questions.
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think you need to pull the stick from ur arse, you seem to be taking stuff to personally.

It was a genuine question I was asking not trying to upset you or anyone else and should have know you would have taken issue with it.

yes more a7iii's have sold but a lot more were bought, the reason for the question was out of the 4/5 people that all bought an a9 in a short space of time on this one thread, after the 1 sold only months/half a year later, they all have been appearing on the sales section or the owners are considering selling them.

So was this due to them not being as good as was made out or from people just jumping on the band wagon wanting the best thing that a few were praising so highly.
IF it is as good as everyone says then why are they all being sold so quickly?

I bought into the Sony camp and a7iii as it was a leap in performance from Nikon, from my d750 and the z6. after 10 plus years with Nikon I was sick off all the issues/recalls that I had myself experienced and rubbish support and repairs. and as a hobbyist I wanted something smaller and lighter for when traveling and out with my family.

Had Nikon or canon produced better mirrorless body I may have gone there.
with regards to my phrase about sheep, that wasn't just into the fact of the buy but the selling too.. so 4/5 people all buying an a9 and selling said camera all within 6 months doesn't raise questions into its performance or whether they were just following the hype.

Im mainly asking as I'm interested in where Sony can and will go. the r4 didn't seem to get as much praise as the r3 or 7iii, the s3 seems to be a pipe dream and going by the fast turn around of the a9 its not all its cracked up be either.
 
I use the a9mkII ( Other cameras as well ) but it is by far the best camera i'v ever owned the AF is quite amazing my main birding lens is the 200/600 and this too works great but i do miss f4 at 600mm but i do feel it worth it to me as the camera is so good.
Rob.
 
Sony 20mm f1.8 review at cameralabs...

https://www.cameralabs.com/sony-fe-20mm-f1-8-g-review/

"its optical performance even surpasses the very good Sony FE 24mm f1.4 GM. This deserves a Highly Recommended! Buy it now!"

That's nice although to be honest I'd be happy if it only matched the Sigma 20mm f1.8 I used to have.

PS.
"Unexpected increase in vignetting between f2.8 and f4.0."

That is odd. Unless they cocked it up somehow.
 
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pmac said:
Im mainly asking as I'm interested in where Sony can and will go. the r4 didn't seem to get as much praise as the r3 or 7iii, the s3 seems to be a pipe dream and going by the fast turn around of the a9 its not all its cracked up be either.
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I could be wrong but haven't the people on this thread that are trying to or have sold there A9's selling them because they need to free up some cash?

That was my impression anyway, I don't remember posts from anyone saying that they weren't anything other than extremely happy with performance.
 
A quick question for those with lenses with aperture rings.

Do you find them useful?

I'm used to aperture rings but I'm not too sure I'll routinely use one on an AF lens when the aperture can be controlled with the dial on the camera which my thumb will be near. I can see a use for the on lens aperture ring when using the lens for zone and hyperfocal but for more normal use I'll probably use the dial on the A7.

I may be wrong, I'll soon see how I feel.

Any thoughts from you lot with aperture rings on AF lenses?
 
woof woof said:
A quick question for those with lenses with aperture rings.

Do you find them useful?

I'm used to aperture rings but I'm not too sure I'll routinely use one on an AF lens when the aperture can be controlled with the dial on the camera which my thumb will be near. I can see a use for the on lens aperture ring when using the lens for zone and hyperfocal but for more normal use I'll probably use the dial on the A7.

I may be wrong, I'll soon see how I feel.

Any thoughts from you lot with aperture rings on AF lenses?
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From a photo point of view they are a pain in the arse. From a video point of view they are useful.
 
f/2.8 said:
I could be wrong but haven't the people on this thread that are trying to or have sold there A9's selling them because they need to free up some cash?

That was my impression anyway, I don't remember posts from anyone saying that they weren't anything other than extremely happy with performance.
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Yeah thats does mainly seem to be there reason, but unless selling everything I'm sure it actual frees very little and you take a substantial hit doing so, maybe as much as you would recoup when buying another camera to replace it, which they seem to all do or plan to do.

it was just something I had noticed so thought to ask. on my time here I've never seen such chopping and changing on what would be classed as a pro body before, the only time you see the Nikon D or canon 1D body being sold is when a new model is released and and they upgrade, even then there is never that many.
 
pmac said:
Yeah thats does mainly seem to be there reason, but unless selling everything I'm sure it actual frees very little and you take a substantial hit doing so, maybe as much as you would recoup when buying another camera to replace it, which they seem to all do or plan to do.

it was just something I had noticed so thought to ask. on my time here I've never seen such chopping and changing on what would be classed as a pro body before, the only time you see the Nikon D or canon 1D body being sold is when a new model is released and and they upgrade, even then there is never that many.
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Pretty sure that those that did sell or those that are trying too, did sell everything else including lenses etc. and then buy cheaper alternatives.

You are making out like hundreds of A9's have went up for sale, when there has been what 3 or 4 over the last couple of months?

For those people in the current situation we all find ourselves in downgrading and maybe putting a £1000 in your pocket probably makes a lot of sense, especially when use of the equipment will also be very limited because of the current situation.

I considered selling everything up myself as all my weddings for the next few months have been cancelled, just for cash flow reasons as I have lost over 25k of income over the next few months. Equipment can always be bought again. I could have for example sold everything up bar the bare essentials then bought again once everything returns to normal. However I managed to get another gig to tide me over for a few months so don't need to at the moment.

As for Nikon and Canon pro bodies you can't get rid of those for love or money even before the current crisis because demand for them is so low. A mate of mine has been trying to sell his D5 and D4S for several months. So I would have though most people won't bother as for all they are worth now and with the current climate it makes more sense to hold on to them and upgrade later on down the line.
 
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pmac said:
think you need to pull the stick from ur arse, you seem to be taking stuff to personally.

It was a genuine question I was asking not trying to upset you or anyone else and should have know you would have taken issue with it.

yes more a7iii's have sold but a lot more were bought, the reason for the question was out of the 4/5 people that all bought an a9 in a short space of time on this one thread, after the 1 sold only months/half a year later, they all have been appearing on the sales section or the owners are considering selling them.

So was this due to them not being as good as was made out or from people just jumping on the band wagon wanting the best thing that a few were praising so highly.
IF it is as good as everyone says then why are they all being sold so quickly?

I bought into the Sony camp and a7iii as it was a leap in performance from Nikon, from my d750 and the z6. after 10 plus years with Nikon I was sick off all the issues/recalls that I had myself experienced and rubbish support and repairs. and as a hobbyist I wanted something smaller and lighter for when traveling and out with my family.

Had Nikon or canon produced better mirrorless body I may have gone there.
with regards to my phrase about sheep, that wasn't just into the fact of the buy but the selling too.. so 4/5 people all buying an a9 and selling said camera all within 6 months doesn't raise questions into its performance or whether they were just following the hype.

Im mainly asking as I'm interested in where Sony can and will go. the r4 didn't seem to get as much praise as the r3 or 7iii, the s3 seems to be a pipe dream and going by the fast turn around of the a9 its not all its cracked up be either.
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Not at all, you repeatedly said that buyers of the a9 did so because of hype or because they are sheep without considering that people just buy/sell gear and its nothing new. Some think it's odd to switch fairly frequently but doing so actually means lower losses. Buying at launch and keeping till the cameras a few years old means massive hits, just ask Riz.

I also used Nikon for a long time and got a little tired of the same issues.

The a9 is a superb camera, probably more than most will ever need. I think Riz moved for a simpler setup, I had various reasons but it definitely wasn't the performance of the camera, especially at the price point (little over 2k), considering the A7iii cost me 1700+ and I owned it around 2 years. I think JJ has had a couple.

I think the mk3 and a9 were revolutionary, the mk4 and a9ii are incremental so even though they are great cameras they just won't get the same attention.
 
woof woof said:
I'm interested in the cropping ability of the A7r's.

I did think that when my A7 dies I'd just get the latest in the A7 line but cropping has got me interested so I could be interested in an r series body and the 100-400 + tc would I assume keep the bulk down over a longer lens?

I often crop up to 100% to fill the screen with something I spot while out and an r would doubtless enable me to crop less or end up with a bigger picture so if and when anyone gets the chance could they please post examples of full pictures and crops?

This isn't urgent as I wont be buying a new camera any time too soon :D
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Here you go, screenshot of the original unedited raw file straight from the computer before importing to LR, and then the final image (with some added background blur). It's nearly 1:1 yet there's still good feather detail, well if you view on Flickr or my original anyway ;)

Screenshot 2020-04-06 at 12.52.08 by TDG-77, on Flickr

A7R02337-Edit by TDG-77, on Flickr
 
f/2.8 said:
Pretty sure that those that did sell or those that are trying too, did sell everything else including lenses etc. and then buy cheaper alternatives.

You are making out like hundreds of A9's have went up for sale, when there has been what 3 or 4 over the last couple of months?

For those people in the current situation we all find ourselves in downgrading and maybe putting a £1000 in your pocket probably makes a lot of sense, especially when use of the equipment will also be very limited because of the current situation.

I considered selling everything up myself as all my weddings for the next few months have been cancelled, just for cash flow reasons as I have lost over 25k of income over the next few months. Equipment can always be bought again. I could have for example sold everything up bar the bare essentials then bought again once everything returns to normal. However I managed to get another gig to tide me over for a few months so don't need to at the moment.

As for Nikon and Canon pro bodies you can't get rid of those for love or money even before the current crisis because demand for them is so low. A mate of mine has been trying to sell his D5 and D4S for several months. So I would have though most people won't bother as for all they are worth now and with the current climate it makes more sense to hold on to them and upgrade later on down the line.
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I've never made out hundreds have been bought or sold.. if you read my posts I've said 4/5 which is not far of the total no. in the thread.

I understand people are in hard times just now so that is a reason for sales but some were sold before this all went into lockdown and others its to change body/system.

I just wondered if it wasn't actually as great as made out or if people bought it but realised it was over kill having only bought it to have the top tech.

yes mirrored body don't sell well now, I know that but was meaning over the past 10-12 years I've been on these boards not the past 2 mirrorless has stopped dslr sales.
 
twist said:
Not at all, you repeatedly said that buyers of the a9 did so because of hype or because they are sheep without considering that people just buy/sell gear and its nothing new. Some think it's odd to switch fairly frequently but doing so actually means lower losses. Buying at launch and keeping till the cameras a few years old means massive hits, just ask Riz.

I also used Nikon for a long time and got a little tired of the same issues.

The a9 is a superb camera, probably more than most will ever need. I think Riz moved for a simpler setup, I had various reasons but it definitely wasn't the performance of the camera, especially at the price point (little over 2k), considering the A7iii cost me 1700+ and I owned it around 2 years. I think JJ has had a couple.

I think the mk3 and a9 were revolutionary, the mk4 and a9ii are incremental so even though they are great cameras they just won't get the same attention.
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The Sony A9 is no hype as it really is a pretty unbeatable piece of kit, even today it is still up there with the best. I completely agree, if you buy as an early adopter and you don't get discounts, then ultimately you will take a bigger hit when the kit is a few years old, however this can be said about other manufacturers including things like Apple hardware & cars etc.

I have moved to a simpler and less costly setup as my photography mojo had pretty much vanished and I have very little time these days, the Fuji X100V seems a good compromise for when I do want better photos of the kids, family & holidays etc over my iPhone :)

If I was doing paid photography work, I would have kept the Sony A9 and GM lenses, no questions about it... its that good however for me, it lacked the "soul" and "fun" factor.
 
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twist said:
Not at all, you repeatedly said that buyers of the a9 did so because of hype or because they are sheep without considering that people just buy/sell gear and its nothing new. Some think it's odd to switch fairly frequently but doing so actually means lower losses. Buying at launch and keeping till the cameras a few years old means massive hits, just ask Riz.

I also used Nikon for a long time and got a little tired of the same issues.

The a9 is a superb camera, probably more than most will ever need. I think Riz moved for a simpler setup, I had various reasons but it definitely wasn't the performance of the camera, especially at the price point (little over 2k), considering the A7iii cost me 1700+ and I owned it around 2 years. I think JJ has had a couple.

I think the mk3 and a9 were revolutionary, the mk4 and a9ii are incremental so even though they are great cameras they just won't get the same attention.
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thanks
thats all I wanted to know was if it a performance thing/ people realising that they were not needing the performance or something else.
there just seemed so many bought and sold quickly unlike what I've seen before and wondered why.

I've never bought and sold and not taken a big hit, but do generally keep boys for a 2/3 years at least., I guess with whats happening now and the prices rising it may be one of the best times if you can find a buyer.


I know for me I don't know what an a9 would offer, I've not shot loads on my a7iii but have never had an issue with AF and I'm still shocked at how many are perfectly in focus.
 
pmac said:
Yeah thats does mainly seem to be there reason, but unless selling everything I'm sure it actual frees very little and you take a substantial hit doing so, maybe as much as you would recoup when buying another camera to replace it, which they seem to all do or plan to do.

it was just something I had noticed so thought to ask. on my time here I've never seen such chopping and changing on what would be classed as a pro body before, the only time you see the Nikon D or canon 1D body being sold is when a new model is released and and they upgrade, even then there is never that many.
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It does free up quite a lot, I lost very little on my a9 because I bought and sold at the right time. Its a minor annoyance I had to switch lens mounts but I've done that many times.

The camera that I have now does what I need it to (with the corona here I don't need to be so heavily invested in the a9 feature set so it was overkill esp with the limited use it was getting, could say good money going to waste), i also buy gear for projects like @f/2.8, cameras and lenses. I don't use rental services because it costs more than my losses when buying and selling.
 
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Snerkler - That's quite something. And just remind me please, that's an A7rIV? What lens and what's the pixels x pixels you ended up with?

The size of the bird in the uncropped picture is similar to what I've taken with MFT at 150mm and I'd end up with something in the region of 1600 to 2000 on the longest edge after cropping but the image quality wont be as good as a FF setup.
 
pmac said:
thanks
thats all I wanted to know was if it a performance thing/ people realising that they were not needing the performance or something else.
there just seemed so many bought and sold quickly unlike what I've seen before and wondered why.

I've never bought and sold and not taken a big hit, but do generally keep boys for a 2/3 years at least., I guess with whats happening now and the prices rising it may be one of the best times if you can find a buyer.


I know for me I don't know what an a9 would offer, I've not shot loads on my a7iii but have never had an issue with AF and I'm still shocked at how many are perfectly in focus.
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The Sony A9 will give you even better AF, AF Tracking, Eye-AF and Animal Eye-AF, 20fps totally silent black-out free shooting with 60 AE/AF calculations per second. Deeper buffer and better EVF, it has other good features too.
But you've hit the nail on the head, if you don't need the specifications that the Sony A9 is offering, do you really need it?
However at £2000 approx used, they really do represent good value for money now.
 
@pmac Its not a hard times thing, it's a porsche on the driveway rusting because I can't get to the track day thing :(
 
Here are two photo's......
The first taken on the Sony A9 + 85mm f1.8
The second on the Fujifilm X100V 23mm f2.0
For my usage, the Fujifilm output is good enough :)

49420562642_4627d891fa_c.jpg

49716446612_1236e6ab6f_c.jpg
 
woof woof said:
A quick question for those with lenses with aperture rings.

Do you find them useful?

I'm used to aperture rings but I'm not too sure I'll routinely use one on an AF lens when the aperture can be controlled with the dial on the camera which my thumb will be near. I can see a use for the on lens aperture ring when using the lens for zone and hyperfocal but for more normal use I'll probably use the dial on the A7.

I may be wrong, I'll soon see how I feel.

Any thoughts from you lot with aperture rings on AF lenses?
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Personally, I prefer aperture rings on the lens.
 
I wouldn't say hate, but I prefer the system is better set up with out the aperture ring. Because it is much easier to knock it with an aperture ring. I never had that problem before with the Canon, now it becomes a problem, it's not a benefit, it's just something else i need to check, something else that I need to turn with my left hand. With a Canon I can turn everything with my right hand.
 
pmac said:
Genuine question and not trying to stir or start any bitching.
Has the A9 turned out to be not as good as was made out ?
was is just everyone listening to one persons praise made them all go and buy one?
Everyone just being a sheep and doing as others did?

Seems after one person bought one and made out it was the god of all cameras and everyone should get one quite a few jumped on the bandwagon and bought one, now as soon as one was sold it seems as everyone that bought one has now decided to sell?

Yes I know that the excuse that it’s a crisis and cash is needed has been used but most that bought it were hobbyists not shooting professionally full time.

So has this been a case of it’s not all it’s lived upto be and was mainly hype from a few causing the buying ?

Are most selling if ready to move to canon? Is this again just following others or hype?

Generally interested to know, I know most will have lost money doing so, so wanted to know the reasons, is this a sign of what’s to come for Sony?

I’m more than happy with my a73 and seems as though most that bought into the system are, but the a9 doesn’t seem to have faired so well.
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I think part of what you see on this thread is following trends to some extent and I wouldn't read too much into it. It’s quite easy to talk yourself into swapping and changing with the amount of wax lyrical that goes on about some kit.

To be honest I don’t think any of the Sony A7’s from the mk3 series are rubbish and are plenty good enough for the average hobbyist. I guess some of it depends on what genres you do as some cameras many be better suited.
For many wildlife photographers the A7Riv is very enticing due to the 60MP sensor but the A9 has still some advantage that will be very useful to wildlife photographers. The A9 seems like a good fit for what I do (80% wildlife 20% landscape). I could of course talk myself into saying the A9 isn’t a landscape camera and I should get an A7Rx but honestly the A9 is still good enough for the odd landscape. If my use was different a different camera may potentially be more useful.

I’m intrigued by the new canon release as there is a lot of hype about it. I’m still waiting to see the price as that could kill some of the hype if it’s too expensive. I find it intriguing watching people move systems specially when they follow a pro photographer. Andy Rouse seems to be one people follow system to system. You only have to look at the number of hobbyists who went to canon buying 1Dx’s and 200-400‘s that are now moving to Olympus for the lighter olympus system he’s now using. Unless you are moving kit/systems for specific advantages that you have research and considered from your own use most of the other reasons will likely be GAS and hype.
 
Aperture ring on the Fujis is one of the things people rave about, personally found it was too easy to alter without noticing and a nuisance
 
woof woof said:
A quick question for those with lenses with aperture rings.

Do you find them useful?

I'm used to aperture rings but I'm not too sure I'll routinely use one on an AF lens when the aperture can be controlled with the dial on the camera which my thumb will be near. I can see a use for the on lens aperture ring when using the lens for zone and hyperfocal but for more normal use I'll probably use the dial on the A7.

I may be wrong, I'll soon see how I feel.

Any thoughts from you lot with aperture rings on AF lenses?
Click to expand...

I like the idea of it more than its usefulness, it looks nice but in use I find out slower and to easy to nudge.
 
twist said:
Why would you want a 100-400 and 200-600 that seems silly, youd just get a 100-400 and 1.4x tc or 200-600.
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I can see why you could but it would required specific needs. From my use a 200-600 could be useful as I mainly do wildlife with a little landscape. I like a lightweight setup but it can dictate what wildlife subjects I do. I do miss out on birds because 400mm isnt really as long. The 200-600 would be great for birds. Like you say the 1.4TC could potentially add additional focal length but I’d personally like to see the pitfalls of a TC at f8 on the 100-400. The sole reason that holds me back from trying is that the use of teleconverters on Sony is pretty limiting and therefore harder to sell on if needed. I also can’t sell the 100-400 for a 200-600 because I’d need something between the 24-105 and 200-600 for landscapes. The 70-200 f4 would fit nicely but the 100-400 would probably be better for me and probably get more use for wildlife and landscapes, therefore a 24-105, 100-400 and 200-600 would be a nice to have set up but the 24-105 and 100-400 is perfect for my current needs so no need to buy/swap anything at the moment.
 
Re the comments about aperture rings... apart from for video which I hadn't thought of peoples thoughts seem to be how I'm mostly feeling, that they look nice and are something we think we'll like but in use maybe not so much so.

I can see myself using them for zone and hyperfocal maybe.
 
GreenNinja67 said:
As a user of manual focus lenses from the 70's and 80's on my A7Rii I like them.

I'd be buggered without them.
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I suppose but when it's an AF lens and your finger is right on the dial on the camera that adjusts it your left hand can stay on the focus ring or just supporting the lens rather than reaching for the aperture control.

I'll see how I get on with it.
 
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