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

snerkler said:
Sony have replied to me re the Amazon and cash back query. Amazon is no longer and authorised dealer and therefore I take it from this that Sony products bought from Amazon will NOT qualify for the cash back promotion
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This is possibly an issue of many, many people trying to claim cashback but having bought via a third party, it's very easy to do on Amazon without realizing it.

That said, Fuji glass I bought directly from Amazon UK has come via Europe before (Spain, I think).
 
The beercan actually works pretty well - just got round to processing this from last Monday. It's not *that* great a photo, but for a >30 year old lens it held up really well shooting directly into the sun. And I'm a bit of a sucker for a sunrise on a slightly misty morning.

A good morning by Toni Ertl, on Flickr
 
ancient_mariner said:
The beercan actually works pretty well - just got round to processing this from last Monday. It's not *that* great a photo, but for a >30 year old lens it held up really well shooting directly into the sun. And I'm a bit of a sucker for a sunrise on a slightly misty morning.

A good morning by Toni Ertl, on Flickr
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Lovely shot, also a sucker for misty mornings. It's indeed a very nice lens despite its age. So are many Minolta classics.
 
nandbytes said:
Lovely shot, also a sucker for misty mornings. It's indeed a very nice lens despite its age. So are many Minolta classics.
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Thank you. This and the 50 f1.4 are what made me buy another LA-EA4 adapter.

Out of interest, what's the story behind the Sammy 50 f1.4 you're selling? I already have 4 lenses in that focal length, but did love my old samyang 50.
 
ancient_mariner said:
The beercan actually works pretty well - just got round to processing this from last Monday. It's not *that* great a photo, but for a >30 year old lens it held up really well shooting directly into the sun. And I'm a bit of a sucker for a sunrise on a slightly misty morning.

A good morning by Toni Ertl, on Flickr
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The tones are wonderful in this. A very relaxing feel.
 
ancient_mariner said:
Thank you. This and the 50 f1.4 are what made me buy another LA-EA4 adapter.

Out of interest, what's the story behind the Sammy 50 f1.4 you're selling? I already have 4 lenses in that focal length, but did love my old samyang 50.
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No story really.... I went through a bunch of 50mm options and tried all AF options (Zeiss 50/1.4, FE50/1.8, FE55, EF50/1.2+mc-11, Samyang 50mm/1.4 AF). At one point I also had four 50mm lenses!
I am torn between Samyang and FE55.... Samyang is surprisingly small compared to zeiss 50mm/1.4 but also less sharp. Zeiss 50mm AF while better than samyang was nothing to write home about, its a bit like 85GM in that respect just less noisey. FE55 is a good balance between AF, IQ, size!
The samyang does render very nicely...

Might take it off sale lol... still in two minds.

got this from an acquaintance traded my EF50/1.2+mc-11 for this. Surprisingly with firmware updates the AF is actually a little better that it which I didn't except based on my past experiance of this lens on original firmware.
 
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Hi all. I’m thinking of picking up the Sony 10-18 f/4 OSS whilst they’re on offer with the cashback, but I’m reading conflicting reviews. Some reviews say it’s a fantastic lens, others not so good. Does anyone here have real world experience with the lens which will help sway my decision whether to buy?

I currently have the Sony 18-135, Sigma 30mm f/2.8 and the kit 16-50. I don’t use the 30mm as it just seems an awkward length.
 
beercan said:
Hi all. I’m thinking of picking up the Sony 10-18 f/4 OSS whilst they’re on offer with the cashback, but I’m reading conflicting reviews. Some reviews say it’s a fantastic lens, others not so good. Does anyone here have real world experience with the lens which will help sway my decision whether to buy?

I currently have the Sony 18-135, Sigma 30mm f/2.8 and the kit 16-50. I don’t use the 30mm as it just seems an awkward length.
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its a very good lens. Just don't expect sharpness of a <£1K lens. Its surprisingly small, light and compact. Its especially good 10-16mm and not so much 17-18mm. Stopping down to f/5.6-8 helps but perfectly usable at f/4 10-16mm.

my examples:

10mm
25484585645_e700b6ea2a_b.jpg


18mm
25706203796_10083ac9fe_b.jpg
 
beercan said:
Thanks Nandbytes.
I’m having a real dilemma re lens setups!
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well if I were you (considering your signature is accurate) I'd sell the nikon stuff, all the sony lens and go with 10-18mm, 16-55mm/2.8, 70-350mm + a fast prime (like sigma 30mm/1.4 or 56mm/1.4). this would of course break the bank a little ;)
 
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Thanks. I was just about to start a topic to ask, but it fits well here.
I can’t sell the Nikon gear unfortunately as it’s on loan to my daughter for her GCSEs.

I would be willing to sell the Sony lenses however.
I don’t see myself needing a prime right now.
I’m really tempted by the 10-18 but I’m also finding a bit of zoom missing; so was considering that and the Sony 18-200 f/3.5-6.3 LE OSS.
The 70-350 looks interesting but I’m not sure I could justify the expense of the 16-55 too... the 10-18 and 70-350 leaves a big hole in the middle though (unless I keep the 16-50 kit lens).

So the proposed setup options:

10-18 f/4
16-50 kit
70-350 f/4.5-6.3

or:
10-18 f/4
18-200 f/3.5-6.3

Option 2 means 1 less lens to carry and I assume the image quality on both will be similar in the wider end?
 
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better to have few good lens than many bad ones. just keep the 18-135mm for now and add 10-18mm+70-350 to compliment. The 18-200mm isn't all that good tbh.
Personally I prefer to have good quality glass covering smaller range of focal lengths than one covering a large range with mediocre quality. Of course there is the reverse argument that you will at least have the option of shooting things you'd never have if didn't have access to certain focal lengths like 200mm. either way its a compromise just pick one that best fits you.
 
ancient_mariner said:
The beercan actually works pretty well - just got round to processing this from last Monday. It's not *that* great a photo, but for a >30 year old lens it held up really well shooting directly into the sun. And I'm a bit of a sucker for a sunrise on a slightly misty morning.

A good morning by Toni Ertl, on Flickr
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I’ve an old Beercan that I brought out on Saturday, mine suffers from terrible purple fringing at F4 but it cost £30 so can’t complain at all. Still a decent lens though.
 
f/2.8 said:
Found an interesting use for a very old photograph the other day.

My Dad was a huge Man United fan, he passed away a couple of years ago. Man UTD because they won't be allowed any supporters into Old Trafford because of the lockdown are printing a large mosiac made up of photographs of fans to display in the ground.

Sent them in a old photo of my Dad and got just got an email back from them there saying it will be used, it will also be put in the museum at the ground once the lockdown ends, my aul fella would have been over the moon. :ROFLMAO:
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It’s up now


https://www.manutd.com/en/videos/detail/how-old-trafford-has-been-transformed
 
Tkenny said:
I’ve an old Beercan that I brought out on Saturday, mine suffers from terrible purple fringing at F4 but it cost £30 so can’t complain at all. Still a decent lens though.
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I think the thing with older lenses is that they weren't often used wide open. Until buying the A7 & very recent lenses I expected to normally work at f8-f13, and any wider would require dealing with the consequences.
 
A7 and Voigtlander 35mm f1.4.

Collecting sand for the plant pots.

taugmJb.jpg
 
ancient_mariner said:
I think the thing with older lenses is that they weren't often used wide open. Until buying the A7 & very recent lenses I expected to normally work at f8-f13, and any wider would require dealing with the consequences.
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Its shows how much the tech in the modern lens has moved on but then again, your shot was pretty decent and this lens went on sale for around a few hundred dollars in the 80’s. One thing I did notice is that since the upgrade to Lightroom CC the built in Lens profile for it has gone. Still easy to remove manually though. I’ve been using it on my old A77 and I’ve an LA-EA4 adapter arriving tomorrow so will give it a blast on that and see how it fairs on FF.

Have you any experience of the Minolta 50mm F1.4AF A-mount?
 
Tkenny said:
Have you any experience of the Minolta 50mm F1.4AF A-mount?
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I like it (Sony version) but if you thought the beercan had a problem with green & purple fringing then that lens is at least 2 levels further up. It also has fairly severe coma, which can give a wonderful glow to wide open shots but kills contrast and sharpness.

Yamaha SR500 by Toni Ertl, on Flickr
 
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ancient_mariner said:
I like it (Sony version) but if you thought the beercan had a problem with green & purple fringing then that lens is at least 2 levels further up. It also has fairly severe coma, which can give a wonderful glow to wide open shots but kills contrast and sharpness.

Yamaha SR500 by Toni Ertl, on Flickr
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Nice bike, and love the processing. I can never get black and white how I like it :(
 
ancient_mariner said:
I like it (Sony version) but if you thought the beercan had a problem with green & purple fringing then that lens is at least 2 levels further up. It also has fairly severe coma, which can give a wonderful glow to wide open shots but kills contrast and sharpness.

Yamaha SR500 by Toni Ertl, on Flickr
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This is very nice; I often see many B&W shots where the subject is somewhat lost, but this has great clarity whilst still having a lovely, almost silver-dream like, smoothness to it. I've never managed to nail B&W and often it just looks like a straight desaturation from colour, suggesting there must be quite an art to getting it right.
 
nandbytes said:
I think m43 will be dead in a couple years along with oly if sale don't pick up which it probably won't.
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You sound like Tony Northrup ;) :p
 
snerkler said:
You sound like Tony Northrup ;):p
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or he sounds like me ;):p

well we have out bets in place let's see what happens. I was right about samsung and Nikon's recent crazy decisions

p.s. I have nothing against m43 or olympus, I actually think they are really great bodies with some really awesome features.
 
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nandbytes said:
I think m43 will be dead in a couple years along with oly if sale don't pick up which it probably won't.
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Maybe but I hope it carries on in a Leica like niche as the size, speed of operation and quality is easily good enough for many people and uses. At the moment although I do see an image quality difference against my 1st Gen A7 MFT still offers real advantages for anyone looking for compact, light and blisteringly fast kit which does add up to offering something different compared to FF mirrorless.
 
woof woof said:
Maybe but I hope it carries on in a Leica like niche as the size, speed of operation and quality is easily good enough for many people and uses. At the moment although I do see an image quality difference against my 1st Gen A7 MFT still offers real advantages for anyone looking for compact, light and blisteringly fast kit which does add up to offering something different compared to FF mirrorless.
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A lot of my favourite images I've taken were with Olympus and I've never really found IQ lacking tbh, even printed up to 75cm (y)
 
snerkler said:
Which decisions were they?
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crazy priced D780 and 120-300mm, noct 58. making crazy lenses and useless DSLRs bodies with minimal updates won't help their sales.
crazy lenses are good PR but that will only get you so far when you are lacking in everything else. Splitting their limited resource and budget and spreading them too thinly on mirrorless+DSLRs. Now they have not as good a mirrorless offering unlike canon who have gone all in and seems like they have not only caught up but will beat sony.
 
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snerkler said:
A lot of my favourite images I've taken were with Olympus and I've never really found IQ lacking tbh, even printed up to 75cm (y)
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When I look at pictures closely I can often see a difference and even in whole pictures sometimes too. MFT may not be lacking as such, it's just not as technically good as FF which may not matter if you can avoid excessive nit picking. The main things for me are a lack of dynamic range against my A7 and ultimate performance at the highest ISO's. The plus things for me are the small camera and lens size and weight as a package and the sheer speed of operation, oh, and the less conspicuousness the small size brings.
 
I had an EPL2 and later EM-10 mk1 and some of my favourite (best)pictures are from the EPL2!
Switched to my Sony A7iii when I retired and love it but I’m considering something in addition to take on holiday (where photography isn’t the main objective) and for street photograph. I fancy a Fujifilm X-pro 2 or 3 with a couple of nice primes. I was considering an Olympus Pen but given the uncertainty i likely go Fuji
 
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