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

snerkler said:
Image quality from Olympus has always been very good, these are some of my favourites that I've taken with Olympus M4/3
flic.kr

Favourite Olympus Photos

Explore this photo album by TDG-77 on Flickr!
flic.kr flic.kr

EVF and AF-S are more than satisfactory for its usage. AF-C isn't great, but it's unlikely I'll be shooting anything moving with this. If you want good AF-C on Olympus you need to use the EM1-II and newer.
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Excellent set of photos. The car ones go without saying, you're a master of capturing those at speed. The turntable one is very cool and the Havana Cuba one is great, that car is fantastic. A great street photo.
 
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robj20 said:
One for you @woof woof you don't have enough 35s.

"World first review of Zenitar 35mm f/2 for Sony E mount - sonyalpharumors" https://www.sonyalpharumors.com/world-first-review-of-zenitar-35mm-f-2-for-sony-e-mount/
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I read that earlier and it took me a while to find if it's FF or APS-C, apparently it's FF. I think the aperture ring thingy would put me off. Anyway. Although I do keep looking at 28, 35 and 50mm lenses I have oodles of film era ones and I have the modern Sony mount Voigtlander 35mm f1.4, 40mm f1.2 and 50mm f2 so I really shouldn't buy anything else.

The Voigtlander 50mm f2 is IMO just about perfect, the 40mm is good but there's ca with backlit things but it's still good and the 35mm f1.4 has mushy corners and funky bokeh at wide apertures but is still one of my favourite lenses and I've used it a lot.

I'll probably still keep looking though.
 
Merlin5 said:
Excellent set of photos. The car ones go without saying, you're a master of capturing those at speed. The turntable one is very cool and the Havana Cuba one is great, that car is fantastic. A great street photo.
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Thanks, appreciate the kind words.
 
Anyone else playing with Windows 11?

One thing which has annoyed me is the loss of the Copy To Folder and Move To Folder options but I've downloaded a fix which includes the options after a right click on a file and selecting Show More Options but I can't find a way to add it to the file explorer menu bar. There is a downloadable fix which claims to do this but it doesn't work for me. Like just about every Windows update 11 seems to take things away.
 
woof woof said:
Anyone else playing with Windows 11?

One thing which has annoyed me is the loss of the Copy To Folder and Move To Folder options but I've downloaded a fix which includes the options after a right click on a file and selecting Show More Options but I can't find a way to add it to the file explorer menu bar. There is a downloadable fix which claims to do this but it doesn't work for me. Like just about every Windows update 11 seems to take things away.
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I'm still on 7 :ROFLMAO:
 
I've just found a reg edit thingy that worked and gives Windows 10 options in the file explorer menu bar. I'll have to remember this as Windows is bound to do an update and return to the options I don't like at some point.

Here's how to do it.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions

Create a registry key called Blocked

Right click in the right window pane and select New String->Value

Rename your value to {e2bf9676-5f8f-435c-97eb-11607a5bedf7}
 
Actually, if you do that reg edit thingy you don't need that first fix I found, although it still does include the move and copy options in the right click show more options way of doing it.

PITA overcome, for now, until it updates and reverts to how it originally worked.

Another annoyance is that the "Rename" option is hidden away and needs a right click and select Show More Options.

PITA!
 
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After concentrating on fixing the above I've spotted more Windows 11 grief. Folder icons no longer show a preview of the contents.

To me 11 looks like a Fisher Price version, it just seems to be dumbing down and removing or at best hiding useful features. I do hope they bring the missing stuff back at some point. The clean and uncluttered (and feature poor) look could be included as an option. How hard can it be?

I've been thinking of going back to 10 as at the mo I see no advantage at all in 11, it seems to be just a dumbed down PITA.
 
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Just in case anyone has used recent versions of Luminar or Nik Filters I'd appreciate any input...

www.talkphotography.co.uk

Any views on Luminar v Nik Filters?

I've been using the free version of Nik Filters for a few years and have been thinking about buying the new version as it seems to have more options in the control points but I came across Luminar and wondered how the two compare. I could download these and give them a go but I'd still...
www.talkphotography.co.uk www.talkphotography.co.uk
 
As it's quiet here. A7 and 24mm f2.8.

Spikey!

yWnkses.jpg
 
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Let’s say I was about to start a project involving a lot of night time photography. Some astro stuff, but generally photographing at night in varied conditions. Some very long exposures of several minutes. Others with flash needing radio trigger sync (Pocket Wizards).

Ill be needing some wide aperture f/1.4 lenses, and manual focus is OK. Say an 18mm and a 35mm that must be able to take filters.

What is the current low-light monster camera? Would it be the new A7 IV? Or should I be looking at new Canon/Nikon mirrorless offerings.

FWIW I had an original A7R. I never ”bonded“ with it and sold it after a bit and moved to Leica. This time the camera is a proper tool not a plaything so I need ruthless efficiency and the best low light quality possible. Ta.
 
Tobers said:
Let’s say I was about to start a project involving a lot of night time photography. Some astro stuff, but generally photographing at night in varied conditions. Some very long exposures of several minutes. Others with flash needing radio trigger sync (Pocket Wizards).

Ill be needing some wide aperture f/1.4 lenses, and manual focus is OK. Say an 18mm and a 35mm that must be able to take filters.

What is the current low-light monster camera? Would it be the new A7 IV? Or should I be looking at new Canon/Nikon mirrorless offerings.

FWIW I had an original A7R. I never ”bonded“ with it and sold it after a bit and moved to Leica. This time the camera is a proper tool not a plaything so I need ruthless efficiency and the best low light quality possible. Ta.
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As far as sensors go Sony ones are still better than canon ones but the difference is marginal at best.
Between Nikon and Sony there isn't much in it to really make a difference, they use the same sensors.
So bodies don't really matter as long as you get one of the latest generation ones. I'd look at lenses.

Lenses I can suggest that are also possibly best in that class:
Sony 14mm f1.8 GM, Sony 20mm f1.8 G, Sony 24mm f1.4 GM, Sony 35mm f1.4 GM.
If you don't mind the weight then there is also a sigma 35mm f1.2.

Samyang 24mm f1.8 AF FE is reviewed to be exceptional too.

Also Sony bodies are a lot more refined since the original A7R
 
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Cexpress type a Card reader found one for £72 I don't mind paying but seems a lot for a reader .
Any cheaper ones ?
 
Tobers said:
Let’s say I was about to start a project involving a lot of night time photography. Some astro stuff, but generally photographing at night in varied conditions. Some very long exposures of several minutes. Others with flash needing radio trigger sync (Pocket Wizards).

Ill be needing some wide aperture f/1.4 lenses, and manual focus is OK. Say an 18mm and a 35mm that must be able to take filters.

What is the current low-light monster camera? Would it be the new A7 IV? Or should I be looking at new Canon/Nikon mirrorless offerings.

FWIW I had an original A7R. I never ”bonded“ with it and sold it after a bit and moved to Leica. This time the camera is a proper tool not a plaything so I need ruthless efficiency and the best low light quality possible. Ta.
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I'm confused, so I apologise in advance, but if you are planning on doing very long exposures do you need F1.4?
 
MrMackyB said:
I'm confused, so I apologise in advance, but if you are planning on doing very long exposures do you need F1.4?
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perhaps to reduce the length of the exposure ;)

For example shooting stars without a tracker means you can only exposure to a certain length of time before you get trails. So it helps with that.

But I think he is not intending to do only long exposures, seems like he wanting to shoot in low light in general and f1.4 will help with that.
 
And now for something slightly different... On the rumor site...

K|Lens unveils the K|Lens One, the world’s first light field imaging lens, with Kickstarter orders beginning on November 29, 2021 | sonyalpharumors

I have been in touch with this German company for a while. And they truly made an innovative new kind of lens! It is a light field lens that will be available in native F and E-mount versions. This is their Press Text ahead of the Kickstarter campaign launch on November 29: K|Lens unveils the
www.sonyalpharumors.com www.sonyalpharumors.com
 
woof woof said:
And now for something slightly different... On the rumor site...

K|Lens unveils the K|Lens One, the world’s first light field imaging lens, with Kickstarter orders beginning on November 29, 2021 | sonyalpharumors

I have been in touch with this German company for a while. And they truly made an innovative new kind of lens! It is a light field lens that will be available in native F and E-mount versions. This is their Press Text ahead of the Kickstarter campaign launch on November 29: K|Lens unveils the
www.sonyalpharumors.com www.sonyalpharumors.com
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Sounds interesting but I'm not really sure how it works tbh.
An example or a video/demo would greatly help
 
nandbytes said:
Sounds interesting but I'm not really sure how it works tbh.
An example or a video/demo would greatly help
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They internally focus multiple times and your sensor captures all images at the same time.

 
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robj20 said:
They internally focus multiple times and your sensor captures all images at the same time.

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I understand that bit but how does it work with e-mount setup?
Seems to be a manual lens. So would we need to manually refocus? Also looks like you need to import the image into their software to get the benefit but can it manage with one image and how?

I remember lytro cameras which came with its own software but the camera knew to capture all necessary information at multiple focus distances, normal cameras don't do anything like that as far as I am aware.
 
nandbytes said:
I understand that bit but how does it work with e-mount setup?
Seems to be a manual lens. So would we need to manually refocus? Also looks like you need to import the image into their software to get the benefit but can it manage with one image and how?

I remember lytro cameras which came with its own software but the camera knew to capture all necessary information at multiple focus distances, normal cameras don't do anything like that as far as I am aware.
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It will capture multiple images focused at different points all in the same capture so in guessing if you opened it in lightroom it would look a mess. Extra info would be recorded in EXIF to process the images into one.
 
robj20 said:
It will capture multiple images focused at different points all in the same capture so in guessing if you opened it in lightroom it would look a mess. Extra info would be recorded in EXIF to process the images into one.
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Looked to be a fully manual lens with no electronic contact pins. May be those images are just mock-up
 
MrMackyB said:
I'm confused, so I apologise in advance, but if you are planning on doing very long exposures do you need F1.4?
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nandbytes said:
perhaps to reduce the length of the exposure ;)

For example shooting stars without a tracker means you can only exposure to a certain length of time before you get trails. So it helps with that.

But I think he is not intending to do only long exposures, seems like he wanting to shoot in low light in general and f1.4 will help with that.
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I’m looking for flexibility here. A wide aperture sharp lens will let me keep some exposures short (eg preventing star trails as nandbytes says). And the most noiseless sensor will help me get ISO up high to keep those exposures short. And for the same scene, I may be combining other much longer exposures e.g. for foreground or other parts of the scene that need a lot more time. Having the most noiseless sensor will help significantly with these exposures as well.

@nandbytes appears to have read my mind.
 
I'd be considering bulk and weight but you may not so much. The f1.8 options may offer a saving in bulk and weight but the f1.4 or even f1.2 options are sometimes the better optical quality lenses, but this better quality may come with increased bulk and weight. I'd go f1.8, you may not.
 
Tobers said:
I’m looking for flexibility here. A wide aperture sharp lens will let me keep some exposures short (eg preventing star trails as nandbytes says). And the most noiseless sensor will help me get ISO up high to keep those exposures short. And for the same scene, I may be combining other much longer exposures e.g. for foreground or other parts of the scene that need a lot more time. Having the most noiseless sensor will help significantly with these exposures as well.

@nandbytes appears to have read my mind.
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14/1.8
20/1.8
24/1.4
35/1.4

.... Pick your focal length & warm up your credit card ;)
 
I was at the Tate Modern yesterday and I met up with a street photographer from another photography forum. It was interesting looking at his gear and lenses. He uses a Fujifilm XT2 with the tiniest of tiniest lens I've ever seen, a 23mm f2 lens. He also uses a zoom lens, I think it was also Fuji, 16 to about 50 or 55, f2.8 to f4. Anyway, he's much more experienced than me and so I learned a few things, in particular about focal lengths for street photography. He said although my 16mm (24mm ff equivalent) worked well for some shots, that it's not really a street lens. He's never known of anyone using 24mm for street photography as quite often it just makes everything too far away which means heavy cropping and losing image quality unless I can get really close to the subject. I agree with that. He recommended a more versatile lens such as a zoom and he said I'd be able to get an ff equivalent of 35mm which he uses a lot. He said it would be a better overall length. He let me try his camera and zoom lens at different focal lengths so I could see what they look.

So, instead of completing my Sigma trio and buying the 30mm f1.4, I've decided I really want to buy the new Sigma 18-50 f2.8. It's incredibly light and small, almost identical to my Sigma 56mm f1.4. It's £430, cheaper than e-infin which has it at £449. I'd prefer to buy one second hand but I believe it's only been out about a month so does anything think if I wait a few weeks there might be some used ones for around £350 ish?
 
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Merlin5 said:
I was at the Tate Modern yesterday and I met up with a street photographer from another photography forum. It was interesting looking at his gear and lenses. He uses a Fujifilm XT2 with the tiniest of tiniest lens I've ever seen, a 23mm f2 lens. He also uses a zoom lens, I think it was also Fuji, 16 to about 50 or 55, f2.8 to f4. Anyway, he's much more experienced than me and so I learned a few things, in particular about focal lengths for street photography. He said although my 16mm (24mm ff equivalent) worked well for some shots, that it's not really a street lens. He's never known of anyone using 24mm for street photography as quite often it just makes everything too far away which means heavy cropping and losing image quality unless I can get really close to the subject. I agree with that. He recommended a more versatile lens such as a zoom and he said I'd be able to get an ff equivalent of 35mm which he uses a lot. He said it would be a better overall length. He let me try his camera and zoom lens at different focal lengths so I could see what they look.

So, instead of completing my Sigma trio and buying the 30mm f1.4, I've decided I really want to buy the new Sigma 18-50 f2.8. It's incredibly light and small, almost identical to my Sigma 56mm f1.4. It's £430, cheaper than e-infin which has it at £449. I'd prefer to buy one second hand but I believe it's only been out about a month so does anything think if I wait a few weeks there might be some used ones for around £350 ish?
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While 35mm is more common I disagree that there is a specific focal length for street photography. For example the "street orientated cameras" like Leica Q or Ricoh GR have 28mm focal length.
So use whatever fits your style as long as you are getting the results you seek (and I have liked many of your pictures)

Sigma looks to be an excellent lens, I doubt waiting a week or two will make a difference. May be if you wait at least a couple of months....
 
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nandbytes said:
While 35mm is more common I disagree that there is a specific focal length for street photography. For example the "street orientated cameras" like Leica Q or Ricoh GR have 28mm focal length.
So use whatever fits your style as long as you are getting the results you seek (and I have liked many of your pictures)

Sigma looks to be an excellent lens, I doubt waiting a week or two will make a difference. May be if you wait at least a couple of months....
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Thanks nandbytes. What he said was that 28mm and 35mm or FF equivalent of those lengths was the 'standard' for street photography, although tbh I doubt 28 is a significant difference from mine in terms of cropping. I think you're right, it might be a while before used ones appear so I might just just go ahead and get it as I really want one now.
 
Merlin5 said:
Thanks nandbytes. What he said was that 28mm and 35mm or FF equivalent of those lengths was the 'standard' for street photography, although tbh I doubt 28 is a significant difference from mine in terms of cropping. I think you're right, it might be a while before used ones appear so I might just just go ahead and get it as I really want one now.
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As Nandbytes says there’s no definitive focal length, it’s preference. However there are ‘norms’ and they tend to be so because the ‘majority’ feel they work best.

For architecture type street photography I prefer wide angle, for ‘people’ street photography then I prefer 35-50mm.
 
snerkler said:
As Nandbytes says there’s no definitive focal length, it’s preference. However there are ‘norms’ and they tend to be so because the ‘majority’ feel they work best.

For architecture type street photography I prefer wide angle, for ‘people’ street photography then I prefer 35-50mm.
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Yeah, that's very true Toby, it is more about what's normally used for this genre that has been tried and tested for the best results, rather than it having to be a certain focal length. I'm looking forward to getting a zoom lens. The only zoom I have is the Sony 70-350 which as amazing as it is, is hardly used. I've mostly worked with primes and I remember when I started photography how people said that primes make you work harder to get the composition because it forces you to move. That's a good thing. But now, a reasonably fast zoom lens at the focal lengths I'm more likely to use will be fun and give me some versatility.

Apologies if I've asked this before. At f2.8, I know the depth of field will be equivalent to full frame at f4.2. But regardless of depth of field, does it still let in the same amount of light as f2.8 on full frame?
 
Merlin5 said:
Apologies if I've asked this before. At f2.8, I know the depth of field will be equivalent to full frame at f4.2. But regardless of depth of field, does it still let in the same amount of light as f2.8 on full frame?
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Yes that's right, aperture is a physical attribute of the lens and your exposure will still be based on f2.8. but you'll have a larger DoF (not necessarily a bad thing for street photography)
 
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