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

Some ugly pictures - lens testing with the Sammy 50 f1.4.

First stopped down to f9.5 (in retrospect the lens is less sharp here than f5.6, but I didn't want DOF issues to cloud the results. General scene - target it the clump of trees top right.

Lens test scene Sammy 50 -03116.jpg

Bottom left f9.5.jpgBottom right f9.5.jpgTop left f9.5.jpgTop right f9.5.jpg

The bottom picture had a slightly brighter exposure. These are imported with basic settings including a little sharpening, but no other processing. Images shown taken as screen grabs scaled 1:1.
 
Same place, now at f1.4 wide open: centre first followed by edges.

Centre f1.4.jpg

Pictures go bottom left, bottom right, top left, top right.
f1.4 bottom left.jpgf1.4 bottom right.jpgf1.4 Top left.jpgf1.4 Top right.jpg

My take on these is that the lens is a bit soft in the corners wide open, which is completely fine for the purposes I require & if I need a neutral lens that's sharp edge-to-edge I have the 55.f1.8. It also seems generally reasonably similar across the corners at both apertures, though the top may be a little softer than the bottom wide open. I've had a decentred lens (Tamron, bought used through TP) and I'd have said this was very different.
 
ancient_mariner said:
Same place, now at f1.4 wide open: centre first followed by edges.

View attachment 357377

Pictures go bottom left, bottom right, top left, top right.
View attachment 357378View attachment 357379View attachment 357380View attachment 357381

My take on these is that the lens is a bit soft in the corners wide open, which is completely fine for the purposes I require & if I need a neutral lens that's sharp edge-to-edge I have the 55.f1.8. It also seems generally reasonably similar across the corners at both apertures, though the top may be a little softer than the bottom wide open. I've had a decentred lens (Tamron, bought used through TP) and I'd have said this was very different.
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Is this the gen I or gen II? The top corners do look a bit softer than the bottom but nothing too bad I wouldn't say. Unless shooting astro or something are you going to be worried about corner sharpness when shooting wide open, usually you're going for shallow DOF anyway (y)
 
Have some money to burn and have been hovering over the order button for a 24-70 G.M MKII.

According to Lightroom our existing Tamron 28-75 averages about 4 photos a wedding. :ROFLMAO: so this is probably something I don't need. Not that this has stopped me before. :cool:

I should probably just upgrade another one our A7III's to an A7IV instead.

Seems like an age since something interesting was launched, where is that 85 f/1.2 they talked about?
 
f/2.8 said:
I should probably just upgrade another one our A7III's to an A7IV instead.

Seems like an age since something interesting was launched, where is that 85 f/1.2 they talked about?
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As a wedding shooter what will the A7IV give you that the III lacks?

Gas wise I'd like to buy something but there's nothing that really grabs me. Looking in other places people have been waiting for a top quality 28mm for a long time but nothing yet. I doubt very much I'd buy one as I have the f2 and that's good enough for me.

I suppose a good and compact 50mm f1.8 with good focusing could interest me but maybe the 55mm has killed 50-ish mm for me as I've never gelled with it and now prefer 35mm. I suppose another thing that could interest me is a general refresh of the 28, 35 and 55mm f1.8's to match the build of the 20mm f1.8 G.
 
woof woof said:
As a wedding shooter what will the A7IV give you that the III lacks?

Gas wise I'd like to buy something but there's nothing that really grabs me. Looking in other places people have been waiting for a top quality 28mm for a long time but nothing yet. I doubt very much I'd buy one as I have the f2 and that's good enough for me.

I suppose a good and compact 50mm f1.8 with good focusing could interest me but maybe the 55mm has killed 50-ish mm for me as I've never gelled with it and now prefer 35mm. I suppose another thing that could interest me is a general refresh of the 28, 35 and 55mm f1.8's to match the build of the 20mm f1.8 G.
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A7IV gives real time a.f like the A9 and the extra res is useful.
 
f/2.8 said:
A7IV gives real time a.f like the A9 and the extra res is useful.
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Ah. I see.

At the moment I don't think I need the extra resolution but then again maybe I'd love the ability to crop more. One obvious thing for me would be the change from a tilting to an articulated screen. I've had a couple of cameras with articulated screens but not for years now and I've got used to having tilted screens. I suppose none of these things are real deal breakers for me, more likely just tings to get used to.

One thing that I would like is the ability to link spot metering to the focus point.
 
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f/2.8 said:
A7IV gives real time a.f like the A9 and the extra res is useful.
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Would you not rather have another A9 over an A7iv?
 
Mike.P said:
I read somewhere the A7iv has a fair bit more processing power than the A9/A9II. There is talk of a firmware update to give the 7iv and A1 even better autofocus but anything previous is unlikely to get it.
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I wonder if they can fix the reported A7IV eye af issues.
 
T_J_G said:
Set an alert up on camel camel camel
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I don’t know if you saw my post after, it went back down to £480 so I’ve bought one (y).
 
snerkler said:
I don’t know if you saw my post after, it went back down to £480 so I’ve bought one (y).
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I quite liked mine when I had it mainly because it focused close so was good for things like wedding bouquets etc.

Only got rid after I got the G.M and it hadn't been used for a while.

Will be surprised if your not happy with it. It is basically the 35mm version of the 85 f/1.8 with the same characteristics i.e sharp and fast a.f.
 
Just updated my A1 and S3 and have noticed a fairly significant improvement in the eye AF. Picks up the eye and keeps it locked on from a further distance too. Definitely noticeably better
 
f/2.8 said:
I quite liked mine when I had it mainly because it focused close so was good for things like wedding bouquets etc.

Only got rid after I got the G.M and it hadn't been used for a while.

Will be surprised if your not happy with it. It is basically the 35mm version of the 85 f/1.8 with the same characteristics i.e sharp and fast a.f.
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It’s arrived, will be giving it a test tonight or tomorrow. Build quality is in a different league to the Sammy, as you’d expect. Disappointed it doesn’t come wiht a case/bag though.
 
snerkler said:
It’s arrived, will be giving it a test tonight or tomorrow. Build quality is in a different league to the Sammy, as you’d expect. Disappointed it doesn’t come wiht a case/bag though.
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I'd add a "decent" one to that.

I got a bag with one Sony lens, I can't remember which, and just stuck it in a drawer. I threw it out a few weeks ago as it had started to disintegrate and shed bits when I touched it. Honestly, you'd think it was something from the 1950's. Gosh knows what cheapo crappiness it was made of.
 
woof woof said:
I'd add a "decent" one to that.

I got a bag with one Sony lens, I can't remember which, and just stuck it in a drawer. I threw it out a few weeks ago as it had started to disintegrate and shed bits when I touched it. Honestly, you'd think it was something from the 1950's. Gosh knows what cheapo crappiness it was made of.
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My Sony bags are all fine, but I do prefer the hard case the small Samyangs come in. I was disappointed the 50mm FE II comes with a bag rather than hard case.
 
snerkler said:
My Sony bags are all fine, but I do prefer the hard case the small Samyangs come in. I was disappointed the 50mm FE II comes with a bag rather than hard case.
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Thankfully it's only the one that's disintegrated, my others seem ok to date. Given that I've had the A7 maybe 9 years now the bag can only be that old so it's surprising that it degraded to the extent it did.
 
snerkler said:
It’s arrived, will be giving it a test tonight or tomorrow. Build quality is in a different league to the Sammy, as you’d expect. Disappointed it doesn’t come wiht a case/bag though.
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I have never used any of the bags lenses have come with.

All the G.M lenses come with one, but none of mine have ever made it out of the box.

Wouldn't expect the cheaper lenses to come with one tbh.

The Samyang bags / hard case as you mentioned in your other post are nice, again though never used any of those either.
 
Hi, as no question is a stupid question I will ask the question.
On the Sony A7R IV I no you can save you settings to an SD card but can you save multiple settings if need be?
I don't want to overwrite the one setting I already have.
Many Thanks,
Russ.
 
russellsnr said:
Hi, as no question is a stupid question I will ask the question.
On the Sony A7R IV I no you can save you settings to an SD card but can you save multiple settings if need be?
I don't want to overwrite the one setting I already have.
Many Thanks,
Russ.
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I have always been under the impression that you can't save multiple settings as when you save it overwrites the previous saved settings or that is how I thought it works anyway.

I could be completely wrong though.
 
f/2.8 said:
I have always been under the impression that you can't save multiple settings as when you save it overwrites the previous saved settings or that is how I thought it works anyway.

I could be completely wrong though.
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Thanks, after watching one of Mark Galer's videos it seems not possible. Russ.
 
nog said:
IIRC you have to save each set of settings to different SD cards
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Been having a jog around on this and found you can save more than one setup to an SD card. Have an older SD card so just saved two setting on it and when you go in camera it gives a choice of the two. Sure it is working but if someone else wants to try? Thanks, Russ.
 
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f/2.8 said:
Will be surprised if your not happy with it. It is basically the 35mm version of the 85 f/1.8 with the same characteristics i.e sharp and fast a.f.
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No decentering, looks bang on. Will try to take some 'proper' pictures this weekend.
 
As it's quiet.

A7 and Voigtlander 35mm f1.4 at Flats Lane Country Park. An impenetrable wall of whatever they are. Reprocessed today.

L5U3mZ7.jpg
 
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snerkler said:
No decentering, looks bang on. Will try to take some 'proper' pictures this weekend.
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Can't actually think off hand with any Sony branded lens that has been known for decentering. The Zeiss 50mm was known for it I guess.

Can happen if a lens gets damaged, would imagine quality control checks with the other brands is a lot more precise than Samyang.
 
Well, little sign of any heat wave here and more annoyingly there's complete cloud cover and flat light so even flower shots in the garden are out. Oh well.
 
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