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

robj20 said:
Missing a few newer lenses for me so not as useful.
Click to expand...
Yeah missing Samyang 50mm FE II, and also this Sigma lens has had the end chopped off :lol:

Screenshot 2022-10-13 at 13.28.44.jpg
 
snerkler said:
Nice shot. Why do you say manual focus is very important, I’ve used both MF and AF and never seen a difference?
Click to expand...
If you switch to manual from where it settled on auto you can always refine it a bit, as turning the ring zooms in a lot.
You would think it is just at infinity but you can still get it that bit better than the camera.
 
4wd said:
If you switch to manual from where it settled on auto you can always refine it a bit, as turning the ring zooms in a lot.
You would think it is just at infinity but you can still get it that bit better than the camera.
Click to expand...
I've not found that tbh, if I move either way from where the AF has found focus it appears to make it worse to my eyes (y)
 
I was also worried it might shift slightly between frames it is five shots stacked but not in special software just photoshop layers blended.
 
4wd said:
I was also worried it might shift slightly between frames it is five shots stacked but not in special software just photoshop layers blended.
Click to expand...
I use BBF so that prevents any focus shift when bracketing etc (y)
 
Robin Hoods Bay.

A7 and Sony 35mm f1.8.

A view.

ugJBZ2S.jpg


Sea wall.

HUkmyAr.jpg


Secret alley.

KQHi1Zu.jpg


Teeny tiny people on the beach.

jS2Z3jf.jpg


Oh dear. I see banding in the sky here, they're ok on my pc.

We met a guy with a drone and later we saw him again and he showed us some of his pictures and we're in one :D He said he'd email it to me.
 
Last edited:
This could be interesting...

Just announced: New TTArtisan 50mm f/1.4 Tilt Lens! | sonyalpharumors

TTArtisan announced this new tilt lens you can buy on their worldwide store, Amazon US, Amazon DE, Amazon UK. SonyAlphaBlog reviewed the lens and concluded: The AstrHori is providing sharper images than the TTArtisan and suffer less from CA or flare issues but with TTArtisan you have more...
www.sonyalpharumors.com www.sonyalpharumors.com

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrzLt_0Sa4c


I was tempted to try a tilt shift years ago but I didn't. This could be a cheap way to experiment, no shift though.
 
woof woof said:
This could be interesting...

Just announced: New TTArtisan 50mm f/1.4 Tilt Lens! | sonyalpharumors

TTArtisan announced this new tilt lens you can buy on their worldwide store, Amazon US, Amazon DE, Amazon UK. SonyAlphaBlog reviewed the lens and concluded: The AstrHori is providing sharper images than the TTArtisan and suffer less from CA or flare issues but with TTArtisan you have more...
www.sonyalpharumors.com www.sonyalpharumors.com

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrzLt_0Sa4c


I was tempted to try a tilt shift years ago but I didn't. This could be a cheap way to experiment, no shift though.
Click to expand...

I have had a few, no shift makes it pretty pointless. 50mm isn't an ideal focal length for this type of lens either.
 
I've never really paid that much attention to tilt shift lenses before and only knew about the miniature effect but having just done a little bit of reading I like the idea of being able to correct wide angle distortion and the keystone effect (y)
 
This Mr Ding 50mm f1.1 seems to get good reviews and this reviewer says it performs well on a Sony...

phillipreeve.net

Review: Mr. Ding Optics 50mm 1.1 Noxlux M - phillipreeve.net

ContentsIntroductionSample ImagesDisclosureSpecificationsHandling / Build QualityVignettinglight falloffoptical vignettingSharpnessOptical DesignFocus shiftinfinity (42mp Sony A7rII)infinity (24mp Leica M10)portrait distance 1.4 m distance (24mp Sony A7III vs 24mp Leica M10)close (0.70 m...
phillipreeve.net phillipreeve.net

The sample picture do look nice, IMO.

I emailed them asking if they ship to the UK and they said that they did and the postage is included in the price but I'd be liable for import tax, but they'd happily declare a lower value. Nice of them.
 
I see Jonathan is selling his A9 and 35mm f2.8 and 100-400mm.

They're in the classifieds if anyone is interested.
 
imattersuk said:
Why ISO 12,800 ? There appears to be a lot of blown out highlights.
Click to expand...

Why ISO 12,800? because that's what the Sony evaluative metering provided to get a decent exposure on the faces in the dimly lit church.

There are no blown highlights here that bother me.
 
dancook said:
Why ISO 12,800? because that's what the Sony evaluative metering provided to get a decent exposure on the faces in the dimly lit church.

There are no blown highlights here that bother me.
Click to expand...
Fair enough but the window behind the guy in the first shot I find very distracting and the blown out areas on the instruments in other shots, just a matter of taste I guess but Sony bodies have such a huge DR it's easy to correct in post if slightly under exposed.
 
imattersuk said:
Fair enough but the window behind the guy in the first shot I find very distracting and the blown out areas on the instruments in other shots, just a matter of taste I guess but Sony bodies have such a huge DR it's easy to correct in post if slightly under exposed.
Click to expand...
I don’t find it distracting and it looks natural to my eyes. When you start rescuing too much it starts to look unnatural to me. YMMV.

Also, I don’t know how good Sony’s are at rescuing detail when you’re at higher ISOs. For example, if you under exposed by a stop to save the highlights you’re still at 6400 ISO, if you then raise the shadows would it introduce the magenta tint and more noise? I’m not 100% sure but I don’t think Sonys are ISO invariant.
 
snerkler said:
I don’t find it distracting and it looks natural to my eyes. When you start rescuing too much it starts to look unnatural to me. YMMV.

Also, I don’t know how good Sony’s are at rescuing detail when you’re at higher ISOs. For example, if you under exposed by a stop to save the highlights you’re still at 6400 ISO, if you then raise the shadows would it introduce the magenta tint and more noise? I’m not 100% sure but I don’t think Sonys are ISO invariant.
Click to expand...

They are excellent at rescuing detail at higher I.S.O's. That is why they are so popular with wedding photographers.

Some Sony bodies are I.S.O invarient. The A1 for example is ISO invariant over two ranges: 100-400, 500-102,400.
 
f/2.8 said:
They are excellent at rescuing detail at higher I.S.O's. That is why they are so popular with wedding photographers.

Some Sony bodies are I.S.O invarient. The A1 for example is ISO invariant over two ranges: 100-400, 500-102,400.
Click to expand...

My understanding is that the Sony A7Riv is also ISO invariant with two base ISOs of 100 and 320
 
Last edited:
snerkler said:
Also, I don’t know how good Sony’s are at rescuing detail when you’re at higher ISOs. For example, if you under exposed by a stop to save the highlights you’re still at 6400 ISO, if you then raise the shadows would it introduce the magenta tint and more noise? I’m not 100% sure but I don’t think Sonys are ISO invariant
Click to expand...

They are very good, but shadow at high ISO definitely gets noisy and turns magenta when recovered hard. Still better than many others though.
 
Most Sony bodies are ISO invariant and have been for a long time since a-mount days.
The difference the later Sony bodies starting with A7RII use a dual-gain sensor architecture which essentially gives it two "base" ISOs i.e. gives camera a slight bump in dynamic range midway. (This annoying different from camera to camera)
You can use the graphs on https://photonstophotos.net/Charts/PDR.htm to figure out the where the dual gain i.e. second base ISO kicks in.
So for A7RIV for example the ISO invariance is between ISO100-320 and ISO400 upwards
A7RII/A7RIII on the other hand has the dual gain at ISO640 and A1 at ISO 500.
The really old Sony bodies that didn't have this dual gain were mostly ISO invariant from ISO100 upwards.

And actually A9 isn't ISO invariant which is another reason I don't like them.

for anyone wanting read about it Dpreview does a good job of trying to explain it and they do test most bodies for ISO invariance too
www.dpreview.com

Sony Alpha 7R II: Real-world ISO invariance study

The recently announced Sony Alpha 7R II packs a lot of groundbreaking features, and one of its highlights is the new full-frame 42.4MP BSI-CMOS sensor. Sony sensors tend to show very high Raw dynamic range due to low noise characteristics, but we wanted to take a closer look at exactly how...
www.dpreview.com www.dpreview.com

Edit:
Just to add Nikon, Fuji etc that use Sony sensors are generally ISO invariant too though not always.
Canon's sensors weren't ISO invariant and only recently have managed to catchup with R5. They nearly got there with 5D4/EOS R too.
 
Last edited:
I overlooked this one but I had a look at it last night and after almost deleting it I decided I quite like it. One of the last batch of pictures taken here and I don't know if we'll return.

A7 and TTA 50mm f2, a quite a wide aperture I think, looking at the depth.

NrA4L7Q.jpg
 
Last edited:
A bit of an odd request. I use the Sony Transfer and Tagging App for my sports work. It works brilliantly on my P30 Pro phone but hardly works on my much newer Pixel 6. The Pixel 6 seems to need wifi to work and that means you have to start it in the house and then continue when you get to a game. The P30 works as it should and takes the IP address of the hotspot. It has been faultless so far. I want a phone that uses 5G though and the P30 doesn't do that. Would anyone be willing to load the app and then see if you can get it to work with a wireless hotspot on your phone. I think a registration may be needed but if you have Sony cameras it is a great way to get jpegs off the camera and onto the phone quickly. Only really interested in fairly recent android phones(battery life important) with 5g as I would look to shift the Pixel 6 and swap for another phone. OnePlus, Samyang etc where they have a good second hand market would be a preference
 
nandbytes said:
And actually A9 isn't ISO invariant which is another reason I don't like them.
Click to expand...
Is that just the mark I or is the A9-II not ISO invariant either?

Edit: Just that Tommy lists the A9 as invarient?
 
f/2.8 said:
They are excellent at rescuing detail at higher I.S.O's. That is why they are so popular with wedding photographers.

Some Sony bodies are I.S.O invarient. The A1 for example is ISO invariant over two ranges: 100-400, 500-102,400.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the clarification (y)
 
snerkler said:
Is that just the mark I or is the A9-II not ISO invariant either?

Edit: Just that Tommy lists the A9 as invarient?
Click to expand...
I don't know his source but Dpreview has the follow to say about A9 in their review:
"It's immediately obvious the a9 is not ISO-invariant. This means the camera is adding a fair amount of read noise that results in noisy shadows, limiting dynamic range at base ISO"

www.dpreview.com

Sony a9 Full Review: Mirrorless Redefined

With the 24MP, 20fps full-frame mirrorless a9, Sony is clearly looking to shake up the sports and action photographer market. Read our full review to find out if we think it might succeed.
www.dpreview.com www.dpreview.com

A9II uses the same sensor as A9 so I don't see why it'd be different, and Dpreview says this about it:
"The sensor in the Sony a9 II doesn't appear to be ISO invariant as it's presumably a dual gain design; this means that, in the end, shooting at lower ISO values like 100 or 200 and then boosting them in post gives noisier results than shooting natively at ISO 6400."

www.dpreview.com

Sony a9 II review

The Sony a9 II didn't make a huge splash in the industry when it launched, but it's certainly left an impression on us. Read our full review to see why it's got the best autofocus system we've ever seen.
www.dpreview.com www.dpreview.com

But A9ii looks to be better than A9 though.

You can download their files and reproduce their tests. So I see no reason not to believe them.
In fact you can play around with their results on their studio thingy for most cameras and see for yourself
 
Last edited:
Smartphone v 13 year old Panasonic GF1...

Real world test: iPhone 14 PRO image quality still not a match with a 13 year old MFT cameras | sonyalpharumors

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J81wNyy-7pw The gospel is being song that smartphone image quality will soon match or even surpass that of the classic system cameras. Such statements come from many companies like Qualcomm Sony and others (article here). Dimitris Katsafouros compared tried to see...
www.sonyalpharumors.com www.sonyalpharumors.com

Direct...


I had a GF1 but I decided I couldn't do without a VF so I sold it and bought a used G1 (mini slr design with an evf) and that camera convinced me that mirrorless was the future.
 
Last edited:
nandbytes said:
I don't know his source but Dpreview has the follow to say about A9 in their review:
"It's immediately obvious the a9 is not ISO-invariant. This means the camera is adding a fair amount of read noise that results in noisy shadows, limiting dynamic range at base ISO"

www.dpreview.com

Sony a9 Full Review: Mirrorless Redefined

With the 24MP, 20fps full-frame mirrorless a9, Sony is clearly looking to shake up the sports and action photographer market. Read our full review to find out if we think it might succeed.
www.dpreview.com www.dpreview.com

A9II uses the same sensor as A9 so I don't see why it'd be different, and Dpreview says this about it:
"The sensor in the Sony a9 II doesn't appear to be ISO invariant as it's presumably a dual gain design; this means that, in the end, shooting at lower ISO values like 100 or 200 and then boosting them in post gives noisier results than shooting natively at ISO 6400."

www.dpreview.com

Sony a9 II review

The Sony a9 II didn't make a huge splash in the industry when it launched, but it's certainly left an impression on us. Read our full review to see why it's got the best autofocus system we've ever seen.
www.dpreview.com www.dpreview.com

But A9ii looks to be better than A9 though.

You can download their files and reproduce their tests. So I see no reason not to believe them.
In fact you can play around with their results on their studio thingy for most cameras and see for yourself
Click to expand...
Thanks. Strange the A9’s aren’t when the rest of the modern cameras are. Not that it matters, I’ve no complaints regarding noise.

Strange they state that it doesn’t appear to be ISO invariant presumably due to being dual gain, other Sonys are dual gain but ISO invariant :thinking:
 
snerkler said:
Thanks. Strange the A9’s aren’t when the rest of the modern cameras are. Not that it matters, I’ve no complaints regarding noise.
Click to expand...

I *think* they sacrificed dynamic range for shooting blackout free at 20fps. A bit like what canon have done with the R5/R6, they can also shoot blackout free 20fps at a massive hit to dynamic range. A9/A9ii/A1 take less of a hit to dynamic range because of the stacked sensor but they are still not on the same level as other A7/r bodies of same generation.

ISO invariance has nothing to do with noise performance (well it is not the way I think you are thinking about it). Canon 6D was one of the least ISO invariant bodies but had amazing ISO/noise performance at the time.

ISO invariance lets you shoot at the base ISO and then brighten up the image in post. I mostly shoot at the (2nd) base ISO and then do the rest in post with no impact on the noise.

snerkler said:
Strange they state that it doesn’t appear to be ISO invariant presumably due to being dual gain, other Sonys are dual gain but ISO invariant :thinking:
Click to expand...

I think they have worded it poorly. Sony bodies with dual gain are not totally ISO invariant either....
so for example A7IV has a second base ISO of ISO400.
So shooting it at ISO400 and boosting brightness by 1stop in post will give you the same result as shooting the image at ISO800. Similarly shooting at ISO400 and boosting it in post by 2 stops gives you the same result as shooting the image at ISO1600.
But shooting the image at ISO100 and boosting it by 3 stops or 4 stops will give you noisier images than you would have got shooting at ISO800 or ISO1600. So A7IV is ISO invariant from ISO 400 onwards. It is also ISO invariant at ISO100-320 but this range is basically meaningless tbh. I'd shoot at ISO100-200 to mostly maximise dynamic range (for example shooting landscapes with a lot of dynamic range).
There is almost not point in shooting at ISO250-320 since you get more dynamic range shooting at ISO400, so you might as well bump it to ISO400 after ISO200.

So a lot of the time unless I am shooting a very high dynamic range situation I stick the camera to ISO400 and forget about it, rest can be done in post.
 
Last edited:
nandbytes said:
I *think* they sacrificed dynamic range for shooting blackout free at 20fps. A bit like what canon have done with the R5/R6, they can also shoot blackout free 20fps at a massive hit to dynamic range. A9/A9ii/A1 take less of a hit to dynamic range because of the stacked sensor but they are still not on the same level as other A7/r bodies of same generation.

ISO invariance has nothing to do with noise performance (well it is not the way I think you are thinking about it). Canon 6D was one of the least ISO invariant bodies but had amazing ISO/noise performance at the time.

ISO invariance lets you shoot at the base ISO and then brighten up the image in post. I mostly shoot at the (2nd) base ISO and then do the rest in post with no impact on the noise.



I think they have worded it poorly. Sony bodies with dual gain are not totally ISO invariant either....
so for example A7IV has a second base ISO of ISO400.
So shooting it at ISO400 and boosting brightness by 1stop in post will give you the same result as shooting the image at ISO800. Similarly shooting at ISO400 and boosting it in post by 2 stops gives you the same result as shooting the image at ISO1600.
But shooting the image at ISO100 and boosting it by 3 stops or 4 stops will give you noisier images than you would have got shooting at ISO800 or ISO1600. So A7IV is ISO invariant from ISO 400 onwards. It is also ISO invariant at ISO100-320 but this range is basically meaningless tbh. I'd shoot at ISO100-200 to mostly maximise dynamic range (for example shooting landscapes with a lot of dynamic range).
There is almost not point in shooting at ISO250-320 since you get more dynamic range shooting at ISO400, so you might as well bump it to ISO400 after ISO200.

So a lot of the time unless I am shooting a very high dynamic range situation I stick the camera to ISO400 and forget about it, rest can be done in post.
Click to expand...
Thanks (y)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top