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

Raymond Lin said:
This is why next to the widest aperture is more logical.

Coming from Canon when I was used to using the back wheel to change aperture, so doing it body. Having set the lens to A to do that, with all the older lenses, with no Aperture Lock on the lens.....accidentally bumping it turns A to F/16 !!! Yes, it happened at a shoot once...luckily I caught it but still had to live with 2 shots from a moment that i'd wish it'd be F/1.4.

Which is most annoying. I want more light, not less...so if most people shoot between F/1.4 to F/5.6 then it makes sense to have the A next to the widest aperture. Even with the aperture lock now.
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That's exactly why all lenses with an aperture ring should have a lock imo, that's one of the faux pas with the 85mm GM.
 
woof woof said:
There looks to be quite a difference there. If I was in the market for one of these lenses (no surprise that I'm not) I think the Sony f1.4 would be the one I'd go for.
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That'd be a tough call when the Samyang is so much cheaper. For professional use yes, for hobbyists it's a tough ask to pay 3 times as much for the GM. YMMV.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Which is why i am asking, why put the A next to F/16? With Aperture lock, or not.
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Well as I explained earlier if you have it locked you're not going to knock it from A to f16, however if you have it unlocked and using it you're not going to accidentally knock it from f1.4 to A, or accidentally turn it to A. I like it if I'm shooting in f4 or whatever to quickly spin it to wide open knowing I'm not going to go past it into A, if A was next to f1.4 you'd have to be more careful not to turn it too far to A
 
Raymond Lin said:
I am going to treat myself to a cookie.

Side note, what is the logic putting A next to F/16. Why not put A next to F/1.4 or the widest aperture? Is it a physical limitation? Surely not.
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It may be a mechanical issue, with the aperture moved by a spring legacy design rather than truly electronic. In that case the A has to be at f16.

Or maybe just convention.
 
ancient_mariner said:
It may be a mechanical issue, with the aperture moved by a spring legacy design rather than truly electronic. In that case the A has to be at f16.

Or maybe just convention.
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Once it goes to A, it's all controlled electronic anyway....right? i mean if the dial at the back and move it when in A, what does it matter where it sits on the barrel.

So it seems a decision and and choice. I prefer it to sit on the wider end but @snerkler side does make sense too.
 
snerkler said:
That'd be a tough call when the Samyang is so much cheaper. For professional use yes, for hobbyists it's a tough ask to pay 3 times as much for the GM. YMMV.
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As my creaking old A7 might suffer focus inconsistencies with the Samyang and that thought would push me towards the Sony. With later bodies this might not be an issue but the thought of buying and retuning gear for iffy focus does put me off.

As for the hobby v pro thing, why shouldn't hobbyists have the best they can afford? :D

Obvs that doesn't apply to me as I tend to go for things that aren't necessarily optically the best.
 
woof woof said:
As my creaking old A7 might suffer focus inconsistencies with the Samyang and that thought would push me towards the Sony. With later bodies this might not be an issue but the thought of buying and retuning gear for iffy focus does put me off.

As for the hobby v pro thing, why shouldn't hobbyists have the best they can afford? :D

Obvs that doesn't apply to me as I tend to go for things that aren't necessarily optically the best.
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Ahh yes you have that old thing ;)

It's not just what you can afford it's what you can justify. For me the Samyang is sharp, had lovely rendering and AF has been spot on for me so it's hard to justify paying 3 times as much for the GM when I don't know what more it can offer other than build quality (y)
 
I don't suppose anyone will be interested but as I have my eye on... something else... I'm selling (or trying to) my recently bought 50mm f1.1.

I did trash it at first and it nearly went back but I think I was being too harsh as my initial issues were made worse by over exposure at 1/8,000 and problems processing. Once I'd reduced the ISO to 50 and got to grips with CS2022 things went better :D

Anyway. If anyone is interested it's in the classifieds.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Once it goes to A, it's all controlled electronic anyway....right?
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What I'm saying is that aperture may be operated against a spring with the default position fully closed, and A can only be at one end. There is a mechanical coupling. Otherwise the A position would be irrelevant.
 
Raymond Lin said:

Second hand cameras, camera part exchange, digital cameras UK, used cameras, photographic shops, England

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50/1.2 GM Boxed hoods and caps, only £350 more than the 1.4 !
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Cheaper new grey, only £150 more than the f1.4. However, the f1.4 will be cheaper grey and used when it's been out a while.
 
I'm certainly waiting to see what it does to A9 and A9ii prices
 
There are rumours stating that the 16-35 f/2.8 GM mark II could be coming out next month. How much knock-on effects, do you think, this new release will have on the market price (both in the primary and used markets) of the first version ? How much did the 24-70mm f/2.8 GM decrease in price when its successor, the 24-70mm f/2.8 GM mark II came out last year?
 
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snerkler said:

Sony 50mm f/1.4 GM review by Lenstip: “virtually without any flaws” | sonyalpharumors

Preorder links: Sony 50mm F/1.4 GM at BHphoto. Amazon. Adorama. FotoKoch. FotoErhardt. Calumet DE. WexUK. Lenstip tested the new Sony lens and concluded: The Sony FE 50 mm f/1.4 GM was a surprise for me personally and for more than one reason. First, I didn't expect such a launch, especially as...
www.sonyalpharumors.com www.sonyalpharumors.com
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WoW.

Just read that. High praise indeed.

I see they assess focus breathing as "medium" and that it'll be noticeable "in real life."
 
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There's a comment on the rumor site claiming the performance wide open at minimum focus distance is so abysmal it's unusable.

I don't know how the new Sony compares to its rivals in this test but I do have to wonder who'll be taking pictures at f1.4 at minimum focus distance and what they're trying to photograph.

Oh, and for anyone wanting to take pictures wide open at MFD, one thing you can do is use a close focus filter and this should allow you to move the focus ring away from MFD and thus improve IQ.
 
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woof woof said:
There's a comment on the rumor site claiming the performance wide open at minimum focus distance is so abysmal it's unusable.

I don't know how the new Sony compares to its rivals in this test but I do have to wonder who'll be taking pictures at f1.4 at minimum focus distance and what they're trying to photograph.

Oh, and for anyone wanting to take pictures wide open at MFD, one thing you can do is use a close focus filter and this should allow you to move the focus ring away from MFD and thus improve IQ.
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I think people just have to find something to complain about, as you say who's going to be shooting at 41cm at f1.4?
trevorbray said:
Magic Toby. I need to bring these to @Paulie-W attention.
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Thanks, it was just a bit of fun (y)
 
50mm f1.4 GM is on camerasize already

Screenshot 2023-02-23 at 08.13.48.jpg
 
woof woof said:
There's a comment on the rumor site claiming the performance wide open at minimum focus distance is so abysmal it's unusable.

I don't know how the new Sony compares to its rivals in this test but I do have to wonder who'll be taking pictures at f1.4 at minimum focus distance and what they're trying to photograph.

Oh, and for anyone wanting to take pictures wide open at MFD, one thing you can do is use a close focus filter and this should allow you to move the focus ring away from MFD and thus improve IQ.
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I don't know about unusable but Sony isn't unique in this aspect tbh.
If someone wants a lens that's sharp at all apertures and focus distances there's always the Zeiss Otus :D
 
Anyone gone from an A7 III to a RX100V II out of interest?

Just returning from holiday and whilst the A7 was great, I found myself being a bit burdened with the size and weight of it which has made me question downsizing to a compact camera.

I'm by no means a pro photographer, just a hobbyist and this was my first holiday with the A7 III but would be interested in those who maybe have both to know their experience with them.
 
El1te said:
Anyone gone from an A7 III to a RX100V II out of interest?

Just returning from holiday and whilst the A7 was great, I found myself being a bit burdened with the size and weight of it which has made me question downsizing to a compact camera.

I'm by no means a pro photographer, just a hobbyist and this was my first holiday with the A7 III but would be interested in those who maybe have both to know their experience with them.
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I have the original A7, some MFT cameras and a TZ100 which is a 1" compact. I think 1" compacts can produce pictures which look very nice but when you look closely or start to push the envelope of what's possible IMO they simply can not compete with a larger sensor camera for IQ.

When on holiday I take my A7 with the Sony 35mm f2.8 as this makes a compact set up and I also take my TZ100 for wider, longer, silent shooting and for occasions when even a quite compact A7 and 35mm f2,8 is too much.
 
El1te said:
Anyone gone from an A7 III to a RX100V II out of interest?

Just returning from holiday and whilst the A7 was great, I found myself being a bit burdened with the size and weight of it which has made me question downsizing to a compact camera.

I'm by no means a pro photographer, just a hobbyist and this was my first holiday with the A7 III but would be interested in those who maybe have both to know their experience with them.
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Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt ;) Not with those two cameras but I have tried endlessly for 10 years to find a solution to carrying bulky camera equipment on holiday. First camera I had when I took up photography seriously was the Sony A77 and 15-60mm f2.8 an found the same as you, just a burden. Bought the Olympus E-M10 and pancake lens which was much better, although still wasn’t pocketable unless wearing a big coat, and image quality was lacking. Upgraded to the EM5-II and 12-40mm f2.8 which gave really good image quality but then bulk and weight was going up again. Bought the Sony RX100-III but didn’t rate the IQ and found it fiddly to use. Tried the Canon G7x which I did prefer to the Sony, but still wasn’t great in terms of IQ so went back to Olympus for travel.

Ran two systems for quite a while (Nikon FF/Sony FF and Olympus) but wasn’t really saving much weight and got rid of all my olympus gear. A couple of years ago I tried again and bought the Olympus E-M10 II and kit pancake lens just for dog walking etc but last year decided that I didn’t enjoy using it that much and IQ still wasn’t quite there, and to be honest wasn’t a great deal different to using my iPhone shooting raw (processing using adobe profile rather than ProRaw) so got rid of the Olly again. Just been away to Prague with the Sony accepting that I’m just going to have to put up with the weight (within reason) if I’m so obsessive about IQ and this time I didn’t find it too bad. Not sure if it’s just that I’d made the mental decision or whether it’s because I used a bag rather than a sling strap for the first time on holiday :thinking:
 
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I've tried other compacts too, I have an Olympics XZ-1? or something, it has a F/1.8 lens on it and thought it would be great but the AF is not on par with my 5D3 back then so i stuck with my FF DSLR and now A7III for all my travels.

The only thing time when I actually thought I want a compact is in the evening, say I went back to my room in the late afternoon and want to pop out for dinner and still want a camera just in case. Taking a FF camera seems like a lot, so I think the Fuji X100 series would be the good middle ground.
 
El1te said:
Anyone gone from an A7 III to a RX100V II out of interest?

Just returning from holiday and whilst the A7 was great, I found myself being a bit burdened with the size and weight of it which has made me question downsizing to a compact camera.

I'm by no means a pro photographer, just a hobbyist and this was my first holiday with the A7 III but would be interested in those who maybe have both to know their experience with them.
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No but I have downsized to APS-C in the past.
I had to travel for 10 days with just a carry-on for everything. So I basically had a setup that could all fit in jacket pockets.
Something like
A6XXX+10-20mm f4, 16-70mm f4 and a small prime depending on your preferred focal length (add 70-350mm if you particularly need the reach).
 
More photos of the kingfisher after a second visit yesterday. It was just so fast - I haven't had many successful action photos but I will go back!! Instead I've got more detail with it sitting stationary - this time with improved light.

DSC07417 1 1 by Gilbo B, on Flickr
DSC07470 1 by Gilbo B, on Flickr
 
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gilbouk said:
More photos of the kingfisher after a second visit yesterday. It was just so fast - I haven't had many successful action photos but I will go back!! Instead I've got more detail with it sitting stationary - this time with improved light.

DSC07417 1 1 by Gilbo B, on Flickr
DSC07470 1 by Gilbo B, on Flickr
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Very nice, how far away would you say you were?
 
gilbouk said:
I would say about 3 - 4 meters away on the second one. Here's the original frame shot at 600mm

DSC07470 2 by Gilbo B, on Flickr
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Thanks very much. I'm still in two minds whether to hire the 400mm f2.8 for my Kingfisher shoot next month. I'd use it with the 1.4 x TC so would be 560mm f4 as opposed to 560mm f8 with my 100-400mm. My 'concern' is light and cluttered background. It's just £130 is a lot of money to spend on one shoot, especially when you're not guaranteed decent weather or even to see the birds. Also, I'd be annoyed with myself if I get there and find I need to shoot at f8 to get enough DOF for the kingfisher to be in full focus.

Proper 1st world problem :lol:
 
50mm f1.1 fun.

I only used two apertures today, f1.1 and f8. I dropped the ISO to 50 and that helped with a lot of the problems I'd had.

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