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

[wookie6262]

Finally got around to looking at this on the computer, to my eyes the 70-200mm with 2x TX at 400mm is much softer than the 100-400mm at 400mm with both at f5.6. If you stop the 70-200mm down to f8 it's still softer than the 100-400mm at f5.6, if that's true to life in the real world the 2x TC is definitely not for me.

I did a very quick comparison the other day and that was my findings too. I think I will be keeping my 100-400 at least until there is a better option. I'd love to try a Sigma 120-300 Sport on teh A1 to see how well it works

 

[ancient_mariner]

Finally got around to looking at this on the computer, to my eyes the 70-200mm with 2x TX at 400mm is much softer than the 100-400mm at 400mm with both at f5.6. If you stop the 70-200mm down to f8 it's still softer than the 100-400mm at f5.6, if that's true to life in the real world the 2x TC is definitely not for me.

You might find detail can be recovered with software, but that's not the point.

 

[imattersuk]

Seen the 1.4 and 2.0 TC’s being offered half price when bought with the new 70-200 f4, maybe they are clearing stock for the much awaited updated versions

 

[Robjwilli]

I would love to have a Sony version of the Nikon 400 f4.5,

 

[nandbytes]

Finally got around to looking at this on the computer, to my eyes the 70-200mm with 2x TX at 400mm is much softer than the 100-400mm at 400mm with both at f5.6. If you stop the 70-200mm down to f8 it's still softer than the 100-400mm at f5.6, if that's true to life in the real world the 2x TC is definitely not for me.

Yep doesn't look very promising does it.

 

[nandbytes]

I would love to have a Sony version of the Nikon 400 f4.5,

you and I both
Also the 800mm f6.3 looks really amazing
Somehow I don't think Sony will ever make these kind of lenses.
This is why I keep thinking of swapping to Nikon...

 

[woof woof]

you and I both
Also the 800mm f6.3 looks really amazing
Somehow I don't think Sony will ever make these kind of lenses.
This is why I keep thinking of swapping to Nikon...

Would you really buy a lens costing this much?

I suppose hiring one for a particular shoot might be possible?

 

[wookie6262]

Seen the 1.4 and 2.0 TC’s being offered half price when bought with the new 70-200 f4, maybe they are clearing stock for the much awaited updated versions

I'd love if they could make the extenders so they can be switched off like those in the Nikon and Canon Big Teles. It may save them updating the super teles and also give those of us with the original TCs a reason to upgrade.

 

[nandbytes]

Would you really buy a lens costing this much?

I suppose hiring one for a particular shoot might be possible?

The 400mm f4.5 is affordable for me. It's not much more than a 100-400mm.

Nikon 800mm f6.3 is around £6K which is more than twice the price of 400mm f4.5 but half the price of a Sony 600mm f4.
It also weighs no more than my 200-600mm.

While I will probably never own a Sony 400mm f2.8 or 600mm f4, I can at least dream of affording a 800mm f6.3 especially if I can find one used sometime down the line.

 

[ukaskew]

Didn't actually see the TC discussion when I posted my Festival of Speed pics, complete coincidence!

400mm at f5.6 on the 70-200 and a hefty crop, so 'as bad as it gets', for me this is more than sharp enough handheld (the full size file should be viewable on Flickr), far more likely to fall over due to poor technique than limitations with kit when shooting moving things...

FoS 2023 by Chris Harrison, on Flickr

 

[snerkler]

Didn't actually see the TC discussion when I posted my Festival of Speed pics, complete coincidence!

400mm at f5.6 on the 70-200 and a hefty crop, so 'as bad as it gets', for me this is more than sharp enough handheld (the full size file should be viewable on Flickr), far more likely to fall over due to poor technique than limitations with kit when shooting moving things...

FoS 2023 by Chris Harrison, on Flickr

That's a cool looking car, was surprised to see it's a Hyundai

With regards to sharpness, with subjects like this you're not testing critical sharpness per se as there's not that much fine detail, I'd imagine flaws show up more shooting birds and other wildlife. Don't get me wrong, it's not as though the 70-200mm with 2x TC is absolutely horrendous, it's just clearly not as good as the 100-400mm so it wouldn't sway me to ditching the 100-400mm

 

[JohnMcL7]

I think the production and concept Hyundai electric cars look great and if you put a Tesla Model 3 beside an Ioniq 5/6 without the badges then asked people to identify which is the Hyundai and which is the innovative new electric car brand I suspect people would get them the wrong way round.

 

[f/1.2]

I think the production and concept Hyundai electric cars look great and if you put a Tesla Model 3 beside an Ioniq 5/6 without the badges then asked people to identify which is the Hyundai and which is the innovative new electric car brand I suspect people would get them the wrong way round.

Electric cars are all crap though.

Hard to tell the difference between 2 turds.

 

[nandbytes]

I think the production and concept Hyundai electric cars look great and if you put a Tesla Model 3 beside an Ioniq 5/6 without the badges then asked people to identify which is the Hyundai and which is the innovative new electric car brand I suspect people would get them the wrong way round.

Both Hyundai and Kia have been making really great electric cars.
Used ones are just about getting affordable for folk like me but the infrastructure is still really premature where I'm.
Also doesn't feel like lithium batteries are a long term solution. Feels there'll something more scalable and better eventually....

 

[woof woof]

The 400mm f4.5 is affordable for me. It's not much more than a 100-400mm.

Nikon 800mm f6.3 is around £6K which is more than twice the price of 400mm f4.5 but half the price of a Sony 600mm f4.
It also weighs no more than my 200-600mm.

While I will probably never own a Sony 400mm f2.8 or 600mm f4, I can at least dream of affording a 800mm f6.3 especially if I can find one used sometime down the line.

Add the cost of what I've spent up and I may be most of the way there and I couldn't criticise anyone spending that much

 

[woof woof]

I think the production and concept Hyundai electric cars look great and if you put a Tesla Model 3 beside an Ioniq 5/6 without the badges then asked people to identify which is the Hyundai and which is the innovative new electric car brand I suspect people would get them the wrong way round.

I visit a car forum and apparently the early Chinese MG electric cars were pretty bad but the latest ones are pretty good. I remain to be convinced, I think electric in its current form is likely to be a disaster for the planet. Time will tell.

 

[nandbytes]

Add the cost of what I've spent up and I may be most of the way there and I couldn't criticise anyone spending that much

Yeah plus the cost of swapping is going to be very high.
Especially as I have bought the 200-600mm new. also all my current Sony gear is UK stock, so will probably won't be able to sell and buy just as much gear on another brand.

In some ways I'm wondering if it's actually just cheaper to add a second system just for wildlife. Currently the price of top end Z bodies is too high to do that. I have considered m43/Olympus a few times too.

 

[nandbytes]

I visit a car forum and apparently the early Chinese MG electric cars were pretty bad but the latest ones are pretty good. I remain to be convinced, I think electric in its current form is likely to be a disaster for the planet. Time will tell.

Yeah it won't be very good if everyone on the planet wanted one.
This is why I feel there'll be a more scalable solution down the line.... Whatever that is.

 

[snerkler]

Yeah it won't be very good if everyone on the planet wanted one.
This is why I feel there'll be a more scalable solution down the line.... Whatever that is.

I don’t think electric cars are the future at all, and I think there will be a lot of disgruntled people when there’s a shift.

On face value synthetic fuel seems a good option but I don’t know enough about it, likewise hydrogen. Synthetic fuel would be my choice so that we can still have great sounding cars

 

[wookie6262]

Half price CFexpress A cards on Prograde site. If you get two cards and two card cases it works out at around £360 including postage and customs(estimated) as it is free International shipping over 375 dollars. For one card they are £375 on ebay. I think I will go for two and sell my three 80gb Sony cards.

 

[nandbytes]

Half price CFexpress A cards on Prograde site. If you get two cards and two card cases it works out at around £360 including postage and customs(estimated) as it is free International shipping over 375 dollars. For one card they are £375 on ebay. I think I will go for two and sell my three 80gb Sony cards.

for same price you can get pergear 260GB.
I guess depends on how much you trust pergear vs prograde

 

[gman]

I don’t think electric cars are the future at all, and I think there will be a lot of disgruntled people when there’s a shift.

On face value synthetic fuel seems a good option but I don’t know enough about it, likewise hydrogen. Synthetic fuel would be my choice so that we can still have great sounding cars

I quite like the cooking analogy when it comes to ICE and EV....l

"It may cook quicker in the microwave, but it tastes better with the oven."

 

[woof woof]

Yeah plus the cost of swapping is going to be very high.
Especially as I have bought the 200-600mm new. also all my current Sony gear is UK stock, so will probably won't be able to sell and buy just as much gear on another brand.

In some ways I'm wondering if it's actually just cheaper to add a second system just for wildlife. Currently the price of top end Z bodies is too high to do that. I have considered m43/Olympus a few times too.

I have the Panasonic 100-400mm which looks good but you're at f6.3 at the long end, f6.3 on MFT. Some may not find that an attractive place to be.

 

[woof woof]

I don’t think electric cars are the future at all, and I think there will be a lot of disgruntled people when there’s a shift.

On face value synthetic fuel seems a good option but I don’t know enough about it, likewise hydrogen. Synthetic fuel would be my choice so that we can still have great sounding cars

One thing not being taken into consideration by the more extreme people is that oil isn't just used to produce fuel for ICE cars. Oil is used to produce thousands of things. Googling tells my 6,000. Want a world without oil? OK. That's a world in which we have to find an alternative base for those 6,000 things.

Another argument I'd propose is that oil and all its derivative products can be produced in developed countries with generally and comparably good records on the environment, health and safety and wages whereas the electric tech is exploiting kids in third world countries working in appalling conditions. All this is happily ignored by the more extreme crowd pushing electric as the answer.

 

[Faldrax]

...

Another argument I'd propose is that oil and all its derivative products can be produced in developed countries with generally and comparably good records on the environment, health and safety and wages whereas the electric tech is exploiting kids in third world countries working in appalling conditions. All this is happily ignored by the more extreme crowd pushing electric as the answer.

The developed / undeveloped countries argument should not be a reason not to adopt different technology - it should be used as a reason to improve the conditions in those areas where they are poor - if people want something, then that should be grounds for investment in the parts of the world that have it, not an excuse to exploit.

 

[woof woof]

The developed / undeveloped countries argument should not be a reason not to adopt different technology - it should be used as a reason to improve the conditions in those areas where they are poor - if people want something, then that should be grounds for investment in the parts of the world that have it, not an excuse to exploit.

I disagree. "We" should not be sending children into cobalt mines in what amounts to little more than slavery or poisoning indigenous villagers water supply with lithium lakes today. It's simply wrong to exploit people and poison the environment but lets be honest it's very unlikely that your average VR signaller will acknowledge that these things happen anyway. EV is the new religion (or one of them) and to be a heretic is to be outcast.

The way to improve the exploited populations and environments would be to apply 1st world conditions of employment and environmental protections. That's not going to happen for reasons of cost and also because here we're getting into areas controlled by repressive regimes who frankly don't give a flying about exploited children or slaves or the environment or our opinion on any of this as long as the money keeps flowing in. Which it will. Because no one really cares about slavery or poisoning of an environment because we just wont talk about it and it doesn't get covered on BBC news.

Far better IMO to drive a car made in a developed country and run it on fuel produced in a developed country by workers on a good wage in the best conditions and with the best environmental protections we can enforce. None of that is going to happen if we rely on China and others with their appalling records on human rights and the environment.

But.... Cameras and lenses...

 

[f/1.2]

Half price CFexpress A cards on Prograde site. If you get two cards and two card cases it works out at around £360 including postage and customs(estimated) as it is free International shipping over 375 dollars. For one card they are £375 on ebay. I think I will go for two and sell my three 80gb Sony cards.

Have had so many issues with Prograde cards never again

 

[woof woof]

When I'm out with a camera the last thing I want to do is jab at a smartphone screen.

New Tamron patent discloses the design of a new APP to control your Tamron lens | sonyalpharumors

Asobinet spotted a newly published Tamron patent which describes an APP that let's you take over the control of a Tamron lens. Because you cannot connect directly the Sony camera with the Tamron APP the patent describes how you connect the lens with a USB cable or Bluetooth with the smartphone...

www.sonyalpharumors.com

I suppose I can see some valid uses... like when controlling a camera remotely.

 

[Faldrax]

I disagree. "We" should not be sending children into cobalt mines in what amounts to little more than slavery or poisoning indigenous villagers water supply with lithium lakes today. It's simply wrong to exploit people and poison the environment but lets be honest it's very unlikely that your average VR signaller will acknowledge that these things happen anyway. EV is the new religion (or one of them) and to be a heretic is to be outcast.

The way to improve the exploited populations and environments would be to apply 1st world conditions of employment and environmental protections. That's not going to happen for reasons of cost and also because here we're getting into areas controlled by repressive regimes who frankly don't give a flying about exploited children or slaves or the environment or our opinion on any of this as long as the money keeps flowing in. Which it will. Because no one really cares about slavery or poisoning of an environment because we just wont talk about it and it doesn't get covered on BBC news.

Far better IMO to drive a car made in a developed country and run it on fuel produced in a developed country by workers on a good wage in the best conditions and with the best environmental protections we can enforce. None of that is going to happen if we rely on China and others with their appalling records on human rights and the environment.

But.... Cameras and lenses...

I think you misunderstood what I meant.
I completely agree that child exploitation, etc is wrong, and should not occur.
What I was saying is that if "We" want these things, "We" should be ensuring that such things DON'T happen - invest in these countries to build up their infrastructure, ensure that workers are treated fairly, ensure that any contaminants are suitably handled, etc.
But far to many just want things as cheap as possible, and while consumers are happy to turn a blind eye to where things are sourced, companies will continue to do the same.

 

[woof woof]

I think you misunderstood what I meant.
I completely agree that child exploitation, etc is wrong, and should not occur.
What I was saying is that if "We" want these things, "We" should be ensuring that such things DON'T happen - invest in these countries to build up their infrastructure, ensure that workers are treated fairly, ensure that any contaminants are suitably handled, etc.
But far to many just want things as cheap as possible, and while consumers are happy to turn a blind eye to where things are sourced, companies will continue to do the same.

No I didn't. I just think you are mildly deluded as a lot of liberal westerners are

I don't know how we can get the Chinese and others to adopt human and environmental standards applied in western and western like democracies or how we can even afford to give aid on the scale required or if we have the will to ensure it's spent how we intend it to be spent. Giving aid to nuclear powers with massive military expenditure and space programs doesn't seem to have done anything significant to improve matters and if anything just shows that all involved have different priorities. Having dealt with Chinese companies years ago on product approvals and being a consumer of their products to this day all I can say is that I don't think that things can really change whilst liberal western like democracies are willing to turn a blind eye to abuses of human rights and the environment. In fact arguably giving aid to these countries only prologues the suffering, injustice and environmental damage as the billions pouring in from the likes of the UK means that more can be spent by the regime on their priorities, oppressing the locals, re-education camps, AK47's and creating bases in the nine dash line.

 

[Mike.P]

Wolves


DSC05694_DxO by Mike Pursey, on Flickr

Hyena


DSC05818_DxO by Mike Pursey, on Flickr

Cheetah


DSC05612_DxO by Mike Pursey, on Flickr

 

[Robjwilli]

Longleat?

 

[nandbytes]

I have the Panasonic 100-400mm which looks good but you're at f6.3 at the long end, f6.3 on MFT. Some may not find that an attractive place to be.

well 400mm on mft gives me 800mm FoV at 20mp. That is really good but not ground breaking (i.e. I can get more reach with say 800mm f6.3 on a Z8 but of course that also means bigger lens, body and more money).
Could probably do a little better with 300mm f4+1.4x which would give a wee bit more light and reach.

I worked out I'd lose at least £1500 swapping systems. Could probably get a used 300mm f4 for around this price. Selling the 200-600mm will get me half way there to an OM-1.

 

[Faldrax]

No I didn't. I just think you are mildly deluded as a lot of liberal westerners are

I don't know how we can get the Chinese and others to adopt human and environmental standards applied in western and western like democracies or how we can even afford to give aid on the scale required or if we have the will to ensure it's spent how we intend it to be spent. Giving aid to nuclear powers with massive military expenditure and space programs doesn't seem to have done anything significant to improve matters and if anything just shows that all involved have different priorities. Having dealt with Chinese companies years ago on product approvals and being a consumer of their products to this day all I can say is that I don't think that things can really change whilst liberal western like democracies are willing to turn a blind eye to abuses of human rights and the environment. In fact arguably giving aid to these countries only prologues the suffering, injustice and environmental damage as the billions pouring in from the likes of the UK means that more can be spent by the regime on their priorities, oppressing the locals, re-education camps, AK47's and creating bases in the nine dash line.

In the end, it's all down to money.
As long as Western companies are happy to buy products from these countries while ignoring the associated issues, they will continue to behave in the same way.
The four largest sources of Lithium (for example) are Australia, Argentina, Chile and China - with Australia the single largest supplier.
So we COULD simply stop sourcing Lithium from China, then add a level (or even a ban) on good containing Lithium sourced from China, until production met some internationally agree standards - but that requires Governments to be prepared to act, and handle the consequences in terms of any retaliatory actions from China, and consumers to accept higher prices.

 

[wookie6262]

for same price you can get pergear 260GB.
I guess depends on how much you trust pergear vs prograde

Look a good option but much slower write speeds

 

[wookie6262]

Have had so many issues with Prograde cards never again

I only have one and it has been fine. For the most part I use Sony Tough

 

[nandbytes]

Look a good option but much slower write speeds

the write speeds is roughly the same, for some reason they quote *minimum* write speed, but in real usage its close to or same as other CF express A cards (reading from early tester, haven't tested it myself).

 

[Robjwilli]

well 400mm on mft gives me 800mm FoV at 20mp. That is really good but not ground breaking (i.e. I can get more reach with say 800mm f6.3 on a Z8 but of course that also means bigger lens, body and more money).
Could probably do a little better with 300mm f4+1.4x which would give a wee bit more light and reach.

I worked out I'd lose at least £1500 swapping systems. Could probably get a used 300mm f4 for around this price. Selling the 200-600mm will get me half way there to an OM-1.

I’ve been back and forth on this one too lol. I came to the conclusion that there was no advantage to mft now that there are FF sensors with high pixel counts.

 

[nandbytes]

I’ve been back and forth on this one too lol. I came to the conclusion that there was no advantage to mft now that there are FF sensors with high pixel counts.

looking to save on size and get extra reach. MFT doesn't help with reach but helps with size.
Only if Nikon Z8 wasn't like twice the size of Sony bodies, I would actually swap to it.

 

[wookie6262]

the write speeds is roughly the same, for some reason they quote *minimum* write speed, but in real usage its close to or same as other CF express A cards (reading from early tester, haven't tested it myself).

II might take a look at those then