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

Hi Allan,

I was looking at the Sigma f1.4 Art lens to fit in with my kit. However, I’m going to pick up the a6700 and want to pair it with a nifty fifty.

How good are the pictures and what’s the auto focus like, or are they manual lenses?

Very sorry Andy, I missed this. Sorry...

The TTArtisan 50mm f2 is a fully manual lens available in various mounts including Sony. It has no contacts so there is no communication with the body. You use these lenses in Aperture priority or manual mode with "shoot without lens" enabled in the camera.

There's a review here...


My opinion...

Being honest I don't think this lens is as good as many a film era 50mm but one big plus is that it mounts to the camera without an adapter. Overall, for the price I think it's worth it but there are issues...

Significant vignetting which will have you moving the correction slider to the limit or there abouts. Unless you want to live with it.
Significant focus breathing, but this may not bother you.
Mushy corners,
Tint in the vignetting but this may be less of an issue on later bodies, I don't know. It is quite bad on my A7.
Resistance to flare is poor and the effect somewhat extreme. You can fit a lens hood. I have a cheap vented one off ebay. 43mm.

Up sides.
It mounts without an adapter.
It's cheap.
It's sharp enough in the central area.
The bokeh isn't bad.
The loss of contrast, veiling and flare can be played with for effect.

I've posted a lot of pictures in this thread but no doubt they'll be hard to find. They'll be easier to find in this thread...


On an APS-C camera the mushy corners and heavy vignetting may be reduced but of course it'll look like a 75mm.

I hope that helps and sorry I didn't reply sooner, I just missed your post.
 
It's a bit depressing really... I don't need the money so why am I selling them? But, they're not ornaments and they're not getting used so they really should go. I should really thin out my Sony lenses too as I have too many of them too.

You aren't going to put them on display or anything. So no point just keeping them hidden in a tin imo :)

I'm not being mean or harsh, I'm just not much of a hoarder type person really :)
 
@woof woof offered me some ND filters after I bought a couple of lenses from him - very grateful as it's opened the door to long exposure photography which I love to look at and have always wanted to create

Had my first go on Saturday - light was flatter than I hoped but had great fun and got a few shots that I'm not too embarrassed to share. Looking forward to a trip to the coast for more practice!

_DSC6106 by bullinachinashop, on Flickr

_DSC6099 by bullinachinashop, on Flickr

_DSC6110 by bullinachinashop, on Flickr
 
You aren't going to put them on display or anything. So no point just keeping them hidden in a tin imo :)

I'm not being mean or harsh, I'm just not much of a hoarder type person really :)

I will use them again just not very often. I have the one that our northern friends ruined on display and it does look lovely. It's a Rokkor 35mm f2.8 MK2. I wasn't able to replace it with another but I did manage to get a nice MK1.
 
@woof woof offered me some ND filters after I bought a couple of lenses from him - very grateful as it's opened the door to long exposure photography which I love to look at and have always wanted to create

Had my first go on Saturday - light was flatter than I hoped but had great fun and got a few shots that I'm not too embarrassed to share. Looking forward to a trip to the coast for more practice!

Good :D

I do like those but if you go for more drama a wavey sea might get you it and then of course there's the ghosts and light trails.

I have a long exposure picture of Mrs WW walking up the garden path somewhere... it's quite creepy :D
 
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Just in case anyone is following my film era lens saga...

I went through the final quote line by line and read the comments. Although the overall quote is acceptable in itself and in isolation there were a few things which struck me and left a bad taste. The comment about dust possibly affecting IQ is IMO total tosh and as pointed out above by another poster dust probably wont be highlighted as an issue when they come to advertise them for sale. The comment about the faulty lens is interesting and they may be right but it was fine when I boxed it up. Also and interestingly the price offered for a number of lenses dropped £5-£15 despite the final quote describing them as "EXC." So, and remembering that I don't need the money I've politely declined the quote and asked for the lenses to be returned.

I have sold lenses on this site for less than I thought they were actually worth based on what things have gone for on ebay but I think that's different as I know they're going to a good home and will be used and no one has complained about condition. With this shop I'm left with the feeling that they've highlighted trivial issues and reduced the quote for lenses that they themselves have described as "EXC" upon inspection with little real reason. So I'll have them back and use them twice a year and if I advertise them here again maybe a few more will go to loving new homes :D
 
How many are there, different lens every week for a year phot challenge maybe?

I sent 20 off and I have maybe a few less here, maybe 10-15. Recently I haven't had as much time for photography and I might not get time to do any once a week but other than that, yes, using them in rotation and continuing to compare them will keep my interest up.

I know not everyone is lucky enough to not have to worry about giving up some money coming in, and there have been times in my life when I've been struggling and waiting for the next pay day but now the money comes in faster than I can spend it so having even the hint of a bad taste over this means it's not really worthwhile going through with it and I might as well have them back and just use them in rotation or when specific things come up, for example the Zuiko 50mm f1.4 has lovely tones for people shots.
 
Just in case anyone is following my film era lens saga...

I went through the final quote line by line and read the comments. Although the overall quote is acceptable in itself and in isolation there were a few things which struck me and left a bad taste. The comment about dust possibly affecting IQ is IMO total tosh and as pointed out above by another poster dust probably wont be highlighted as an issue when they come to advertise them for sale. The comment about the faulty lens is interesting and they may be right but it was fine when I boxed it up. Also and interestingly the price offered for a number of lenses dropped £5-£15 despite the final quote describing them as "EXC." So, and remembering that I don't need the money I've politely declined the quote and asked for the lenses to be returned.

I have sold lenses on this site for less than I thought they were actually worth based on what things have gone for on ebay but I think that's different as I know they're going to a good home and will be used and no one has complained about condition. With this shop I'm left with the feeling that they've highlighted trivial issues and reduced the quote for lenses that they themselves have described as "EXC" upon inspection with little real reason. So I'll have them back and use them twice a year and if I advertise them here again maybe a few more will go to loving new homes :D
I think your making the right decision there, I can see where your coming from and it does make me wonder how much of a profit they would of sold all your lenses for especially on the ones they have reduced there offer on.
 
Trying to educate myself but the closest i can get to this is a Dunnock how far off am I. A1 200-600 @600mm iso 1600
Not sure what you mean by this? :thinking:
 
I think your making the right decision there, I can see where your coming from and it does make me wonder how much of a profit they would of sold all your lenses for especially on the ones they have reduced there offer on.

Well, having a shop and just operating in the UK is very expensive and they do have to make a profit so offering me £20 and offering for sale at £60-£100 might well be perfectly justified as they do indeed have to make a profit and I have no problem with that but saying that dust in a lens may cause IQ issues to me and doubtlessly saying something diametrically opposite in the ad when they come to offer it for sale and reducing the initial quote by £10-£15 whist stating the lens is "EXC" seems a little problematic. Maybe :D

I can be a bit moral and a bit stubborn and if something just doesn't smell right I'd rather just back away :D
 
Trying to educate myself but the closest i can get to this is a Dunnock how far off am I. A1 200-600 @600mm iso 1600

Birds aren't my thing but from what I have tried ISO 1,600 seems decent going for the UK. What was your aperture and shutter speed? If there's no room for manoeuvre with aperture and shutter speed that only leaves the distance, if it's a problems or not and if you could get any closer and if you could would that bring any advantage?

As to how far off you were... if that's the question and if that's an uncropped picture my guess is 15-20ft and possibly nearer to 15ft.
 
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Trying to identify the bird, quite surprising how you pass things by taking no interest I know what a spuggy is LOL
I don't think it's a dunnock as they tend to have a more speckly chest. Could be a juvenile chaffinch but I'm not sure.
 
Birds aren't my thing but from what I have tried ISO 1,600 seems decent going for the UK. What was your aperture and shutter speed? If there's no room for manoeuvre with aperture and shutter speed that only leaves the distance, if it's a problems or not and if you could get any closer and if you could would that bring any advantage?

As to how far off you were... if that's the question and if that's an uncropped picture my guess is 15-20ft and possibly nearer to 15ft.
Sorry i can be a little vague just trying to identify the bird and bring this back to life with a pic or two. By the way it was f6.3 1/640 iso 1600 600mm
 
Sorry i can be a little vague just trying to identify the bird and bring this back to life with a pic or two. By the way it was f6.3 1/640 iso 1600 600mm

I think you did well managing with 1/640. Just out of interest... distance to subject?
 
Not sure how they can make the A1 II “much faster” unless they’re referring to frame rate and going to make it bonkers like the A9III. An A1 with animal eye recognition as good as the A7R V and an improved LCD would be a winner. No doubt it’ll be £6000+ so it’d be hard to justify upgrading from the A1.

 
I thought this was interesting, rehousing lenses for cinema use...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybxJHUfzCM4&t=779s


They mention a UK company so I googled them. Look at the prices...


I'm surprised that the Canon FD's seem to be popular.
A lot of Canon’s 1970s cinema glass was based on the FD series, so it’s popular with film-makers - my son shoots short films for a living and he ‘stole’ all my FD glass and acquired the two FD lenses I bought from you!!
 
Great video.

Those prices don’t seem too bad when you see the work going into the lenses, the large alu stock machined a lot etc. Having made housings for underwater cameras before using similar techniques the price almost seems cheap!
 
A lot of Canon’s 1970s cinema glass was based on the FD series, so it’s popular with film-makers - my son shoots short films for a living and he ‘stole’ all my FD glass and acquired the two FD lenses I bought from you!!

I remember :D

It's just that I've never seen the FD's as anything special compared to the other lenses I had although I did/do only have the ordinary FD's. Minolta and Nikon are IMO generally better as in more free from issues and giving a more modern look, and the Zuiko's being more characterful (worse) :D I've always seen the FD's I had as also rans, competent enough but nothing special for either performance or character when compared to the competition.

Oh, and I've always seen the build of the FDn's as pretty ordinary too, not as obviously well made and tactile like the Nikons and earlier Minoltas.
 
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Great video.

Those prices don’t seem too bad when you see the work going into the lenses, the large alu stock machined a lot etc. Having made housings for underwater cameras before using similar techniques the price almost seems cheap!

It'd be interesting to compare the prices of rehoused lenses with a new set, like from Cooke.

Cooke - set of 6 SP3 - £18,500. The rest seem too much like hard work to price up but I think it's fair to say that you can probably get a decent new set for the price of rehoused lenses but I suppose the point is that you want a certain look.
 
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Female Chaffinch would be my guess.
I don't think it's a dunnock as they tend to have a more speckly chest. Could be a juvenile chaffinch but I'm not sure.
Thanks both Female Chaffinch is more likely from what i can see from other images so that's what i'll put it down as. (y)
 
Went on an animal encounter day at Hoo Zoo with Jessops at the weekend, great experience as we got in the enclosures with all the animals (behind a waist height electric fence with the wolves). Weather wasn't great though, but at least is was dry.

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After visiting the zoo we went to a private hide to see Badgers. Despite the monsoon unusualy they did come out. Light was shocking mixed with the rain made for really bad photography conditions, after about an hour I had to give up with the 100-400mm as it just wouldn't focus, even on AF-S, so just used the 70-200mm f2.8.

Even with that and 1/60-1/80 shutter we were hitting ISO's of 8000 and 10000 and still underexposing by 2-3 stops. Bringing these back in LR you could really see the pattern on the AF grid on the sensor, thankfully LR's denoise made then look 'reasonable'.

However, even though light and weather wasn't our friend I was just very happy to have seen them, never seen badgers before except for one that I unfortunately hit with the car :(

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Also at the weekend I went on a lighting workshop, also with Jessops. Really great and informative, learnt a lot. Unfortunately the weather meant we couldn't do any outside shooting but it was still well worth going on, I feel much more confident using strobes and flash now and actually know what I'm doing rather than winging it :lol:

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Went on an animal encounter day at Hoo Zoo with Jessops at the weekend, great experience as we got in the enclosures with all the animals (behind a waist height electric fence with the wolves). Weather wasn't great though, but at least is was dry.

More on Flickr

1.

A7R00520-Enhanced-NR by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

2.

A7R00656 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

3.

A7R00796-Enhanced-NR by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

4.

A7R00816 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

5.

A7R00923 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

6.

A7R01009 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

7.

A1_00847-Enhanced-NR by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

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A7R01020-Enhanced-NR by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

Nice isolation on these Toby.
 
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