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

As it's quiet...

I seem to have slimmed down my gear a bit.

I've sold a lot of film era lenses but I still have 13 :D one very nice MFT 12-35mm f2.8 lens and one MFT GX9 camera. I'm still deciding whether to sell my Sony mount Voigtlanders or not and I suppose either my A7 or A7III should go or maybe both. I should also sell some Sony AF lenses that haven't been used in a blue moon, 28-70mm kit lens, 55mm f1.8 and I suppose the 85mm f1.8 as that hasn't been used for a couple of years and even the 35mm f2.8 which has been pushed out by the 40mm f2.5.

The A7cII and 40mm f2.5 seems to be the way to go for me at the moment and although it's significantly chunkier than my MFT RF style cameras it's close enough to push them out of use.

But then I think why go through the hassle? Just keep it and use it once in a while :D

Just the view as I struggled down the bank and made it on to the beach. A7cII and Sony 40mm.

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I like to pixel peep and spot fossils :D

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Here's one I spotted. I've got lots of these at home. THE BOSS has banned me from collecting any more.

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My shoes only dried out today.
 
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f/2.8 said:
What have you got going on there with the bonnet of the focus?
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My boy was on about his second car options, and what to do with whatever it might be etc and the patina/rusty theme came up. So I picked up a spare bonnet to experiment with.

I liked it initially, but since putting the darker alloys on from the old Focus that I recently refurbished I'm not so sure anymore..... I might go back to dark and do a slight light tint or something.... It gets noticed though, a mate texted me when we were on the Welsh coast the other week "We saw you driving down the A487 today?" And I had a workmate before "Saw you driving southbound on the M5 this morning" whilst they were driving north :ROFLMAO:
 
LeeRatters said:
My boy was on about his second car options, and what to do with whatever it might be etc and the patina/rusty theme came up. So I picked up a spare bonnet to experiment with.

I liked it initially, but since putting the darker alloys on from the old Focus that I recently refurbished I'm not so sure anymore..... I might go back to dark and do a slight light tint or something.... It gets noticed though, a mate texted me when we were on the Welsh coast the other week "We saw you driving down the A487 today?" And I had a workmate before "Saw you driving southbound on the M5 this morning" whilst they were driving north :ROFLMAO:
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I fancy some vents cut into mine but there is a go too guy for that and it would mean travelling to England plus I will need to pick up a spare bonnet.

Might be a wee project for later in the year though as i am gonna get the boat over to Scotland with the car to visit Laird Performance for some additional tuning and a few other wee goodies so could maybe take a drive down from there once the work has been completed.

My brother in law has a MK2, he has had the full Maxton kit and a few other bits and bobs. Think he is getting the R.S spoiler next.
 
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f/2.8 said:
I fancy some vents cut into mine but there is a go too guy for that and it would mean travelling to England plus I will need to pick up a spare bonnet.

Might be a wee project for later in the year though as i am gonna get the boat over to Scotland with the car to visit Laird Performance for some additional tuning and a few other wee goodies so could maybe take a drive down from there once the work has been completed.

My brother in law has a MK2, he has had the full Maxton kit and a few other bits and bobs. Think he is getting the R.S spoiler next.
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This was a local £10 bonnet and about £30 for the rusty paint stuff - I already had some colour. Oh, and two rolls of masking tape to do the chequers - I'm never doing chequers again :ROFLMAO:

I might take this one back to full rust yet.
 
I don't think anyone here will want it but I've decided to try and sell my old and creaking but much loved A7. It's in the "Other" section along with a rather nice Panasonic TZ100, 1" sensor, 25-250mm with a nice Lowepro bag.

I'll probably regret selling this at some point and I have loved it but in recent times I've realised that I have way too much stuff.

PS.
And the A7 has sold. I have loved this camera and I regret selling it already but the kit collection should be slimmed down and these things aren't ornaments. I've taken some of my favourite pictures with this camera, I hope the A7III and A7cII can do as well.
 
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IMG_3615.jpegFirst real try at Astro.
Tried to Downloaded a million stacking programs and they are either dead complicated or don’t work on Mac.

Need to put a lot more time into it as I still don’t get a lot of it
They said to take multiple milky way images and stack them for more detail but I just get star trails using the software and using LR hdr stackers makes little difference
 

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woof woof said:
I don't think anyone here will want it but I've decided to try and sell my old and creaking but much loved A7. It's in the "Other" section along with a rather nice Panasonic TZ100, 1" sensor, 25-250mm with a nice Lowepro bag.

I'll probably regret selling this at some point and I have loved it but in recent times I've realised that I have way too much stuff.

PS.
And the A7 has sold. I have loved this camera and I regret selling it already but the kit collection should be slimmed down and these things aren't ornaments. I've taken some of my favourite pictures with this camera, I hope the A7III and A7cII can do as well.
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Would have taken it myself if I had seen it in time.
Have been looking for a cheap camera for my son

If TP had a museum this camera would definitely belong in there :ROFLMAO:
 
You could always buy him my TZ100 :D

I'm surprised there's been no buyer for this camera. I think I'll leave it up today and if there's no interest by my bed time I'll decide there never will be and keep it as it will see some use :D I normally take it out when I don't think I'll want to use a larger camera.
 
To carry this on in a more appropriate thread:
f/2.8 said:
Thanks to Aftershoot etc. I am not to far behind. Running about 12 weddings behind at the minute and thats only because we had a mental busy start to September. Start of September we had 6 weddings in 8 days. Starting to slacken off now so will get caught up in no time. Think i have only used the 120fps once for confetti and it was ridiculous so I haven't bothered since. Great camera though colours etc. straight out of camera are absolutely superb.
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Aftershoot has been a game changer for me, really on top of things at the moment. More time working on stuff that isn't a backlog of editing. Start of September is always a busy weekend think it's because it's still "summer" but venue prices drop. I can imagine 120fps confetti was insane, I'm usually on the lowest setting for the A9ii as I was taking too many images.

Have you explored the flash sync options?

With all this said...I'm not getting a new camera, I'm not getting a new camera, I'm not getting a new camera :rolleyes:
 
T_J_G said:
To carry this on in a more appropriate thread:


Aftershoot has been a game changer for me, really on top of things at the moment. More time working on stuff that isn't a backlog of editing. Start of September is always a busy weekend think it's because it's still "summer" but venue prices drop. I can imagine 120fps confetti was insane, I'm usually on the lowest setting for the A9ii as I was taking too many images.

Have you explored the flash sync options?

With all this said...I'm not getting a new camera, I'm not getting a new camera, I'm not getting a new camera :rolleyes:
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Sorry to be the bearer of bad new but the flash sync speed is absolutely incredible. :D

A9III is far and away the best camera for weddings I have used. Insane speed in terms of the camera, the a.f, the flash sync, incredible. Then add the fact that is far and away the best in terms of ergonomics from the Sony bodies and the surprising thing for me when I first got is that it also has far and away the best colour science. Editing files using the A9III is ridiculously easy.

Aftershoot is definitely a big help, although not the all singing all dancing just fire images in and your done solution they like to claim it is. I only became mostly happy with my profile after uploading over 20k images. The new instant profile bizarrely actually seems to do a better job of replicating my editing style. I know some people who found it completely useless as well to be fair, it can't seem to replicate some editing styles and I am personally not happy with crop or with masking. Although I can now comfortably edit out 2/3 weddings a day which I would never have been able to do before. I knocked out 2 weddings, an elopement and an engagement session today for example.

It its been a funny old year wedding wise, wedding season was busier than it has ever been but the end of the year is pretty quiet for me with is unusual as we are usually reasonably busy up until the end of the year. Although in saying that I can't say I am too unhappy with not having that many winter weddings this year as last year was murder.

How you finding things yourself? I have stopped visiting all of the wedding photographer places as the moaning does my head in. There does seem to be a general downward turn although we haven't really seen a big drop in booking ourselves. Every venue we visit and every vendor seems to be complaining though. I guess the cost of living crisis is having a bit of an impact. We have always shot a lot of smaller weddings anyway so I guess that has helped us as they seem more popular than ever.
 
f/2.8 said:
Sorry to be the bearer of bad new but the flash sync speed is absolutely incredible. :D

A9III is far and away the best camera for weddings I have used. Insane speed in terms of the camera, the a.f, the flash sync, incredible. Then add the fact that is far and away the best in terms of ergonomics from the Sony bodies and the surprising thing for me when I first got is that it also has far and away the best colour science. Editing files using the A9III is ridiculously easy.

Aftershoot is definitely a big help, although not the all singing all dancing just fire images in and your done solution they like to claim it is. I only became mostly happy with my profile after uploading over 20k images. The new instant profile bizarrely actually seems to do a better job of replicating my editing style. I know some people who found it completely useless as well to be fair, it can't seem to replicate some editing styles and I am personally not happy with crop or with masking. Although I can now comfortably edit out 2/3 weddings a day which I would never have been able to do before. I knocked out 2 weddings, an elopement and an engagement session today for example.

It its been a funny old year wedding wise, wedding season was busier than it has ever been but the end of the year is pretty quiet for me with is unusual as we are usually reasonably busy up until the end of the year. Although in saying that I can't say I am too unhappy with not having that many winter weddings this year as last year was murder.

How you finding things yourself? I have stopped visiting all of the wedding photographer places as the moaning does my head in. There does seem to be a general downward turn although we haven't really seen a big drop in booking ourselves. Every venue we visit and every vendor seems to be complaining though. I guess the cost of living crisis is having a bit of an impact. We have always shot a lot of smaller weddings anyway so I guess that has helped us as they seem more popular than ever.
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shhhhh!

I don't cull using Aftershoot, just. base edit, but like you can turn weddings around quickly. Haven't gone over 4 weeks delivery time this year (and last year) and in fact my last one was delivered less than 2 weeks after their wedding.

You're right, it's been a bit of a funny year, I've been slightly quiter (lost interest and got lazy in my marketing as well as taking a whole month off in April). Next year is looking really busy. I think some are struggling as they are not moving with the times, as well as the new trend of content creators, your work really has to stand out to be considered. I'm also in double digits for 2027 which is promising and this month has been REALLY good for new bookings. Seeing a trend where if people enquire, they book almost there and then, if they want a zoom call etc then it's less of a certainty. People just don't want to talk anymore. A LOT of videographers seem to be struggling for next year again I think this is down to content creators but again most are stubborn and don't want to move with the times and expect clients to wait 3/4 months for their video.

I'm part of a few groups, but tend to avoid posting/engaging as you say it's people giving advice that have an empty diary, or people wanting another to work for them for 60p and a pack of skittles.
 
T_J_G said:
shhhhh!

I don't cull using Aftershoot, just. base edit, but like you can turn weddings around quickly. Haven't gone over 4 weeks delivery time this year (and last year) and in fact my last one was delivered less than 2 weeks after their wedding.

You're right, it's been a bit of a funny year, I've been slightly quiter (lost interest and got lazy in my marketing as well as taking a whole month off in April). Next year is looking really busy. I think some are struggling as they are not moving with the times, as well as the new trend of content creators, your work really has to stand out to be considered. I'm also in double digits for 2027 which is promising and this month has been REALLY good for new bookings. Seeing a trend where if people enquire, they book almost there and then, if they want a zoom call etc then it's less of a certainty. People just don't want to talk anymore. A LOT of videographers seem to be struggling for next year again I think this is down to content creators but again most are stubborn and don't want to move with the times and expect clients to wait 3/4 months for their video.

I'm part of a few groups, but tend to avoid posting/engaging as you say it's people giving advice that have an empty diary, or people wanting another to work for them for 60p and a pack of skittles.
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That is pretty good going at this stage for 2027 already. I think we have 7 or 8 without checking.

I rarely do calls, well I never offer them unless the couple asks, think I have probably done 3 or 4 this year. As you say most couples especially younger couples prefer just to do everything by email and having to speak to someone absolutely horrifies them. :D My own kids are the same. We have had a quiet month for bookings but last month we took loads.

Content creators are a pain for sure, just because most are so inexperienced and do so many stupid things on the day. There has been quite a bit of fight back in the states against them with a lot of photographers putting no content creators in their contract. Although there is all sorts of weird stuff going on there at the moment. A few weeks ago I seen somewhere that some venues are making all photographers sign a contract saying that the venue owns copyright and must be supplied images before even the couple or they won't let you shoot there. Apparently there is also some venues in the states that won't let you shoot there unless you provide your card information which they then use to bill you at an hourly rate if guests are late arriving for dinner due to the shoot taking too long or running behind etc. Absolute madness.

I would definitely prefer no content creators being there as they get in the way a lot more than videographers. I have been telling couples that we produce content ourselves and will just hand it over to them at no extra fee as it saves us having to deal with them. We just grab some stuff on our phones when possible and a pocket 3 and my eldest puts it together for them. Although we may look at offering that as an add on later on down the line. The video guys are definitely in big trouble because of them, especially those in the budget to mid range price range.

Elopements are great for us don't know were your based or if they are an option for you, but elopements are very popular here, probably shot about 15 or so this year ourselves. We get a lot of couples from the states and Canada, even had Saudi and Hong Kong this year as well. 4 hour elopement photography costs the same as an all day wedding so a lot less work for the money. Have seen some guys even doing 2 a day regularly.

I have been shooting weddings with my wife since 2014 and shot for another year or so with another photographer before that, so have seen a lot of changes over the time, as you said if you don't evolve you get left behind. You might want to try Lemon8 if you haven't already, it's basically TikToks answer to instagram. We only set up an account the other day and have already had a couple of enquiries direct from there before we even had any followers. Younger people in particular seemed to have moved away from hanging out on instagram and its fast becoming the place were the old people hang out as my kids would say.
 
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f/2.8 said:
That is pretty good going at this stage for 2027 already. I think we have 7 or 8 without checking.

I rarely do calls, well I never offer them unless the couple asks, think I have probably done 3 or 4 this year. As you say most couples especially younger couples prefer just to do everything by email and having to speak to someone absolutely horrifies them. :D My own kids are the same. We have had a quiet month for bookings but last month we took loads.

Content creators are a pain for sure, just because most are so inexperienced and do so many stupid things on the day. There has been quite a bit of fight back in the states against them with a lot of photographers putting no content creators in their contract. Although there is all sorts of weird stuff going on there at the moment. A few weeks ago I seen somewhere that some venues are making all photographers sign a contract saying that the venue owns copyright and must be supplied images before even the couple or they won't let you shoot there. Apparently there is also some venues in the states that won't let you shoot there unless you provide your card information which they then use to bill you at an hourly rate if guests are late arriving for dinner due to the shoot taking too long or running behind etc. Absolute madness.

I would definitely prefer no content creators being there as they get in the way a lot more than videographers. I have been telling couples that we produce content ourselves and will just hand it over to them at no extra fee as it saves us having to deal with them. We just grab some stuff on our phones when possible and a pocket 3 and my eldest puts it together for them. Although we may look at offering that as an add on later on down the line. The video guys are definitely in big trouble because of them, especially those in the budget to mid range price range.

Elopements are great for us don't know were your based or if they are an option for you, but elopements are very popular here, probably shot about 15 or so this year ourselves. We get a lot of couples from the states and Canada, even had Saudi and Hong Kong this year as well. 4 hour elopement photography costs the same as an all day wedding so a lot less work for the money. Have seen some guys even doing 2 a day regularly.

I have been shooting weddings with my wife since 2014 and shot for another year or so with another photographer before that, so have seen a lot of changes over the time, as you said if you don't evolve you get left behind. You might want to try Lemon8 if you haven't already, it's basically TikToks answer to instagram. We only set up an account the other day and have already had a couple of enquiries direct from there before we even had any followers. Younger people in particular seemed to have moved away from hanging out on instagram and its fast becoming the place were the old people hang out as my kids would say.
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Most I’ve worked with have been pretty good to be fair, it’s better when they bring something to the table rather than shooting over your shoulder then delivering the next day. Interesting to see when the market gets over saturated as it’s so easy to do and where the price falls. Because ultimately anyone with a £1000 phone can do it. I’m not going to have a contract against them as I think they’ll only hurt bookings and at the end of the day, as long as I get paid….there has been a few instances where I’ve rushed to get previews out before the content creator gets theirs across and more photographers and videographer need to adapt to this.

That stuff in the USA sounds nuts. Hopefully it stays that side of the pond.

I’ll have a look into that app, struggling to keep up with the others as it is. But IG is very good for me and brings in a fair few leads!

I’m in Kent so not a particularly good spot for elopements. But something to consider, I do a few registry office 2 hour jobs midweek which is always nice little earner and low stress.
 
Our first sunrise in Snowdonia was a Thursday morning. I thought I'd pay a visit to that famous lone tree - 10 minutes from where we were staying - because it should be nice & quiet..... Which it would have been if there wasn't someone (I didn't catch who!) running a workshop there...... Anyway, I managed to squeeze myself in amongst the other friendly people to snap off a few frames on the tiny shoreline.....

I went back on the Saturday morning (images to follow at some point) and it was just me and a Danish couple!


*** by Lee, on Flickr
 
LeeRatters said:
Our first sunrise in Snowdonia was a Thursday morning. I thought I'd pay a visit to that famous lone tree - 10 minutes from where we were staying - because it should be nice & quiet..... Which it would have been if there wasn't someone (I didn't catch who!) running a workshop there...... Anyway, I managed to squeeze myself in amongst the other friendly people to snap off a few frames on the tiny shoreline.....

I went back on the Saturday morning (images to follow at some point) and it was just me and a Danish couple!


*** by Lee, on Flickr
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Stunning. I'm not aware of "that famous tree" though :oops: :$
 
LeeRatters said:
Our first sunrise in Snowdonia was a Thursday morning. I thought I'd pay a visit to that famous lone tree - 10 minutes from where we were staying - because it should be nice & quiet..... Which it would have been if there wasn't someone (I didn't catch who!) running a workshop there...... Anyway, I managed to squeeze myself in amongst the other friendly people to snap off a few frames on the tiny shoreline.....

I went back on the Saturday morning (images to follow at some point) and it was just me and a Danish couple!


*** by Lee, on Flickr
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Fantastic shot, thanks for sharing
 
LeeRatters said:
Our first sunrise in Snowdonia was a Thursday morning. I thought I'd pay a visit to that famous lone tree - 10 minutes from where we were staying - because it should be nice & quiet..... Which it would have been if there wasn't someone (I didn't catch who!) running a workshop there...... Anyway, I managed to squeeze myself in amongst the other friendly people to snap off a few frames on the tiny shoreline.....

I went back on the Saturday morning (images to follow at some point) and it was just me and a Danish couple!


*** by Lee, on Flickr
Click to expand...

That's really nice Lee.
 
LeeRatters said:
Our first sunrise in Snowdonia was a Thursday morning. I thought I'd pay a visit to that famous lone tree - 10 minutes from where we were staying - because it should be nice & quiet..... Which it would have been if there wasn't someone (I didn't catch who!) running a workshop there...... Anyway, I managed to squeeze myself in amongst the other friendly people to snap off a few frames on the tiny shoreline.....

I went back on the Saturday morning (images to follow at some point) and it was just me and a Danish couple!


*** by Lee, on Flickr
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Lovely shot Lee, well worth the early start.
It is fairly well known, couple of years ago, at a show in North Wales, the photo comp subject was tree and one of the few rules were:

“ No pictures of that tree”

Most people knew which tree they were referring to:)
 
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ancient_mariner said:
That's really nice Lee.
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Thank you Toni :)

nog said:
Lovely shot Lee, well worth the early start.
It is fairly well known, couple of years ago, at a show in North Wales, the photo comp subject was tree and one of the few rules were:

“ No pictures of that tree”

Most people knew which tree they were referring to:)
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Thanks Keith. I had plenty of early starts :ROFLMAO: I think I missed one sunrise out of twelve :)I/we did hit a lot of the 'common' shots but hopefully I've got some other decent stuff too & next time we will explore much more.
 
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LeeRatters said:
Thanks you two. Probably the most famous tree in North Wales! Llyn Padarn at Llanberis.
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The only tree I know/knew was the Sycamore Gap one :oops: :$ I have seen photos of a tree like that but I must be honest I always thought it was in the Lake District, unless there's a similar one there too :thinking:
 
Had a play with someone's A1 Mark II today, I'm clearly in the monority but I prefer the grip/ergonomics of my 1st gen A1 :oops: :$
 
I hope you guys don't get bored of North Wales easily.....? :ROFLMAO: I've spent months shooting street & snapshots with the X100f so now it's the turn of the Sony thread :ROFLMAO:

Dinorwic - I think I read that this was the second biggest quarry in the world at the time!!

Oh, those lines/texture you might be bale to spot on the image - Welsh rain :)


*** by Lee, on Flickr
 
LeeRatters said:
I hope you guys don't get bored of North Wales easily.....? :ROFLMAO: I've spent months shooting street & snapshots with the X100f so now it's the turn of the Sony thread :ROFLMAO:

Dinorwic - I think I read that this was the second biggest quarry in the world at the time!!

Oh, those lines/texture you might be bale to spot on the image - Welsh rain :)


*** by Lee, on Flickr
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Second biggest “Slate” quarry - and that’s Dali’s Hole
 
LeeRatters said:
I hope you guys don't get bored of North Wales easily.....? :ROFLMAO: I've spent months shooting street & snapshots with the X100f so now it's the turn of the Sony thread :ROFLMAO:

Dinorwic - I think I read that this was the second biggest quarry in the world at the time!!

Oh, those lines/texture you might be bale to spot on the image - Welsh rain :)


*** by Lee, on Flickr
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Love that.
 
Sigma 35mm f1.2 reviews on the rumor site.

New Sigma 35mm f1.2 DG II Art Reviews | sonyalpharumors

Sigma 35mm f/1.2 II at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, Fotokoch, Fotoerhardt, Calumet, WexUK, Clifton. The lens shipment kicked of this week and here are three new reviews: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF6Swa5ID7A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc1EUhpS_5E...
www.sonyalpharumors.com www.sonyalpharumors.com
 
So far and despite a couple of gripes I like it. The articulating screen and having to look to the left still bothers me, I'd rather have one that'll tilt and stay in line with the camera.
 
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GreenNinja67 said:
Yay I have a Sony again!

Thanks Alan.
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I had trouble deciding if I should sell the A7 or A7III. I decided on the A7 as TBH I thought that the III might be too expensive as IMO the for sale sections on here seem to be very slow at times.

I hope you get a lot of use and enjoyment out of it.
 
woof woof said:
I had trouble deciding if I should sell the A7 or A7III. I decided on the A7 as TBH I thought that the III might be too expensive as IMO the for sale sections on here seem to be very slow at times.

I hope you get a lot of use and enjoyment out of it.
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Wil do & thanks again.

To be honest at the right price I'd have snapped up the III but it would probably be a little much considering we've just blown a fair bit on the NC 500 trip in the camper.

What a fortnight that was!

Best holiday I've ever had.
 
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