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

I'm off to Thailand in November and it'll be my first holiday in 6 years or so. We've had a few nights away including a ferry trip to Holland and a couple of nights in a pod in Cumbria but this'll be a nice 2 weeks away.

I might yet try and sell the III as I don't think I need 2 ff Sony cameras although taking two out with different lenses is nice but it's not something I do very often.
 
Just a few from today. A7cII and Sony 40mm.

I always think it'd be very nice to own the top apartment with access to that top room.

DSC00573.jpg

Enjoying the view but I wanted to sit there.

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I had a chat with him mostly about sea conditions and being in the navy. He's a new volunteer and has been helping at the funicular for a couple of months. Amazingly the eye detect had no problem here.

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Might as well post a couple of panoramas.

Saltburn-30-9-2025-1.jpg

Saltburn-30-9-2025-2.jpg

Thank you for your attention to this matter!
 
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Hmmm.

I noticed something the other day and again today and it's the same now here at home.

With the camera in multi metering if I half press the shutter button I see my shutter speed and ISO. If I then select exposure lock the camera immediately switches to a different ISO, sometimes lower and sometimes higher. Also, a circle appears around the focus point. I think it's switching to spot metering when selecting exposure lock. But why? I don't think I've seen this before.

Has anyone any idea what's going on? What am I missing?

It's causing my panoramas to be over exposed.
 
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woof woof said:
Hmmm.

I noticed something the other day and again today and it's the same now here at home.

With the camera in multi metering if I half press the shutter button I see my shutter speed and ISO. If I then select exposure lock the camera immediately switches to a different ISO, sometimes lower and sometimes higher. Also, a circle appears around the focus point. I think it's switching to spot metering when selecting exposure lock. But why? I don't think I've seen this before.

Has anyone any idea what's going on? What am I missing?
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It's not the "linking exposure lock to focus point" thingy is it?
 
LeeRatters said:
It's not the "linking exposure lock to focus point" thingy is it?
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There are two settings, "Centre" and "Focus point link" but in either setting when pressing the button for ael it switches to spot metering. I like spot metering to be linked to the focus point when I select spot but in this case I'm not selecting spot, the camera is selecting spot when I press ael.

Most annoying.

The fix is to manually set the ISO when doing a panorama. I had thought I could just press ael and lock the exposure but apparently not as camera says "No" or rather camera says "OK, I'll lock the exposure for you but I'll first switch to spot." About as much use as a chocolate teapot.
 
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woof woof said:
There are two settings, "Centre" and "Focus point link" but in either setting when pressing the button for ael it switches to spot metering. I like spot metering to be linked to the focus point when I select spot but in this case I'm not selecting spot, the camera is selecting spot when I press ael.

Most annoying.

The fix is to manually set the ISO when doing a panorama. I had thought I could just press ael and lock the exposure but apparently not as camera says "No" or rather camera says "OK, I'll lock the exposure for you but I'll first switch to spot." About as much use as a chocolate teapot.
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Doesn't sound right to me :thinking:
 
snerkler said:
Doesn't sound right to me :thinking:
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I can't see an answer. Googling points me to the Centre or Focus point link options but they make no difference. The camera is definitely set to multi metering and yet when I select ael it switches to spot.
 
woof woof said:
I can't see an answer. Googling points me to the Centre or Focus point link options but they make no difference. The camera is definitely set to multi metering and yet when I select ael it switches to spot.
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I've not managed to find anything either. I'll have a look at my camera tomorrow and see if I can find a setting that makes it do the same.
 
This is what googling says but it looks wrong to me as it is set to multi and yet when I select ael it changes to spot. Unless there's another setting somehow over riding things I can't see how to stop it.

 
Very nice.

I sold most of my film era lenses including my Zuiko 28mm f2.8 which was boxed and with its hood but I still have 13 including some Zuiko's including the 50mm f1.8 and f1.4. I think my oldest is my Nippon Kogaku 50mm f2.

I think film era lenses perform better on FF mirrorless than on MFT.
 
woof woof said:
I can't see an answer. Googling points me to the Centre or Focus point link options but they make no difference. The camera is definitely set to multi metering and yet when I select ael it switches to spot.
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Has the AEL button function been changed to spot metering in custom settings?
 
nog said:
Has the AEL button function been changed to spot metering in custom settings?
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I have the control wheel switches disabled and AEL set to a custom button, the record button. If I use the AEL button on the rear control wheel it works!!!!! and doesn't change to spot. But, if I disable this and set AEL to a custom button it changes to spot.

Got it!!!! The custom button was set to.... Drum Roll.... spot AEL. I hadn't spotted the box and spot before AEL.

Thanks guys.
 
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So many great lenses for FE now, I never day one and all we had was the kit lens and the 35 f2.8 and the 55 f1.8. I had to wait a month or more for the 24-70 f4.

I wish I could devote more time to photography these days.
Sigma 35 f1.2 mk2 would be high on my list and the 70-200 f4 mk2
 
robj20 said:
So many great lenses for FE now, I never day one and all we had was the kit lens and the 35 f2.8 and the 55 f1.8. I had to wait a month or more for the 24-70 f4.

I wish I could devote more time to photography these days.
Sigma 35 f1.2 mk2 would be high on my list and the 70-200 f4 mk2
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I have the 28-70mm, 35mm f2.8 and 55mm f1.8. I've used the zoom about half a dozen times although I keep meaning to use it more. I've used the 55mm more but not that much. I have used the 35mm f2.8 a lot but these days it's been pushed out by the 40mm f2.5. Current favourites are the 40mm f2.5, 28mm f2 (despite whinging about poor performance at anything wider than f8) and 24mm f2.8. After that the 35mm f1.8 has had a lot of use and the 20mm f1.8 and 85mm f1.8 have had little. I think I've used my Sony mount Voigtlanders more than any Sony lens other than the 35mm f2.8, I think I've taken more pictures with the Voigtlander 35mm f1.4 than any other lens.

The f1,2 lenses are too big for me. I'd feel too conspicuous using a lens that big.
 
woof woof said:
Film simulations...

DxO just announced FilmPack 8 – Now you can add Fujifilm styles on Sony photos in Adobe! | sonyalpharumors

Sony so far has not managed to create a in camera built-in film simulation palette like Fujifilm has. The easiest way to get a film look on your Sony images is by using the new DxO Film Pack 8 (Click here). It also includes all Fujifilm styles ;) There are two main new features: Time
www.sonyalpharumors.com www.sonyalpharumors.com
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I've never understood why adobe don't offer these for LR or PS, they're clearly popular with people.
 
Are there any fast zooms (F2 or wider) other than the Sony 28-70mm f2?
 
robj20 said:
So many great lenses for FE now, I never day one and all we had was the kit lens and the 35 f2.8 and the 55 f1.8. I had to wait a month or more for the 24-70 f4.

I wish I could devote more time to photography these days.
Sigma 35 f1.2 mk2 would be high on my list and the 70-200 f4 mk2
Click to expand...

The sigma 35/1.2ii is super tempting for sure
I had the 70-200Gii, brilliant lens. Do miss it sometimes.
 
snerkler said:
I've never understood why adobe don't offer these for LR or PS, they're clearly popular with people.
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I sometimes use Nik but they wont run on the latest PS, I have to use CS5. Mine is just the free version though and I expect the paid for version runs on the latest PS.
 
nandbytes said:
The sigma 35/1.2ii is super tempting for sure
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Not worth the extra size and weight over the GM imo, especially when the GM renders so beautifully. YMMV though.
 
ancient_mariner said:
Don't Samyang have a fast 35-150?
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They do but there’s been times I’ve struggled with 35mm not being quite wide enough so ideally I’d like at least 28mm on the wide end, plus the Tamron doesn’t stay at f2 for long.
 
There's the Sigma 28-45mm f1.8 but I'd ideally like longer than 45mm, plus it's too heavy a nearly 1kg.
 
I just wondered, can you use a speed booster on a zoom? If you can I wonder what the quality would be like.
 
Just because it's a bit quiet :D

Saltburn scenes. A7cII and Sony 40mm.

The funicular. Just loading up a new batch of passengers.

DSC00579.jpg

Pier and beach scene and a guy who looks like he's collecting something.

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Looking along to the cliff and "The Ship" and there's a small building towards the right hand edge which used to be a morgue where they used to take bodies which washed up or were recovered. At one time I believe it was also a photographic studio.

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Looking down from the top of the cliff above The Ship. I think the sky and water could almost be Mediterranean :D

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A bit of a self portrait. I liked the shadow of the bridge on the water.

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Thank you for your attention to this matter!

Oh, and a PS.
Back when I used a Canon 5D and Sigma 50mm f1.4 I used to take a lot of pictures at f5 as a sort of do it all default, because you get adequate sharpness and depth or relatively shallow depth depending on distance, unless deciding to do something different. In my FF mirrorless days I switched mostly to 35mm rather than 50mm and at one time decided to use f3.5 to get a similar look to what I used to get at 50mm and f5 (Focal Length/Aperture = aperture size so 50/5=10mm, 35/3.5=10mm) and when out taking these pictures I decided to use f4 on my 40mm more for general use for that sane sort of look. It's something to do and play with to see how I get on :D All but the cliff top picture are f4, that's f8 as I was going for a more hyperfocal front to back look.
 
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woof woof said:
Just because it's a bit quiet :D

Saltburn scenes. A7cII and Sony 40mm.

The funicular. Just loading up a new batch of passengers.

View attachment 464558

Pier and beach scene and a guy who looks like he's collecting something.

View attachment 464559

Looking along to the cliff and "The Ship" and there's a small building towards the right hand edge which used to be a morgue where they used to take bodies which washed up or were recovered. At one time I believe it was also a photographic studio.

View attachment 464560

Looking down from the top of the cliff above The Ship. I think the sky and water could almost be Mediterranean :D

View attachment 464561

A bit of a self portrait. I liked the shadow of he bridge on the water.

View attachment 464562

Thank you for your attention to his matter!
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As you have both this 40 f2.5 and the 35 f2.8 why do you prefer the 40.
 
robj20 said:
As you have both this 40 f2.5 and the 35 f2.8 why do you prefer the 40.
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I bought it because I'm much more interested in lenses than cameras and because I could :D I just thought I'd give it a go and the aperture ring is nice to have. I'm glad I got it but maybe I'd prefer a 35mm with the same build and IQ. I do think that this 40mm is a better lens than the 35mm f2.8 for build quality and IQ and there's the aperture ring. It also has a closer minimum focus distance. The only real weak points for me are the vignetting but reviewers seem to think it's ok and the lens hood which looks strange and is bigger and more obvious than the similar one on the 35mm f2.8. I leave it off a lot of the time as I don't find this or any other Sony lens I have to be particularly susceptible to flare. Also... My first camera, Kodak Instamatic 36, had a 43mm lens and 40mm or there abouts is for me a nice general purpose focal length even if I have trouble with the fact that it isn't 35mm.
 
GreenNinja67 said:
And he's been told 5mm makes all the difference :cool:
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Well you are talking to someone who sits and analyses the optical qualities of every lens I get hold of. Down to minor differences at every aperture and distance. So yes, every change in FoV and every change in bokeh and all the rest is logged and filed away in my excuse for a brain.

I might forget to eat. I might forget what day it is. But I know the minor differences which make a difference :D
 
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woof woof said:
Well you are talking to someone who sits and analyses the optical qualities of every lens I get hold of. Down to minor differences at every aperture and distance. So yes, every change in FoV and every change in bokeh and all the rest is logged and filed away in my excuse for a brain.

I might forget to eat. I might forget what day it is. But I know the minor differences which make a difference :D
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At least you have your priorities right :)
 
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