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

woof woof said:
I'm sure some people will look at 85mm f1.4 and f1.8 shots side by side and drool over the f1.4's larger bokeh balls. So there's that. If you can avoid that one scenario an f1.8 lens might just do. At a pinch :D
Click to expand...

I told you bokeh didn't exist way back when so I can quite easily forget about it today (or can I :LOL: )
 
twist said:
For street, architecture and portraits the A9s AF, silent shooting and 20FPS are possibly much more useful. The A7's cant do those things.
Click to expand...
I guess electronic shutter for street on the move (A9 has less chance of rolling shutter) but I'm wondering if the OP is doing people street as the way they wrote street/architecture made me think that is was more buildings than people, but that's purely an assumption. IMO the A7R3 and A73 are the better choice for architecture, and landscape if you're happy to handle the file size of the A7RIII. For me the A73 is the perfect all rounder, great base DR for landscape, great AF for sports, portraits etc, low noise, and good fps. The only thing that lets it down (apart from the ergonomics for some) is the EVF, it's a shame it's not as good as the R or the 9.

20fps is overkill for me, whether it be sport or any other photography I've just never needed or wanted that many fps. Even at 12fps I end up with too many of the 'same' shot so often rein it back to 10fps (YMMV).

Again with portraits, I know the eye AF is better on the A9 but on the A73 and A7R3 the eye AF is more than adequate. Hell, even the eye AF on the Z6/7 is good enough for portraits ;)
 
Last edited:
Lucien said:
Had the presence of fore thought to buy a house with big rooms a few years ago :LOL:

The 85mm f/1.8 still looking the favourite to start with I feel.
Click to expand...
I bought an A7ii recently.
Replaced the 28-70 kit lens with a 24-105mm for general use.
I have the 85mm 1.8 for portraits etc.
It's a great lens.
 
Lucien said:
£600 difference between the lenses based on E-infinity prices. Pretty sure these days I wouldn't notice the difference. With the ISO range on modern cameras is the 1.4 really needed? Remember trying to get pictures indoors with Tri-x 400 and no flash with a 1.8 :oops: :$
Click to expand...

WEX had mint used condition of the 85GM for £829 this morning. After applying a discount code.
 
Thanks for the responses some great advice.
I need to go and handle the camera for sure as I haven't done that, I do want to change systems though as I just have a desire to learn something new again. I think budget wise I cannot stretch to the A9 and also get a decent lens to get me going so I think based on the feedback I will go and take a look at an A7r III and see how it feels in the flesh.

The good thing is nobody said ignore the III and go for a IV .

Thanks again
Deano
 
snerkler said:
I guess electronic shutter for street on the move (A9 has less chance of rolling shutter) but I'm wondering if the OP is doing people street as the way they wrote street/architecture made me think that is was more buildings than people, but that's purely an assumption. IMO the A7R3 and A73 are the better choice for architecture, and landscape if you're happy to handle the file size of the A7RIII. For me the A73 is the perfect all rounder, great base DR for landscape, great AF for sports, portraits etc, low noise, and good fps. The only thing that lets it down (apart from the ergonomics for some) is the EVF, it's a shame it's not as good as the R or the 9.

20fps is overkill for me, whether it be sport or any other photography I've just never needed or wanted that many fps. Even at 12fps I end up with too many of the 'same' shot so often rein it back to 10fps (YMMV).

Again with portraits, I know the eye AF is better on the A9 but on the A73 and A7R3 the eye AF is more than adequate. Hell, even the eye AF on the Z6/7 is good enough for portraits;)
Click to expand...

Good enough for who? Any improvement is a good thing and the A9 is definitely better in all forms of AF than the MK3, not just eye AF, I was quite surprised by how much better it is in certain cases. It also adds real time AF tracking. @rookies didnt seem to think the Z6 was so so hot in terms of AF and youre looking at the A7rIV which says a lot. You clearly class portraits as people sitting or standing still.
 
Last edited:
twist said:
Good enough for who? Any improvement is a good thing and the A9 is definitely better in all forms of AF than the MK3, not just eye AF, I was quite surprised by how much better it is in certain cases. It also adds real time AF tracking. @rookies didnt seem to think the Z6 was so so hot in terms of AF and youre looking at the A7rIV which says a lot. You clearly class portraits as people sitting or standing still.
Click to expand...
You make a lot of assumptions ;) :p

Yes improvements are a good thing, but it doesn't make those other cameras poor all of a sudden. It wasn't that long ago the D750 was being lauded as being the camera capable of everything, and it still is capable of it all. Is it as good as the A9? No of course not, but it's still amazing for weddings, sports, portraits, wildlife etc. The A7III (according to your good self and others) "wipes the floor" with the D750. If the D750 is good enough for everything then the A7III is going to be amazing at everything.

Now don't get me wrong, I love new tech and I like all the bells and whistles as much as the next person, but I'm also the first to admit that a lot of it isn't necessary, it's just 'nice' and can make things that little bit easier. You can get the same job done with just as good an outcome with less expensive/older gear.

As for Rookies and the Z6 I understand his disappointment as it was a step back in performance from what he had, and no-one likes to take a step back. Admittedly I did too swapping from the D850 to the Z7 but the usability of the Z7 over the D850 outweighs that for me so I don't see it as a step back really. But yes I'd like better AF for when my puppy's flying about, but as you'll see from all/99% of my previous posts when talking about this I've only ever 'wished' for AF as good as the A73. IF the next Nikon had A9 matching AF I obviously wouldn't complain, but I don't need it (y)
 
TGphoto said:
This thread is ridiculous. Suggesting an A9 for a hobbyist because the A73 isn’t good enough. What.

You don’t need a silent shutter for street, it’s nice but you don’t need it. You definitely don’t need 20fps.

Don’t waste your money, the A73 or R3 will be plenty good enough.
Click to expand...

The is the problem with forums, not just photography but pretty much any gear forum.

Sure objectively the A9 is better but if your livelihood is not dependant on it, and you don't have a money tree, save the money and get an A73. The shots that you will miss compared to an A9 will most likely be faults of your own. So learn, get better and use those skills for your rest of your life.

If you just want bragging rights, go for it.
 
some very good offers on used sony lenses in wex used section with the 20% off.
they lenses like FE35/1.4, 100mm STF, 16-35mm f4
 
Anyone else seen, or heard, of inteference in the A7R iv EVF when pressing the shutter button, or AE-lock? Like a moire effect, only in the zone of focus. So, varies according to aperture.
 
Airehead said:
Anyone else seen, or heard, of inteference in the A7R iv EVF when pressing the shutter button, or AE-lock? Like a moire effect, only in the zone of focus. So, varies according to aperture.
Click to expand...

I have noticed the moire effect in the low refresh rate but higher res EVF mode. Disappears if you set the EVF to higher refresh i.e. lower the resolution.
This isn't specific to A7RIV, I have noticed it in GFX100 and S1R. I have only seen it on specific subjects with lots of texture. Also nothing to do with AF in my experiance.
 
TGphoto said:
This thread is ridiculous. Suggesting an A9 for a hobbyist because the A73 isn’t good enough. What.

You don’t need a silent shutter for street, it’s nice but you don’t need it. You definitely don’t need 20fps.

Don’t waste your money, the A73 or R3 will be plenty good enough.
Click to expand...

The op suggested the a9 and iv, go back and have a read. Nobody said the mkiii is crap, the a9 could just work better if he's looking for certain things. I am no longer doing any paid work and the a9 was worth it for me and a lot of other hobbyists. You don't need a nice car or nice things but people still buy them.

I was really pleased with my mk3 but the a9 is definitely a nice upgrade at the new price.
 
Last edited:
nandbytes said:
I was just trying out the 90mm macro lens I got recently and the AF motor makes a whirring noise. Even while manual focusing.
Is this normal?
I know @f/2.8 has one of these, and if any one else has one could someone please confirm?

edit:
AF is fast and accurate in good light despite the noise
Click to expand...

Sorry pal just seen the notification for this. I can’t say I have really noticed much noise on mine. In saying that though I do vaguely remember when I was looking at buying the lens that I seen this noise mentioned a few times on other forums including when using manual focus so I wouldn’t be concerned about it.
 
Lucien said:
Some lens purchase advice being requested here.

Some background first though. I recently bought a Sony A7ii which came with the 28-70 kit lens, which from first use seems ok. I'm returning to photography from the old film days but have had an Olympus Pen EPL-1 which I basically used as a point and shoot to record the family growing up, holiday photos etc.

My main interests are informal portraits, urban/street and just generally wandering around the streets trying to capture anything interesting or unusual. All strictly in an amateur or for fun type scenario.

My first purchase was going to be the Sony FE 85mm f/1.8 lens as my initial thoughts were to capture some better portrait shots of the family and friends as this really appeals to me. Was fairly certain this was the first lens I was going to buy so started pondering what the second one was going to be so was trawling through the range on E-infinity/Wex when I was reading reviews of the Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 macro where people were saying it doubles up well as a portrait lens. Does anyone have any experience of this or any advice whether this lens could do two jobs for me and save some money (for another lens obviously :LOL:)

This would then probably lead on to a choice of wide angle prime (I like my primes for some reason).

Choice here would be between:-

Sony FE 35mm f/1.8 @ £455 (all e-infinity prices)
Sony Sonnar T* FE 35mm F2.8 @ £379
Sony FE 28mm f/2 @ £269

Main use for the above being urban, buildings etc, some landscape.

Don't mind paying more if you are getting better, be that pics, build quality, faster aperture etc but wouldn't think the GM lenses worth it for what I will be doing. Happy to hear suggestions for other makes although I would say (and it might sound strange) but I like my lenses to look "good" and I think the Sony lenses do (subjective I know) but not at the expense of final results or usability.

Look forward to any advice or experience people have of my proposed lenses.
Click to expand...

85/1.8 & 35/1.8 (y)

Is that the new price of the 35/2.8 now? So glad I sold mine before the f/1.8 was announced!!
 
LeeRatters said:
85/1.8 & 35/1.8 (y)

Is that the new price of the 35/2.8 now? So glad I sold mine before the f/1.8 was announced!!
Click to expand...

Yep, pretty sure that was the correct price this morning @ E-infinity when I checked. I assume that's pretty good then compared to when you bought yours?
 
f/2.8 said:
WEX had mint used condition of the 85GM for £829 this morning. After applying a discount code.
Click to expand...

I really think the GM lenses (and subsequent hike in cost) would be wasted on me currently. Always possible to upgrade if I get seriously back into things.
 
OK, had a little time with the Sammy 18 f2.8 in Oxford today and at the Ashmolean, going round the Pompeii exhibition (don't bother if you've been to Pompeii - there's much less in this that one would expect from the promotional material).

Samyang FE 18mm f2.8 lens test-08996 by Toni Ertl, on Flickr

Samyang FE 18mm f2.8 lens test-08997 by Toni Ertl, on Flickr

Samyang FE 18mm f2.8 lens test-08978 by Toni Ertl, on Flickr

Samyang FE 18mm f2.8 lens test-08977 by Toni Ertl, on Flickr

Samyang FE 18mm f2.8 lens test-09002 by Toni Ertl, on Flickr

Samyang FE 18mm f2.8 lens test-09003 by Toni Ertl, on Flickr

Samyang FE 18mm f2.8 lens test-09014 by Toni Ertl, on Flickr

Samyang FE 18mm f2.8 lens test-09034 by Toni Ertl, on Flickr

This wasn't a photographic trip as such, so I just bunged it on f5.6, auto ISO and snapped away as images appeared in front of me. First impressions are that it's wonderfully compact and light, AF is typical Samyang (i.e. not as fast as the best sony, but much better than the 50 f1.8). Going through the images there's little sign of flare from light sources either inside or outside the frame, images appear pretty sharp all the way across, there's some distortion and a bit of vignetting at this aperture but not too much. The lens doesn't seem especially wide (love me some 12mm UWA) and doesn't *obviously* distort the scene, and the distortion is fairly correctable. I picked this over the Tamron 20 f2.8 because it's simply a lot more compact and a bit lighter, as well as having the extra width, and think this was the correct decision.
 
Last edited:
Been going through quite a few images this evening am bloody amaze of this a9 it a beauty and such a camera to work with. Images are turning out damn fine.

Won’t post anymore images just yet don’t want bored you all
 
What’s flash units do people recommend for use on the A73?
 
Cagey75 said:
Beautiful images,

and just suggestion here: I might clone out the light switch in the one of your daughter by the tree, and see could I get away with cropping out the strip of light we see over by the sofa [realise it's tight without clipping her toes]
Click to expand...

How about this my friend


DSC01405.jpg by Andrew Rookes, on Flickr
 
snerkler said:
Nice pics Andy. Did you add the 'glow' around your daughter's head in the tree pic or is that just how the tree lights lit her hair?
Click to expand...

It how the light did it I believe as I added no
Glow at all my friend
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top