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

Didn’t get chance to get out with the camera this weekend, working full time and trying to convert a camper means no spare time.

A trip to wales this weekend though for a much needed break.
 
I also have this lens but never tried it with a converter - maybe I'll have to get one as well ?
 
Sony equivalent to the Nikon Z 24-120 options?

I can rule out the 24-105 as I was never a fan the 2 times I’ve owned that lens.

Sony 20-70 is a good option if not a little short.

Sigma 24-105 2.8, 24-70 2.8 and 16-35 2.8 are all options.

Undecided which route to go for.

This will be primarily landscape long exposure so a prime isn’t the best option for this scenario.
 
Kieran_89 said:
Sony equivalent to the Nikon Z 24-120 options?

I can rule out the 24-105 as I was never a fan the 2 times I’ve owned that lens.

Sony 20-70 is a good option if not a little short.

Sigma 24-105 2.8, 24-70 2.8 and 16-35 2.8 are all options.

Undecided which route to go for.

This will be primarily landscape long exposure so a prime isn’t the best option for this scenario.
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I guess it depends on your size/weight tolerence, which body you'll be shooting on, and whether you tend towards the wide or the long end...
 
jimmyjamjojo said:
I guess it depends on your size/weight tolerence, which body you'll be shooting on, and whether you tend towards the wide or the long end...
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It depends on the composition, sometimes I can just about fit the scene in with 20-35mm range, sometimes it takes 50-70mm and other times around 100mm.

Hence why the Nikon Z 24-120 was so good.

Size and weight isn’t an issue, when I tend to do landscape long exposure I only take the body, lens, filters and tripod out with me.

Now I’m using the new A7RVI I can afford to shoot a little wider than normal and crop the image in but that’s now how I like to do long exposure.
 
Generally the G24-105 is a good lens with decent sharpness and detail retention, plus the wide end is reckoned slightly wider than 24mm. I wouldn't discount it completely. But if you need 'more' then look at some of the more recent superzooms from sigma and Tamron.
 
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ancient_mariner said:
Generally the G24-105 ISA good lens with decent sharpness and detail retention, plus the wide end is reckoned slightly wider than 24mm. I wouldn't discount it completely. But if you need 'more' then look at some of the more recent superzooms from sigma and Tamron.
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Good shout. The more recent ones are actually decent - and pretty damn good if you're stopping them down.
 
I also think 24-105/4 is a good lens. Probably a bit dated now....

But I also feel z24-120/4 is a better lens overall

For landscapes and long exposures I just use sigma 20-200mm. Anyway I'm stopping down to f/8-f/11. It's sharp enough and f4 is hardly an issue for me.
Though I also carry a few fast primes, so I don't really miss the f4 normally.
 
ancient_mariner said:
Generally the G24-105 is a good lens with decent sharpness and detail retention, plus the wide end is reckoned slightly wider than 24mm. I wouldn't discount it completely. But if you need 'more' then look at some of the more recent superzooms from sigma and Tamron.
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I’ve owned it twice and sold it twice, it’s soft at 24mm and it was the same on both copies so I won’t buy it a 3rd time.
 
nandbytes said:
I also think 24-105/4 is a good lens. Probably a bit dated now....

But I also feel z24-120/4 is a better lens overall

For landscapes and long exposures I just use sigma 20-200mm. Anyway I'm stopping down to f/8-f/11. It's sharp enough and f4 is hardly an issue for me.
Though I also carry a few fast primes, so I don't really miss the f4 normally.
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Definitely dated, almost 10 years old.

What they should do is extend the range to 120, make it a smaller thread size and make it internal zoom.
 
Kieran_89 said:
Definitely dated, almost 10 years old.

What they should do is extend the range to 120, make it a smaller thread size and make it internal zoom.
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Personally I'm not a fan of internal zoom lenses because they end up being larger when carrying in the bag and not sure they add much to my life in the field.

Not sure 24-105mm will get an upgrade. 3rd parties don't seem as interested. Even on DSLRs did the original versions ever get an optical upgrade? Not that I remember anyway...
 
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I wasn't a fan of the 24-105mm. I had no issue with sharpness, but there was nothing special about the images, and it was heavier than I'd like for a general carry lens. I feel the same way about the 20-70mm (except the weight), it does everything well, it's sharp but it just leaves me old for some reason.
 
Kieran_89 said:
It depends on the composition, sometimes I can just about fit the scene in with 20-35mm range, sometimes it takes 50-70mm and other times around 100mm.

Hence why the Nikon Z 24-120 was so good.

Size and weight isn’t an issue, when I tend to do landscape long exposure I only take the body, lens, filters and tripod out with me.

Now I’m using the new A7RVI I can afford to shoot a little wider than normal and crop the image in but that’s now how I like to do long exposure.
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If it was me I'd choose the 24-70mm GM2 and just use your A7rVI in crop mode if you want that 105mm reach, it's still goin to give you a 29.7mp image which is more than enough (y)
 
I’m still tempted by the 24-70 but I may explore the 20-70 first. :)

Off topic but has anyone noticed a very slow forum?
 
Kieran_89 said:
I’m still tempted by the 24-70 but I may explore the 20-70 first. :)

Off topic but has anyone noticed a very slow forum?
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Yep, it sometimes goes through spells like this.
 
Kieran_89 said:
I’m still tempted by the 24-70 but I may explore the 20-70 first. :)

Off topic but has anyone noticed a very slow forum?
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We've been having effectively a ddos attack on and off over the last couple of days. At one point there were more than 70,000 bots accessing it, which made it almost unreachable.
 
Kieran_89 said:
I’m still tempted by the 24-70 but I may explore the 20-70 first. :)

Off topic but has anyone noticed a very slow forum?
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I have the 20-70 and the Sigma 24-70mm mkii, which is up there with the GM.

I picked up the 20-70 because the size and weight (well, less the weight and more the balance) of the 24-70 meant I was just leaving it at home.

Optically, there really isn't much in it for me. Wide open corners are just "ok" between 20-24mm, but that range isn't even available on the other lens so it's just a bonus to have the option. Other than that, it's great, especially when stopped down.
Fortunately it performs best at the long end too, meaning if reach isn't enough, you have plenty of sharpness available to crop into.
 
jimmyjamjojo said:
I have the 20-70 and the Sigma 24-70mm mkii, which is up there with the GM.

I picked up the 20-70 because the size and weight (well, less the weight and more the balance) of the 24-70 meant I was just leaving it at home.

Optically, there really isn't much in it for me. Wide open corners are just "ok" between 20-24mm, but that range isn't even available on the other lens so it's just a bonus to have the option. Other than that, it's great, especially when stopped down.
Fortunately it performs best at the long end too, meaning if reach isn't enough, you have plenty of sharpness available to crop into.
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I have hired the Sigma 24-70 mkii for this weekend along with the 20-70 f4. :)
 
As it's a bit quiet, where is everyone and your photos? This is my latest little project. It's just a recasing of a divers watch but I had to make a ring to act as a spacer between the movement and the case back to stop the movement spinning.

A7cII, 40mm and No.4 close up filter.

DSC03319-c.jpg

I haven't been out with a camera much, too much to do. Maybe next week :D
 
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woof woof said:
As it's a bit quiet, where is everyone and your photos? This is my latest little project. It's just a recasing of a divers watch but I had to make a ring to act as a spacer between the movement and the case back to stop the movement spinning.

A7cII, 40mm and No.4 close up filter.

View attachment 486365

I haven't been out with a camera much, too much to do. Maybe next week :D
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Mine are mostly in the Fuji thread now, Sony will be reserved for action and portraits.

Nice watch, cool colour (y)
 
I really wish Sony had gone with CFExpress type B cards, they’re cheaper, more readily available and a lot more places seem to stock them.
 
Kieran_89 said:
I really wish Sony had gone with CFExpress type B cards, they’re cheaper, more readily available and a lot more places seem to stock them.
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It’s so it can be used as a dual slot.
 
snerkler said:
Mine are mostly in the Fuji thread now, Sony will be reserved for action and portraits.

Nice watch, cool colour (y)
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Yes, I wanted blue, green, yellow and red watches but I went with orange instead of red.

I'm surprised you're sticking with the Fuji but maybe it's better than the ones I had. Either that or you don't get as triggered as I do. I thought you'd give it a go and then go for an A7c of some sort with a compact prime, 35mm f2.8 or the 40mm f2.5. With the 40mm the A7cII has been a revelation for me despite the issues and articulating screen.

I've sold all but one of my film era primes and slimmed down MFT and MTF might go but I hang on to it as I'm never going to have long lenses for Sony FF.
 
woof woof said:
Yes, I wanted blue, green, yellow and red watches but I went with orange instead of red.

I'm surprised you're sticking with the Fuji but maybe it's better than the ones I had. Either that or you don't get as triggered as I do. I thought you'd give it a go and then go for an A7c of some sort with a compact prime, 35mm f2.8 or the 40mm f2.5. With the 40mm the A7cII has been a revelation for me despite the issues and articulating screen.

I've sold all but one of my film era primes and slimmed down MFT and MTF might go but I hang on to it as I'm never going to have long lenses for Sony FF.
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I really enjoying using it, I wish I’d have gone for it in the first place rather than the RX1R II as I lost a shed load of money on that :(
 
I think there's just too much wrong with them for me or at least there was too much wrong with the S and F I had and I never bothered with the film simulations and I think that's a lot of the point for some people. From what I've read and watched the focus is still not as reliable as I'd want and I expect that the manual focus is as awful as ever but I do appreciate that most people wont MF with these cameras. I preferred my Panasonic GX80 but now I have the A7cII the GX80 only gets used for social and flash now and when I want a tiny 28mm equivalent.

If an A7cIII comes out with the all singing and dancing back screen I'll probably get one and I'll be even happier if they up the mechanical shutter speed or fix the rolling shutter / readout for the 2 times a year I shoot moving things and I suppose they'll never do it but why not include ISO's below 100 in auto ISO for the twice a year the light is good enough here to need faster than 1/8,000 at f1.x.

While I'm here. Looking forward to our next cruise. Towel creature and chocolate with the A7cII and 40mm.

DSC02347.JPG

And Paddy's Hole with the A7III and 24mm.

DSC01037.JPG
 
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Kieran_89 said:
I really wish Sony had gone with CFExpress type B cards, they’re cheaper, more readily available and a lot more places seem to stock them.
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Supply and price of type A is certainly an annoyance
But so is unmatched card slots in cameras like R5 or Z8. Plus you get limited by the speed of the slower SD card slots if you want to shoot to both cards. Plus you're are having to deal with two different types of cards.

Considering we are already spending multiple 1000s on the body an extra £100 on cards is less of an annoyance to me compared to the alternative

Not to mention when not shooting action i.e. things like landscapes and long exposures like you mention you can just use cheaper SD cards
 
woof woof said:
I think there's just too much wrong with them for me or at least there was too much wrong with the S and F I had and I never bothered with the film simulations and I think that's a lot of the point for some people. From what I've read and watched the focus is still not as reliable as I'd want and I expect that the manual focus is as awful as ever but I do appreciate that most people wont MF with these cameras. I preferred my Panasonic GX80 but now I have the A7cII the GX80 only gets used for social and flash now and when I want a tiny 28mm equivalent.

If an A7cIII comes out with the all singing and dancing back screen I'll probably get one and I'll be even happier if they up the mechanical shutter speed or fix the rolling shutter / readout for the 2 times a year I shoot moving things and I suppose they'll never do it but why not include ISO's below 100 in auto ISO for the twice a year the light is good enough here to need faster than 1/8,000 at f1.x.

While I'm here. Looking forward to our next cruise. Towel creature and chocolate with the A7cII and 40mm.

View attachment 486367

And Paddy's Hole with the A7III and 24mm.

View attachment 486368
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I’ve not had an issue with autofocus (y)
 
nandbytes said:
Supply and price of type A is certainly an annoyance
But so is unmatched card slots in cameras like R5 or Z8. Plus you get limited by the speed of the slower SD card slots if you want to shoot to both cards. Plus you're are having to deal with two different types of cards.

Considering we are already spending multiple 1000s on the body an extra £100 on cards is less of an annoyance to me compared to the alternative

Not to mention when not shooting action i.e. things like landscapes and long exposures like you mention you can just use cheaper SD cards
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I’m looking through Amazon now and Pergear seem to be about the most affordable when buying multiple cards.

£298 for 2 256GB cards or £390 for 2 512GB.

I’ll benefit from the 4.0 gen cards too with my TB4 ports on the Mac m4 Pro.

I’ve used Pergear before and found them really good.
 
snerkler said:
I’ve not had an issue with autofocus (y)
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Some reviewers do report ongoing issues with the latest cameras though and having seen it with the older models I had that's enough of a red flag for me especially when taken with the other issues. I see the appeal and I'm happy for those who love them but I'd rather a camera just got out of my way.

Anything that gets us out and about and enjoying photography and life in general is very welcome though, it's just that I can get too fixated on the issues... not just with Fuji, Panasonic MFT shutter shock drove me mad.
 
Kieran_89 said:
I’m looking through Amazon now and Pergear seem to be about the most affordable when buying multiple cards.

£298 for 2 256GB cards or £390 for 2 512GB.

I’ll benefit from the 4.0 gen cards too with my TB4 ports on the Mac m4 Pro.

I’ve used Pergear before and found them really good.
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I use pergear gen 4.0, I don't notice any difference in performance from the camera, i.e. buffer clearance, but they're certainly lightening fast transfering to the computer,... assuming you've got a fast enough card reader of course.
 
woof woof said:
Some reviewers do report ongoing issues with the latest cameras though and having seen it with the older models I had that's enough of a red flag for me especially when taken with the other issues. I see the appeal and I'm happy for those who love them but I'd rather a camera just got out of my way.

Anything that gets us out and about and enjoying photography and life in general is very welcome though, it's just that I can get too fixated on the issues... not just with Fuji, Panasonic MFT shutter shock drove me mad.
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I've read about face detection in crowded areas such as cities, but not seen anything else. As I've said I've certainly not has any issue, and it's certainly not got it my way. The opposite actually, having such a light camera to carry around and no choice of focal length it's been liberating. I honestly think it's the most enjoyable camera I've ever owned, and IQ is 95%+ as good as the RX1R II from my experience (y)
 
snerkler said:
I use pergear gen 4.0, I don't notice any difference in performance from the camera, i.e. buffer clearance, but they're certainly lightening fast transfering to the computer,... assuming you've got a fast enough card reader of course.
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Which reader do you have? I see the Pergear one for £79 is rated really well, has 4.0 ports and is TB/USB-C.
 
Kieran_89 said:
Which reader do you have? I see the Pergear one for £79 is rated really well, has 4.0 ports and is TB/USB-C.
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That's the one I have, it's fast but it can be awkward to get the card back out as the release mechanism isn't the best.
 
snerkler said:
That's the one I have, it's fast but it can be awkward to get the card back out as the release mechanism isn't the best.
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Ok cheers, I’ll go ahead and try that one then.

I’ve just seen on eBay, the ‘official’ Pergear account is selling 2 256GB cards for £185 delivered which seems very good but they’re coming from China so I won’t know if they’re fakes or not.
 
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