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

LeeRatters · Sunday at 12:22 PM

snerkler said:
But won't this mean that the shutter button still focusses? I use BBF and AF-C all the time, that way I can focus recompose using the AF-ON button, and also keep it pressed for tracking, that way I don't have to keep turning AF off for the shutter button.

That's exactly how I use the Sony.

I actually shot at the balloon fiesta this morning and the camera was still in animal eye from the puppy and it started to focus on the eye on one of the novelty balloons

gman · Sunday at 12:55 PM

snerkler said:
But won't this mean that the shutter button still focusses? I use BBF and AF-C all the time, that way I can focus recompose using the AF-ON button, and also keep it pressed for tracking, that way I don't have to keep turning AF off for the shutter button.

That's how I've usually got things set.

I watched a video last night where a guy has his Sony camera C1, AF-ON and AEL button set for three different autofocus modes using the various custom settings etc, which I might look into as I can see some situations where it could be more advantageous to be able to instantly switch to Wide Area and let the camera find the eye rather than me selecting what to track. It looked a touch complex to set up, I think it was this video.

robj20 · Sunday at 1:22 PM

snerkler said:
But won't this mean that the shutter button still focusses? I use BBF and AF-C all the time, that way I can focus recompose using the AF-ON button, and also keep it pressed for tracking, that way I don't have to keep turning AF off for the shutter button.

No.

snerkler · Sunday at 2:17 PM

robj20 said:
No.

I'm confused then unless you turn AF with shutter on/off when switching between AF-S and AF-C, or you have custom modes set with different AF with shutter settings?

snerkler · Sunday at 2:21 PM

gman said:
That's how I've usually got things set.

I watched a video last night where a guy has his Sony camera C1, AF-ON and AEL button set for three different autofocus modes using the various custom settings etc, which I might look into as I can see some situations where it could be more advantageous to be able to instantly switch to Wide Area and let the camera find the eye rather than me selecting what to track. It looked a touch complex to set up, I think it was this video.

I guess that's using different reg. cust shoot set set to different buttons. I have one reg cust shoot setting to AEL button that has tracking AF with 1/1000 shutter and a bunch of other stuff. I have this for motorsports so that if I'm doing slow shutter pans and a crash occurs or something I can quickly shoot at 1/1000 to freeze the action.

robj20 · Sunday at 2:30 PM

snerkler said:
I'm confused then unless you turn AF with shutter on/off when switching between AF-S and AF-C, or you have custom modes set with different AF with shutter settings?

I'm not sure what's confusing, shutter button does AF-S if you then press the back button it overrides that and does AF-C with tracking.

snerkler · Sunday at 2:39 PM

robj20 said:
I'm not sure what's confusing, shutter button does AF-S if you then press the back button it overrides that and does AF-C with tracking.

I didn't even know you could set the camera like that tbh, I thought you were either in AF-S or AF-C and whichever mode you were in the focus button (whether shutter, AF-ON or both) would control that focus mode :thinking:

Unless of course you have set a reg custom shoot set to the AF-ON button?

LeeRatters · Sunday at 3:55 PM

snerkler said:
I didn't even know you could set the camera like that tbh, I thought you were either in AF-S or AF-C and whichever mode you were in the focus button (whether shutter, AF-ON or both) would control that focus mode Unless of course you have set a reg custom shoot set to the AF-ON button?

Same. Learn something new every day

Not that it's something I'm in need of - I find AFC to be quicker than AFS anyway with the added bonus that I can fire shots off without the risk of focus changing at all.

I know on the Fuji if I have it in MF mode I can override that with a button press for AF - so basically MF and AF available at all times.

jimmyjamjojo · Sunday at 4:46 PM

robj20 said:
I'm not sure what's confusing, shutter button does AF-S if you then press the back button it overrides that and does AF-C with tracking.

AF-C always overrides it. If you press the back button it starts tracking - then whilst tracking, half pressing shutter button only meters rather than AF-S.

I just assumed everyone had it set up this way... :LOL:

Stephen L · Sunday at 4:53 PM

jimmyjamjojo said:
AF-C always overrides it. If you press the back button it starts tracking - then whilst tracking, half pressing shutter button only meters rather than AF-S.

I just assumed everyone had it set up this way...

I don’t think I do. I’ve just taken delivery of an A7Cii and still figuring out what does what. If someone can tell me, in words of one syllable, how to set the camera up to do just that, ie, shutter button does single AF but back button does AFS plus tracking and pressing the shutter button whilst back button is depressed simply meters and fires, I would be grateful.

Footnote: I have just tried it and out of the box it works just like I wanted. The only difficulty I have is the shutter button is very sensitive and often the shutter is released before I get chance to press AF-ON.

Ed Sutton · Sunday at 5:13 PM

jimmyjamjojo said:
AF-C always overrides it. If you press the back button it starts tracking - then whilst tracking, half pressing shutter button only meters rather than AF-S.

I just assumed everyone had it set up this way...

I thought everyone had AF-ON to focus and shutter button half press to lock exposure.

LeeRatters · Sunday at 6:07 PM

Ed Sutton said:
I thought everyone had AF-ON to focus and shutter button half press to lock exposure.

I do, with eye AF on the lens. I've just never had any AF functions on the shutter button too.

snerkler · Sunday at 6:53 PM

LeeRatters said:
Same. Learn something new every day Not that it's something I'm in need of - I find AFC to be quicker than AFS anyway with the added bonus that I can fire shots off without the risk of focus changing at all.

I know on the Fuji if I have it in MF mode I can override that with a button press for AF - so basically MF and AF available at all times.

I believe it is, also it used to be the case that Sony AF was more accurate with AF-C than AF-S but I don't know if this is still true with more modern Sonys.

jimmyjamjojo said:
AF-C always overrides it. If you press the back button it starts tracking - then whilst tracking, half pressing shutter button only meters rather than AF-S.

I just assumed everyone had it set up this way...

I like to have one button do all the focussing, press and release for 'AF-S' type focussing, press and hold for continuous/tracking focus.

Stephen L said:
I don’t think I do. I’ve just taken delivery of an A7Cii and still figuring out what does what. If someone can tell me, in words of one syllable, how to set the camera up to do just that, ie, shutter button does single AF but back button does AFS plus tracking and pressing the shutter button whilst back button is depressed simply meters and fires, I would be grateful.

Footnote: I have just tried it and out of the box it works just like I wanted. The only difficulty I have is the shutter button is very sensitive and often the shutter is released before I get chance to press AF-ON.

This is another reason I don't like the shutter button serving two functions, if AF is removed from the shutter button and therefore don't have to half press to focus the only time you need to press it is to take a photo which avoids the accidental photo being taken

Ed Sutton said:
I thought everyone had AF-ON to focus and shutter button half press to lock exposure.

I don't have the shutter lock exposure either because if I'm taking a series of burst shots whilst panning I don't want exposure locked to the first frame

Kieran_89 · Sunday at 6:56 PM

What focus mode do you guys use for street shots?

I see various using centre focus point, some use tracking, others use expandable area.

snerkler · Sunday at 7:09 PM

Kieran_89 said:
What focus mode do you guys use for street shots?

I see various using centre focus point, some use tracking, others use expandable area.

Depends what type of street shots you mean? If it's people I don't do that, if it's general street photography and architecture I use the hyperfocal distance so I just use centre point on something at the right distance and then I compose my shot. I really wish lenses still had distance scales on them, I use the hyperfocal distance a lot and it would be so much easier to just set it at the hyperfocal distance and leave it. I'm never sure whether or not the last focus distance will be locked in when I turn the camera off, or if it goes to sleep so I tend to refocus each time.

Fuji actually have a digital distance scale in the EVF/LCD which is handy, not as good as having markings on the lens but better than nothing at all. I've not found anything like this on Sony for AF, and when using MF it's a bit vague imo.

LeeRatters · Sunday at 7:10 PM

Kieran_89 said:
What focus mode do you guys use for street shots?

I see various using centre focus point, some use tracking, others use expandable area.

"People" street I use MF/zone.

Urban street scenes just standard AF.

Ed Sutton · Sunday at 7:13 PM

snerkler said:
I don't have the shutter lock exposure either because if I'm taking a series of burst shots whilst panning I don't want exposure locked to the first frame

ancient_mariner · Sunday at 7:28 PM

I pretty much always use half press to lock focus point, usually locking exposure with the AEL button first, normally single shot mode, though occasionally AF-C.

snerkler · Sunday at 7:36 PM

ancient_mariner said:
I pretty much always use half press to lock focus point, usually locking exposure with the AEL button first, normally single shot mode, though occasionally AF-C.

Oldschool

ancient_mariner · Sunday at 7:38 PM

snerkler said:
Oldschool

Completely. Old fella.

Kieran_89 · Sunday at 9:06 PM

Cheers both.

I’m still searching for that all in 1 carry lens.

I go back home to Poland on Friday for 3 weeks so hoping to purchase something this week to take with me.

Currently thinking Sigma 20-200 but I’ll also have my 85 1.4 for street and 24 1.4GM for landscape.

Don’t think either of those will be suited to any wildlife parks so need a nice zoom to go with them.

snerkler · Sunday at 9:14 PM

Kieran_89 said:
I’m still searching for that all in 1 carry lens.

I've been searching for well over 10 years, if you find it do let me know

ancient_mariner · Sunday at 9:18 PM

Kieran_89 said:
Cheers both.

I’m still searching for that all in 1 carry lens.

I go back home to Poland on Friday for 3 weeks so hoping to purchase something this week to take with me.

Currently thinking Sigma 20-200 but I’ll also have my 85 1.4 for street and 24 1.4GM for landscape.

Don’t think either of those will be suited to any wildlife parks so need a nice zoom to go with them.

If you do get the sigma, let us know what you think of it.

Kieran_89 · Sunday at 9:41 PM

ancient_mariner said:
If you do get the sigma, let us know what you think of it.

There’s either the sigma or the Tamron 28-200, lose 8mm on the wide end but you gain 2.8 rather than 3.5.

Also like the look of the 25-200 2.8-5.6.

nandbytes · Sunday at 11:03 PM

Kieran_89 said:
Cheers both.

I’m still searching for that all in 1 carry lens.

I go back home to Poland on Friday for 3 weeks so hoping to purchase something this week to take with me.

Currently thinking Sigma 20-200 but I’ll also have my 85 1.4 for street and 24 1.4GM for landscape.

Don’t think either of those will be suited to any wildlife parks so need a nice zoom to go with them.

you asked for some samples of 20-200mm several pages back, just been rather busy with a massive back log to process!

A few i was processing today....

Kieran_89 · Monday at 6:21 AM

Very nice, thank you.

Ordered it, hopefully it’ll turn up before I leave Friday.

trevorbray · Monday at 6:25 AM

@Stephen L Congrats. Which lens have you gone for ?

Stephen L · Monday at 9:38 AM

Thanks. Not a total defection as !’m keeping my OM5ii for now.

So far I have the Viltroxes 20mm and 40mm, with the 55 Evo on its way. May get the 26mm(?) pancake as well. Last time I was Sony I had the 24-70 Zeiss which, despite being decried, I found to be excellent for my needs. Still have to watch my weight!

snerkler · Monday at 4:35 PM

Stephen L said:
Thanks. Not a total defection as !’m keeping my OM5ii for now.

So far I have the Viltroxes 20mm and 40mm, with the 55 Evo on its way. May get the 26mm(?) pancake as well. Last time I was Sony I had the 24-70 Zeiss which, despite being decried, I found to be excellent for my needs. Still have to watch my weight!

I thought the Zeiss 24-70mm was a good lens too, had no complaints with mine.

ancient_mariner · Monday at 5:35 PM

snerkler said:
I thought the Zeiss 24-70mm was a good lens too, had no complaints with mine.

When I was looking at Sony in 2018, someone here (I think it was Lindsay) was kind enough to send me some raw files from the 24-70 so I could evaluate them. While central image quality was decent, the edges were quite honestly marginal for a £100 kit lens, let alone an expensive thing like that. It was plainly the lens and not simply depth of field issues. In the end I compared them to the 24-105 with samples found online, and that looked a lot better, so that was what I bought. I've since seen people comment that the 24-70 is OK, and so I have to assume they fixed whatever is was that was wrong.

woof woof · Monday at 5:52 PM

Stephen L said:
Thanks. Not a total defection as !’m keeping my OM5ii for now.

So far I have the Viltroxes 20mm and 40mm, with the 55 Evo on its way. May get the 26mm(?) pancake as well. Last time I was Sony I had the 24-70 Zeiss which, despite being decried, I found to be excellent for my needs. Still have to watch my weight!

I watched a few vids on that but I'm put off by some reports of slow focus, susceptibility to flare and the lack of a filter thread. I think I've decided to wait and see what the Sony 28mm G is like.

snerkler · Monday at 6:33 PM

ancient_mariner said:
When I was looking at Sony in 2018, someone here (I think it was Lindsay) was kind enough to send me some raw files from the 24-70 so I could evaluate them. While central image quality was decent, the edges were quite honestly marginal for a £100 kit lens, let alone an expensive thing like that. It was plainly the lens and not simply depth of field issues. In the end I compared them to the 24-105 with samples found online, and that looked a lot better, so that was what I bought. I've since seen people comment that the 24-70 is OK, and so I have to assume they fixed whatever is was that was wrong.

I've seen some really bad examples, mine was nothing like them and like you can only assume that they changed the design without saying anything publically.

Stephen L · Monday at 7:12 PM

The first photos from my A7Cii, fitted with the Viltrox 20mm.

Sluice Gate by Stephen Lee, on Flickr

Langcliffe Mill by Stephen Lee, on Flickr

LeeRatters · Monday at 10:09 PM

Shot some Portra 400 on the A7Riii and home developed in Lightroom....

*** by Lee, on Flickr

snerkler · Tuesday at 7:57 AM

LeeRatters said:
Shot some Portra 400 on the A7Riii and home developed in Lightroom....

*** by Lee, on Flickr

*** by Lee, on Flickr

*** by Lee, on Flickr

*** by Lee, on Flickr

Lovely shots and processing. I'm a little confused when you say shot on Portra 400 on the A7RIII, do you have some in camera recipe?

LeeRatters · Tuesday at 10:19 AM

snerkler said:
Lovely shots and processing. I'm a little confused when you say shot on Portra 400 on the A7RIII, do you have some in camera recipe?

Thanks very much

Just that they are in a film looking style. I don't do any in camera stuff. I was going to actually shoot it on film, but I thought by the time it's finished and developed/scanned no one would be interested in last week's event

Jase · Tuesday at 10:56 AM

Can anyone recommend an ND filter, preferably a variable ND with CPL, or just a Variable ND that will work on a Sony 200-600 ?

If there are no Variables then just an ND, a few stops just for motorsport.

I tried one in the past but it didn't fit well.

snerkler · Tuesday at 11:00 AM

Jase said:
Can anyone recommend an ND filter, preferably a variable ND with CPL, or just a Variable ND that will work on a Sony 200-600 ?

If there are no Variables then just an ND, a few stops just for motorsport.

I tried one in the past but it didn't fit well.

I use B&W and firecrest, they’re not variable though.

jimmyjamjojo · Tuesday at 11:31 AM

Jase said:
Can anyone recommend an ND filter, preferably a variable ND with CPL, or just a Variable ND that will work on a Sony 200-600 ?

If there are no Variables then just an ND, a few stops just for motorsport.

I tried one in the past but it didn't fit well.

I've got a couple from K&F and am happy with them.

Fun fact, all VND will polarise - you just need to rotate the whole thing rather than just the outer ring for darkening. Basically, set your darkness, then undo the whole filter by 1/2 a turn or so as though you're taking it off.

ancient_mariner · Tuesday at 11:46 AM

Jase said:
Can anyone recommend an ND filter, preferably a variable ND with CPL, or just a Variable ND that will work on a Sony 200-600 ?

If there are no Variables then just an ND, a few stops just for motorsport.

I tried one in the past but it didn't fit well.

I reviewed the K&F variable ND filter, review available on this site.

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

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I asked a Stupid Question Once...

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I asked a Stupid Question Once...