Calling all Sony Alpha users! (Part 5)

This is a brand new barely in stock introduction though & it's already listed way below MSRP - that's unusual for an Alpha. Wex, Park etc. are all @£490.
Also, I've never heard of powerdirect before so I don't know how legit they are (Dabs of course are known).
 
Incase anyone missed it, I was on the Sony Outlet this morning and they were closed due to server updates, so they gave out a 10% off code to be used by the 24th - SORRY2013.

That makes the Sony a65 + kit lens only £378, £8 more than I paid for my a57 only 3 weeks ago (and I thought that was a good price). Damn.
 
ukaskew said:
Had an interesting first day with the a77 yesterday. Very pleased with it, but slightly disappointed with a dust issue, I left one lens on all day, and all of a sudden after about 2 hours a huge dusk speck appeared in all my shots (I was shooting large apertures all day), the auto cleaning doesn't budge it.
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My experience has been that I get dust specks on the translucent mirror rather than the sensor with the A77. Tends to happen with my 70300G which I assume is down to the lens pumping air back into the camera and stirring up any tiny particles that are in there.

I carry around a Visible Dust sensor brush to deal with them by giving the mirror a quick gentle sweep if I see them appear.
 
I was under the impression that if the mirror catches the dust, it wouldn't show up in photos...?
 
ukaskew said:
I was under the impression that if the mirror catches the dust, it wouldn't show up in photos...?
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It shows up as round grey smudges. Typically slightly larger and slightly translucent [;)] and less distinct than dust specs on the sensor.
 
Took my new Sigma 100-300mm f4 to Marwell yesterday, really pleased with the results...


Marwell Zoo by Harry_S, on Flickr


Marwell Zoo by Harry_S, on Flickr

Interesting comparing it with the Sony 70-300mm G SSM. The Sigma hunts for focus like crazy in awkward conditions (through fences, glass etc), something the Sony has no issue with in my experience, the focus limiter obviously works well on the Sony. I had the dreaded 'F--' error with the Sigma attached a few times as well, something I've experienced with pretty much every Sigma I've owned, a quick 'jiggle' seems to re-establish the connection though.

I also learned that the Sigma is no good for video using AF, the footage looks absolutely gorgeous, but the noise from focusing is completely overpowering.

The acid test for the Sigma will be the motorsport event I have this weekend, the Sony was surprisingly good at my last event so it will be interesting to see what's best. I can't justify owning both (although might do for a few months), it's too close to call at the moment.
 
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Large version of the Cat is very nice but don't care much for the meerkat photo, out of focus area is much to busy and distracting for me
 
I agree with John and I think the meerkat would be better with a trim to the left hand side as all that empty space is a bit distracting?

The cat is very nice and the B+W works well!

Mick
 
thanks for the link for the a77 + 16-50, picked one up, if i get cashback from quidco it should work out at £793 :D

hoping to pickup a 70-400g2 at some point, or something similer for motorsport.
 
Looks like I am probably shifting to Nikon.

I still using A700, well 2 of them and loads of lenses! Gonna be a pain trying to shift it all on and start again but I just dont like the new sony and SLT offerings.
 
jonesy_ni said:
Looks like I am probably shifting to Nikon.

I still using A700, well 2 of them and loads of lenses! Gonna be a pain trying to shift it all on and start again but I just dont like the new sony and SLT offerings.
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Worth trying an A580? They're basically a squeaky D7000.

I'm putting off the move to SLT too. Got a few old sigma lenses which are going to be problematic.
 
I've got the A77 and the A580, to be honest the 580 produces better shots than the 77
foxw.jpg
 
I think the A77 a superb camera as long as you got the light and can keep away from high ISO levels?

Hopefully they can do something for its sucessor to address this?

Otherwise it pretty untouchable I think for the price point with the 12 FPS and feature set like

built in GPS
24MP
magnesium body
etc etc

I hated the EVF at first but once you get used to it more positives than negatives? For me anyhow it superb all the info and actually seeing what you going to get before you press the shutter?

I wouldn't go back but it a personal thing for sure?

I now have upgraded to the A99 and it a different world as it should be at the price point but now silly high ISO not a problem :)
 
A77 is great camera, its the low light that stops me from getting it.

A99, i haven't checked it out properly but I personally don't really like it.

I am possibly going to go for a D7000 with more options then for upgrading if I want
 
A77 is really not that far behind (maybe 1/2 stop?) the best if you get your exposure right.
If you are into action what all of these (D7000, D7100, A77) cameras suffer from is a poor buffer. You need to go to a 7D to get past that.
 
heidfirst said:
A77 is really not that far behind (maybe 1/2 stop?) the best if you get your exposure right.
If you are into action what all of these (D7000, D7100, A77) cameras suffer from is a poor buffer. You need to go to a 7D to get past that.
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Is the A77 really that close? Just going by reviews and online samples so thats all I have to go on.

D7000 seems to have a good sensor. Action isn't something I really photograph TBH.
 
jonesy_ni said:
Is the A77 really that close? Just going by reviews and online samples so thats all I have to go on.
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yes. DxO gives the A77 a high ISO score of 800 & the D7000 & D7100 ~1200 so that's about a 1/2 stop improvement from the A77.

D7000 seems to have a good sensor.
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it does - essentially the same Sony sensor as in the A57, which also comes in on DxO with a high ISO of~800 - the difference to the D7000 is the light loss due to the translucent mirror & different in-camera processing.

The 16MP sensors tend to look better than the 24MP at the 100% level because they are showing a smaller image - if you resize the 24MP image (within the brand) down to 16MP they are pretty much indistinguishable.

http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Ca...brand2)/Sony/(appareil3)/680|0/(brand3)/Nikon

btw I personally don't really agree with DxO's levels (imo all these bodies provide acceptable IQ above DxO's high ISO values) but it is a standard metric.

What don't you like about the A99 (other than the price)? For my wants it looks very good.
 
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I'm beginning to wonder if there is a fundamental issue with my a77. Once again during a day of shooting with no lens changes my images seemed to grow dust. I went from 1 to 5 large black smudges, all near the bottom of the frame.

Also, not sure if it's common but the EVF goes (and stays) stuttery every now and again, not unlike watching a video on a slow net connection. It's almost like the refresh rate drops to three times per second or something. Switching off and on again seems to sort it though.

It also really doesn't like connecting to my Mac via USB, usually takes at least 5 attempts to connect, and when downloading photos it will lose connection every few minutes. Tried different leads etc, no different.

Annoying, as I love the camera otherwise.
 
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I've experienced the stuttering EVF on two different A77 bodies, it usually happens in situations where the light is not perfect. Switching to the LCD screen and back to EVF usually corrects this.
 
USB thing sounds annoying. I'd contact Sony/Apple and complain to them about it as it isn't acceptable. I think the USB subsystem in Lion is poor compared to older MacosXs. I've had far many more instances of disappearing devices and such like.

I had similar with a nokia phone. Once using Lion it would constantly not get the photos from it and it wouldn't mount properly, it'd disappear etc.
 
From SonyAlphaRumors.com

"(SR5) There will be no more APS-C SLT cameras anymore."

This is probably one of the biggest rumors I ever posted. And before you read it keep in mind that this is a rumor and not an official news. Rumors are not based on official facts.
The APS-C A-mount revolution: According to multiple trusted sources there will be no more APS-C SLT cameras from Sony. And now listen: There will be new A-mount cameras! What changes is the tech. SLT is done and dead for APS-C. This means the recently announced SLT-A58 is the last of it’s kind. No A77 and no A65 successor will have the semi transparent mirror. So what is going to happen? The options are two. Optical Viewfinder will come back (highly unlikely) or A-mount ASP-C goes mirrorless (likely).

I am still not sure if there will be SLT-FF, but I have been told that SLT is going to to disappear sooner or later anyway. I know the news is big and I have the feeling this will not be the only big news we will here in future :)

P.S.: As I todl you before Sony is working on a brand new roadmap that includes many new advanced features. 2014 is going to be a very intruiguing year!
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I said that was a likely route a couple of years ago when they first announced the SLTs and the NEX. A NEX style mirrorless with in-body stabilisation in a dslr body is the natural progression.

A mirrorless FF with the 36mp sensor would be awesome.

If they can engineer the new A mount so it doesn't upset Sigma lenses that would be even better :D
 
srichards said:
I said that was a likely route a couple of years ago when they first announced the SLTs and the NEX. A NEX style mirrorless with in-body stabilisation in a dslr body is the natural progression.
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I think that most people saw a full mirrorless replacement for DSLRs as inevitable given technical progress. The question is "is CDAF or on-sensor PDAF up to it yet?".

If they can engineer the new A mount so it doesn't upset Sigma lenses that would be even better :D
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alternatively, would Sigma licence the mount rather than trying to reverse engineer it?:naughty:
& that's assuming that Sigma release lenses for A-mount ...
 
heidfirst said:
I think that most people saw a full mirrorless replacement for DSLRs as inevitable given technical progress. The question is "is CDAF or on-sensor PDAF up to it yet?".


alternatively, would Sigma licence the mount rather than trying to reverse engineer it?:naughty:
& that's assuming that Sigma release lenses for A-mount ...
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I wish they would do one or the other. The incompatibility is infuriating an unnecessary!
 
heidfirst said:
alternatively, would Sigma licence the mount rather than trying to reverse engineer it?:naughty:
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They should do this. Reverse engineering is all well and good (I've done loads in other contexts), but if you're selling a product as compatible and you can licence the spec so you know what you're building is compliant, you should do this rather than making a best guess and hoping it works.

I don't buy Sigma lenses any more, for this reason.
 
I have to say, I don't believe the "no more SLT" rumour at all. There's no evidence to suggest that on-sensor PDAF is viable, yet, so to jump to mirrorless a-mount now would be suicidal. Why would they be releasing lenses like the 70-400mk2 if they weren't going to have cameras that could shoot sports/wildlife etc?

I think the trolls have been leading SAR a merry dance recently. A-Mount on/off, last minute radical strategic changes on FF NEX, cameras designed then dropped within weeks of their release dates? Big multi-nationals just don't work like that. People forget, but over the last year SAR have been wrong as least as much as they've been right.
 
Actually I think it will happen one day. I mean the OLED EVF is perfectly acceptable for most people. It's the one feature I really miss now I've switched to Nikon.

So what's the need for the mirror now?

The RX1 is a good sign that Sony is trying to do away with the mirror completely.

Personally I think as the technology matures, having a camera with a flappy mirror will one day be viewed as quaint.
 
way i read it is a mount remains, but how stuff works might change. how much that really matters is probably not much if they do a good job with it.
 
pingu666 said:
way i read it is a mount remains, but how stuff works might change. how much that really matters is probably not much if they do a good job with it.
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So the old Minolta stuff will still work but may be less affective then say a new design lens ! Possibly
 
Anyone using the Samyang 85mm 1.4 on the a77? Got mine today and love it, wondered if anyone had any tips on set-up though (for any manual lens really). I assumed I could save a 'manual lens set-up' in the Memory Recall (i.e. focus peaking, magnify, release without lens) but none of those settings appear to actually save, and I wouldn't use them otherwise.

Great lens though, I wouldn't consider one without peaking, it really makes it a joy to use.


Charlie (aka New Lens Test Cat!) by Harry_S, on Flickr
 
You do like your lenses Harry! As far as those settings go they are all enabled on my camera as std as only affects mf and not autofocus.
 
I bought myself a rocket blower to clean my sensor as I was getting a lot of dust in shots over f11. Took my lens off, went to retract the trans. mirror and found it littered in dents, bumps and specs. The sensor itself is completely fine but my mirror is competely guffed. I haven't been stupid with the mirror, i've never cleaned it in my life and I know it was fine a few weeks ago. The camera has been in gentle rain (I mean not enough to even notice) and some dusty areas recently, but i haven't changed the lenses in those environments. I'm wondering if some water or dust has got in and degraded the mirror over a peroid of a few weeks? The other option is grease from an m42 lens has splattered inside and damaged it?

I don't think i'll buy a new mirror just yet, as I said i get transparent blobs in the image when I go above f11 and i rarely go above that. Just a little confused at this.

EDIT : I do make a lot of .Gifs from jpegs shot at 12fps. Could it be physical stress on the mirror or something is contacting the mirror? I've googled this and can't find any other stories like this.
 
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