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

Raymond Lin said:
The best thing would be something like a used Leica lens, that never loses value and get one used. Then the money would get tied up in that piece of glass, and one that I won't get a good used out of.

I think the best value is to get a used A7R3 and 70-200/2.8. I have 7 months to spend this...
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Na, dump it all into marketing and make some more ££££££'s.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Lovely, I have seen this style that is very popular these days. What do you do? raise the left side of the tone curve a little. drop the right side a little. Colour on the warm side in WB. Added grain and vignetting. I am trying to figure out the rest....
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You've got part of it there. I always or mostly leave lens corrections off, sometimes decrease the natural vignetting abit if its quite strong.

Most of it is done in HSL. I can send you a couple of presets I've made!
 
F/1.4 said:
You've got part of it there. I always or mostly leave lens corrections off, sometimes decrease the natural vignetting abit if its quite strong.

Most of it is done in HSL. I can send you a couple of presets I've made!
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That would be fun, I just want to learn and play with some more :)

will drop you a pm. :)
 
Raymond Lin said:
Or this.

What platform do you use? Google ad words?
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Adwords is a good way to burn through cash fast and can work but often the R.O.I isn't great, well not for wedding photography anyway. It works better when selling a physical product as it's more easily measured.

Social media advertising for wedding photographers has a better R.O.I than adwords.

S.E.O will have in the long term will have the biggest impact in R.O.I.

There are several things you can do and the best option is to probably split between them all, I dare say I am telling you to suck eggs here but you could split between:

Website upgrades (upgrade to the quickest server available etc.)
Website design (have a proper web designer do a full redesign)
S.E.O
Sample Albums (old school but dropping of a few free sample albums at venues you love still works great)
Social Media Adverts

Would do all of the above and then burn whats left, if any on Adwords.
 
f/2.8 said:
Adwords is a good way to burn through cash fast and can work but often the R.O.I isn't great, well not for wedding photography anyway. It works better when selling a physical product as it's more easily measured.

Social media advertising for wedding photographers has a better R.O.I than adwords.

S.E.O will have in the long term will have the biggest impact in R.O.I.

There are several things you can do and the best option is to probably split between them all, I dare say I am telling you to suck eggs here but you could split between:

Website upgrades (upgrade to the quickest server available etc.)
Website design (have a proper web designer do a full redesign)
S.E.O
Sample Albums (old school but dropping of a few free sample albums at venues you love still works great)
Social Media Adverts

Would do all of the above and then burn whats left, if any on Adwords.
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Good point...

I think new site, was thinking trying Square Space for a while...also like a couple of new sample Albums too.

I will get that 70-200/2.8 though....i did say I will get that and now i got nothing to hold me back.

btw, how do you spend money on S.E.O.?
 
Raymond Lin said:
Good point...

I think new site, was thinking trying Square Space for a while...also like a couple of new sample Albums too.

I will get that 70-200/2.8 though....i did say I will get that and now i got nothing to hold me back.

btw, how do you spend money on S.E.O.?
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Squarespace is more difficult to rank than wordpress and has much less customisation.

Spending money on S.E.O is easy do you not get tortured by S.E.O companies? We get at least 4/5 calls a week and 3/4 emails a day.

A good S.E.O company will run full reports on your site using all the S.E.O tools like Ahrefs, Majestic, MOZ etc. These all cost major bucks so it's probably not something you are gonna wanna do yourself. Once they have all the reports they will make recommendations based on those. For example they may suggest rewording your copy, title pages, description etc.

They will also make recommendations for off site stuff as well like building links. A crap S.E.O company will build a load of links which will have little impact. A good S.E.O company will do outreach for you contacting other sites in your niche so in our case they will contact wedding blogs, style blogs, florists, car companies etc. They will then write copy using your keywords and including links to your site and have the companies they outreach too publish on their sites creating backlinks to yours. They will likely also provide you with a full backlink analysis showing which backlinks you have already which are damaging your sites performance and provide you with a list so you can disavow them. Or you can just give them access to your google search console and have them do it all for you.

The onsite stuff can have an impact quickly you just need to make sure you resubmit the site to google once the changes have been made for indexing.

The offsite stuff takes longer as the links need to get indexed, a good S.E.O company can bump rankings within a few months.

It goes through the books exactly the same way as any other sort of marketing.

My brother owns a company that does web design and digital marketing, it isn't cheap. He only started his business about 3 years ago and is making major money he has an office in Belfast, Leeds and London and is also a partner in another digital marketing company in the states, It is expensive for a good company but has the best long term R.O.I.
 
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f/2.8 said:
Squarespace is more difficult to rank than wordpress and has much less customisation.

Spending money on S.E.O is easy do you need get tortured by S.E.O companies? We get at least 4/5 calls a week and 3/4 emails a day.

A good S.E.O company will run full reports on your site using all the S.E.O tools like Ahrefs, Majestic, MOZ etc. These all cost major bucks so it's probably not something you are gonna wanna do yourself. Once they have all the reports they will make recommendations based on those. For example they may suggest rewording your copy, title pages, description etc.

They will also make recommendations for off site stuff as well like building links. A crap S.E.O company will build a load of links which will have little impact. A good S.E.O company will do outreach for you contacting other sites in your niche so in our case they will contact wedding blogs, style blogs, florists, car companies etc. They will then write copy using your keywords and including links to your site and have the companies they outreach too publish on their sites creating backlinks to yours. They will likely also provide you with a full backlink analysis showing which backlinks you have already which are damaging your sites performance and provide you with a list so you can disavow them. Or you can just give them access to your google search console and have them do it all for you.

The onsite stuff can have an impact quickly you just need to make sure you resubmit the site to google once the changes have been made for indexing.

The offsite stuff takes longer as the links need to get indexed, a good S.E.O company can bump rankings within a few months.

It goes through the books exactly the same way as any other sort of marketing.
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One of my uni friend is an SEO expert...if going by her Facebook, TED talk that she gave, even saw a photo of her when she went to Google etc....I bet she is expensive!
 
Raymond Lin said:
One of my uni friend is an SEO expert...if going by her Facebook, TED talk that she gave, even saw a photo of her when she went to Google etc....I bet she is expensive!
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The good one's will be, maybe you should reach out to your friend. Just to give a few examples my brother has a contract with a well known supermarket, they pay his company 80k a month. He also has a contract with a B list celebrities businesses for 10k a month.

For a wedding photography business a good seo company will probably be looking at around £300-£400 a month. I would recommend my brothers company but they don't do small stuff any more so wouldn't be within a budget that any wedding photographer would have.
 
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As a newcomer to the Sony apsc range I find the numbering a mess and so confusing. Am I right in thinking we now have model numbers A6000, A6100, A6300, A6400, A6500 and A6600 with the latest models in bold? And within those numbers there are at least 3 maybe 4 different model ranges? Compared to A7 series that has been differentiated by mk1, mk2, mk3 etc it’s confusing to newcomers like me and now seems to have limited space to grow.
 
rob-nikon said:
As a newcomer to the Sony apsc range I find the numbering a mess and so confusing. Am I right in thinking we now have model numbers A6000, A6100, A6300, A6400, A6500 and A6600 with the latest models in bold? And within those numbers there are at least 3 maybe 4 different model ranges? Compared to A7 series that has been differentiated by mk1, mk2, mk3 etc it’s confusing to newcomers like me and now seems to have limited space to grow.
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Yes.

A6000 - Old, first of this type to be released
A6100 - New, improvement on A6000
A6300 - Old, improvement on the A6000 but no IBIS
A6400 - New this year, improvement on A6300 but no IBIS
A6500 - Old, similar to the A6300 - but with IBIS and a few other improvements
A6600 - New, similar to A6400 - but with IBIS and a few other improvements, replaced A6500


:cool:
 
TGphoto said:
Yes.

A6000 - Old, first of this type to be released
A6100 - New, improvement on A6000
A6300 - Old, improvement on the A6000 but no IBIS
A6400 - New this year, improvement on A6300 but no IBIS
A6500 - Old, similar to the A6300 - but with IBIS and a few other improvements
A6600 - New, similar to A6400 - but with IBIS and a few other improvements, replaced A6500


:cool:
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Stupid naming imo.
 
stevelmx5 said:
Sorry if I’ve missed this already (I’ve searched first) but looks like Sony are finally catching up with higher quality APS-C lenses;

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiNl62QgKbkAhVOTBoKHfx5CrMQzPwBegQIARAC&url=https://www.techradar.com/news/sony-adds-to-its-mirrorless-lineup-with-the-a6600-a6100-and-new-lenses&psig=AOvVaw25MxgWNoh1cTDA6ofij2NA&ust=1567096662316867

16-55 2.8G and 70-350 4.5/6.3G
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Looking at that review the A6100 maybe a contender as a second body for me. I was thinking of an A6400 because of the animal eye AF and fast AF. If the A6100 AF is as good as the A6400 that may be a better option, especially in 6 months time once the price starts to drop.
 
I would appreciate an updated A5100, we've had it for years and it really is a great tiny camera, esp for video, in some ways arguably better than the A6000 was at the same release time, but the sensor is getting on a bit. My guess is 4k would fry the tiny body.
 
<rant>Finally had a look at the new models and how they fit, wow, talk about paying for the odd feature and covering all bases in the tiniest way, here I thought Sony had changed their ways. Could've done that with 2 cameras in the A6k range. NVM A64/500 prices will drop to nothing and in 6-12 months so will the A61/600. Devaluing their own APSC line up.</rant>


Plus side, cheap Sonys for decent 4k video.
 
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Just before I press the buy button, are these any good :

Godox V860II-S
Godox Xpro-S

So many models to choose from!
 
Jase said:
Just before I press the buy button, are these any good :

Godox V860II-S
Godox Xpro-S

So many models to choose from!
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The trigger is fine.

I don’t like that flash, it is way too top heavy for such a small camera body.

I prefer the V350s it isn’t as powerful but still has the lithium battery and is much smaller so better ergonomics on an A7, A9 etc. when using on camera. For ocf I use AD200’s.
 
f/2.8 said:
The trigger is fine.

I don’t like that flash, it is way too top heavy for such a small camera body.

I prefer the V350s it isn’t as powerful but still has the lithium battery and is much smaller so better ergonomics on an A7, A9 etc. when using on camera. For ocf I use AD200’s.
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OK, I don't often use a flash on the camera so was thinking more off camera, never heard of the AD200's.
 
nandbytes said:
You may beg all you want but facts don't change. that sensor is from the last decade. Terrible dynamic range and terrible ISO performance. I am all for high megapixels but quality of pixels matter as much as the quantity. Canon only has quantity.
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Even my Samsung s9 phone sensor is better then the 5dsr
 
nandbytes said:
No seriously it's terrible lol.

Base dynamic range can't even match A6000. Native ISO of 6400 max. It really was the worst FF sensor of its time. In comparison A7Rii which came out around similar time seemed like two generations ahead.
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Yup the 5DSR was/is terrible, Canon blamed the high MP for the poor DR etc (they also blamed old lenses and various other things). Then there was likes of the Nikon D850 with just slightly lower MP blew it away and proved you could have high MP and amazing DR and pretty much everything else.
 
Jase said:
Yup the 5DSR was/is terrible, Canon blamed the high MP for the poor DR etc (they also blamed old lenses and various other things). Then there was likes of the Nikon D850 with just slightly lower MP blew it away and proved you could have high MP and amazing DR and pretty much everything else.
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Didn't know D850 can blow wow...
 
It's now complete! (for now)

eHcjpv0.jpg


The Tamron can only fit when sit above the spare batteries, which is handy. 6 side by side sits neatly at the bottom and not moving around.
 
twist said:
<rant>Finally had a look at the new models and how they fit, wow, talk about paying for the odd feature and covering all bases in the tiniest way, here I thought Sony had changed their ways. Could've done that with 2 cameras in the A6k range. NVM A64/500 prices will drop to nothing and in 6-12 months so will the A61/600. Devaluing their own APSC line up.</rant>


Plus side, cheap Sonys for decent 4k video.
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That’s the way for most electronics when there are quick turnaround times between new models. It’s great if you buy used a model or two behind the latest releases. Not so good if you buy brand new at release.

Looking at the specs I’m wondering if they are going down a 2 camera APS-C route with the A6400 dropped at a later date in favour of an A7 body style APS-C body.
 
rob-nikon said:
That’s the way for most electronics when there are quick turnaround times between new models. It’s great if you buy used a model or two behind the latest releases. Not so good if you buy brand new at release.

Looking at the specs I’m wondering if they are going down a 2 camera APS-C route with the A6400 dropped at a later date in favour of an A7 body style APS-C body.
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Yeah I know, I’m used to losing lots on cameras but I thought Sony changed their ways a little with longer releases and bigger upgrades more recently, seems it might be back to the old ways. Look at Fuji, short cycles, huge cashbacks every couple months, makes their kit worthless and upsets people paying full price.

Hopefully not, they really don’t need another apsc especially with no apsc lenses. Fuji has that commitment sorted.
 
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twist said:
Yeah I know, I’m used to losing lots on cameras but I thought Sony changed their ways a little with longer releases and bigger upgrades more recently, seems it might be back to the old ways. Look at Fuji, short cycles, huge cashbacks every couple months, makes their kit worthless and upsets people paying full price.

Hopefully not, they really don’t need another apsc especially with no apsc lenses. Fuji has that commitment sorted.
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No APSC lenses?

Now they have the 16-55 f/2.8 there is not much missing.
 
Jase said:
How do you rate it compared to the 860II?
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The 860II is more useful in the fact that it has a bounce card. But it's a big lump and as a fill flash you don't need all that power. So what I ended up doing is using the V1 as off camera flashes. Might get a single 350 later on as they are very cheap, relatively speaking.

The A200 is twice the power of the 860II so its quite insane, and it's about the same size.

If I recall correctly this is at full power, it took quite a lot of light to match the scene.

NifmJPN.jpg
 
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