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

I wanted to finish work early today but meetings dragged on so only managed to try the 200-600 briefly on the way home before it got dark.

Had about 10 minutes play but pretty please by how it performed, focus was quicker than I expected and although I had to use high ISO due to the fading light everything seemed OK. So quite looking forward to using it properly over the coming months (problem is I've got the urge to buy a 400 or 600 prime... must resist...)

Below straight from camera (first photo of setup taken with iphone).

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nandbytes said:
Samyang 18mm f2.8 seems rather good for the size and price going by review below.

View: https://youtu.be/f-nb6BpntFI
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I pre ordered mine from e-infinity last Thursday and it said available from 8th October, but it actually came today to my surprise. Not had chance to use it yet but hopefully may manage in my lunch hour tomorrow to take some test shots.
 
Thunderbird010 said:
I pre ordered mine from e-infinity last Thursday and it said available from 8th October, but it actually came today to my surprise. Not had chance to use it yet but hopefully may manage in my lunch hour tomorrow to take some test shots.
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Look forward to your results on this. :)
 
f/2.8 said:
Just surprised you didn’t mention the vignette :oops: :$
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I only partially correct for lens vignette man in most instances, not too big an issue for the most part. I never used it enough pal, just felt abit like that stinkin 28mm to me tbh. I'm sure for most people itll be just fine but not for me sadly !
 
F/1.4 said:
I only partially correct for lens vignette man in most instances, not too big an issue for the most part. I never used it enough pal, just felt abit like that stinkin 28mm to me tbh. I'm sure for most people itll be just fine but not for me sadly !
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Me too the vignette with this lens is very strong though.

I am keeping mine it will serve for what I bought it for when travelling.

lot of people seem to really like it which surprised me a bit.

Loads are ditching the Zeiss for it.
 
Reading the comments here, I am not ditching the Zeiss for it :p

I think I will when Sony release their own GM version….may be I should have kept the 35Lmk2 and adapted that!
 
f/2.8 said:
Me too the vignette with this lens is very strong though.

I am keeping mine it will serve for what I bought it for when travelling.

lot of people seem to really like it which surprised me a bit.

Loads are ditching the Zeiss for it.
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Cos the Zeiss is a turd statistically speaking lol. I felt like the 35 1.8 had no defining character at all. The only thing it had going for it was size imo.

Sony knew users were creaming themselves waiting on a 35 1.8 and astronomically over priced it. Lol
 
Raymond Lin said:
Reading the comments here, I am not ditching the Zeiss for it :p

I think I will when Sony release their own GM version….may be I should have kept the 35Lmk2 and adapted that!
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have a look on dpreview who give actual pictures and review. its better than zeiss for most part apart from lacking f1.4.
 
F/1.4 said:
Cos the Zeiss is a turd statistically speaking lol. I felt like the 35 1.8 had no defining character at all. The only thing it had going for it was size imo.

Sony knew users were creaming themselves waiting on a 35 1.8 and astronomically over priced it. Lol
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Yeah it probably is a little over priced for a 35 1.8 but to be fair the Nikon and Canon mirrorless one's are too, they aren't great either,

I still think the lens is useful though, the a.f is snappy and very accurate, it is small and light weight and it is better than the Samyang stuff. The C.A while very noticable is easily enough corrected in post although it is a pain. The 85 f/1.8 is very similar in this regard it has the same issues as the 35 and the same advantages.

jonneymendoza said:
The iq seems fine. Better than the samyang 2.8 lads
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To be fair hold a milk bottle in front of the body and it will be better than the Samyang.

nandbytes said:
have a look on dpreview who give actual pictures and review. its better than zeiss for most part apart from lacking f1.4.
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Yeah it is better but I think we can all agree that the Zeiss really isn't very good.
 
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f/2.8 said:
To be fair hold a milk bottle in front of the body and it will be better than the Samyang.



Yeah it is better but I think we can all agree that the Zeiss really isn't very good.
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And to be fair samyang 35mm f2.8 lens is rather sharp.

Your constant bashing of lenses that have been proven to be sharp isn't doing you favours :p
 
nandbytes said:
And to be fair samyang 35mm f2.8 lens is rather sharp.

Your constant bashing of lenses that have been proven to be sharp isn't doing you favours :p
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Sharp when it manages to aquire focus I guess you mean because the autofcus reliability is pants.

Samyang make some really good lenses none of them are autofocus lenses though, I don't need any favours.
 
It appears we all have our own preferences and biases.

In terms of focus performance, I wonder if sample-sample variability - possibly related to camera bodies, rather than just lenses - is a problem. For example the Sammy 50 f1.4 I had was enormously better than the Sony 50 f1.8 that I bought a few weeks ago, with the Sony being unreliable and hunting a lot, to the point that I sent it back. The lens test that I linked comparing 85mm lenses found the Samyang AF better than the 85GM and the Batis when it came to tracking.

The 'other' optical qualities are what's made me hesitate about buying a Sony 85 f1.8, with busy bokeh and CA, and I definitely prefer the rendering of Samyang lenses over the food grade Sony ones.
 
I was going to get that 35FE for japan, think I will just take the Zeiss instead.

Might put the money towards a Fuji X-100F even.
 
Raymond Lin said:
I was going to get that 35FE for japan, think I will just take the Zeiss instead.

Might put the money towards a Fuji X-100F even.
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The lens in X-100F kinda sucks wide open.

RX1RII would be a better choice IMO.

There is nothing wrong with FE35/1.8. it's better than Zeiss 35 for most part.
 
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Livin The Dream said:
Er... there’s nowt wrong with the zeiss, providing you have a good copy!
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Apparently they don't exist lol.
I was happy with both my copies but both were slightly decentred. The AF was blazing fast and accurate. I couldn't get along with the sigma or samyang in terms of AF.
 
nandbytes said:
The lens in X-100F kinda sucks wide open.

RX1RII would be a better choice IMO.

There is nothing wrong with FE35/1.8. it's better than Zeiss 35 for most part.
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Well, it's about the same price for a used X-100F to a new 35/1.8, RX1RII is in another price bracket completely. It's just for holiday really. I don't need the 1.4 and I am not after ultimate quality and I think a new camera with a lens attached is better value than just the lens.
 
Jase said:
I wanted to finish work early today but meetings dragged on so only managed to try the 200-600 briefly on the way home before it got dark.

Had about 10 minutes play but pretty please by how it performed, focus was quicker than I expected and although I had to use high ISO due to the fading light everything seemed OK. So quite looking forward to using it properly over the coming months (problem is I've got the urge to buy a 400 or 600 prime... must resist...)

Below straight from camera (first photo of setup taken with iphone).

26b.jpg


26a.jpg
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Amazing shot! Good job. Kind of looks like the swan is posing for the picture! :ROFLMAO:
 
nandbytes said:
The lens in X-100F kinda sucks wide open.

RX1RII would be a better choice IMO.

There is nothing wrong with FE35/1.8. it's better than Zeiss 35 for most part.
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I think people tend to go overboard a bit on line and some maybe do it in the real world too :D

The plus points for me are the f1.8, the relatively small size and weight and the close focus ability and it's the combination of these factors and maybe especially the close focus ability that make it a nice going for a walk or holiday lens for me as I can take pictures of flowers and leaves and detail which could only be done with heavy crops with the 35 f2.8 or any other non macro lens.

To me the bokeh isn't a killer as I think it's about par for the course and ditto the ca. These may be deal breakers for working pros or semi pros but I don't really think you can expect an awful lot better from what in todays inflated price market is really a reasonable to mid priced lens.

Maybe the combination of size, weight and close focus ability couldn't be maintained if the priorities were GM/Art f1.4 level bokeh and ca? I don't know. I'd certainly say that at the moment the 35mm f1.8 is the best choice for me for a walkabout general purpose lens. It's a shame it isn't smaller and it's a shame the bokeh and ca aren't word class but for what it is I think it's a good job but not as good a job as the 55mm f1.8 which for me really only lacks the close focus ability. If they could make a 35mm f1.8 with the same level of performance as the 55mm f1.8 and keep the close focus ability I'd be overjoyed. Until then the 35mm f1.8 will do :D
 
Raymond Lin said:
Well, it's about the same price for a used X-100F to a new 35/1.8, RX1RII is in another price bracket completely. It's just for holiday really. I don't need the 1.4 and I am not after ultimate quality and I think a new camera with a lens attached is better value than just the lens.
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What if the lens permanently attached to the camera is not too good. It's not like you can change :D
That lens really needs updating. I have gone through most fixed lens bodies apart from Ricoh GR III. The X100F body is really great just the lens is a downer
 
Thunderbird010 said:
I pre ordered mine from e-infinity last Thursday and it said available from 8th October, but it actually came today to my surprise. Not had chance to use it yet but hopefully may manage in my lunch hour tomorrow to take some test shots.
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After looking to buy one the other day I think I'll wait now and see what the reviews are like for this v the Tamron 20mm f2.8.
 
nandbytes said:
What if the lens permanently attached to the camera is not too good. It's not like you can change :D
That lens really needs updating. I have gone through most fixed lens bodies apart from Ricoh GR III. The X100F body is really great just the lens is a downer
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I would know that walking in so it's fine.
 
nandbytes said:
The lens in X-100F kinda sucks wide open.

RX1RII would be a better choice IMO.

There is nothing wrong with FE35/1.8. it's better than Zeiss 35 for most part.
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Not half, it's a real pity I really like the X100T I had for a while but the lens was a real problem. Wish they would update it with a better lens.
 
f/2.8 said:
Not half, it's a real pity I really like the X100T I had for a while but the lens was a real problem. Wish they would update it with a better lens.
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It's funny, I really like the lens on it - wide open it flares nicely without loss of all control, and is sharp enough for great snaps. Stop down a bit and it's crazy sharp and contrasty. I'd rather it be as small as it is and a bit soft wide open than bigger and heavier for sharpness.

But you know, horses for courses. I no longer have an x100 camera as I wanted interchangeable...
 
f/2.8 said:
Not half, it's a real pity I really like the X100T I had for a while but the lens was a real problem. Wish they would update it with a better lens.
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It's either that or get a X-T2/3 and put my 23/1.4 on it. Then it isn't as small.
 
rob-nikon said:
I’ve been impressed so far. It works better than I thought it but as you would think as an initial introduction there is room for improvement in the future. It’s pretty much only for static subjects that are quite large in frame. Don’t expect it to track the eye of a bird in flight!

So far I’ve tried it with Red Squirrels which worked quite well for side on portraits but once they moved off or turned their head it could lose the eye. I’ve recently been photographing deer and I’ve noticed a few times animal eye AF has activated. Granted it’s not been that often but it was nice to see it did work. In a few weeks I’m going to try animal eye AF for some remote Red Squirrel photography. At the moment I manually focus on a spot and try to trigger the shutter when I think the animal is in the plane of focus. This technique is definitely more miss than hit. If animal eye AF can recognise the eye and focus on it that would be amazing. Coupled with the completely silent shutter mode it could be a huge advantage for remote wise angle wildlife photography. Talking about the silent shutter that’s impressive and stops scaring wildlife off, but I’ve noticed whilst photographing deer recently that the deer’s ears are pointing in all kinds of directions! Without the shutter noise they aren’t both pointing forward that often. Its great knowing I’m not affecting the deers behaviour as much as I was but photography wise it’s a little harder!

I’ve wrote a short section on animal eye AF and a short video showing it in action for my website blog. It can be seen in the link below:

https://spark.adobe.com/page/8pcX3HXdMVid6/
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Thanks Rob, I'll take a look at that later this eve. Interesting point about their ears not pricking forward due to the silent shutter, I always find with horses, if i don't have someone to get their attention, the second shot directly after the first works best for that very reason.
 
treeman said:
Quick question please, is there a favoured 35mm f1.4 ? (obviously apart from the huge price difference from the non-Sony brands) Thanks
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I have the Sigma 35 f/1.4 I went through a period of being bored with it, but back in love with it again after buying the Sony. The best 35mm for Sony is supposed to be the massive Sigma 35 f/1.2 but it weighs a ton.
 
treeman said:
Quick question please, is there a favoured 35mm f1.4 ? (obviously apart from the huge price difference from the non-Sony brands) Thanks
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Based on images here plus reviews I'd say the ART is the best bang for buck and image quality is really good. Only downside is size.
 
ancient_mariner said:
Based on images here plus reviews I'd say the ART is the best bang for buck and image quality is really good. Only downside is size.
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I would agree, and it’s not that massive really. I keep pondering the 35 q.8 as a lighter option but in reality I’m better off adding or upgrading at another focal length.
 
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