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

I remember writing batch files and msg files. When the pc was turned on it'd run a batch file that called up a menu and you entered 1, 2, a, b or whatever and once you closed the program up popped the menu again.

Some of our engineers weren't too familiar with dos machines so I made them disks that were batch file driven, 1 for format drive C, 2 for fdisk, 3 for creating a dos/utility file and copying all the files across. Back then when pc's went faulty some of them would only boot from specific versions of dos so the guys needed disks to get the thing booted and do the initial set up and then maybe a different version of dos to put the final system on with.
 
Raymond Lin said:
I love IOS, if Windows licence is worth £20, I am happy to pay £100 for Mac OS. I just like it more.

Most people compare between windows and macs concentrate on like for like spec on paper only. What they always leave out are

1 - Size
2 - Noise
3 - Design
4 - Build quality
5 - OS/UI
6 - Software
7 - Apple support, actual physical store you can go into, if you had to
8 - iPhone/MBP/iPad ecosystem integration.

Are those worth £0 and not worth consideration?

I look beyond cost of a CPU off a shelve vs Apple cost, I look at the overall cost, user experience. A PC might be £2,000, the same Mac might be £3,000. But I am still using my iMac. Cost me £2,000 in late 2012. Almost 8 years and I haven't formatted it once, still runs just the same.

I would be on my 3rd PC rig had I been on windows, that was the regularity that I was changing up window machines before switching to Apple, I used to format every year minimum to keep it running smoothly. A PC might be £2,000 out of the gate, but over 8 years I would be £6k down. Right now, I am still only £2,000 down...saving myself £4,000, or at minimum, I would have at least upgraded once since, call that £2,000 saving.

lr35cFS.png
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Errr, hate to break it to you, my other PC, an i7 2600K still runs the same, perfectly, probably even better with Win10. Why would you have bought 3 PCs? If you had specd it the same way as your imac is specd and spent as much it would still be running the same way as when you bought it. Plenty of people still buying and selling ancient PCs and parts for good money. I do think Apple makes the nicest all in one though, not the fastest in the world but very nice with a good monitor.
 
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twist said:
Errr, hate to break it to you, my other PC, an i7 2600K still runs the same, perfectly, probably even better with Win10. Why would you have bought 3 PCs? If you had specd it the same way as your imac is specd and spent as much it would still be running the same way as when you bought it. Plenty of people still buying and selling ancient PCs and parts for good money. I do think Apple makes the nicest all in one though, not the fastest in the world but very nice with a good monitor.
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I am going by my personal history of PC upgrade habits and routine, which would be a new computer every 3-4 years. That's how I arrive at I would have been on my 3rd PC by now. Should I go by other people's habits instead of my own past history? Clearly not, because that would be silly.

I remember a thread on here years ago, when the first 5k Retina iMac came out. People said PC were better, but they could not, love as they tried, spec out a PC with the same spec. They just couldn't because the Mac spec at that point in time (the 5k panel) did not exist. Sometimes you get these anomaly where Apple creates something All-in-1 that you can't get separately on its own.
 
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Raymond Lin said:
I am going by my personal history of PC upgrade habits and routine, which would be a new computer every 3-4 years. That's how I arrive at I would have been on my 3rd PC by now. Should I go by other people's habits instead of my own past history?
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No, but perhaps you have arrived at your conclusion because you were/are happy with its current performance and see no requirement for an upgrade... where your other machines were slow based on their chipsets and age not because they were PCs. The likely reason is Intel sandy bridge showed leaps in performance over its predecessors and they are still very capable.

A PC with the same spec as your imac is just as capable today, probably even more so depending on the motherboard, because it can be upgraded further (RAM / GPU / multiple SSD) and Windows will continue to support it, cant say the same for Apple.
 
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justa1972 said:
Could I have some lens help please ?

I have the folllowing for my A7r iii -
Samyang 18mm f2.8 - it’s a keeper as it’s sharp, tiny and wide.
Samyang 35mm f2.8 - again a keeper as it’s tiny and sharp and I like the focal length.

I also had the 28-70 but it was front focusing :(
Do I try another 24-70 or go for the much more expensive 24-70 f4 or even more expensive Tamron 28-75 ?

The problem is that I like a lightweight kit and to me the 2 lenses above aren’t exactly light weight.

I could make it all prime set up and buy something like the 55mm but not sure how much I would use it ? And due to the dust issue I don’t want to keep swapping it over all the time !

thanks
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I have the Samyang 35 mm and love it. I also have the Tamron28-75 and it’s light and fairly compact. It was the only lens I took with carry on luggage to Amsterdam in Feb and was very happy with it. Maybe get a used example

https://www.mpb.com/en-uk/used-equi...5XRJso_DM0rEBurXpFRoCPeYQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
 
justa1972 said:
Could I have some lens help please ?

I have the folllowing for my A7r iii -
Samyang 18mm f2.8 - it’s a keeper as it’s sharp, tiny and wide.
Samyang 35mm f2.8 - again a keeper as it’s tiny and sharp and I like the focal length.

I also had the 28-70 but it was front focusing :(
Do I try another 24-70 or go for the much more expensive 24-70 f4 or even more expensive Tamron 28-75 ?

The problem is that I like a lightweight kit and to me the 2 lenses above aren’t exactly light weight.

I could make it all prime set up and buy something like the 55mm but not sure how much I would use it ? And due to the dust issue I don’t want to keep swapping it over all the time !

thanks
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What dust issue?

My Sonys have been no worse than my Nikon’s in terms of sensor dust. I have always gave every camera I have ever owned a bit of a clean every couple of months.

In terms of your lenses a mud range zoom doesn’t make much sense unless you are ditching the other two.

Don’t you ever need anything longer?

85? 200? 600?
 
twist said:
No, but perhaps you have arrived at your conclusion because you were/are happy with its current performance and see no requirement for an upgrade... where your other machines were slow based on their chipsets not because they were PCs.
.
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You are making assumptions that what would happen to me, except you are not me.

I am making assumptions basing my own personal experience, for myself.

If you allow me, I with my own history (that you don't know the whole picture) and that I am me, and you are not, and assess what I would have bought instead?


twist said:
A PC with the same spec as your imac is just as capable today, probably even more so depending on the motherboard, because it can be upgraded further (RAM / GPU / multiple SSD) and Windows will continue to support it, cant say the same for Apple.
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Errrr, and that cost money? My which would debunk the whole "PC being cheaper" theory, the minute you are upgrading, you are adding to the cost of the machine. Plus Apple still support my Machine. Last I checked I am on the latest OS....it makes the sentence "cant say the same for Apple." a complete total lie.
 
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f/2.8 said:
What dust issue?

My Sonys have been no worse than my Nikon’s in terms of sensor dust. I have always gave every camera I have ever owned a bit of a clean every couple of months.

In terms of your lenses a mud range zoom doesn’t make much sense unless you are ditching the other two.

Don’t you ever need anything longer?

85? 200? 600?
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Same. I don't get a dust issue. I can't remember the last time I cleaned the sensor (+12 months) and I only have primes.
 
snerkler said:
You're allowed to go out once/day for exercise (y)
Ok the keyboard thing was a mistake, but they did fix it eventually. My computers get a lot of hammer too. You've obviously had a different experience to me, but on the whole you don't see sluggish and unreliable as a general complaint (y)
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If they can lower the price of there hardware and make it fully customisable to upgrade ram and HDD then I will give them a go
 
I change lenses a lot but I don't have issues. Sometimes I get a spot that needs a blow with the rocket and very occasionally I do a wet clean but that's not very often at all.

I do check for dust bunnies regularly by taking an out of focus picture of a white door at minimum aperture. I make sure that the camera is going to take seconds to take the picture and I also wave the camera about. This prevents any dust on the door or blemishes in the paintwork looking like dust bunnies and anything I see is definitely on the sensor not the door. I also often check like this before going out for the day.
 
Raymond Lin said:
You are making assumptions that what would happen to me, except you are not me.

I am making assumptions basing my own personal experience, for myself.

If you allow me, I with my own history (that you don't know the whole picture) and that I am me, and you are not, and assess what I would have bought instead?




Errrr, and that cost money? My which would make "PC being cheaper, a lie. Plus Apple still support my Machine?! Last I checked I am on the latest OS....it makes the sentence "cant say the same for Apple." a complete total lie.
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Raymond Lin said:
You are making assumptions that what would happen to me, except you are not me.

I am making assumptions basing my own personal experience, for myself.

If you allow me, I with my own history (that you don't know the whole picture) and that I am me, and you are not, and assess what I would have bought instead?
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Except Im not, Im looking at it purely from a hardware / technology POV. You are saying that a 2012 PC of the same spec as your imac would somehow be inferior or would have failed by now, which is not true, it could actually be upgraded further and youre stuck with what you have ( a downside to all in ones ). Note I said CONTINUE to support, as in future support.
 
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twist said:
Except Im not, Im looking at it purely from a hardware / technology POV. You are saying that a 2012 PC of the same spec as your imac would somehow be inferior or would have failed by now, which is not true, it could actually be upgraded further and youre stuck with what you have. Note I said CONTINUE to support, as in future support.
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I didn't say it would fail, I am asking how many people who uses a Pre 2012 computer as their main machine.

As for future support, do you have a time machine?
 
Raymond Lin said:
I didn't say it would fail, I am asking how many people who uses a Pre 2012 computer as their main machine.

As for future support, do you have a time machine?
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Id guess more than use a 2012 imac as their main machine.

No, I dont need one, Ive used Apple for many years professionally and am well aware of how they drop OS support.
 
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twist said:
Id guess more than use a 2012 imac as their main machine.

No, I dont need one, Ive used Apple for many years professionally and am well aware of how they drop OS support.
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As their main Photography rig? I am not talking about surfing and read emails. Frankly if you are doing that, you might as well use a phone these days.

Also, we are neglecting all the points I said people would not mention, like preference to OSX/iOS/UI, phone/Mac integration, etc. That is never in the equation as a windows user.
 
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Raymond Lin said:
As their main Photography rig? I am not talking about surfing and read emails. Frankly if you are doing that, you might as well use a phone these days.
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Of course, as their main machine for whatever. Im not sure how else I can say that a 2012 PC with the same hardware as your imac is just as capable today as it was in 2012, but it can be upgraded to a better spec (now) than your imac because its not an all in one design. CPUs are made by Intel, memory from whoever it doesnt matter, GPU Nvidia or AMD, etc etc etc. SAME manufacturers.
 
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f/2.8 said:
What dust issue?

My Sonys have been no worse than my Nikon’s in terms of sensor dust. I have always gave every camera I have ever owned a bit of a clean every couple of months.

In terms of your lenses a mud range zoom doesn’t make much sense unless you are ditching the other two.

Don’t you ever need anything longer?

85? 200? 600?
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Compared to my previous m43 and Fuji APSC I find the big sensor an absolute dust magnet !
I’m very careful when changing lenses to.
Don’t need anything to long as I mainly take landscapes - but the main reason is price/weight
 
justa1972 said:
Could I have some lens help please ?

I have the folllowing for my A7r iii -
Samyang 18mm f2.8 - it’s a keeper as it’s sharp, tiny and wide.
Samyang 35mm f2.8 - again a keeper as it’s tiny and sharp and I like the focal length.

I also had the 28-70 but it was front focusing :(
Do I try another 24-70 or go for the much more expensive 24-70 f4 or even more expensive Tamron 28-75 ?

The problem is that I like a lightweight kit and to me the 2 lenses above aren’t exactly light weight.

I could make it all prime set up and buy something like the 55mm but not sure how much I would use it ? And due to the dust issue I don’t want to keep swapping it over all the time !

thanks
Click to expand...

I'd stretch to the Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 if you can. I've been really impressed with mine and I was not convinced before buying, it's really light, with very good sharpness and overall image quality. I also have the Samyang 18mm f/2.8, good little lens isn't it. (though the images out of the Tamron are noticeable better, but they should be for the price)
 
justa1972 said:
Could I have some lens help please ?

I have the folllowing for my A7r iii -
Samyang 18mm f2.8 - it’s a keeper as it’s sharp, tiny and wide.
Samyang 35mm f2.8 - again a keeper as it’s tiny and sharp and I like the focal length.

I also had the 28-70 but it was front focusing :(
Do I try another 24-70 or go for the much more expensive 24-70 f4 or even more expensive Tamron 28-75 ?

The problem is that I like a lightweight kit and to me the 2 lenses above aren’t exactly light weight.

I could make it all prime set up and buy something like the 55mm but not sure how much I would use it ? And due to the dust issue I don’t want to keep swapping it over all the time !

thanks
Click to expand...

There is a tamron 28-75 in sales for a good price
 
Raymond Lin said:
I remember a thread on here years ago, when the first 5k Retina iMac came out. People said PC were better, but they could not, love as they tried, spec out a PC with the same spec. They just couldn't because the Mac spec at that point in time (the 5k panel) did not exist. Sometimes you get these anomaly where Apple creates something All-in-1 that you can't get separately on its own.
Click to expand...

Agreed, it was really excellent VFM because of that monitor. iPads are also still imo the best VFM tablets, they are just great, I remember getting the launch ipad, most thought a tablet was pointless back then :LOL:
 
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justa1972 said:
Could I have some lens help please ?

I have the folllowing for my A7r iii -
Samyang 18mm f2.8 - it’s a keeper as it’s sharp, tiny and wide.
Samyang 35mm f2.8 - again a keeper as it’s tiny and sharp and I like the focal length.

I also had the 28-70 but it was front focusing :(
Do I try another 24-70 or go for the much more expensive 24-70 f4 or even more expensive Tamron 28-75 ?

The problem is that I like a lightweight kit and to me the 2 lenses above aren’t exactly light weight.

I could make it all prime set up and buy something like the 55mm but not sure how much I would use it ? And due to the dust issue I don’t want to keep swapping it over all the time !

thanks
Click to expand...

As has already been well advised, for a nice fast zoom get the Tamron, otherwise pick up another 28-70, I am surprised you had a front focus issue though.
 
I need a portable storage drive, not huge capacity (1-2TB would be plenty). Trying to keep it inexpensive, but of course reliable. Any that people would recommend or avoid or are they all much of a muchness?
 
NewBeetle said:
I need a portable storage drive, not huge capacity (1-2TB would be plenty). Trying to keep it inexpensive, but of course reliable. Any that people would recommend or avoid or are they all much of a muchness?
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There isnt much variation in reliability these days, hitachi / seagate / western digital. Just make sure youre buying USB 3. Also, you'll be looking at 2.5" if you want portable. Saw a good deal the other day.. will post.
 
Raymond Lin said:
I'd love to know those who uses Windows, how old is their main machine. I bet 99% of them are newer than 2012.
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Mine is an PC ~ 2009, i5 760, original Win 7, now Win 10.
I have upgraded by adding a 256Gb SSD then later cloning the primary HDD to an SSD (1Tb), and updated the graphics card, so about £300 extra on the original price of < £1k (I can't recall the exact price).
Monitors extra on top of this.
It's getting to the stage where I'd like to upgrade to a new base unit, but it's still perfectly usable for general use, Lightroom and Software Development (the one thing I don't do is play games on it, which appears to be the most demanding application for many people).
 
Faldrax said:
Mine is an PC ~ 2009, i5 760, original Win 7, now Win 10.
I have upgraded by adding a 256Gb SSD then later cloning the primary HDD to an SSD (1Tb), and updated the graphics card, so about £300 extra on the original price of < £1k (I can't recall the exact price).
Monitors extra on top of this.
It's getting to the stage where I'd like to upgrade to a new base unit, but it's still perfectly usable for general use, Lightroom and Software Development (the one thing I don't do is play games on it, which appears to be the most demanding application for many people).
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One thing you can do instead of binning the cpu is first trying an overclock, from what I can see you can push that chip easily to a very respectable stable 4ghz from 2.8 ghz. It might mean a new cooler which is cheap but could get you another year or two out of it.
 
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twist said:
Its very capable for video. Post is where it gets fun... and difficult.
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I’m used to the Osmo pocket - so it’s a bit more to it now. Didn’t really go out to shoot a video it just happened. There’s a few AF issues as I didn’t really think about it, there’s also too many panning up shots, but here it is...looks good on the big TV! Shame it doesn’t do 4K/60

View: https://youtu.be/jXP7ADgy85k
 
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justa1972 said:
Could I have some lens help please ?

I have the folllowing for my A7r iii -
Samyang 18mm f2.8 - it’s a keeper as it’s sharp, tiny and wide.
Samyang 35mm f2.8 - again a keeper as it’s tiny and sharp and I like the focal length.

I also had the 28-70 but it was front focusing :(
Do I try another 24-70 or go for the much more expensive 24-70 f4 or even more expensive Tamron 28-75 ?

The problem is that I like a lightweight kit and to me the 2 lenses above aren’t exactly light weight.

I could make it all prime set up and buy something like the 55mm but not sure how much I would use it ? And due to the dust issue I don’t want to keep swapping it over all the time !

thanks
Click to expand...
The 28-70mm is surprisingly sharp, but it's not good if it's front focussing. I actually bought the 28-70mm as there was so much negativity around the 24-70mm f4 and the lightweight was appealing, but I've always preferred 24mm at the wide end over 28mm. I decided to bite the bullet and get the 24-70mm and overall am happy with it, it's actually a pretty decent lens and sharp. I think the RRP is far too much and probably why so many people moan about it as it's not worth it, but for the price I paid for mint used I'm more than happy with the performance. I've not used the 28-70mm since.

The best of the one's you mention in terms of IQ is the Tamron, and it's f2.8 which is appealing, but it's the heaviest and it's 'only' 28mm at the wide end.


jonneymendoza said:
If they can lower the price of there hardware and make it fully customisable to upgrade ram and HDD then I will give them a go
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Price and lack of user customisation are Macs biggest downfalls.
 
snerkler said:
The 28-70mm is surprisingly sharp, but it's not good if it's front focussing. I actually bought the 28-70mm as there was so much negativity around the 24-70mm f4 and the lightweight was appealing, but I've always preferred 24mm at the wide end over 28mm. I decided to bite the bullet and get the 24-70mm and overall am happy with it, it's actually a pretty decent lens and sharp. I think the RRP is far too much and probably why so many people moan about it as it's not worth it, but for the price I paid for mint used I'm more than happy with the performance. I've not used the 28-70mm since.

The best of the one's you mention in terms of IQ is the Tamron, and it's f2.8 which is appealing, but it's the heaviest and it's 'only' 28mm at the wide end.


Price and lack of user customisation are Macs biggest downfalls.
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Mac has locked down hardware for a reason, or theyd just be selling another PC.
 
twist said:
Mate thats really nice, good job.
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Thanks, all shot at 24mm. Tempted to (when the tome comes) instead of a 24 1.4 get a a6400 and Sigma 16mm for a little video cam. But I do have the Osmo which to be fair in good light is great quality. See “lockdown walk” video
 
I think the old saying PCs are ugly is silly these days, this is my current machine. All aluminium, ITX build. Ive owned lots of mac pro/ imac so wanted something that looked nice.

Phone distortion!

3600X
1660 Twin Fan GTX
32GB LPX 3200
ROG Strix B450-i
Riotoro Enigma 650w
1TB Rocket NVME
512GB Rocket NVME
960GB Integral SSD
4TB HGST
3x Be quiet! 120mm




 
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twist said:
Mac has locked down hardware for a reason, or theyd just be selling another PC.
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I'm not sure I completely agree. You used to be able to swap out RAM and hard drives which could extend the longevity to an extent. Obviously not as great as being able to swap everything out, but better than nothing. I understand Macs were always built from the ground up so everything was optimised to work with each other, but I'm not sure that's still the case?
 
snerkler said:
I'm not sure I completely agree. You used to be able to swap out RAM and hard drives which could extend the longevity to an extent. Obviously not as great as being able to swap everything out, but better than nothing. I understand Macs were always built from the ground up so everything was optimised to work with each other, but I'm not sure that's still the case?
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RAM and storage can be pretty generic, Im talking about core components like CPU/GPU/Cooling/MB, it helps them keep things optimised/easier to repair etc. less bloat, keeps it working out the box perfectly.
 
snerkler said:
The 28-70mm is surprisingly sharp, but it's not good if it's front focussing. I actually bought the 28-70mm as there was so much negativity around the 24-70mm f4 and the lightweight was appealing, but I've always preferred 24mm at the wide end over 28mm. I decided to bite the bullet and get the 24-70mm and overall am happy with it, it's actually a pretty decent lens and sharp. I think the RRP is far too much and probably why so many people moan about it as it's not worth it, but for the price I paid for mint used I'm more than happy with the performance. I've not used the 28-70mm since.

The best of the one's you mention in terms of IQ is the Tamron, and it's f2.8 which is appealing, but it's the heaviest and it's 'only' 28mm at the wide end.


Price and lack of user customisation are Macs biggest downfalls.
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Thanks for that - if you don’t mind me asking how much did you pay for the 24-70 ?
 
twist said:
One thing you can do instead of binning the cpu is first trying an overclock, from what I can see you can push that chip easily to a very respectable stable 4ghz from 2.8 ghz. It might mean a new cooler which is cheap but could get you another year or two out of it.
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Ahh, overclocking.......I started overclocking back in the days of the Celeron 300 and ran the whole gamut from peltier cooling with zillions of fans through to highly complex water cooling with dual graphics cards. I must have spent a fortune until I realised that if it was performance I was after then spending a little more on a high end GFX card and RAM I would achieve the same result! Also my dear wife wouldn't threaten divorce!
 
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