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

I had my first go with my new to me Sony A7R IV today. Coupled with my first E mount lens a Tamron 70-180mm F2.8. Thanks to a couple of very nice sellers on these pages.

First impressions. Testing a camera an hour or so after receiving it in fading light on a dreich Scottish winters day isn't the best start. Doing so in the woods with a jet black dog charging at you is even less ideal. My journey started well enough. I quite like the feel of the camera in the hand and it feels very well built. The only concern I have is with bigger lenses and the gap between the grip and lens for my fingers. The EVF is pretty good in terms of quality but I think the Z6 is better. However there is nothing wrong with the A7R's EVF and it felt far less laggy and much easier to track my dog. I can't really comment on image quality yet as I stupidly left the camera set on Jpeg and then my only custom button change was to make the crop mode a single push. Naturally I pushed it and shot the whole session on crop mode.

It is very well known the menus are not the best but I think I will get used to that and like buttons better anyway. I usually used the buttons to navigate on my D850 so the lack of touch control doesn't bother me. There are some things that will annoy me. I can't see what iso I am shooting when in Auto ISO and I have to guess what 100% and 200% zoom are but I can live with that.

The images I did get were iso 10000 and shot at a slower shutter than I would normally use but the af has done pretty well and the file quality was good. I read the recent posts about Sony colour science but I like the colours from AWB in the scenario I was shooting and the noise was decent enough for some a pixel dense sensor and would have printed well certainly to A4 but possibly A3 too

Having now owned Cameras from Sony, Canon, Nikon and Olympus it is such a pity a camera can't be made featuring all the best ideas from each manufacturer. They all do some things really well but they all seem to have down sides. Anyways, the predictable pet photo for the first shots out of a new camera
 

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wookie6262 said:
I had my first go with my new to me Sony A7R IV today. Coupled with my first E mount lens a Tamron 70-180mm F2.8. Thanks to a couple of very nice sellers on these pages.

First impressions. Testing a camera an hour or so after receiving it in fading light on a dreich Scottish winters day isn't the best start. Doing so in the woods with a jet black dog charging at you is even less ideal. My journey started well enough. I quite like the feel of the camera in the hand and it feels very well built. The only concern I have is with bigger lenses and the gap between the grip and lens for my fingers. The EVF is pretty good in terms of quality but I think the Z6 is better. However there is nothing wrong with the A7R's EVF and it felt far less laggy and much easier to track my dog. I can't really comment on image quality yet as I stupidly left the camera set on Jpeg and then my only custom button change was to make the crop mode a single push. Naturally I pushed it and shot the whole session on crop mode.

It is very well known the menus are not the best but I think I will get used to that and like buttons better anyway. I usually used the buttons to navigate on my D850 so the lack of touch control doesn't bother me. There are some things that will annoy me. I can't see what iso I am shooting when in Auto ISO and I have to guess what 100% and 200% zoom are but I can live with that.

The images I did get were iso 10000 and shot at a slower shutter than I would normally use but the af has done pretty well and the file quality was good. I read the recent posts about Sony colour science but I like the colours from AWB in the scenario I was shooting and the noise was decent enough for some a pixel dense sensor and would have printed well certainly to A4 but possibly A3 too

Having now owned Cameras from Sony, Canon, Nikon and Olympus it is such a pity a camera can't be made featuring all the best ideas from each manufacturer. They all do some things really well but they all seem to have down sides. Anyone the predictable pet photo for the first shots out of a new camera
Click to expand...
The gap between the grip and lens has always been a concern for me with the A7 series. The A7RIV is the first one I can actually fit my fingers without scraping them on the lens but it’s a ‘just fit’ and that’s without gloves. I just don’t get why they don’t widen the body a couple of mm to accommodate bigger hands, people wouldn’t even notice without checking the specs sheet.

I agree the EVF isn’t as good as the Nikon Z’s but it’s still OK, and overall it’s a very good camera.

Nice photo (y)
 
wookie6262 said:
I had my first go with my new to me Sony A7R IV today. Coupled with my first E mount lens a Tamron 70-180mm F2.8. Thanks to a couple of very nice sellers on these pages.

First impressions. Testing a camera an hour or so after receiving it in fading light on a dreich Scottish winters day isn't the best start. Doing so in the woods with a jet black dog charging at you is even less ideal. My journey started well enough. I quite like the feel of the camera in the hand and it feels very well built. The only concern I have is with bigger lenses and the gap between the grip and lens for my fingers. The EVF is pretty good in terms of quality but I think the Z6 is better. However there is nothing wrong with the A7R's EVF and it felt far less laggy and much easier to track my dog. I can't really comment on image quality yet as I stupidly left the camera set on Jpeg and then my only custom button change was to make the crop mode a single push. Naturally I pushed it and shot the whole session on crop mode.

It is very well known the menus are not the best but I think I will get used to that and like buttons better anyway. I usually used the buttons to navigate on my D850 so the lack of touch control doesn't bother me. There are some things that will annoy me. I can't see what iso I am shooting when in Auto ISO and I have to guess what 100% and 200% zoom are but I can live with that.

The images I did get were iso 10000 and shot at a slower shutter than I would normally use but the af has done pretty well and the file quality was good. I read the recent posts about Sony colour science but I like the colours from AWB in the scenario I was shooting and the noise was decent enough for some a pixel dense sensor and would have printed well certainly to A4 but possibly A3 too

Having now owned Cameras from Sony, Canon, Nikon and Olympus it is such a pity a camera can't be made featuring all the best ideas from each manufacturer. They all do some things really well but they all seem to have down sides. Anyways, the predictable pet photo for the first shots out of a new camera
Click to expand...
When using auto iso, if you half press the shutter button it momentarily shows the iso that the camera has chosen....
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
I'm a bbf user too, and not knowing the iso was annoying me, then I spotted it....
Click to expand...
Just gave that a go and works great. The zoom issue isn't too bad either as it remembers the level you were at so I can judge 100% by matching the view on my monitor and leave it there. The customisation seems better than the Nikon Zs so that is a plus to Sony
 
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nandbytes said:
Creating panos from A7RIV files is more of a post processing pain. My panos are easily close to 1GB in file size!
You are better off making panos with a lower Res body you get files that are more manageable.
Click to expand...

Apologies, I missed this reply.

My chain of thought is with panos where you want to be able to zoom in on the computer and get that detail (a city scene or something) then a sensor with big pixel count would give you this detail?

But then would a low pixel count sensor with a longer reach lens and more stitching not also provide this? I suspect the quality would be better as well seeing as it's optics achieving it and also perhaps better subject/scene image compression as opposed to a wider lens?
 
gman said:
Apologies, I missed this reply.

My chain of thought is with panos where you want to be able to zoom in on the computer and get that detail (a city scene or something) then a sensor with big pixel count would give you this detail?

But then would a low pixel count sensor with a longer reach lens and more stitching not also provide this? I suspect the quality would be better as well seeing as it's optics achieving it and also perhaps better subject/scene image compression as opposed to a wider lens?
Click to expand...

Yep latter is what I'd suggest i.e. use a longer lens, crop less and get the field of view you want optically.

But what I mean is, say you stitch 5 shots from A7RIV you end up with a ~250mp file. What are you going to do with so many pixels?
With a 24mp body you end up with more like 80mp image which is plenty even to be printing massive sizes unless you are wanting to print billboard sizes and look at them with a magnifying glass.... but then I think you have other bigger problems than lack of megapixels :ROFLMAO:
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
When using auto iso, if you half press the shutter button it momentarily shows the iso that the camera has chosen....
Click to expand...
I forgot to mention that to wookie. I would prefer it to just show though rather than only on half press.
wookie6262 said:
Just gave that a go and works great. The zoom issue isn't too bad either as it remembers the level you were at so I can judge 100% by matching the view on my monitor and leave it there. The customisation seems better than the Nikon Zs so that is a plus to Sony
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What zoom issue is that, are you referring to viewing images on the camera? I have mine set to one press giving 1:1 as I've always done this to check focus.
 
f/2.8 said:
Heading of to have a look at this later today. o_O

View attachment 306894
View attachment 306895
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Possible birthday present to myself. There will be no Sony A1 coming anytime soon if this gets bought.
Click to expand...

Nearly bought one in 1985 it was on a V plate and up for £3000, didn't buy it and bought a 1980 Vauxhall Cavilier Sportshatch (same as Opel Manta) with full Bilstein Suspension Kit and modded engine for £1800 instead (which went like stink - 1985 relatively!!) - closest I've ever come to buying a Ford (though a BDA RS1800 would change my mind!!!) - Hope it meets your expectations
 
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snerkler said:
What zoom issue is that, are you referring to viewing images on the camera? I have mine set to one press giving 1:1 as I've always done this to check focus.
Click to expand...

On my Nikons you can programme the centre button in the control pad to zoom to 100% or 200% with a single click. It looks like the A7R can be programmed to remember the last zoom setting you used but you have to guess what 100% or 200% is. I have programmed it to remember the last zoom and tried to get the same framing as when I look on my PC monitor at 100%
 
Mr Perceptive said:
Nearly bought one in 1985 it was on a V plate and up for £3000, didn't buy it and bought a 1980 Vauxhall Cavilier Sportshatch (same as Opel Manta) with full Bilstein Suspension Kit and modded engine for £1800 instead (which went like stink - 1985 relatively!!) - closest I've ever come to buying a Ford (though a BDA RS1800 would change my mind!!!) - Hope it meets your expectations
Click to expand...

Have already decided to put an offer on it, will depend on what he is willing to take for it.


Stephen L said:
Nice! Original or sympathetic restoration? Either way, bet it‘s not cheap.
Click to expand...

It has had a full nuts and bolts restore, everything done as it came out of the factory.

No it isn't cheap, but can't really lose money on something like this.
 
wookie6262 said:
Gorgeous motor. My first car was a Mk 1 so a Mexico would be my dream car but an RS2000 wouldn't be far behind.
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Yeah, its a special car. Something I have always wanted although it's came along at a not so good time, money wise. There is a lot of interest in it, but will make an offer on it and see how I get on. It's a 1978, same as myself. :ROFLMAO:
 
f/2.8 said:
Yeah, its a special car. Something I have always wanted although it's came along at a not so good time, money wise. There is a lot of interest in it, but will make an offer on it and see how I get on. It's a 1978, same as myself. :ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...

Count yourself lucky if I wanted my favourite car from my births year (1963) I'd be in for several million - Ferrari 250SWB :eek:
 
nandbytes said:
Yep latter is what I'd suggest i.e. use a longer lens, crop less and get the field of view you want optically.

But what I mean is, say you stitch 5 shots from A7RIV you end up with a ~250mp file. What are you going to do with so many pixels?
With a 24mp body you end up with more like 80mp image which is plenty even to be printing massive sizes unless you are wanting to print billboard sizes and look at them with a magnifying glass.... but then I think you have other bigger problems than lack of megapixels :ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...

Aye, I was thinking more like those gigapixel panos where you can zoom right in, but I'm sure those were done with a telephoto lens. I suppose a bigger pixel count sensor would have a somewhat advantage over using longer reach lenses if there are subjects moving in the scene?
 
f/2.8 said:
Yeah, its a special car. Something I have always wanted although it's came along at a not so good time, money wise. There is a lot of interest in it, but will make an offer on it and see how I get on. It's a 1978, same as myself. :ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...

Very nice! Prices are high right now. People say its going to drop soon but I don't think it will in all honesty. There's still a lot of demand for these cars right now.

I have the odd thoughts about selling the Mk1 on occasion because it just doesn't get used much.
 
gman said:
Aye, I was thinking more like those gigapixel panos where you can zoom right in, but I'm sure those were done with a telephoto lens. I suppose a bigger pixel count sensor would have a somewhat advantage over using longer reach lenses if there are subjects moving in the scene?
Click to expand...

Yes indeed.... Generally speaking more pixels is almost always a good thing if your computer can handle them.
Storage is fairly cheap these days so that's not an issue anymore.

Whether you need all those pixels or not is another topic which can turn into a bit of an argument as we saw above. ;)
 
nandbytes said:
Yes indeed.... Generally speaking more pixels is almost always a good thing if your computer can handle them.
Storage is fairly cheap these days so that's not an issue anymore.

Whether you need all those pixels or not is another topic which can turn into a bit of an argument as we saw above. ;)
Click to expand...

Storage, SSD, HDD, memory cards has never been cheaper, and computers only get more and more powerful. 50mp will soon be the new 24mp and 100mp the new 45mp in a few years. DDR5 Ram is coming, more and more applications are moving to multi threaded and GPU acceleration so there is no reason why a new PC build cannot handle 50mp plus files with consumerate ease.

I've spec'd mine for 8k video editing so bracketed 50mp or 100mp images will be a walk in the park for it.
 
SFTPhotography said:
Storage, SSD, HDD, memory cards has never been cheaper, and computers only get more and more powerful. 50mp will soon be the new 24mp and 100mp the new 45mp in a few years. DDR5 Ram is coming, more and more applications are moving to multi threaded and GPU acceleration so there is no reason why a new PC build cannot handle 50mp plus files with consumerate ease.

I've spec'd mine for 8k video editing so bracketed 50mp or 100mp images will be a walk in the park for it.
Click to expand...

All very true Steve but maybe not Woof Woof wallet friendly :D
 
SFTPhotography said:
Storage, SSD, HDD, memory cards has never been cheaper, and computers only get more and more powerful. 50mp will soon be the new 24mp and 100mp the new 45mp in a few years. DDR5 Ram is coming, more and more applications are moving to multi threaded and GPU acceleration so there is no reason why a new PC build cannot handle 50mp plus files with consumerate ease.

I've spec'd mine for 8k video editing so bracketed 50mp or 100mp images will be a walk in the park for it.
Click to expand...

My 2015/16 iMac could handle 60mp files without much issues. So 50-60mp isn't an issue at all for computing.
250-300mp is something else :D but for the odd pano or two it isn't too bad to put up with the slowness.
 
woof woof said:
All very true Steve but maybe not Woof Woof wallet friendly :D
Click to expand...

At some point you will need a new MAC or PC - realistically they have a 5-10yr life span. Things like newer OS's aren't supported on the Machine (real Apple thing that) or the machine doesn't have the power to run the new OS (windows issue and after a while windows stop supported older OS's) - so at some stage you will have to buy a machine :D

When you build in a few years time 32c/64t and 128gb RAM will not be that expensive. It is quite pricey now - but tech advances and there won't be a run on GPU's like there is now.

I like to build a very powerful machine to run 6-10yrs every ram cycle - DDR3, then DDR4 etc.

I gaurantee you that a £2-£3k machine in 3yrs time will monster through 100mp files, even if you stitch a few together, like it just doesn't care:D
 
Mr Perceptive said:
Count yourself lucky if I wanted my favourite car from my births year (1963) I'd be in for several million - Ferrari 250SWB :eek:
Click to expand...
Mines possibly worse an October 1961 E Type Jaguar (preferably built on Friday the 13th!) although not millions, I'm guessing there's about as much chance of finding one....
 
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wookie6262 said:
On my Nikons you can programme the centre button in the control pad to zoom to 100% or 200% with a single click. It looks like the A7R can be programmed to remember the last zoom setting you used but you have to guess what 100% or 200% is. I have programmed it to remember the last zoom and tried to get the same framing as when I look on my PC monitor at 100%
Click to expand...
I've got it set so that the Fn button is my zoom in and centre button zoom out, it always defaults to 100% zoom when I press it.
 
nandbytes said:
Yes indeed.... Generally speaking more pixels is almost always a good thing if your computer can handle them.
Storage is fairly cheap these days so that's not an issue anymore.

Whether you need all those pixels or not is another topic which can turn into a bit of an argument as we saw above. ;)
Click to expand...

I'm still stuck between an A7C and an A7R iv, and I've got two days to make up my mind before the cash back expires.
 
gman said:
I'm still stuck between an A7C and an A7R iv, and I've got two days to make up my mind before the cash back expires.
Click to expand...
Have you had hands on of either, and what type of stuff are you going to be shooting?
 
snerkler said:
Have you had hands on of either, and what type of stuff are you going to be shooting?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately not, but I would like to get my hands on the A7R iv to see if it's too big. I'm guessing the A7C will be similar to my A6000 I had?

The two main things I shoot now are family (can be fast moving and fairly low light) and stitched panos (I can't help but wonder if the huge pixel count will give me epic panos). I did find myself leaving the D750 at home a lot because of the size. I've been using that camera dimensions comparison site but it's not really the same as actually seeing them I guess.
 
gman said:
Unfortunately not, but I would like to get my hands on the A7R iv to see if it's too big. I'm guessing the A7C will be similar to my A6000 I had?

The two main things I shoot now are family (can be fast moving and fairly low light) and stitched panos (I can't help but wonder if the huge pixel count will give me epic panos). I did find myself leaving the D750 at home a lot because of the size. I've been using that camera dimensions comparison site but it's not really the same as actually seeing them I guess.
Click to expand...
The 7C will be better for low light and fast moving stuff. The main reason I got mine was taking pictures of the little guy running around.
 
gman said:
Unfortunately not, but I would like to get my hands on the A7R iv to see if it's too big. I'm guessing the A7C will be similar to my A6000 I had?

The two main things I shoot now are family (can be fast moving and fairly low light) and stitched panos (I can't help but wonder if the huge pixel count will give me epic panos). I did find myself leaving the D750 at home a lot because of the size. I've been using that camera dimensions comparison site but it's not really the same as actually seeing them I guess.
Click to expand...
A lot of the bulk can come from the lenses rather than the bodies. I've had the D750 and it's smaller than the D750 for sure, but obviously not as small as the A7c, but then I don't think there's huge difference between the A7RIV and A7c. My computer (Macbook Pro i7 quad core processor, 1TB SSD, 4GB GPU 16GB RAM) really struggles with stitched panos from the A7RIV, but then I was trying to stitch around 15-20 using the brenizer method. I had to use jpegs in the end.
 
There has got to be a big difference between the latest A7Riv and A7C, it's made a big difference from my A7R, just losing the hump made a big difference.
 
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robj20 said:
There has got to be a big difference between the latest A7Riv and A7C, it's made a big difference from my A7R, just losing the jump mantra a big difference.
Click to expand...
Is that predictive text gone mad? ;)
 
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