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

So back from 4 nights away in Bridport, Dorset.

My dog Rosie injured her leg on the deep shingle on the beach and we thought she was a goner. Didn't want to move.

So a trip to the vets in the morning saw her have a pain relief injection and a course of Metacam for a fortnight. (£80).

Thank God for that!

On the same stretch of shingle I went arse over tit and bloodied both knees quite deeply (but still took some photos).

Lastly it took us 6 hours & 50 minutes to get back to Worcestershire yesterday. Bloody M5 was at a standstill so decided to go A303 and up through Wiltshire. Jesus!!

Oh well, home now.


[url=https://flic.kr/p/2m5aHp1]Tidal by Terence Rees, on Flickr[/URL]


[url=https://flic.kr/p/2m59wkq]Incoming by Terence Rees, on Flickr[/URL]


[url=https://flic.kr/p/2m56EBx]Washed by Terence Rees, on Flickr[/URL]

Beautiful photos. Sorry about yours and your dog's accidents and your nearly 7 hour journey. Photos made it worthwhile though.
 
All the wedding video guys hate the 35GM they are all using the 35 f/1.8 because it has no focus breathing.

I never really noticed it, but then I don't do big focus pulls to really have an issue, well at the moment anyway lol I subject tracked beautifully though and I actually really like the touch screen tracking whilst in video as there were several subjects which I was switching between so I could retain my composition easily.
 
Can't decide whether to sell my 24-70mm f4 Zeiss now I have the 24-105mm f4 G. :thinking:
 
I took the train into London today to see the Trooping of the Colour and had my 70 to 350mm ready for the red arrows flyover. Then when I was there learned that it was all held at Windsor. :facepalm:
 
I took the train into London today to see the Trooping of the Colour and had my 70 to 350mm ready for the red arrows flyover. Then when I was there learned that it was all held at Windsor. :facepalm:
To be fair, I thought it was held in London, I have been through there when they are putting up the seats for it, I wouldn't have known it was at Windsor..
You did make me laugh though, I bet there was some swearing going on...
 
I took the train into London today to see the Trooping of the Colour and had my 70 to 350mm ready for the red arrows flyover. Then when I was there learned that it was all held at Windsor. :facepalm:

I thought you live in London for some reason.
 
To be fair, I thought it was held in London, I have been through there when they are putting up the seats for it, I wouldn't have known it was at Windsor..
You did make me laugh though, I bet there was some swearing going on...

Hehe. Fortunately it's only 25 minutes ride on the northern line for me from Finchley Central at no cost as I have a free Osyter card from TFL, so I didn't mind. It was a gorgeous day and my other intention was to snap some street photography so I got a few photos. Would like to have snapped some shots of the red arrows though. Next year then. :)
 
Must just be a northern ireland restriction for some bizarre reason, just added one to my basket and it seems to be letting me order it.

View attachment 321123

If you have someone on the mainland to deliver and forward to you that should work. If you have not, I'd be happy to help.

Same here...
 
Must just be a northern ireland restriction for some bizarre reason, just added one to my basket and it seems to be letting me order it.

View attachment 321123

If you have someone on the mainland to deliver and forward to you that should work. If you have not, I'd be happy to help.

Thanks Barry have run into that before I have a mate in Glasgow who can sort it for me.
 
I'm looking for a couple of extra batteries for my Sony a9 and a7iii but they seem to be out of stock everywhere?
Any ideas on where I can get them from quickly please? Ideally for next Friday.

If not, are there any other reliable third party batteries?

Also looking for a charger to charge at least two at a time, any recommendations?


I bought an Oxkers charger including 2 batteries from ebay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/402908705115?

It's a USB type, so not super-rapid, but quite functional. The batteries themselves work fine giving about the same number of shots as one of my standard Sony batteries and less than the other, but occasionally a message pops up warning about a non-standard battery. Not a premium product, but not a premium price.
 
It’s a different mindset, the people who are looking at the GM are looking for an snappy auto focus, sharp, and fast 1.2 lens with the latest optical with the coating to minimise CA.

I can’t speak for Trev or f/2.8 but if the 50mm doesn’t have an auto focus motor and it’s slower than my Zeiss 1.4, I’m just not going to consider it, at all. Regardless of anything else. Not as a second lens, certainly not as the only 50mm in the bag.

I would take the 50mm I already have and stop down.

The ONLY scenario would be if I get an old film camera and get 1 lens, then I’ll probably get a 50mm of sorts and that’s all part and parcel of going the whole hog of film and old lenses. With a modern body, I’ll just stick to modern lenses.

We're talking about multiple subjects and points here. As I said above there may be more to this (choosing the 50mm f1.2) than the aperture. Focus speed, accuracy, lack of aberrations, sharpness across the frame, handling and also the look you get not only at wide apertures but also when you start to stop down which is something I've mentioned multiple times in this thread. I do understand all that. What I'm not going to do is obsess over the differences between f1.2 and f2 for dof as it'll only matter to me once in a blue moon. As I've said many times these are just my views, others can make their own mind up :D
 
I just realised today I have as many guitars as I have lenses.


Oh dear- I have more guitars than a man should own as well, my all time favourite has to be my 1952 Telecaster in Blonde ( not a re-issue the genuine made in 1952)

I should sell it mabye I could buy 4 x SonyA1's - valued recently by Reverb at circa £25,000 to £26,000 :)

Les
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Oh dear- I have more guitars than a man should own as well, my all time favourite has to be my 1952 Telecaster in Blonde ( not a re-issue the genuine made in 1952)

I should sell it mabye I could buy 4 x SonyA1's - valued recently by Reverb at circa £25,000 to £26,000 :)

Les
Or sell half and buy two A1s :ROFLMAO:
 
Or sell half and buy two A1s :ROFLMAO:


Ha ha trust you- I can never sell this it was a gift from my late father - but I do enjoy a laugh :)

I negotiated a great price on another a7RIV with LCE, they are , as you previously mentioned on here, flexible on prices :) well the branch in Derby seem to be

Les
 
Ha ha trust you- I can never sell this it was a gift from my late father - but I do enjoy a laugh :)

I negotiated a great price on another a7RIV with LCE, they are , as you previously mentioned on here, flexible on prices :)

Les
Yep they are great and take care of good customers. Got my 35GM pre-ordered cheaper than grey importers on release.
 
This one


There are lots of reviews online but basically it’s a smart charger. So it it gives an indication of battery health, charging voltage etc. Same as the way smart AA battery chargers do. It's also USB C so charges quicker than the other usb ones.

I also read sometime ago that it has a refresh option although I can’t find any other info on that so not sure if that is correct.

Refresh option would be handy as there is an issue with the Sony batteries that sometimes they will not charge too 100% usually it starts by only charging to 99% then 92% and then 89% then you have to completely drain manually and recharge to do a refresh sometimes you have to do this a couple of times to get it to go to 100%. Not ideal for that sort of battery a managed refresh mode would be better. Managed means that it discharges and then uses a low voltage charge for refresh.

A lot of people won't be aware of the Sony battery issue as it only seems to happen if like me you are regularly charging batteries that aren't fully depleted. It is not a memory effect like you got with old batteries it is something to do with the battery indicator system Sony use on the batteries. I asked about it on here some time ago but nobody else seemed to be aware of it. It was only after speaking to the local Sony rep that I found out it was a well known thing and that every now and again I would need to do a refresh. Manual refresh is a pain just as the damn batteries take so long to drian.
 
Last edited:
Oh dear- I have more guitars than a man should own as well, my all time favourite has to be my 1952 Telecaster in Blonde ( not a re-issue the genuine made in 1952)

I should sell it mabye I could buy 4 x SonyA1's - valued recently by Reverb at circa £25,000 to £26,000 :)

Les

Hold the phone, you have a vintage 52? Isn’t that the first year of the Telecaster label? Or do you have a Nocaster?

That’s some street cred to the gear nerd :D It’s pretty much in similar level to having a Burst! Don’t tell me you play it through a vintage Marshall too?
 
Hold the phone, you have a vintage 52? Isn’t that the first year of the Telecaster label? Or do you have a Nocaster?

That’s some street cred to the gear nerd :D It’s pretty much in similar level to having a Burst! Don’t tell me you play it through a vintage Marshall too?


Its actually an Esquire :) and I play it through a Fender 1968 Princeton amp - If you say the word Esquire people just say- Oh its a Telecater

Les
 
We're talking about multiple subjects and points here. As I said above there may be more to this (choosing the 50mm f1.2) than the aperture. Focus speed, accuracy, lack of aberrations, sharpness across the frame, handling and also the look you get not only at wide apertures but also when you start to stop down which is something I've mentioned multiple times in this thread. I do understand all that. What I'm not going to do is obsess over the differences between f1.2 and f2 for dof as it'll only matter to me once in a blue moon. As I've said many times these are just my views, others can make their own mind up :D

The people who are looking to buy a 1.2 lens do, and I can’t stress how important that is, and it is pretty much the No. 1 criteria. So if you don’t think like that, it’s almost like you are suggesting buying a shovel.
 
The people who are looking to buy a 1.2 lens do, and I can’t stress how important that is, and it is pretty much the No. 1 criteria. So if you don’t think like that, it’s almost like you are suggesting buying a shovel.


I agree- I have the f1.4 50mm and have no need or use for an f1.2- I don't collect lenses, I use them as I use my guitars :)
 
The people who are looking to buy a 1.2 lens do, and I can’t stress how important that is, and it is pretty much the No. 1 criteria. So if you don’t think like that, it’s almost like you are suggesting buying a shovel.

I don't know why I'm replying again as we don't seem to be getting anywhere but out of politeness and for clarity I'll reply once more :D

Yes, I see your point but what you seem to be missing is that what I'm posting is my opinion.

What I've been talking about is dof and I'm usually not fussed about the difference in dof between f1.2, 1.4, 1.8 or f2 as I don't tend to go for the very thin dof look very often but even if I want that I can get shallow enough dof for me at f1.8- f2 by moving closer to the subject although I do appreciate that ever wider apertures are needed if going for a shallow dof look at longer distances where there's more dof. dof tables tell the story well enough. It's somewhere past f2 and approaching f2.8 that's more significant for me. The other characterises of a lens are more important to me than ultimate aperture (for reasons of shallow dof) and I'd buy a nice lens based on my own wants and needs with ultimate aperture being further down the list than some other things.

I can't see myself ever having f1.2 as "The No.1 criteria" as you put it as imvho the difference between f1.2 and f1.4 are negligible apart from the size of the bokeh balls (and that's just in my vho) and ditto f1.4 to f1.8 and on to f2. The times when those differences in dof would matter to me are negligible once passed the testing and honeymoon period. Light gathering, sharpness across the frame, vignetting, ca and the look are all other issues to consider.

I just can't see myself having f1.2 as my top of the list want. f1.2 rather than f1.4, f1.8 or even f2 would be incidental. That's just my opinion based on my wants and needs and the look I like. I'm free to have it and you're free to have yours :D This is a forum :D

For anyone on the edge and trying to decide if they want f1.x or f1.x for dof I'd recommend looking at several series of pictures from wide open to an aperture where dof isn't so much of an issue and at different distances. Maybe f1.2 to f5.6 and near, mid and far distances might be nice. This is what I went through to make it clear in my own mind.
 
I don't know why I'm replying again as we don't seem to be getting anywhere but out of politeness and for clarity I'll reply once more :D

Yes, I see your point but what you seem to be missing is that what I'm posting is my opinion.

What I've been talking about is dof and I'm usually not fussed about the difference in dof between f1.2, 1.4, 1.8 or f2 as I don't tend to go for the very thin dof look very often but even if I want that I can get shallow enough dof for me at f1.8- f2 by moving closer to the subject although I do appreciate that ever wider apertures are needed if going for a shallow dof look at longer distances where there's more dof. dof tables tell the story well enough. It's somewhere past f2 and approaching f2.8 that's more significant for me. The other characterises of a lens are more important to me than ultimate aperture (for reasons of shallow dof) and I'd buy a nice lens based on my own wants and needs with ultimate aperture being further down the list than some other things.

I can't see myself ever having f1.2 as "The No.1 criteria" as you put it as imvho the difference between f1.2 and f1.4 are negligible apart from the size of the bokeh balls (and that's just in my vho) and ditto f1.4 to f1.8 and on to f2. The times when those differences in dof would matter to me are negligible once passed the testing and honeymoon period. Light gathering, sharpness across the frame, vignetting, ca and the look are all other issues to consider.

I just can't see myself having f1.2 as my top of the list want. f1.2 rather than f1.4, f1.8 or even f2 would be incidental. That's just my opinion based on my wants and needs and the look I like. I'm free to have it and you're free to have yours :D This is a forum :D

For anyone on the edge and trying to decide if they want f1.x or f1.x for dof I'd recommend looking at several series of pictures from wide open to an aperture where dof isn't so much of an issue and at different distances. Maybe f1.2 to f5.6 and near, mid and far distances might be nice. This is what I went through to make it clear in my own mind.

Not sure what you on about, you are valid to YOUR opinion but when you are using YOUR opinion to suggest to OTHER people spending THEIR money to buy THEIR lenses with YOUR criteria.

Yes, your opinion, but erm…unless you are paying for that lens, not sure how far your opinion in getting a F/2.0 lenses goes when someone is looking to get a F/1.2.

I really don't understand what's so difficult to understand that people who are looking for a Top of the range, native, Fast, Autofocus 50mm wouldn't consider a slower, manual lens. It's everything NOT what someone was looking for. For someone who argues having 3 x Roadster being "different" type of cars surely you can see the irony here?

As for "For anyone on the edge and trying to decide if they want f1.x or f1.x for dof I'd recommend looking at several series of pictures from wide open to an aperture where dof isn't so much of an issue and at different distances. Maybe f1.2 to f5.6 and near, mid and far distances might be nice. This is what I went through to make it clear in my own mind."

Well, I hope those who actually in the position who can drop £2k on a lens, they have already gone through all that and know the difference.
 
Last edited:
What settings are people using for sports on the A7iii? A9 is off for repair so was using an A7iii today and missed so many shots.

Seems I was way to reliant on the A9s real time tracking!

Tried using lock on flexible spot on lock on expandable but it did seem to jump focus quite a lot and taken a few shots with nothing in focus.

any tips for sports? What focus mode are people using for best results?
 
Was in town yesterday for a mooch and saw this wedding at the Brighton Bandstand so took a few shots, good to see a women doing the photographing of it too. A7 III + FE85mm f1.8.

Tying the Knot by Rohan, on Flickr

Happy Bride by Rohan, on Flickr

I Do by Rohan, on Flickr

Bandstand Wedding by Rohan, on Flickr


Wish I got hold of one of the guests as would of asked them to contact me to send the happy couple the images.
 
Wish I got hold of one of the guests as would of asked them to contact me to send the happy couple the images.


You may not have liked there reaction to this.

As a wedding photographer as long as someone is not in my way I don't really care what they do.

However just last Saturday while we where out shooting our bride & grooms portraits our couple was approached by an amateur photographer who had been shooting from behind my back, I hadn't actually noticed them as I was focusing on what I was doing. She asked the couple if they would like her to email the photos over to them. The couple were not happy at all and asked her to delete the photos and it turned into a bit of argument and it all got a bit shouty. With situations like this we have learned its best for us to just step back and not get involved, but we overheard most of the conversation and as well as asking the photographer to delete her photographs they made her well aware that they were very unhappy that a stranger had made them feel uncomfortable while they were having their portraits done. Did find it a bit funny when the bride was going nuts and shouting about they had paid us to take photographs not her although I actually felt quite sorry for the girl, she looked a bit shell shocked but did eventually delete the photos.

This isn't the first time this has happened nor I suppose will it be the last, we once had a groom chase a guy who was taking photos on just his phone. We also unknowingly while we were working had a competitor of ours take photographs while we were working who got similar short shift from the bride and groom who then posted images to social media pretending that they were the photographer for the wedding and the couple got a solicitor etc. involved. While some couples might be quite happy to have some "extra photos" many will not. Especially with the younger crowd who are a lot more savvy around being private. Even those that are happy to share every element of their lives on social media via photos and videos they take themselves don't often react well to being photographed by a stranger especially on their wedding day. A lot of couples don't even like their family and friends taking photos of them on their wedding day and it's more and more common now for guests to be told that they are not to take photographs during the ceremony etc. We even had a wedding not long ago were upon entering the venue guests were told to leave their phones etc. in a little cage and to collect them as they were leaving for home.
 
Last edited:
You may not have liked there reaction to this.

As a wedding photographer as long as someone is not in my way I don't really care what they do.

However just last Saturday while we where out shooting our bride & grooms portraits our couple was approached by an amateur photographer who had been shooting from behind my back, I hadn't actually noticed them as I was focusing on what I was doing. She asked the couple if they would like her to email the photos over to them. The couple were not happy at all and asked her to delete the photos and it turned into a bit of argument and it all got a bit shouty. With situations like this we have learned its best for us to just step back and not get involved, but we overheard most of the conversation and as well as asking the photographer to delete her photographs they made her well aware that they were very unhappy that a stranger had made them feel uncomfortable while they were having their portraits done. Did find it a bit funny when the bride was going nuts and shouting about they had paid us to take photographs not her although I actually felt quite sorry for the girl, she looked a bit shell shocked but did eventually delete the photos.

This isn't the first time this has happened nor I suppose will it be the last, we once had a groom chase a guy who was taking photos on just his phone. While some couples might be quite happy to have some "extra photos" many will not. Especially with the younger crowd who are a lot more savvy around being private. Even those that are happy to share every element of their lives on social media via photos and videos don't often react well to being photographed by a stranger especially on their wedding day. A lot of couples don't even like their family and friends taking photos of them on their wedding day and it's more and more common now for guests to be told that they are not to take photographs during the ceremony etc.



The wedding photographer was on the Bandstand when I took some of these, plus a security man was stopping folk just going on it so I was well away from it and in know ones way at all.
 
The wedding photographer was on the Bandstand when I took some of these, plus a security man was stopping folk just going on it so I was well away from it and in know ones way at all.


I never said that you were in the way just that the couple may not react the way that you assume that they would have. Yeah of course they may have been very grateful but they may also have been very unhappy.
 
I never said that you were in the way just that the couple may not react the way that you assume that they would have. Yeah of course they may have been very grateful but they may also have been very unhappy.


I will keep the images as someone might know them, have put one on my music FB page to see.
 
I will keep the images as someone might know them, have put one on my music FB page to see.

Hopefully you get the reaction you are looking for and not the negative one which could potentially be worse for sharing images of them on social media as that is another pet hate with a lot of the younger couples even though they are happy to throw selfies etc. up seemingly every 5 minutes.

Brides also can sometimes be a little funny if they feel they don't look absolutely perfect in some way in their eyes when images are posted to social media.
 
Hopefully you get the reaction you are looking for and not the negative one which could potentially be worse for sharing images of them on social media as that is another pet hate with a lot of the younger couples even though they are happy to throw selfies etc. up seemingly every 5 minutes.

Brides also can sometimes be a little funny if they feel they don't look absolutely perfect in some way in their eyes when images are posted to social media.


I was out just taking people shots yesterday, so not looking for any reaction at all. I saw a wedding and took some shots, as I love my people photography.
 
Back
Top