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

Mike.P said:
Is it me or does the sensor on mirrorless cameras attract the dust like a magnet?

I have cleaned the one on the A9 twice in a week, never done my 7D II and I think the Pentax sensor has had one clean in 3 years.
Click to expand...

Very rarely need to do a wet clean but have got onto the habit of giving the sensors a quick run over with a rocket blower before every job though as they do collect dust easier with no mirror.

Good thing is that’s it’s easier to check than a dslr just set your lens ti f/16 and check it on a white wall. Don’t even to hit the shutter button.
 
Mike.P said:
Is it me or does the sensor on mirrorless cameras attract the dust like a magnet?

I have cleaned the one on the A9 twice in a week, never done my 7D II and I think the Pentax sensor has had one clean in 3 years.
Click to expand...
I’ve found the opposite, I was always cleaning the sensor on my Nikons, having dozens of spots to clean each time. I’ve rocket blown my A9ii twice, each time having only one spec of dust that’s blown off easily.
 
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Mrs WW likes this picture. Could have maybe done without the ice cream tubs but then again maybe not as it's all memories :D

Sony A7 and 35mm f2.8.

xr7gpL0.jpg
 
Dfgg
Lez325 said:
look top right as you type the reply etc its there :)

Les
Click to expand...

Thanks Les. Both my phone browsers show just the magnifying glass icon top right but not the word 'preview' for some reason which is why I hadn't spotted it. But it works so that's great. :)
 
Mike.P said:
Just bought a proper Sony grip for the A9, need an original battery.

Recommendations on the cheapest supplier?
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Amazon Warehouse sometimes have them - damaged packaging. I got one a while back for a third their “new” price.
 
Took a trip to Stonehenge last night. The weather was "interesting", a lot of fog and mist set in but what really screwed with me was it seemed like we were in perpetual twilight. The sky never really got dark!

Here are a couple quick ones I processed.... I have got a few more that I wanted to stack (not sure how well that will work out but that's the plan for later....)

Shot with tamron 17-28mm @ 17mm (cropped to about 18mm)
51307117290_256e7724d3_b.jpg


And 35GM
51304893615_d0636d8957_b.jpg
 
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nandbytes said:
Took a trip to Stonehenge last night. The weather was "interesting", a lot of fog and mist set in but what really screwed with me was it seemed like we were in perpetual twilight. The sky never really got dark!

Here are a couple quick ones I processed.... I have got a few more that I wanted to stack (not sure how well that will work out but that's the plan for later....)

Shot with tamron 17-28mm @ 17mm (cropped to about 18mm)
51303133567_787c072f7b_b.jpg


And 35GM
51304893615_d0636d8957_b.jpg
Click to expand...

Nice. Glad you got there. I did look out myself late last night & saw it was 'reasonably' clear! Typically, I go back to work Monday & there seem a few clear ones forecast next week :rolleyes: :ROFLMAO:

Ohhh.... When you parked in Lulworth, did you walk back up the road to the DD campsite entrance? Or did you cut across/around the hill to Durdle Door?
 
nandbytes said:
Took a trip to Stonehenge last night. The weather was "interesting", a lot of fog and mist set in but what really screwed with me was it seemed like we were in perpetual twilight. The sky never really got dark!

Here are a couple quick ones I processed.... I have got a few more that I wanted to stack (not sure how well that will work out but that's the plan for later....)

Shot with tamron 17-28mm @ 17mm (cropped to about 18mm)
51303133567_787c072f7b_b.jpg


And 35GM
51304893615_d0636d8957_b.jpg
Click to expand...
Excellent images, well worth the trek.
 
LeeRatters said:
Nice. Glad you got there. I did look out myself late last night & saw it was 'reasonably' clear! Typically, I go back to work Monday & there seem a few clear ones forecast next week :rolleyes: :ROFLMAO:

Ohhh.... When you parked in Lulworth, did you walk back up the road to the DD campsite entrance? Or did you cut across/around the hill to Durdle Door?
Click to expand...

next week with the moon rising again, I really wouldn't bother anyway. may be you can get clearer/detailed shots tracking (I will see how far I get with stacking) but its just not dark at the moment. hopefully closer to August it will be much better.

We walked back up the road. Avoiding the hill for two reasons:
1. wasn't sure we'd be trespassing certain areas
2. we needed to find our way back to the car in the dark later on, didn't fancy doing so on the hill. the road felt safer/easier so we used the path we'd use to get back later on.

Though we didn't go all way into Lulworth, you can park right at the village/city entrance
here - https://goo.gl/maps/pqYNwXkuLTWQPbxw8

edit: also if you are going go up the hills, you might as well park at Lulworth Cove though that costs money.
 
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nandbytes said:
Took a trip to Stonehenge last night. The weather was "interesting", a lot of fog and mist set in but what really screwed with me was it seemed like we were in perpetual twilight. The sky never really got dark!

Here are a couple quick ones I processed.... I have got a few more that I wanted to stack (not sure how well that will work out but that's the plan for later....)

Shot with tamron 17-28mm @ 17mm (cropped to about 18mm)
51303133567_787c072f7b_b.jpg


And 35GM
51304893615_d0636d8957_b.jpg
Click to expand...

Wow, stunning shots! Both have interesting qualities. I love the light coming from the left in the first one, and the mistiness in the second.
 
nandbytes said:
next week with the moon rising again, I really wouldn't bother anyway. may be you can get clearer/detailed shots tracking (I will see how far I get with stacking) but its just not dark at the moment. hopefully closer to August it will be much better.

We walked back up the road. Avoiding the hill for two reasons:
1. wasn't sure we'd be trespassing certain areas
2. we needed to find our way back to the car in the dark later on, didn't fancy doing so on the hill. the road felt safer/easier so we used the path we'd use to get back later on.

Though we didn't go all way into Lulworth, you can park right at the village/city entrance
here - https://goo.gl/maps/pqYNwXkuLTWQPbxw8

edit: also if you are going go up the hills, you might as well park at Lulworth Cove though that costs money.
Click to expand...

Moon is rising late morning, setting in the west about midnight. Parking by the church and walking the road is an easier incline!
 
nandbytes said:
Took a trip to Stonehenge last night. The weather was "interesting", a lot of fog and mist set in but what really screwed with me was it seemed like we were in perpetual twilight. The sky never really got dark!

Here are a couple quick ones I processed.... I have got a few more that I wanted to stack (not sure how well that will work out but that's the plan for later....)

Shot with tamron 17-28mm @ 17mm (cropped to about 18mm)
51303133567_787c072f7b_b.jpg


And 35GM
51304893615_d0636d8957_b.jpg
Click to expand...

Lovely! I think I’ll do a trip too. Can you share the GPS location and settings?
 
Took the A7RIV to yesterday’s wedding, was wondering after the comments on here if I had a bad copy previously but I hadn’t.

A.F is definitely miles behind the A9 and the real time tracking really struggles with subjects moving towards you face on.

The APSC crop mode was very handy at times though.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Lovely! I think I’ll do a trip too. Can you share the GPS location and settings?
Click to expand...
We parked here (its a dirt road) - https://goo.gl/maps/gQyqHQqHriW4oBZi6
You can actually drive all the way down till you see a road (official entrance will into Stonehenge will be closed after hours)

Then just walk along the path between the Stonehenge and the fields before it. its hard to miss. the gate is right next to the official entrance into the Stonehenge.

I take it you are asking for camera setting?
#1 - 17mm, f2.8, 13s and ISO3200
#2 - 35mm, f1.4, 5s and ISO6400

I think you have the same lenses as me, so basically at 17mm I found the starts start trailing around 13-15s and with 35mm I find they start trailing after 5-6s
But I have a higher MP which make the trailing more obvious. On a lower 24mp camera you can probably get away with slightly longer shutter speeds too without noticing as much trailing.
 
footman said:
All you need now is a decent light weight tracker :D
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Still looking for some MSM stuff. I need to spend sometime with learning the post processing for astro shots and gaining better familiarity with my gear for this.
Once I feel I am close to the limitations of my current equipment (both "hardware" and software wise) I'll order it new. till such time I'll keep an eye out for a nice used deal even though that seems rather unlikely.
 
nandbytes said:
We parked here (its a dirt road) - https://goo.gl/maps/gQyqHQqHriW4oBZi6
You can actually drive all the way down till you see a road (official entrance will into Stonehenge will be closed after hours)

Then just walk along the path between the Stonehenge and the fields before it. its hard to miss. the gate is right next to the official entrance into the Stonehenge.

I take it you are asking for camera setting?
#1 - 17mm, f2.8, 13s and ISO3200
#2 - 35mm, f1.4, 5s and ISO6400

I think you have the same lenses as me, so basically at 17mm I found the starts start trailing around 13-15s and with 35mm I find they start trailing after 5-6s
But I have a higher MP which make the trailing more obvious. On a lower 24mp camera you can probably get away with slightly longer shutter speeds too without noticing as much trailing.
Click to expand...

Cheers.

I should stop spending money on guitar stuff and buy myself a R3 for stuff like this.
 
nandbytes said:
Still looking for some MSM stuff. I need to spend sometime with learning the post processing for astro shots and gaining better familiarity with my gear for this.
Once I feel I am close to the limitations of my current equipment (both "hardware" and software wise) I'll order it new. till such time I'll keep an eye out for a nice used deal even though that seems rather unlikely.
Click to expand...
It's the post processing that I'm finding a steep hill to climb, it's a world away from the fairly basic pp that I've been getting away with for wildlife and macro for years.
 
How are you guys deciding the shutter speed?

I thought 500 rule would be ok for preventing star trails but I've also seen 300 mentioned.

I just thought 5 seconds at 35mm was a bit of overkill unless I'm missing something.
 
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I have sort of followed the 500 rule when starting out, looking at the last untracked image I took was 24mm on a full frame body when I opened the shutter for 20 seconds at ISO 800 f2.8 and that was just a "boring" general night sky shot in my garden.
It wasn't particularly thrilling unlike the excellent Milky Way shots seen in this thread.
Now that I'm tracking I'm currently opening the shutter for 120 seconds.
 
A rather late review of our old friend the Sony 35mm f1.8.

Sony FE 35mm f/1.8 - Review / Test Report

Sony FE 35mm f/1.8 - Review / Test Report
www.opticallimits.com www.opticallimits.com

It seems to get a pretty good review here. It's interesting that they say the bokeh is "pretty good" as some criticise it but I think it's pretty much par for the course for a sharp 35mm.

I haven't used mine a lot, not as much as I thought I would as the Sony f2.8 is a lot more compact and the Voigtander 35mm f1.4 is more characterful and just a joy to use. So the poor old Sony 35mm f1.8 gets ignored. I did take it out a few weeks ago and I do like the following, which I've posted before.

mKspgmJ.jpg


RPSNqFv.jpg


mNHxQGc.jpg


Of the issues, there is vignetting but it can be corrected or even left in as a feature. I'd say that fringing is the main issue with this lens possibly with ho-hum bokeh and vignetting being issues or not depending on how you feel. It's certainly sharp and the close focus ability comes in handy.

Uncorrected vignetting at f8. It wasn't an issue in the above pictures.

8xWk0X4.jpg
 
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footman said:
I have sort of followed the 500 rule when starting out, looking at the last untracked image I took was 24mm on a full frame body when I opened the shutter for 20 seconds at ISO 800 f2.8 and that was just a "boring" general night sky shot in my garden.
It wasn't particularly thrilling unlike the excellent Milky Way shots seen in this thread.
Now that I'm tracking I'm currently opening the shutter for 120 seconds.
Click to expand...

I don't tend to use wider lenses an awful lot but back when I had Canon DSLRs I used a 20mm f1.8 and a 12-24mm quite a lot. These days I seem to prefer 35/50mm. I did buy a Sony 20mm f1.8 and I do think it's a good lens. I've only used it a few times but I keep dreaming about a cruise to see the Northern lights and if I do get to go the 20mm f1.8 will be going too.

I think this is probably my favourite Sony 20mm f1.8, it's not a night time scene :D

5NITFWU.jpg


I also have old 17 and 19mm lenses. I used the 17mm f3.5 today but I don't think it's a great lens to do night time stuff with.

PS.
If you see banding in the sky in the above picture, sorry. It's not visible in the original.
 
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woof woof said:
A rather late review of our old friend the Sony 35mm f1.8.

Sony FE 35mm f/1.8 - Review / Test Report

Sony FE 35mm f/1.8 - Review / Test Report
www.opticallimits.com www.opticallimits.com

It seems to get a pretty good review here. It's interesting that they say the bokeh is "pretty good" as some criticise it but I think it's pretty much par for the course for a sharp 35mm.

I haven't used mine a lot, not as much as I thought I would as the Sony f2.8 is a lot more compact and the Voigtander 35mm f1.4 is more characterful and just a joy to use. So the poor old Sony 35mm f1.8 gets ignored. I did take it out a few weeks ago and I do like the following, which I've posted before.

mKspgmJ.jpg


RPSNqFv.jpg


mNHxQGc.jpg


Of the issues, there is vignetting but it can be corrected or even left in as a feature. I'd say that fringing is the main issue with this lens possibly with ho-hum bokeh and vignetting being issues or not depending on how you feel. It's certainly sharp and the close focus ability comes in handy.

Uncorrected vignetting at f8. It wasn't an issue in the above pictures.

8xWk0X4.jpg
Click to expand...
It’s a decent enough little lens which is a good size, my main issue with it was the awful C.A. It served me very well though and I still kept it after getting the 35GM.

There seemed to be no point Keeping it though as it hasn’t been used since I got the 35GM so got rid of mine a few days ago.
 
Anyone going to predict the score in the England v Italy match?

I hope they win but just in case they don't there's a bottle of Original Bulmers Cider waiting for me :D
 
woof woof said:
How are you guys deciding the shutter speed?

I thought 500 rule would be ok for preventing star trails but I've also seen 300 mentioned.

I just thought 5 seconds at 35mm was a bit of overkill unless I'm missing something.
Click to expand...
There is also a NPF rule.
They are more guidelines than rules.
I basically decide based on my experience and results.
 
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f/2.8 said:
It’s a decent enough little lens which is a good size, my main issue with it was the awful C.A. It served me very well though and I still kept it after getting the 35GM.

There seemed to be no point Keeping it though as it hasn’t been used since I got the 35GM so got rid of mine a few days ago.
Click to expand...

The awful CA is only going to be awful in a percentage of most peoples pictures and even then it'll possibly only be seen as a significant issue by a minority of people. For many CA will rarely be an issue and all issues do have to be balanced against the positives. The Sony 35, 55 and 85mm f1.8's all have issues.
 
woof woof said:
The awful CA is only going to be awful in a percentage of most peoples pictures and even then it'll possibly only be seen as a significant issue by a minority of people. For many CA will rarely be an issue and all issues do have to be balanced against the positives. The Sony 35, 55 and 85mm f1.8's all have issues.
Click to expand...
The 35mm f/1.8 is the worst lens I have ever owned for C.A the 85 can suffer a bit too, the 55 is no where near as bad.
 
LeeRatters said:
Moon is rising late morning, setting in the west about midnight. Parking by the church and walking the road is an easier incline!
Click to expand...
It's easier in the sense that that you can't kill yourself but the footpath is almost nonexistent and sucks.
So the cars may kill you instead :p
 
f/2.8 said:
The 35mm f/1.8 is the worst lens I have ever owned for C.A the 85 can suffer a bit too, the 55 is no where near as bad.
Click to expand...

That may be so and CA is high for a modern prime but in a wider context it's not all that bad... IMO, and it's not the worst lens for CA I've used by a very long way. CA is for me just something to consider. I wouldn't write the lens off because of it unless someone is going to be taking a lot of pictures that will show CA. Anyone considering this lens should deffo think about CA and all the other issues and the positives too.
 
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