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

Tricky01 said:
I'm considering buying a lens second hand that was released early 2024. I've got two options:

Ebay seller: lots of engagement over messages, fully trust him. He bought it second hand from wex in 'as new' condition and is still the same. Comes boxed, but obviously no warranty.

Camera shop: graded 9/10, no box but comes with original front and rear caps and hood, as well as 6 month warranty. Have haggled on price to match eBay and also added in a 960gb sony card with £150 off too.

What would you do? Think it's a question of box and 'as new' vs 6 month warranty and 9/10.

Really on the fence on this one - please help me fall one way or the other!
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I'm always a bit wary as my thoughts on what's considered "as new" are not always the same as others. As new means just that, you can't distinguish it from new. I've seen some lenses described "as new" adn whilst they were in great condition they weren't "as new".

Does the eBay seller have a no quibble returns policy? I've personally stopped buying used from eBay as it's too much of a gamble, I'd rather buy from a store so that I can return it if I deem it not as described, and like you say you get a 6-12 month warranty.

With regards to the card I'd question whether you need a 960GB card. I can shoot a lot of images in a day, but I'd never need a 960GB card. The other thing is a lot of people don't fill their card before formatting therefore you may only be using the same 100GB of the card over and over for example.
 
nog said:
Looks a good deal on the card, depends how much you want the 960gb card really versus two 256gb :).
Buying from eBay you have 30 days to return the goods if they are not as described, if a lens has a problem I’d say it was not as described. How likely is a newish lens to develop a fault, any reports about that particular lens.
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Thanks - on the memory card I'm just now learning the difference between G and M versions of the Sony Tough cards - I got an 160gb G with the camera, now questioning if a 960gb M card will slow things down with A1 on 30fps RAW (and also whether the Pergear cards are broadly on par with the M cards anyway). I think that may be the sticking point to be honest!

snerkler said:
I'm always a bit wary as my thoughts on what's considered "as new" are not always the same as others. As new means just that, you can't distinguish it from new. I've seen some lenses described "as new" adn whilst they were in great condition they weren't "as new".

Does the eBay seller have a no quibble returns policy? I've personally stopped buying used from eBay as it's too much of a gamble, I'd rather buy from a store so that I can return it if I deem it not as described, and like you say you get a 6-12 month warranty.
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Ebay seller is happy for return for any reason on receipt and the conversation I've had gives me ample confidence.

snerkler said:
With regards to the card I'd question whether you need a 960GB card. I can shoot a lot of images in a day, but I'd never need a 960GB card. The other thing is a lot of people don't fill their card before formatting therefore you may only be using the same 100GB of the card over and over for example.
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I hadn't thought of the implications of reusing one sector of the card, is that really an issue? I went to a gig at the weekend and found shooting at 30fps really helpful when the lighting was changing - it gave me a few different versions to choose from. But I did fill that 160gb fast!
 
Tricky01 said:
I hadn't thought of the implications of reusing one sector of the card, is that really an issue? I went to a gig at the weekend and found shooting at 30fps really helpful when the lighting was changing - it gave me a few different versions to choose from. But I did fill that 160gb fast!
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I don't know the answer to your question about using the same sector of the card, I don't see why it should be any different to using a 32gb card and using that over and over. My point was more to do with needing the 960gb capacity. If you're only going to fill half of it each time you may as well buy a card half the size and save your money.

From memory lossless raw files on the A1 are 60-70mb each, so if you say 70mb that's 13,714 images you can fit on one 960GB card. I'd question anyone that would shoot that many images in one shoot/day ;) If you're shooting at 30fps then you have to shoot compressed raw which is smaller still (I think 50-60mb) so you could fit even more shots on the card.
 
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It shouldn’t reuse the same areas of the flash, solid state drives use wear levelling algorithms to avoid it and mark bytes “used” when they wear out.

In theory a larger drive will last longer as there is more capacity/over provision so the nand will last longer. In practice this hasn’t been an issue for years except in extreme cases (this is why you get different types of SD card for dashcams etc where you write a lot of data)
 
the_accidental said:
It shouldn’t reuse the same areas of the flash, solid state drives use wear levelling algorithms to avoid it and mark bytes “used” when they wear out.

In theory a larger drive will last longer as there is more capacity/over provision so the nand will last longer. In practice this hasn’t been an issue for years except in extreme cases (this is why you get different types of SD card for dashcams etc where you write a lot of data)
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Useful info, thanks.
 
Indeed, super helpful info, thanks @the_accidental.

I'm going down a memory card rabbit hole, why has no one made this more straight forward!

So there's Sony Tough 'G', which are the Rolls Royce of CF Express cards, but there's also high capacity Sony Tough 'M' cards which aren't as high performance (though unclear much). They're also significantly cheaper - I can pick up the 960gb for £400.

Then there's Pergear Standard and Pergear Prime, with Prime presumably better performing, but again I'm a bit lost on the stats, and then how either perform versus the Tough cards. There's also a few comments around about the cards overheating.

There's a great article here on different experiences but unfortunately hasn't done the Sony Tough M tests. I'm not fussed on video, but it's hard to tell if I need to care for the 30fps. albeit compressed.

Why are these things never easy?
 
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Tricky01 said:
Indeed, super helpful info, thanks @the_accidental.

I'm going down a memory card rabbit hole, why has no one made this more straight forward!

So there's Sony Tough 'G', which are the Rolls Royce of CF Express cards, but there's also high capacity Sony Tough 'M' cards which aren't as high performance (though unclear much). They're also significantly cheaper - I can pick up the 960gb for £400.

Then there's Pergear Standard and Pergear Prime, with Prime presumably better performing, but again I'm a bit lost on the stats, and then how either perform versus the Tough cards. There's also a few comments around about the cards overheating.

There's a great article here on different experiences but unfortunately hasn't done the Sony Tough M tests. I'm not fussed on video, but it's hard to tell if I need to care for the 30fps. albeit compressed.

Why are these things never easy?
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Specs can be confusing. Generally each brand has their top level performing card and then one that’s not quite so good which is obviously cheaper.

Every CFExpress card I’ve used has been more than fast enough for my use, and yes there has been the odd time I’ll fire a bunch of shots at 30fps. To be quite honest I’ve never had an issue with SD cards and they’re obviously quite a bit slower. Unlike previous cameras the A1 (as well as some others) are still fully operational whilst the buffer is clearing.

The only time I notice the advantage of the CFExpress is speed of transfer to the computer, it’s rapid in comparison.
 
Yeah as @snerkler said the main advantage of CF-A is the speed getting the files to your computer. For photo CF-A won’t make much difference over using a good V90 SD card. Apparently there are advantages for video, couldn’t tell you what they are though as I don’t shoot any video.

I am mainly using the 512GB PearGear cards for when I have 2 weddings in 2 days. Or 3 in 3 days. While I still back the cards up after each day it’s nice to know I still have a back up on the cards.

For me the speed is useful as I like to back up after each wedding day and the quicker I can get the images of the cards and on to the computer the better as I can then hit bed.

With the super cheap price of the PearGear cards you might as well have those over paying the extra for an older format like V90. I wouldn’t waste any extra money on Sony Tough cards I personally haven’t found them to be any better or any more reliable than other cards. They also tend to be slightly larger and more difficult to get in and out of the camera and card readers.

If you decide to buy Lexar CF-A just be careful where you buy them from as they are the most counterfeited. Surprisingly you can pick up genuine Lexar CF-A very cheap on AliExpress.
 
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Pretty sure Lexar have an official store on Aliexpress, Lexar global store, so they should be genuine
 
nog said:
Pretty sure Lexar have an official store on Aliexpress, Lexar global store, so they should be genuine
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I've bought them direct from Amazon and they seem kosher to me/
 
Just to give some examples of the sort of use that _does_ kill nand devices (SSDs, SD cards, CFExpress, storage in phones etc) - one example is usage for data storage on robots (this is how I've killed the most drives, we used to have a cardboard box full of dead SSDs).

In this case you might have anywhere from 2 to 10 cameras, lidar sensors, radar etc etc and the limit on the data rate is typically the rate of the busses the devices are connected to (and the rate you can process). A robot producing a gigabyte of data per-second isn't unusual. 5-10 gigabytes (Not bits!) isn't that hard either. The last time I was killing drives was about 2013/2014 and then it was SATA SSDs, which limit you to about 500MB/s if you're lucky/have a good one. If you're writing at that rate continuously for hours a day they'd get killed after a few months of use.

That said, since about 2013/14 and the advent of TRIM and similar techniques being implemented properly in most OS, combined with better hardware, it's not been an issue.

For comparison, if you shot raw on an A9iii at 120fps continuously you'd be doing about 3.6GB/s, which is in the sort of range you need fast modern NAND to keep up with (and I don't think it can shot that beyond its buffer). If I look at an older, "consumer" SSD with a "low" write endurance, a Samsung 960 EVO from 2016, it's rated at 400TB. That gives you 31 hours of continuous 120fps raw shooting. That's quite a lot.

About 14 Million frames.

So TLDR your camera's shutter will probably fail long before the card, and realistically something else first.

(yes I know there's no shutter to fail on an A9ii, you'll probably have worn out the shutter button first ;) )
 
nog said:
Pretty sure Lexar have an official store on Aliexpress, Lexar global store, so they should be genuine
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Yeah that’s why I mentioned AliExpress as most people would auto think that they would be fake when they are not.

Know a few people bought fake one’s from Amazon and eBay also seen someone on social media who bought a fake one in the states from a camera shop. Tbf the fake ones seem to work just as well.

@snerkler I always check cards bought from Amazon. Had a bad experience with a Sony tough card that was sold and delivered by Amazon that turned out to be fake although that was an SD card.
 
f/2.8 said:
Yeah that’s why I mentioned AliExpress as most people would auto think that they would be fake when they are not.

Know a few people bought fake one’s from Amazon and eBay also seen someone on social media who bought a fake one in the states from a camera shop. Tbf the fake ones seem to work just as well.

@snerkler I always check cards bought from Amazon. Had a bad experience with a Sony tough card that was sold and delivered by Amazon that turned out to be fake although that was an SD card.
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How do you check?
 
GreenNinja67 said:
It's stamped with "FAKE" in red capitals.:banana:
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:D

This reminds me of years ago when I worked out of a large DSS site in Newcastle and some visiting government bods were handing out some disks (back when computers had FDD) which clearly stated that they had a virus on them. And they weren't wrong, they did. That kept me busy for a while. Government departments, you couldn't make it up.
 
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The rumor site reports the lowest price ever for the Samyang 35mm f1.8...

Lowest price ever: Samyang 35mm f/1.8 | sonyalpharumors

You get it no for $252 only at Amazon US (Click here). Ending today!
www.sonyalpharumors.com www.sonyalpharumors.com

Amazon UK have them for £265 but I don't know if that's the lowest ever in the UK. It seems very reasonable but I've no idea how good a lens it is.
 
woof woof said:
The rumor site reports the lowest price ever for the Samyang 35mm f1.8...

Lowest price ever: Samyang 35mm f/1.8 | sonyalpharumors

You get it no for $252 only at Amazon US (Click here). Ending today!
www.sonyalpharumors.com www.sonyalpharumors.com

Amazon UK have them for £265 but I don't know if that's the lowest ever in the UK. It seems very reasonable but I've no idea how good a lens it is.
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Camera Price Buster shows lowest price of £252 on Amazon in Feb last year.

https://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk...-Lenses/Samyang-35mm-f1.8-AF-Sony-FE-Fit-Lens
 
woof woof said:
I've no idea if it's a good buy or not but it looks a good price for a 35mm f1.8. I'm pretty sure build and various issues leading to return have been mentioned in the past for this brand though.
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I'm not sure, but feel the sony 35 1.8 goes for around that second hand?
 
Just updated to V3 firmware on A1. Very pleased to have focus bracketing built in now, but pity it isn't faster - I was hoping to use for insects, but think the manual focus + 30fps + 'slow lean into insect' remains the better approach.
 
Also, going back to the cf express type a discussion, just did a very basic test of three card types shooting at an digital stopwatch with Sony A1 set to AF-C, 1/250th sec and Hi+ setting. Shot until white bar on left hit the bottom (and 'slow' appears), then recorded when that white bar refilled, and then when all images finished copying to memory card.

Three cards were:
1. SDXC card: Integral Ultima pro high endurance SDXC V90 II
2. CF Express type A: Lexar Gold 80gb
3. CF Express type A: Sony Tough G 160gb (note the G - different to M!)

30fps shots + time before 'slow'Time from 'slow' to buffer refill (white line on left screen full)time from 'slow' before card fully written toNo. of shots in 10 seconds
1. integral v90 SDXC133 shots (4.6 sec)~16 sec~27 sec164
2. Lexar gold150 shots (5.1 sec)~4 sec~7 sec184
3. Sony Tough G154 shots (5.1 sec)~5 sec~8 sec183

I wasn't expecting the SD to do quite so well if I'm honest, I hadn't realised how impressive the buffer is on the A1, and the main 'work' for the card is simply the write (and of course the read off to the laptop after). Given the camera is operable while buffer is clearing, it doesn't REALLY matter from photography perspective, although there is some pleasure in seeing the buffer cleared.

So my conclusion is not to stress, do go cf express over SD all things being equal, but certainly not to invest in expensive cards unless you're doing video.
 
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Mike.P said:
Does anyone update the firmware on their Sony lenses?

I didn't realise it was a thing until yesterday, I looked on Sony's website to find the 100-400mm is on V6 and mine is V2.
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I've done most of mine, but one of them crashes every time I try on my Mac (think it's the 24 GM)
 
Tricky01 said:
Just updated to V3 firmware on A1. Very pleased to have focus bracketing built in now, but pity it isn't faster - I was hoping to use for insects, but think the manual focus + 30fps + 'slow lean into insect' remains the better approach.
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You can only really use focus bracketing on static subjects, insects are far too skittish (y)
Mike.P said:
Does anyone update the firmware on their Sony lenses?

I didn't realise it was a thing until yesterday, I looked on Sony's website to find the 100-400mm is on V6 and mine is V2.
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I do, but they're few and far between. I can't remember if Sony notify you of updates or not if you've registered them, I know NIkon do as I still get emails from them about updates for my old cameras :LOL:
 
This is next level, I wonder how many people he clobbered with those lights strapped to his back :LOL:

IMG_9340.jpegIMG_9343.jpeg
 
snerkler said:
You can only really use focus bracketing on static subjects, insects are far too skittish (y)
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So I agree in principle - with regards to the inbuilt feature and the way it's working. But there's no reason for it not to work significantly faster than it does, which would mean it could be usable with insects (I've done plenty of stacks like this, with the aforementioned MF + 30fps + 'slowly lean into the subject').

We all know the shutter is perfectly capable, and we also know the AF keeps up to speed. For macro, the pull of focus is so minute that it feels there's no reason for it to be as sluggish as Sony seem to have implemented. Unless anyone knows of a good reason?
 
A new Chinese FF AF f1.2 lens coming? From a new company?

A new Chinese manufacturer will soon launch an f/1.2 full-frame autofocus E-mount on the market | sonyalpharumors

There are rumors on Weibo about a completely new Chinese company that wants to launch a new f/1.2 full-frame autofocus E-mount lens. Again, this is not a well-known company like Viltrox, 7Artisans, Laowa, Meike or others that we already know. I find it impressive how many Chinese manufacturers...
www.sonyalpharumors.com www.sonyalpharumors.com

And...

"Reminder: Viltrox will soon announce these new 35mm f/1.2, 50mm f/1.2 and 85mm f/1.2 FE lenses!"
 
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Example shots and comments on the Voigtlander 28mm f1.5.


I have to say that some of the pictures do little to nothing for me but I suppose they're mostly just the guy trying out the lens.

This lens could well equal or better the Sony f2 and will no doubt be much better than the best 28mm film era lenses I've had, the Rokkor and Nikon AIS f2.8's. A couple of years ago I'd have ordered this lens by now but now I think I might pass completely. I'll think about it but really I should sell my unused and little used gear but then I think I don't need the money or to save money and should just buy it even if I'm only a bit interested in it as anything that sparks interest and gives enjoyment is worthwhile :D

I don't suppose anyone else is interested?

Looking through my 28mm pictures I think my favourites were taken not with the f2 Sony or my film era 28's but with my 14mm on MFT. That lens has been on one of my Panasonic MFT cameras for a year or more and is a firm favourite due to its IQ and tiny size.
 
woof woof said:
Example shots and comments on the Voigtlander 28mm f1.5.


I have to say that some of the pictures do little to nothing for me but I suppose they're mostly just the guy trying out the lens.

This lens could well equal or better the Sony f2 and will no doubt be much better than the best 28mm film era lenses I've had, the Rokkor and Nikon AIS f2.8's. A couple of years ago I'd have ordered this lens by now but now I think I might pass completely. I'll think about it but really I should sell my unused and little used gear but then I think I don't need the money or to save money and should just buy it even if I'm only a bit interested in it as anything that sparks interest and gives enjoyment is worthwhile :D

I don't suppose anyone else is interested?

Looking through my 28mm pictures I think my favourites were taken not with the f2 Sony or my film era 28's but with my 14mm on MFT. That lens has been on one of my Panasonic MFT cameras for a year or more and is a firm favourite due to its IQ and tiny size.
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I have a 28mm for my Yashica but it's not really a focal length I go for tbh

Although....... I did have it in my Canon days when 50/1.4 was my go-to....... :)
 
The issue with 28mm for me is that it's not very wide, but it's too wide for a normal perspective.
 
According to the rumour site as expected the new lens is a 50-105 f/2.8.. Guess the wait for a new 50 f/1.8 continues.

Not sure who would buy one I guess if you like zooms and have the other 2 small zooms this might be an option.
 
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f/2.8 said:
According to the rumour site as expected the new lens is a 50-105 f/2.8.. Guess the wait for a new 50 f/1.8 continues.

Not sure who would buy one I guess if you like zooms and have the other 2 small zooms this might be an option.
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I can’t help think they’ve filled the market with your more traditional zooms so need something new to keep the sales up.
 
snerkler said:
I can’t help think they’ve filled the market with your more traditional zooms so need something new to keep the sales up.
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Personally I think they are struggling to innovate. Yeah I know there was the 28-70 f/2 but realistically the last big lens release that caused a bit of a stir was the 50 f/1.2 which was ages ago now.

Whoever is coming up with their “ideas” needs sacked.

They should have focused on getting out the more obscure lenses like tilt shift and more macro option. They should have also refreshed the super old lenses like the 50 f/1.8. I guess they don’t think those would generate enough revenue for them.

There has been a lot of disappointment with more recent lens release. The new 85 not being a an f/1.2 etc.

They would need to up their game and stop relying on new bodies to show how they can innovate.
 
f/2.8 said:
Personally I think they are struggling to innovate. Yeah I know there was the 28-70 f/2 but realistically the last big lens release that caused a bit of a stir was the 50 f/1.2 which was ages ago now.

Whoever is coming up with their “ideas” needs sacked.

They should have focused on getting out the more obscure lenses like tilt shift and more macro option. They should have also refreshed the super old lenses like the 50 f/1.8. I guess they don’t think those would generate enough revenue for them.

There has been a lot of disappointment with more recent lens release. The new 85 not being a an f/1.2 etc.

They would need to up their game and stop relying on new bodies to show how they can innovate.
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Agreed, there's a big call for some lighter and longer tele options too.
 
ancient_mariner said:
The issue with 28mm for me is that it's not very wide, but it's too wide for a normal perspective.
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For me it's noticeably wider than 35mm but not so wide as to get into too many perspective issues with overly distorted people and converging lines unless that's what you're going for. Nicer for scenic and tighter space use than a 35/50mm and not needing as much care as 24mm.
 
f/2.8 said:
According to the rumour site as expected the new lens is a 50-105 f/2.8.. Guess the wait for a new 50 f/1.8 continues.

Not sure who would buy one I guess if you like zooms and have the other 2 small zooms this might be an option.
Click to expand...

Maybe aiming for those who bought the 24-50mm f2.8.
 
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