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

twist said:
Not sure it will, it's fairly competitive while the UK price never was and just became ridiculous at 3k.
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You do know you can pay more than that for a 5D? Don't the various 5D's go for between £2.2K to £3.5K? Is that a ridiculous price too or are we getting back into Sony bashing without looking at what the market will pay for cameras in about the same sector?
 
woof woof said:
You do know you can pay more than that for a 5D? Don't the various 5D's go for between £2.2K to £3.5K? Is that a ridiculous price too or are we getting back into Sony bashing without looking at what the market will pay for cameras in about the same sector?
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Okay so you think that a £1000 mark up is a good deal? Don't be daft... and Canon has way better 3rd party support, lighting and lenses for far less money, yes the Sony is cheaper, but as usual you only think of camera price.
 
woof woof said:
Apart from the studio flash issue are there any BIG real world weaknesses with these cameras? I suppose tracking ability is still a weakness but that doesn't matter to me.
I suppose we'll see what any future new model brings, even I could be tempted by some out of this world new feature or ability.
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Better focus tracking, more fps, focus joystick, twin card slots. Not huge things but if you added these to the A7rii it would be the perfect camera. For me.
 
twist said:
Okay so you think that a £1000 mark up is a good deal? Don't be daft... and Canon has way better 3rd party support, lighting and lenses for far less money, yes the Sony is cheaper, but as usual you only think of camera price.
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Sony has one of the biggest markups on their A7 series compared to others, its because its mostly in-house which gives them maximum profit per unit. For example, I managed to bag the Sony A7RII for £2000, which at the time was a £500 saving as everywhere had them on for £2500! :eek: I also managed to secure 10% off the normal street prices on any future Sony lenses etc without much difficulty.
I recently tried to secure some form of discount from Fuji but they wouldn't move on prices at all, luckily a certain dealership got some cheap stock in ;) and double cash back and it was a good buy.

Sony will deliver on the remaining criticisms when they bring the A9/A7III to market and I am certain they will attract even more professional Nikon and Canon users..... the only problem I see with the FE system is that the lens lineup becomes very expensive if your after the best out of the sensors... yes you can use old manual focusing lenses or adapted via lens adaptors but they won't be as good as the native G Masters/G/Zeiss lenses ......

I think its pointless in spending a good deal of money on a nice FF body only to stick on old 1970's manual or low end FE lenses on them.

:D
 
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jbw said:
The moon (shot last night) using a Sony A7R2 fitted with Sigma MC-11 & Sigma 150-600 Contemporary lens wide open aperture (FL at 600 mm),
Moon by james boardman-woodend, on Flickr
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great combo. i did have the the tamron 150-600 via metabones but the af got into trouble at the longer focal lengths. obviously a shot like this is great with manual af, but how does the af perform with the lens and adapter?
 
addicknchips said:
at 600mm?
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Yes - locks onto targets very quickly. Hunts a bit in low light or low contrast but otherwise as fast as my Sony 24-70 f2.8 G Master. The key is to get the Canon fit version and use the Sigma MC-11 adapter - then you can fine tune the focus limits etc.
Brilliant for the price they charge.
James
 
jbw said:
Yes - locks onto targets very quickly. Hunts a bit in low light or low contrast but otherwise as fast as my Sony 24-70 f2.8 G Master. The key is to get the Canon fit version and use the Sigma MC-11 adapter - then you can fine tune the focus limits etc.
Brilliant for the price they charge.
James
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umm thats not how i experienced it when i had a go in the photo show.

the AF was absolutely shocking.
 
jonneymendoza said:
umm thats not how i experienced it when i had a go in the photo show.

the AF was absolutely shocking.
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Weird indeed - I used mine to photograph Grebes the other day - at 600mm it would lock on in a lot less than half a second with no hunting at all - images are razor sharp too - perhaps mine in an exceptional one off ?!?
James
 
jbw said:
Weird indeed - I used mine to photograph Grebes the other day - at 600mm it would lock on in a lot less than half a second with no hunting at all - images are razor sharp too - perhaps mine in an exceptional one off ?!?
James
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Yea dunno. Maybe the adapter they gave me needed a fw update?
 
twist said:
Wouldn't the photo show have been in low light, all mirrorless slow down in those conditions, even more so adapted.
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It couldn't even nail a single focus! Unusable. Native lenses focus fine in low light. Diddnt u see some of the 100mm g master samples I posted here?
 
Zeiss Batis 135mm f2.8 to be announced this week.
We should also see the new high speed, high ISO, high fps, 20-24mp Sony A9 announced too.
:D
 
Fuguru said:
Zeiss Batis 135mm f2.8 to be announced this week.
We should also see the new high speed, high ISO, high fps, 20-24mp Sony A9 announced too.
:D
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With the sigma 135 f1.8 canon135 f2 the a mount 135 f1.8 zeiss and Nikons 135 f2 - I'm not sure how I feel about a 2.8. Unless there's some zeiss wizardry thrown in, it's a little underwhelming
 
I don't get all the frustration about new batis being 2.8 rather then 2.0 or even 1.8

I personally got into sony A7 system for compactness. If I wanted to lug 1.5kg lenses around I might as well have gone for FF Canon or Nikon or indeed Sony A99.

I own a Samyang 135/2 which is optically a fantastic lens, but it's heavy and lacks autofocus, both of which are a big deal for as I need it for kids/family shots.
As such lighter and AF enabled 135mm lens even a little bit slow-ish will immediately end up on my wish list... Provided the price is sensible.
 
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gunnar said:
I don't get all the frustration about new batis being 2.8 rather then 2.0 or even 1.8

I personally got into sony A7 system for compactness. If I wanted to lug 1.5kg lenses around I might as well have gone for FF Canon or Nikon or indeed Sony A99.

I own a Samyang 135/2 which is optically a fantastic lens, but it's heavy and lacks autofocus, both of which are a big deal for as I need it for kids/family shots.
As such lighter and AF enabled 135mm lens even a little bit slow-ish will immediately end up on my wish list... Provided the price is sensible.
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SAR has the full images posted along with specs;

http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sr5-full-leaked-images-new-zeiss-batis-135mm-f2-8-lens/

With regards to the price, the SAR post suggests a similar price to the Batis 18mm which is around £1200. Not exactly a cheap walkabout!
 
stevelmx5 said:
With regards to the price, the SAR post suggests a similar price to the Batis 18mm which is around £1200. Not exactly a cheap walkabout!
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It was never going to be a cheap walkabout. None of the batis series are!

Mortals like me will have to wait a year and get it used or grey I guess :D
 
Have to say I agree with Gunnar - I moved to the A7 to downsize size & weight without losing (in my case, massively gaining) any image quality. Sticking any of the fast G-masters or 1 135 f/1.8 would defeat the point of going mirrorless - besides the fact it's out of reach in terms of price.

That's why I personally love the 35mm f/2.8, the 55mm 1.8 and the new 85mm 1.8 - they're still small and light and give incredible IQ .

Obviously people want different things from their gear - but it makes sense to me to keep A7-series lenses small and light.
 
Durbs said:
Have to say I agree with Gunnar - I moved to the A7 to downsize size & weight without losing (in my case, massively gaining) any image quality. Sticking any of the fast G-masters or 1 135 f/1.8 would defeat the point of going mirrorless - besides the fact it's out of reach in terms of price.

That's why I personally love the 35mm f/2.8, the 55mm 1.8 and the new 85mm 1.8 - they're still small and light and give incredible IQ .

Obviously people want different things from their gear - but it makes sense to me to keep A7-series lenses small and light.
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I guess there are options there for those who want a compact system but with the benefit of full frame.

Although I guess in terms of native lenses it's only the 35mm, 28mm and 55mm that are compact.
 
If I was after an A7 Series camera to replace an A99 (mostly used with the 50mm Zeis 1.4) what would I need to be getting to match or improve the IQ.

I've discounted the S as I don't need to do video or high ISO really, so it's just a case of compromising on AF and going for the R the 7II or the RII.

I'm guessing the original 7 would be too big a drop in AF performance

Any advice welcome even if it contradicts what I've assumed above :)
 
gunnar said:
I don't get all the frustration about new batis being 2.8 rather then 2.0 or even 1.8

I personally got into sony A7 system for compactness. If I wanted to lug 1.5kg lenses around I might as well have gone for FF Canon or Nikon or indeed Sony A99.

I own a Samyang 135/2 which is optically a fantastic lens, but it's heavy and lacks autofocus, both of which are a big deal for as I need it for kids/family shots.
As such lighter and AF enabled 135mm lens even a little bit slow-ish will immediately end up on my wish list... Provided the price is sensible.
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Err the Sony lenses weigh as much as the canikon equivalents or more.... just saying.
 
mjScall said:
If I was after an A7 Series camera to replace an A99 (mostly used with the 50mm Zeis 1.4) what would I need to be getting to match or improve the IQ.

I've discounted the S as I don't need to do video or high ISO really, so it's just a case of compromising on AF and going for the R the 7II or the RII.

I'm guessing the original 7 would be too big a drop in AF performance

Any advice welcome even if it contradicts what I've assumed above :)
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Not used an a99 but in terms of af and full frame your best options are the a7ii and A7rii. Obviously the better image quality is with the r2 and also has better af. The a7r is contrast only af so worse than the a7.
 
addicknchips said:
Not used an a99 but in terms of af and full frame your best options are the a7ii and A7rii. Obviously the better image quality is with the r2 and also has better af. The a7r is contrast only af so worse than the a7.
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I can confirm that the af on the 7R2 is considerably better than the 7R.
 
f2.8 on a 135 would be fine with me as I'd be looking at this as primarily a portrait lens and zero DoF portraits are over rated IMO. YMMV and certainly does looking at some of the comments and shots on this site. I have a 135mm f2.8 :D but it's a MF Minolta Rokkor :D

In defence of depth...

http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2012/06/in-defense-of-depth.html

Anyway, off to Thailand tomorrow but what photography kit to take?

A7 with 35mm f2.8? 55mm f1.8? Kit zoom? GX7 with 12-35mm f2.8? GX80 with 17mm f1.8? I'd really love to take my A7 with Minolta 50mm f1.2 as it's my favourite lens at the moment but this is not a photographic holiday as we'll be meeting up with GF's family before heading back to the UK to marry so I don't want to be messing about with MF and holding everyone up so I'll take the AF 35mm f2.8. Also taking a Panny compact with 25-250mm or so zoom.

Hopefully the new camera will be announced by the time I get back :D
 
Yup but it'll be bigger and heavier and more expensive and although you're right about it being personal taste... I wouldn't willingly and happily be shooting a portrait at f1.8. I'd be unhappy about the DoF and probably only shooting at f1.8 for the speed / lower ISO.
 
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