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

Riz_Guru said:
Just a heads up folks..
Amazon Primeday have some Sony deals....

Sony A6300 = £674 then - £150 Sony Cash Back = £524
Sony A7 = £719 then - £100 Sony Cash Back = £619
Sony A7S = £1250 - £200 Sony Cash Back = £1050
Sony RX100 III = £427 - £75 Sony Cash Back = £352


I have picked up the Sony RX100 III for Holiday Snaps! But was really temped to get the Sony A7 or A7S :D
Happy GAS days!
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Noticed these deals yesterday and went for a a6300 as an upgrade for my a6000, which will be hitting the classifieds soon.
 
Hi,

I managed to pick up one of the A7 cameras with the 28-70mm lens from Amazon for £719 the other day.

Been looking at lenses and thinking they weren't too badly priced. I have may a 'schoolboy' error in thinking that E-mount was just E-mount. I realised when looking at the Samyang 12mm that it was E-mount APS-C, as were many of the other lenses I was looking at. Wondering if I should have gone for the A6300 now!

Essentially 95% of my photography is landscape and previously I have tried to be a jack of all trades and master of none - I am going to focus on landscapes now.

I am thinking about keeping the 28-70mm for general use but getting 1 dedicated landscape lens (used to use Canon 10-18mm and loved it) - would consider a wide angle prime.

I won't be spending above £500 on any lens.

Can people please make some recommendations?

Thanks


EDIT: Forgot to mention - I don't want anything massive.
 
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Tom Green said:
Hi,

I managed to pick up one of the A7 cameras with the 28-70mm lens from Amazon for £719 the other day.

Been looking at lenses and thinking they weren't too badly priced. I have may a 'schoolboy' error in thinking that E-mount was just E-mount. I realised when looking at the Samyang 12mm that it was E-mount APS-C, as were many of the other lenses I was looking at. Wondering if I should have gone for the A6300 now!

Essentially 95% of my photography is landscape and previously I have tried to be a jack of all trades and master of none - I am going to focus on landscapes now.

I am thinking about keeping the 28-70mm for general use but getting 1 dedicated landscape lens (used to use Canon 10-18mm and loved it) - would consider a wide angle prime.

I won't be spending above £500 on any lens.

Can people please make some recommendations?

Thanks
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I've got an A7 coming today from the same deal :0) I'm going to compare it to my A6000 and see how I feel about it.

For landscape, you don't need fast AF so I'd suggest using a Canon 17-40L with an adaptor alongside the 28-70. That's what I'm planning on doing.
 
Tom Green said:
Hi,

I managed to pick up one of the A7 cameras with the 28-70mm lens from Amazon for £719 the other day.

Been looking at lenses and thinking they weren't too badly priced. I have may a 'schoolboy' error in thinking that E-mount was just E-mount. I realised when looking at the Samyang 12mm that it was E-mount APS-C, as were many of the other lenses I was looking at. Wondering if I should have gone for the A6300 now!

Essentially 95% of my photography is landscape and previously I have tried to be a jack of all trades and master of none - I am going to focus on landscapes now.

I am thinking about keeping the 28-70mm for general use but getting 1 dedicated landscape lens (used to use Canon 10-18mm and loved it) - would consider a wide angle prime.

I won't be spending above £500 on any lens.

Can people please make some recommendations?

Thanks
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The 28mm f2 will be a great option that when paired with an a7 will fit in a winter jacket pocket. Will also leave change in your pocket.

Might not be wide enough for you though.
 
addicknchips said:
The 28mm f2 will be a great option that when paired with an a7 will fit in a winter jacket pocket. Will also leave change in your pocket.

Might not be wide enough for you though.
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The 28/2 is a great option for keeping the system small but for landscapes it doesn't offer anything over the kit lens as it will be stopped down to F11-16 anyway.

I'd agree with @twist with the Samyang 14mm as an alternative option.
 
How about CV15?
You could also look at some legacy options like OM 21mm/3.5.

Though landscape lenses doesn't necessarily mean UWA. You could also add the cheap and very good samyang 35mm/2.8
 
nandbytes said:
How about CV15?
You could also look at some legacy options like OM 21mm/3.5.

Though landscape lenses doesn't necessarily mean UWA. You could also add the cheap and very good samyang 35mm/2.8
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Yup. Landscape does not have to be 12-24mm but you'd think it had to when reading internet forums :D Just on the 35mm f2.8, once you've reached 28mm why not just use the 28-70mm? Unless the f2.8 is needed?

Personally I prefer primes as even with an adapter they're probably going to be smaller than a zoom and have a wider aperture and I'm sure that everyones now bored with me saying that the answer to every question is a legacy prime, probably a Minolta Rokkor or Olympus Zuiko :D

However, Tom has had a 10-20mm and loved it so maybe a wide zoom is the answer?

Cosina / Vivitar / Other Name 19-35mm and adapter? Canon 20-35mm USM? (The cheap one) I had one of these, they're cheap, compact and lightweight and optically ok. There's quite a bit of distortion but these days it's easy to correct in the software of your choice.
 
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stevelmx5 said:
The 28/2 is a great option for keeping the system small but for landscapes it doesn't offer anything over the kit lens as it will be stopped down to F11-16 anyway.

I'd agree with @twist with the Samyang 14mm as an alternative option.
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Did watch a review of that kit lens remaining soft in the corners throughout the range.
 
addicknchips said:
Did watch a review of that kit lens remaining soft in the corners throughout the range.
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I imagine that it's like a lot of kit lenses but still worth trying before replacing it. My first paid/published image was a 2-page gallery image in Digital Photographer that I shot on a 400D with the 18-55 kit lens. I look back on it now and don't like the image but I was happy to be paid for it still :0)
 
stevelmx5 said:
Do you need to compare a lens to another to know if it's soft or sharp? Surely just looking at the overall image will tell you that.
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well, there are different levels of sharpness.

I'm sure you'll make very good use of your new lens.
 
addicknchips said:
Compared to?
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Compared to the review you read saying it's soft in the corners throughout the range.

As I've said several times, I have this lens but haven't used it outside the house and garden (I like and use primes in the real world) but it seems fine. Actually it seems more than fine, it seems like a good to very good standard range variable aperture zoom.

If anyone wants some 100% crops I'll fit the lens to the camera, shoot and crop but it'll have to be another day, I'm a bit busy today.
 
addicknchips said:
well, there are different levels of sharpness.

I'm sure you'll make very good use of your new lens.
Click to expand...

I'm not saying that there aren't better lenses than the kit 28-70, clearly there are. However, in a landscape situation, the difference between lenses gets less obvious as you're generally stopped down, on a tripod, focusing on a fixed point.

Shooting in low light with fast AF and wide aperture is another story altogether!

I just like to put some alternative thoughts into the some of the standard replies in this thread (not yours) that suggest paying out thousands when someone has already set a budget and hasn't even used the kit lens yet.
 
woof woof said:
Compared to the review you read saying it's soft in the corners throughout the range.

As I've said several times, I have this lens but haven't used it outside the house and garden (I like and use primes in the real world) but it seems fine. Actually it seems more than fine, it seems like a good to very good standard range variable aperture zoom.

If anyone wants some 100% crops I'll fit the lens to the camera, shoot and crop but it'll have to be another day, I'm a bit busy today.
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thats wonderful - but id have to question how much testing you can possible give a lens that hasn't been out out of your home.
 
stevelmx5 said:
I'm not saying that there aren't better lenses than the kit 28-70, clearly there are. However, in a landscape situation, the difference between lenses gets less obvious as you're generally stopped down, on a tripod, focusing on a fixed point.

Shooting in low light with fast AF and wide aperture is another story altogether!

I just like to put some alternative thoughts into the some of the standard replies in this thread (not yours) that suggest paying out thousands when someone has already set a budget and hasn't even used the kit lens yet.
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agreed.

are you going to be able to use any other glass to test on your a7?
 
addicknchips said:
thats wonderful - but id have to question how much testing you can possible give a lens that hasn't been out out of your home.
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I can walk into the garden and shoot the hill, flowers, cars and a brick wall... That's everything from close up to miles away at various apertures, good enough? Should be :D

When I first looked at getting this camera the body and kit lens package looked to be a good deal so I thought I'd go for it and use the zoom for days out but just like when I had Canon DSLR's I ended up using primes. Actually when I had my DSLR I used my 12-24mm a bit but these days I use primes pretty much exclusively.

Anyway, I thought I'd use the zoom so I bought it but after shooting around the house and garden as you do when you get new stuff I just put it away and got on with my 55mm f1.8 and later added the 35mm f2.8 and all along I had my legacy primes.

I do think it's a good standard range zoom but it just so happens that I prefer primes so I haven't bothered with it.
 
stevelmx5 said:
That's a fair comment. How much have you used the 28-70 and what are your thoughts?
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i have no experience of it other than looking at it in a shop. I've done some research on it as actually considered it for a cheap landscape option for my a7rii. i only tend to get the chance a few times a year to shoot landscape, so would like something portable. the 28mm f2 does the trick for me. I've previously used the 16-35f4 which i loved. probably my favourite was the fuji x70.

anyway - i decided against the kit lens as most of the reviews i found were not very favourable, and not much had been shared on this site with examples. so my comments are based on what I've read, hence not coming flat out and saying that i know its not a decent lens.

16-35 zeiss
20160701-DSC00164 by Jonathan Howes, on Flickr
 
stevelmx5 said:
I'm not saying that there aren't better lenses than the kit 28-70, clearly there are. However, in a landscape situation, the difference between lenses gets less obvious as you're generally stopped down, on a tripod, focusing on a fixed point.

Shooting in low light with fast AF and wide aperture is another story altogether!

I just like to put some alternative thoughts into the some of the standard replies in this thread (not yours) that suggest paying out thousands when someone has already set a budget and hasn't even used the kit lens yet.
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You'll have to stop talking sense Steve.

:D
 
Thanks for all the views....interesting reading the debate. Saw the 28mm F2 and like the look of that....went to £265 earlier in the year so might wait for that price again.

Shame is not around 20-22mm as that would be spot on.

Any other decent shouts?
 
you could buy FE 28mm f2 with the UWA adapter which will give 21mm f2.8. If you would consider adapting there are plenty of manual options.
 
Nice shots although the builders of the buildings in the second shot seem to have lost their spirit levels ;0)

As I said though, the 'traditional' landscape approach (I understand that nothing is cast in stone) is generally on a tripod stopped down for hyperfocal distance focusing and front to back sharpness and most lenses perform at their best when stopped down so the differences are less obvious.
 
stevelmx5 said:
Nice shots although the builders of the buildings in the second shot seem to have lost their spirit levels ;0)

As I said though, the 'traditional' landscape approach (I understand that nothing is cast in stone) is generally on a tripod stopped down for hyperfocal distance focusing and front to back sharpness and most lenses perform at their best when stopped down so the differences are less obvious.
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Yea true. i guess i like shooting at night hehe.

The 14mm samyang is cheap as well
 
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