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

jonneymendoza said:
No not really. Sony last DSLR(sort of a hybrid) was basically a D850
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I forgot about the A99ii - Sorry!

woof woof said:
On the minor update thing... yes there are limits to what can be done with a camera based on flappy mirrors but the culture is IMO still visible and when you look at the things that could be done which aren't for reasons of product differentiation doubly so. That's something that's surprising about the A7III in particular. In isolation I'm a little surprised that Sony released it but not in the context of Canon and Nikon possibly entering the market soon with more serious efforts than they've made to date.

Looking at the recent products from Sony, Canon and Nikon and the speed of the process I think of the three I'd see Sony as the most likely to introduce a camera that seems to move things on and compete directly with higher priced offerings from the same company. I'm surprised that Sony did this to the extent they have but I understand it considering that Canikon may be about to enter the market. I'd have been absolutely gobsmacked if Canon had done it.
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It works both way’s though - we had a fair gap between the A7rii, A7ii and their replacements (and even longer now until the A7siii) but for a long time people were getting annoyed with the speed at which Sony were releasing bodies, adding things that really should have been there initially.

I hope that the new Sony product lifecycle with the gaps between the “Gen 2 and Gen 3” bodies is the new reality.
 
chrism_scotland said:
I forgot about the A99ii - Sorry!



It works both way’s though - we had a fair gap between the A7rii, A7ii and their replacements (and even longer now until the A7siii) but for a long time people were getting annoyed with the speed at which Sony were releasing bodies, adding things that really should have been there initially.

I hope that the new Sony product lifecycle with the gaps between the “Gen 2 and Gen 3” bodies is the new reality.
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It is, Sony said they were going extend the lifecycle of their products.
 
twist said:
It is, Sony said they were going extend the lifecycle of their products.
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I'd imagine they'd like to extent lifecycles as new products cost money but they may well have to spend more and move fast to introduce new models depending on what Canon and Nikon do. I wouldn't be too surprised to see one of these companies go pop if the pressure is intense. I'd be amazed if Canon went pop but I could see Nikon getting into (even more) trouble.
 
woof woof said:
I'd imagine they'd like to extent lifecycles as new products cost money but they may well have to spend more and move fast to introduce new models depending on what Canon and Nikon do. I wouldn't be too surprised to see one of these companies go pop if the pressure is intense. I'd be amazed if Canon went pop but I could see Nikon getting into (even more) trouble.
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None of them are about to go “pop” regardless of what happens, although it wouldn’t be a massive surprise to see Nikon end up merging with someone, none of the 3 have endless pits of money to throw away.
 
Would u guys switch back to canikon though ?

For me i would only consider it if it had a few killer features that sony dont but i think they wont and at best will just be like what we currently use now and so is pointless switching again.

Those who are already in Sony camp will find it difficult to switch back to canikon if they only delivery the same as sony
 
chrism_scotland said:
None of them are about to go “pop” regardless of what happens, although it wouldn’t be a massive surprise to see Nikon end up merging with someone, none of the 3 have endless pits of money to throw away.
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Well there you go then. That's exactly what I was implying.

No, these companies don't have endless money but some of them have a management culture that probably isn't exactly helping and others have wider markets to use the technology which makes pouring vast amounts of money into the tech more attractive. For example I doubt we'll see Nikon rivaling Sony in sales in the car or smartphone markets.

Having worked with Japanese companies on products and having experience of the rather negative effects their culture and way of doing things can have I can for sure imagine what's going on at Canon and Nikon. I've stopped doing all that now but you probably wouldn't believe what goes on in some Japanese and indeed wider Asian companies. Some of the decisions and attitudes are simply staggeringly shocking. Arrogance, incompetence, nepotism, the attitude to the workforce, the attitude to compliance, the whole saving face thing etc... add fierce competition and new technology to that lot and I wouldn't be surprised if there were exciting times at some of these companies.
 
twist said:
Having stock of the other Sonys means jack s*** at the moment, check CPB, nobody has stock of the A7iii. The demand is still huge.

They had a release date of launch which I posted on this thread (and it kept changing), still no expected date but the 'UK camera retailers' have had stock come and go. Obviously they will get stock eventually I just wouldn't bank on it being anytime soon.
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But I don't think the stock checkers will be accurate due to pre orders. I ordered from Wilkinson Cameras for instance about 2 weeks after the A7iii was released. It said out of stock but as they are constantly getting stock in I had my camera within 3 days of ordering. It has still said out of stock but they are obviously getting stock in.

Amazon might not get as much stock as the camera retailers however I don't think anywhere will state it's in stock until they have enough stock that means it will sit on shelves for several days. Only people who have bought from Amazon and had it delivered (and probably those that didn't pre order in advance) can probably give an estimate of how long it might take to be delivered (or possibly by asking Amazon themselves).
 
jonneymendoza said:
Would u guys switch back to canikon though ?

For me i would only consider it if it had a few killer features that sony dont but i think they wont and at best will just be like what we currently use now and so is pointless switching again.

Those who are already in Sony camp will find it difficult to switch back to canikon if they only delivery the same as sony
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Yes, in a heartbeat if I thought that there was a Canikon CSC that suited me better. I don't care who makes what.

I'd love to buy British to keep people employed here and paying taxes to the NHS etc but as there are no buy British options I can't see why I should care if the kit is made by Nikon in Thailand or Canon in Cambodia or wherever they're made.

What could get me to change is if Nikon (for example) brought out a really nice CSC with a range of nicely made compact primes like their old pre ai range or the earlier Rokkors which would mount directly to the camera without an adapter. In Sony land the Loxia's don't grab my interest but the Voigtlanders are lovely though.
 
rumour site says a new batis 40mm f2 with 67mm filter thread matching my other lenses :banana::banana::banana:

looks like my FE35/1.4 will be replaced :D
 
It'll be interesting to take a look but I think there's enough of a difference between 35 and 40mm to matter, one way or the other.
 
woof woof said:
It'll be interesting to take a look but I think there's enough of a difference between 35 and 40mm to matter, one way or the other.
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I much prefer 40mm to 35mm. so it works well for me. :)

This weeks rumours have been good. Samyang 24mm and Zeiss 40mm both of which I am very much interested in buying. But I'll wait till I can pick one up on the used market.
 
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mike_6480 said:
But I don't think the stock checkers will be accurate due to pre orders. I ordered from Wilkinson Cameras for instance about 2 weeks after the A7iii was released. It said out of stock but as they are constantly getting stock in I had my camera within 3 days of ordering. It has still said out of stock but they are obviously getting stock in.

Amazon might not get as much stock as the camera retailers however I don't think anywhere will state it's in stock until they have enough stock that means it will sit on shelves for several days. Only people who have bought from Amazon and had it delivered (and probably those that didn't pre order in advance) can probably give an estimate of how long it might take to be delivered (or possibly by asking Amazon themselves).
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When I placed my order with Wilkinson (1 month before launch) they told me that Sony was allocating stock first to companies that paid for the stock upfront, which is what Wilkinson did by taking full payment upon order from customers. My friend also ordered from them last week and the site showed OOS when they just had a handful in, so I don’t think they have a live stock system. All the camera retailers say the same thing, stock is moving in slowly and out fast.

I haven’t seen stock of the A7iii on Amazon or CPB amazon once but I have seen it trickle in and out of the Indies, only mention Ive seen of amazon stock is how people were getting annoyed because amazon kept changing the dates and their early preorders weren’t being fulfilled.

You can call the Indies and can find out if they are expecting stock within coming days. I watched the Amazon dates keep slipping from launch and then show no dates at all, doesn't inspire me.

Its a decent deal IF they honour the price and IF/WHEN they get stock but their were better deals to be had.
 
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nandbytes said:
I much prefer 40mm to 35mm. so it works well for me. :)

This weeks rumours have been good. Samyang 24mm and Zeiss 40mm both of which I am very much interested in buying. But I'll wait till I can pick one up on the used market.
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I'm not sure what I'll do. At the moment I'm getting very little free time and I can't see that improving any time soon and in fact I can see myself getting less free time as the needs of others increases so there's really not a lot of point spending a lot on kit I don't get a lot of chance to use. On the other hand when I do get free time enjoying it is pretty important. 19th May was the last time I had a few hours out with cover back home so I didn't need to worry or rush back.
 
What is it with Zeiss releasing slightly non traditional focal lengths

25mm, 55mm and now 40mm.

Although between a 35/2.8 or a 40/2.0 I’d go for the 2.0 all day long.
 
I think some of them are traditional to Zeiss.

Looking at 35/40, 35mm is still sort of wide angle and if you want to you can still play with wide angle perspectives whereas with 40mm the scope is maybe less so. 35mm is maybe better for playing with perspective and getting it all in sort of pictures but 40mm is maybe a bit closer to getting away from that and towards what some may see as a more natural perspective and a more focused on a thing type record, reportage sort of use. If you know what I mean.

Other considerations could be size and weight and optical performance, for example my Voigtlander 35 and 40mm lenses are quite different with the 35mm being smaller and lighter but at the cost of relatively poor corners and questionable bokeh, the 40mm is larger, heavier and a much more modern lens in optical performance and bokeh look.
 
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twist said:
If only it was a new 35 1.4
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I'd like a 35 1.8 with the same kind of IQ and AF as the Sony FE85 1.8. From my limited play with it so far, the 85mm is a great lens. Was really hoping the next Batis would be a 35 or 32 f2.
 
I wonder if we'll see those rumored "Star Trek" lenses from Zeiss or anyone else anytime soon.
 
The things that made me go Sony rather than wait for Nikon mirrorless were:
1) Being a Nikon early adopter is never fun - especially when brand new tech is involved. Sony have had 3 attempts and a lot of years to get the A7 right.
2) In the past they've made some daft spec decisions that leave photographers like me in limbo eg. not properly replacing the D700 until the D750 came along. Or cutting corners on things that you shouldn't cut corners on (AF on D610, Buffer and shutter on D750 etc etc)
3) It'll be a couple of years before they'll have a dedicated range of lenses in place. Adapters defeat much of the point of going mirrorless, for me.
4) I can't see it coming close to the Sony on price. Pure speculation, of course, but at best I imagine they'll have a £2k body. And if they somehow manage that, Sony will be at the point that they can undercut them with the A7iii.
 
decigallen said:
The things that made me go Sony rather than wait for Nikon mirrorless were:
1) Being a Nikon early adopter is never fun - especially when brand new tech is involved. Sony have had 3 attempts and a lot of years to get the A7 right.
2) In the past they've made some daft spec decisions that leave photographers like me in limbo eg. not properly replacing the D700 until the D750 came along. Or cutting corners on things that you shouldn't cut corners on (AF on D610, Buffer and shutter on D750 etc etc)
3) It'll be a couple of years before they'll have a dedicated range of lenses in place. Adapters defeat much of the point of going mirrorless, for me.
4) I can't see it coming close to the Sony on price. Pure speculation, of course, but at best I imagine they'll have a £2k body. And if they somehow manage that, Sony will be at the point that they can undercut them with the A7iii.
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Sony has had more than 3 attempts, strictly speaking the A7, The R and the S are new bodies and with each one they learn something and they are all at the same grade bodies. The A73 is pretty much like the 13th iteration.
 
decigallen said:
I'd like a 35 1.8 with the same kind of IQ and AF as the Sony FE85 1.8. From my limited play with it so far, the 85mm is a great lens. Was really hoping the next Batis would be a 35 or 32 f2.
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That would sell very well imo. What most people are waiting for in FE.
 
There's a bit on Thom Hogan's site about what Nikon may/should do...

http://www.sansmirror.com/newsviews/the-nikon-mirrorless-wish.html

and this bit caught my eye...

"One other point of contention that I keep encountering: whether a new Nikon full frame mirrorless camera should be entry or pro. Is it a 24mp competitor to the A7m3, or is it to be a 45mp+ replacement for the still out-of-stock D850?

I’ve been consistently surprised by the ones that only want the pro side of things and are eager to replace their D850. I actually don’t get it. I’ve written and still believe that the D850 is a better all around camera than the Sony A7Rm3; I fail to see what Nikon could do to make a mirrorless D850 today that tops the DSLR D850."

I suppose the "today" bit is key. I suppose depending upon your view a D850 may be better than a Sony A7x and Nikon may not be able to make a mirrorless camera that's better than the D850 today but what about in 5 years time? Or maybe even in just 18 months time?

DSLR's are arguably just about at the limit of what's possible and have some inherent end stops that prevent further improvements whereas the more electronic mirrorless cameras are arguably better platforms to incorporate improvements into.

I think Thom is maybe being a bit short sighted here.
 
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I like the in view goodies you get with mirrorless. I suppose DSLR's could have some sort of hybrid display or overlay thingy but is that more hassle than switching to an EVF?
 
jonneymendoza said:
not for me, if they increase fps to 10fps, almost full coverage af area, smaller body then maybe
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It’s all personal, I really like the handling of the D850 body (and the D810 for that matter) all I ever seem to do with Sony (& Fuji) is add extra bulk via grips as I find them too small body only.
 
chrism_scotland said:
It’s all personal, I really like the handling of the D850 body (and the D810 for that matter) all I ever seem to do with Sony (& Fuji) is add extra bulk via grips as I find them too small body only.
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i rather i can make a camera body bigger then be stuck with a big camera.
 
BethAtTheHug said:
If only Sony would put a full frame sensor into the A6000/A6500 body.
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This should be pretty easy really as the A7 is the size of an APS-C or MFT RF style camera if you could saw the EVF hump off. I like having a VF rather than just having the back screen though so that will always increase the body size a bit but yes, maybe an interchangeable lens RF style camera might be a nice idea :D but people will complain about the size and not being able to press the buttons with their sausage fingers :D :D
 
eh?! The A6000 series all have EVFs as well as the rear LCD. No need to increase body size. But yeah, I get the sausage fingers complaint that they are too small. My hands are small, A6x000 is perfect size, any bigger is too big. Plus it wont go in a rucksack side pocket.
 
twist said:
If only it was a new 35 1.4
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Because you haven't got enough options now? :p

decigallen said:
I'd like a 35 1.8 with the same kind of IQ and AF as the Sony FE85 1.8. From my limited play with it so far, the 85mm is a great lens. Was really hoping the next Batis would be a 35 or 32 f2.
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I'd prefer a 40mm over 35mm but a f/1.8 over f2 would be nice in either case. Yes 1/3rd stop does make some difference to the bokeh
 
jonneymendoza said:
i rather i can make a camera body bigger then be stuck with a big camera.
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Yeah, this is exactly my sentiment. The A7iii fits perfectly in my tiny Trump hands, but if I was built like a WWE wrestler, or needed more weight to balance a lens I could just stick a battery grip on it.
 
BethAtTheHug said:
eh?! The A6000 series all have EVFs as well as the rear LCD. No need to increase body size. But yeah, I get the sausage fingers complaint that they are too small. My hands are small, A6x000 is perfect size, any bigger is too big. Plus it wont go in a rucksack side pocket.
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Yup they have an evf but with the bigger chip I assume they'll need a slightly bigger body if only to fit the chip in and dissipate the heat. Dunno if they could maintain A6000 size with a FF chip and maintain performance, the A6000 is already a bit smaller than the MFT RF style cameras some of which like my GX9 and GX80 have a (frankly) crap EVF which may be even more out of place on a FF body, IMO.
 
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Really thought the Sony would be much bigger than the XT2 but there isn't much in it. Weight is a different issue, but both feel well balanced with their respective lenses on.
 
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