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

robj20 said:
Overall weight is perfectly acceptable, its half the weight of a dslr similar spec lens. It is a little front heavy nut you will mostly be using it two handed so its not a problem. This and the 35 will be my main lenses one when i want it to be compact the zoom for general stuff. Im hoping they release a good wide angle next, if not im considering the 14mm Samyang. Also want a macro.
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Interested to know how you find it too, if it's vastly superior to the kit 28-70 I'd upgrade, but given the price it would have to be pretty special. Also seems non existent reviews of it out in the wild.
 
I saw the 2.8 going for £250 more,I guess they are both very,very good lenses either way.
 
Plan to pop to Trafalgar Square and South Bank tmrw for Chinese New Year. Will use Leica M7 and a7r with Zeiss 85mm MM f1.4, 50mm f1.5 C Sonnar and Leica 35mm Lux ASPH.
Hope to get something.
 
Darwinean_JohnUK said:
Plan to pop to Trafalgar Square and South Bank tmrw for Chinese New Year. Will use Leica M7 and a7r with Zeiss 85mm MM f1.4, 50mm f1.5 C Sonnar and Leica 35mm Lux ASPH.
Hope to get something.
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I've decided to go tomorrow too, taking a7 and 28-70 and omd with 7.5mm fisheye. Not been for Chinese new year festival before, inclined to go to Chinatown rather than Trafalgar square , as I'd imagine its going to be mad
 
Im planning to avoid both areas and head over to the Southbank. All depends on what time I get out of work. Look forward to loads of photos then :)
 
Teshi said:
Im planning to avoid both areas and head over to the Southbank. All depends on what time I get out of work. Look forward to loads of photos then :)
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I thought about southbank too, maybe take walk around there too as I'll be arriving at Waterloo station anyway
 
ShrubMonkey said:
I thought about southbank too, maybe take walk around there too as I'll be arriving at Waterloo station anyway
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Be worth visiting the tunnel then. Be interesting to see how it will cope with the crazy colours and weird lighting. :)
 
Just been out with the A7 again, this time with Leica Summicron 50/2. In the contrasty low sunlight +1/2 or +1 exposure seemed to be needed. Main problem is that the viewfinder is almost impossible to see, especially towards the sun. I was set on auto viewfinder brightness but even winding it up to manual maximum didn't seem to help. My Olympus OM-D didn't have this problem even though it has a similar EVF.

I was going to post a couple of pictures but am struggling to do so. Is there a forum guide on uploading and embedding pictures - I can't find one as yet?
 
is it light coming in through therear/ side of the eyepiece? Its probably that, you would need a hoodman eyecup or similer
 
Took the new cam outdoors today and with a few friends, I think I am content to say the Sony 55 1.8 is my new best friend. :)

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Thanks, sorted the display of mages. I was uploading to gallery and trying to post link from there.

A shot from this morning. Ex camera. 50mm Leica Summicron.

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Centre crop. On my big screen the 1/4 white marker post is clearly readable.

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I'm going to have to do something about that viewfinder though. It was virtually unusable in bright sun.
 
Great photos manualfocus-g.

Received a mint Minolta MD 35-70 3.5 Macro today for my A7. Cracking lens!
Just need a longer macro prime now.
 
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Will possibly be investing in a A7R system for travelling later this year... will be reading this thread carefully :)
 
manualfocus-g said:
I used my a7 in combination with a Tamron SP 500/8 mirror lens today :D
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Donut bokeh is reasonably well controlled there - especially the third shot (and I rather like it in the first).

That reminds me, I still haven't tried my Tokina 600 Reflex yet :D
 
A7 + FD 85L at ISO 6400.

I'm rather amazed I got away with 1/60 sec hand held on this - it's sharp at 100%. EFC and no mirror to shake things up helped, I guess. :)

Margot by -cybertect-
 
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Cap'n Bill said:
I'm going to have to do something about that viewfinder though. It was virtually unusable in bright sun.
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That's unsettling to hear. EVF is the only concern I have with buying one of these. Was it really bad in bright sun? If so... then I need to rethink the A7R as a travel camera I think.
 
I can't say I've noticed it as a problem myself

Edit: nor with my Panasonic G2
 
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Nor have I, its been perfectly usable in all lighting so far. Cant believe I ever used to hate EVF compared to OVF but this one is superb.
 
After using the evf on the sony a65/77 (which has now been bettered I understand) I couldn't go back to an ovf nowadays, nothing more than a hang over from the film era which will soon die out...

(Dons flame proof suit)!!!!!

But on a serious note it will only be a few year sim sure until technology makes the ovf redundant.
 
Pookeyhead said:
That's unsettling to hear. EVF is the only concern I have with buying one of these. Was it really bad in bright sun? If so... then I need to rethink the A7R as a travel camera I think.
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Yes, I could hardly see anything. However I have been experimenting with three cameras under identical conditions. I wear quite strong glasses and the A7 problem arises shooting at right angles or a little more to the sun so the sun refracts through the side of the specs. When I switch to the other (shaded) eye, or wear a large brimmed hat to shield the sun it's OK. Straight into the sun is OK. Nevertheless, the effect is significantly worse with the A7 than with the Olympus OM-D which has a similar EVF. There is no problem at all with the Leica M8 but that is because the viewfinder is offset to the left and the body of the camera and the natural hand position shields the sun from the edge of the specs.

It's not a deal breaker, just something to be aware of and to judge for yourself.

I'll just have to break my right eye habit and be ready to shoot using either eye as appropriate.
 
Interesting to see above that some of you were on the South Bank on Sunday. I was there as well, with 4 friendly dancers that I help out with some nice photos from time to time. I saw so many people with big DSLRs but nobody with an A7/R. Maybe they were too small to see! Here's a quick selection, all with the A7R. The full set is here if you're interested (there's one RX1 shot in there).

I used a mixture of the Leica 50 f/2.5 M Summarit which is just sensationally gob-smackingly sharp, the Olympus OM 21 f/3.5 which is also very crisp and sharp and smear-free, and a Konica M-Hexanon 90 f/2.8 which is very sharp though it does benefit from a slight contrast boost in post processing.

The lit shots were done using one or two flashes and a shoot-through umbrella triggered by Pocket Wizards. I've got one of those 3-flash mounting brackets to can slot 3 lights onto one stand. Usually I trigger one with a PW and the others ping on optical slave mode. The A7R was on 1/160th I think to ensure flash sync worked OK. The one shot where I needed a flash sync speed was done with the RX1 at 1/1000th.

Oly 21mm
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Leica 50 2.5
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Leica 50 2.5
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Leica 50 2.5
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Oly 21
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I did have the same problem with the viewfinder in strong sunlight with the sun 90 degrees to the right of me. I wear glasses as well so the sunlight shines in the side of my glasses. Same thing happens with other cameras I have but it does make manual focus tricky. I ended up just shading that side of the camera with the hand I hold the camera with and it was OK.

Overall the image quality from the A7R is pretty gob-smacking. Zoomed into 100%, some of the portraits with the Leica 50mm lens are almost surgically sharp, showing up every pore, tiny flakes of skin etc etc.
 
I spent a day in field (literally) with the A7r and found that I was able to take high quality images that I could have only dreamed of a few years ago. Medium format quality from a camera that nearly fitted in my pocket. That shutter was a pain though. In the end I traded it for an A7 and am much happier now.

Here's an image from the day.

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What do you mean by a pain? Interested to hear more
 
The A7 shutter is quite nice with electronic front curtain. Between Leica M9 and M8 in obtrusiveness.
 
Cap'n Bill said:
It's not a deal breaker, just something to be aware of and to judge for yourself.
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I'll see if I can get hold of one for a play... but I have to say, anything on a camera system that makes it harder to take a photograph IS a deal breaker.
 
The A7r shutter seems to operate twice to take a photo. It's a sort of electronic and mechanical jobby combined. The A7 however, has an electronic front curtain shutter that is quieter and less prone to shake. I don't know why but I feel more confident with the A7. Anything that helps confidence helps to get better photos.

That said, the A7r images never displayed any shake at all, it's just a personal thing. Anyway, the A7 is a beauty with the 55/1.8 - even with the 28-70.
 
It does operate twice, shuts to close live view, then opens to start the capture then closes, the opens again.
The A7 just shuts to end the capture and opens again to enable live view.
 
Could they ever build the A7R with the A7 shutter or a leaf shutter like the RX1? I have some nice manual glass to use on this platform and would prefer an A7R, but as far as I've seen Sony aren't admitting this is a problem with the A7R.
 
Im not sure its a function of the sensor. I would try one first before ruling it out i havent come across the issue yet.
 
Before I traded the A7r I took a load of photos, all in one day. It never let me down and I love the images but................ that shutter was just too much.

They are on flickr here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/112219945@N04/

The shutter will be OK for almost everybody else I reckon. Just not me.
 
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Too much what, was it just the noise? I really like it nice and mechanical.​
 
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