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

robj20 said:
Too much what, was it just the noise? I really like it nice and mechanical.​
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I didn't get on with the feel. It feels industrial and requires a longer finger press than is expected to sort of hold the shutter for longer.
 
The A7 is smooth and quiet and I can't tell in Lightroom which camera was used to take each photo without reading the metadata.
 
Has anyone seen any thorough reviews of the 24-70 f4 yet? I really like the look of the 55 1.8 but shouldn't indulge myself with both so close together. Decisions, decisions, Hmmmmm....
 
PCPhil said:
Has anyone seen any thorough reviews of the 24-70 f4 yet? I really like the look of the 55 1.8 but shouldn't indulge myself with both so close together. Decisions, decisions, Hmmmmm....
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I'm interested in detailed reviews of the 24-70 too, but for the money it would have to be fantastic. I am impressed with the 28-70 kit lens, light, small and pretty decent quality. Probably the best kit lens on any system I've owned.
 
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I dont know what the kit lens is like but i think the 24-70 is fantastic just what i wanted for when i only want to carry the one lens. At £850 i didnt think it was bad value either.
 
PCPhil said:
Has anyone seen any thorough reviews of the 24-70 f4 yet? I really like the look of the 55 1.8 but shouldn't indulge myself with both so close together. Decisions, decisions, Hmmmmm....
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Not seen anything too thorough yet, a few rolling reviews that seem to be positive so far comparing it favourably with the 24-70L. A modern Zeiss lens you can't really go too far wrong with the IQ, just the slower f/4 that may be the make or break decision. The 55mm and 35mm look stellar.
 
robj20 said:
I dont know what the kit lens is like but i think the 24-70 is fantastic just what i wanted for when i only want to carry the one lens. At £850 i didnt think it was bad value either.
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It seems to be well made. It extends when you zoom in and out but not not by much and at it's longest it's only the same length as my panasonic 14-42mm micro four thirds lens when it too is fully extended. It seems to focus fast enough and accurately enough and the image quality seems to be good enough.

All in all it probably wont set the world on fire but it seems to be a perfectly adequate "kit" zoom.

Of course it's fly be wire and there are no markings other than focal length.
 
New goodies arrived today for further testing. Canon EF Metabones adaptor and a 70-400 so should be interesting comparing images against a few other brands hopefully soon.

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Just in case this hasn't been posted here or noticed by you lot before, a review of the 55mm f1.8...

http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/sony-fe-55-1-8

They seem to think it's rather good :D and I don't doubt that it is but...

I expect that as with every issue I seem to have with modern cameras :D I'm in a tiny minority over fly by wire no marking and no end stop lenses in that I just don't like them. I keep thinking that I'll get some AF primes but I just can't bring myself to buy these lenses. They will no doubt offer good image quality but I keep asking myself how much quality I actually need. My Rokkor and Zuiko lenses seem to give good results and when I had a 5D and a modern AF Sigma 50mm f1.4 I was very happy with it and I really don't think that I personally would ever need a better AF lens than that Sigma and I doubt I'd ever need any additional quality the 55mm may/will deliver.

Anyway, when thinking about image quality and captured detail I remembered this shot I took a few weeks ago with my Rokkor 50mm f1.4. I can't remember what the aperture was set too, not wide open and not too small either. It's not a great composition, I just took the shot as I liked the detail and here's a 100% crop...



On my screen it's very sharp, lots of detail. The only disadvantage is that it's MF.
 
4 pics from the A7R with a Canon FD 50 1.2 at which is really lovely. These are at f/1.2 and ISO 1000 to 2500, and the lens is easily sharp enough wide open. Optimum focus achieved by zooming in. Focus peaking isn't accurate enough for f/1.2. Not bad for £250 brand new.

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Those are lovely Andy, I was looking at the Canon fd 50mm f/1.2 previously, couldn't find one for £250 though
 
Well time for something totally unlike me >_< Took the 70-400 out for a go today. Have no clue on how to really use anything longer and just was overwhelmed considering I couldn't even find my monopod so had to handhold. Left the ISO a little too high but overall im pleased with my lil trip and god knows how many miles of walking!

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steveclem said:
Tobers, with all due respect is someone really going to steal those images? That IDmark through the middle is really distracting from the content...I think it spoils the whole composition though doubtless, you can see the untainted version. Not having any sort of a pop here at call I hasten to add.
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I presume he has his editor set to add it automatically on export.
 
Tried the 70-400 out again with a tripod and a bit more thought. Really happy with how this turned out

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When I got the A7 I was disappointed to find that my Leica M wide angles were poor performers, especially the 15mm Voigtlander Heliar which gave truly terrible results. Someone reminded me of the Cornerfix program which I used to use on the Leica M8 and I found it had been updated so I gave it a try. It only works on .dng files so I had to export the Sony raws from Lightroom. First job was the profile using a grey card then I did the ubiquitous brick wall test.

15mm Heliar @ f5.6 uncorrected

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After correction

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A 'scenic' shot of the garden on this dull wet morning before correction

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And after correction

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A bit of work in lightroom would improve it further, these images are unprocessed except for the Cornerfix. THe 15mm is only an occasional use lens and while it's not going to win any prizes it is at least usable

I did a similar exercise with a 28mm Zeiss Biogon if anyone is interested. That performs very acceptably.
 
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I haven't tried but I don't think the vignetting is aperture dependent. When (if) we get some decent weather I'll give it a better test
 
Tobers said:
Have you tried the Lightroom Flat Field Plugin? Does the same thing as cornerfix but integrated into Lightroom. I did a summary of it here.
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No, hadn't come across that one. I have downloaded and installed it but will wait until tomorrow before taking the profile picture (white wall). Thank you.

A couple of lenses I find are working well are the Leica Summicron M 50/2.0 and Elmarit M 90/2.8. They make such a neat package on the A7. I'm just waiting for an M to E close focus helicoid adaptor so that they can focus a bit closer, often a problem with rangefinder lenses.
 
I have just taken a leap into the unknown and bought a SEL 18200 on ebay. I have never seen the lens and reviews are a bit mixed though generally positive.

I bought the A7 essentially to use Leica M mount lenses and am very happy with this now I have come to terms with using Lightroom Flatfield on the very widest lens. I still wanted a general purpose autofocus stabilised lens and thought of buying the NEX kit lenses but decided this 18-200 (plus crop factor) might do as an economical all in one solution. I will report back when I get it.

I do realise that it is not full frame but for general purposes APC will do I think.
 
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Rangefinder lenses don't focus very closely so I decided to buy one of these adaptors which have a helicoid motion to extend their length by 5mm. The idea is brilliant and brings the minimum focus distance down very well but the quality of the one I bought is very poor and the lens wobbles quite unacceptably. I'm in the process of returning it, anyone bought one that works properly? I imagine the Voigtlander is good but costs around £200
 
Cap'n Bill said:
Rangefinder lenses don't focus very closely so I decided to buy one of these adaptors which have a helicoid motion to extend their length by 5mm. The idea is brilliant and brings the minimum focus distance down very well but the quality of the one I bought is very poor and the lens wobbles quite unacceptably. I'm in the process of returning it, anyone bought one that works properly? I imagine the Voigtlander is good but costs around £200
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The best Helicoid available is the Hawks afaik, have to import it. Pretty expensive.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HAWKS-FACTORY-LEICA-M-L-M-SONY-E-mount-MACRO-TUBE-HELICOID-V3-135-FF-/321266335878?pt=US_Lens_Adapters_Mounts_Tubes&hash=item4accf74086
 
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Could anyone please give me an idea which lenses the A7 can take, and how much the adaptors are?
I currently have a few old MF lenses - Super Takumars (M42), Minolta MD, Nikon (Nikkormat fit), as well as the later Sony AF fit - Minoltas (beercan and the like).
Andy
 
MF lenses, just about anything. Adapters cost between £10 and £200 depending on how much you want to spend.

AFAIK The Minoltas will work with Sony's LEA adapters - with the LEA 4 offering the best AF performance.
 
andy700 said:
Could anyone please give me an idea which lenses the A7 can take, and how much the adaptors are?
I currently have a few old MF lenses - Super Takumars (M42), Minolta MD, Nikon (Nikkormat fit), as well as the later Sony AF fit - Minoltas (beercan and the like).
Andy
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I use Minolta Rokkor and Olympus Zuiko on my A7 via Novoflex adapters.

I bought a cheap (£10) MD to Nex adapter off ebay but although all the Rokkors fitted just fine my 24mm vignetted very badly. It's an APS-C adapter so I suppose that's understandable. My 28mm and all the rest worked fine though and if the 24mm had worked I wouldn't have bothered with the much more expensive (just under £100) Novoflex adaptors.
 
I find srb-photographic.co.uk very good. About £30. I had a couple of very poor ones from ebay for my micro 4/3 system and tend to avoid them now..
 
Cap'n Bill said:
I find srb-photographic.co.uk very good. About £30. I had a couple of very poor ones from ebay for my micro 4/3 system and tend to avoid them now..
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Seems to be pot luck.

I've had 2 for MFT, one for Nex and one OM to eos and all are perfect quality and fit wise the only issue being vignetting on my A7 with the Nex APS-C adapter and full frame lenses.
 
After waiting for ages in Dubai for some stock to become available I gave up and took the plunge whilst on business in Malaysia - got the A7r, the 35mm FE and the guys threw in a spare battery, mains charger, 32GB card and a few bits and bobs for MYR 9,500 (around 1750 Sterling).

Previously I was considering upgrading from my D7000 to a D600/610 which would have also required me to upgrade my DX lenses, but I am pleased that I have gone with the Sony. Having never used a fully manual lens I have also picked up a Zeiss 50mm f2, which is taking a little getting used to on nailing the focus but when I get it right it is very sharp.
 
I was sitting on the fence on getting the 24-70 f4 or the 55 f1.8. Could wait no longer. 55 f1.8 was grabbed last night from LCE. Only took some work picture for the company website but so far it is very nice.
Hope to get some nice outdoor pictures to post over the weekend.
 
Well, the 55 is another exceptional lens. Exceptional images, exceptional build and ehem...exceptional price. The bokah is pretty amazing.
I didn't get any that I feel are sufficient quality to stick on my flickr but feel the need to start planning some longer trips to the mountains. The 35, 55 and my surprisingly good Minolta 24-105 via adapter offer all I need for now.
 
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