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

woof woof said:
And back to cameras for a moment... :D...

New FE lens tests and samples etc...

http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/zeiss-35mm-f1-4-to-ship-on-march-31-already-in-usa/#disqus_thread

I followed the link to 28mm f2 samples on another forum...

http://www.sonyalphaforum.com/topic/514-sony-fe-282/

(Rather unaspiring though or maybe I'm being harsh?)

This is the lens that interests me most. If I do commit more to AF and move away from MF I suppose what I'd like is... 28mm f2, 55mm f1.8 (although f1.4 would be nice,) 85mm (f.1.8?) 135 (f2.8?) and a longish macro, at least 100 and probably nearer to 150mm f2.8.
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Wonder how the 35mm compares against my sigma 35art
 
woof woof said:
I'm sure that all is not sweetness and light in Apple Land and I'm sure that there are problems but I think I'm safe in saying that there are fewer players in the Apple Universe than there are in the PC Universe and generally fewer issues. There have been some big issues in the Apple universe though but generally I think that the point that Apples are better issue wise is usually true.
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If you spend apple mac money on a PC I really doubt youll have any conflicts and if there are they will be caused by software (usually developed by 3rd parties) and this also applies to Apples, which is what I keep saying!
 
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I'm one of those staunch pc owners who can't see the point of buying identical hardware at far more cost just because it's got a different operating system!

Or at least that was me until I got an mbp and now I could never go back!!!!
 
Brazo said:
I'm one of those staunch pc owners who can't see the point of buying identical hardware at far more cost just because it's got a different operating system!

Or at least that was me until I got an mbp and now I could never go back!!!!
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Tbf though as you've found, osx is very good and apple hardware is lovely, esp the laptops and the old g5 aluminium towers. After years I'm used to it so I like switching between OSs. Keeps it slightly more interesting.
 
twist said:
Tbf though as you've found, osx is very good and apple hardware is lovely, esp the laptops and the old g5 aluminium towers. After years I'm used to it so I like switching between OSs. Keeps it slightly more interesting.
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I think you have a friend lol.
 
The 35 art maybe sharper (don't know just guessing) but characteristics such as bokeh, micro contrast and rendering will probably be better on the Zeiss (don't know but they usually are) and its not like the Zeiss won't be ultra sharp so...
 
Brazo said:
The 35 art maybe sharper (don't know just guessing) but characteristics such as bokeh, micro contrast and rendering will probably be better on the Zeiss (don't know but they usually are) and its not like the Zeiss won't be ultra sharp so...
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With some of these new lenses they seem to be relying on in camera corrections and if the end result is good I don't suppose it matters how we get there other than for bragging rights.

For example if the lens is fantastic once corrected but rather ho-hum with high levels of distortion and vignetting when not I'm sure there'll be laughter from Canon and Nikon users. Not that Canon or Nikon would ever use lens profiles or in body fiddling. Perish the thought :D

My money is on the lens being amongst the best mass market lenses you can buy.
 
i suspect the sigma lens will need less correction, if they have built it with foveon in mind, thats partly why the dp0 is so big, you can get away with some correction on bayer sensors, but foveon, even with half hearted quottro sensor quickly shows up software corrections as you lose resolution, vinyetting isnt too bad (exposure boost so more noise etc), but distortion correction reduces sharpness as it smudges the pixels about
 
I recently bought the F20M flash for messing about with at home, but I'm not sure I understand it.

I shoot mostly in aperture priority. Now If do that with ISO set to auto and the flash on, the shutter speed will drop to something like 1/5, which with a 35mm lens of course means a blury photo.

If I manually set the ISO then I can bring up the shutter speed, but surely that defeats the whole point of having a TTL flash.
 
When shooting in silent shutter mode I sometimes get strange shading horizontal stripes on the imagine. Hard to explain but will upload a pic. It only appears when I shoot indoors in wall. Umm
 
Could this be caused by artificial lighting flickering and changing as the sensor is read? A sort of rolling shutter effect? Could you try a natural light shot and see if it still happens?

Maybe it could be avoided by using a different shutter speed? You could check that too...

I think I read something about this somewhere... may not even have been about an A7...
 
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woof woof said:
Could this be caused by artificial lighting flickering and changing as the sensor is read? A sort of rolling shutter effect? Could you try a natural light shot and see if it still happens?

Maybe it could be avoided by using a different shutter speed? You could check that too...

I think I read something about this somewhere... may not even have been about an A7...
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Yea its like a rolling shutter effect.
 
woof woof said:
Could this be caused by artificial lighting flickering and changing as the sensor is read? A sort of rolling shutter effect? Could you try a natural light shot and see if it still happens?

Maybe it could be avoided by using a different shutter speed? You could check that too...

I think I read something about this somewhere... may not even have been about an A7...
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I'd go with this theory. I've had it with a 6d at high iso.
 
jonneymendoza said:
When shooting in silent shutter mode I sometimes get strange shading horizontal stripes on the imagine. Hard to explain but will upload a pic. It only appears when I shoot indoors in wall. Umm
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I believe this can happen on cameras with electronic shutters (unless it's a full global shutter). It's because the sensor can only read off a few lines at a time and while it does this really quickly, if your lighting is changing rapidly (as in hundreds or thousands of times a second as with fluorescent lighting) you can get stripes as the sensor reads different parts of the image under different lighting conditions.

I've seen a very mild version of this once with my A7 on a burst of about 10 images, but that was in direct bright sunlight and while I have an idea of how that works, it doesn't explain why I've only ever seen it on those photos.
 
c-m said:
I recently bought the F20M flash for messing about with at home, but I'm not sure I understand it.

I shoot mostly in aperture priority. Now If do that with ISO set to auto and the flash on, the shutter speed will drop to something like 1/5, which with a 35mm lens of course means a blury photo.

If I manually set the ISO then I can bring up the shutter speed, but surely that defeats the whole point of having a TTL flash.
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i know nothing of the f20m, but its either not detected by camera or you got it set on something funky like -5 ev flash or wireless mode, normaly it will try to balance iso,shutter and flash to give you correct exposure
 
Can you avoid it by using a different / faster shutter speed? Maybe that wont help but it's worth a try if only so you know if you can avoid it in future.
 
Must be the end users to blame... again :rolleyes:

Sony has recently become aware that some of the Sonnar T* FE 35mm F2.8 ZA E-Mount lenses sold during and after November 2014 are experiencing an issue when customers attempt to update the software to the new version released on March 4, 2015 (from Ver. 01 to Ver. 02).

Sony is planning to offer repairs for the affected lenses free of charge. (Please contact the Sony Support Center listed below. Applications for repairs will also be accepted through the Sony website.)

In the case that the software update completes with no trouble, there is no need for repair.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/fe-3...t-will-repair-affected-lenses-free-of-charge/
 
twist said:
Must be the end users to blame... again :rolleyes:

Sony has recently become aware that some of the Sonnar T* FE 35mm F2.8 ZA E-Mount lenses sold during and after November 2014 are experiencing an issue when customers attempt to update the software to the new version released on March 4, 2015 (from Ver. 01 to Ver. 02).

Sony is planning to offer repairs for the affected lenses free of charge. (Please contact the Sony Support Center listed below. Applications for repairs will also be accepted through the Sony website.)

In the case that the software update completes with no trouble, there is no need for repair.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/fe-3...t-will-repair-affected-lenses-free-of-charge/
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Not an April fools?
 
I suppose quite a few people wont bother updating the firmware so this issue could only be spotted if the lens is sold on and the new owner attempts an update... so I hope that Sony leave the offer to fix it open ended.
 
A couple of things that interested me on the rumour site...

The A7II gets a "Silver Award" at DPR.

http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sony...dpreview-and-more-a7ii-reviews/#disqus_thread

And the test at DPR...

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/son..._source=mainmenu&utm_medium=text&ref=mainmenu

Some seem to think that only getting a Silver is rather harsh. The only conspiracy theory I'd give any time to would be that maybe DPR are more likely to give a more favourable or less negative review to a Conon or Nikon DSLR and they'd very probably review them sooner too but even if this rather far fetched conspiracy theory is true it'd be understandable as DSLR's are far more mainstream to the enthusiast market than CSC's and will therefore generate more traffic.

Areas which seem to be highlighted for criticism include lossy Sony raws and high ISO performance. The former hasn't been an issue for me and the latter may be true but I'm not sure that relatively small differences at mega ISO's are significant to me and I didn't see any mention of detail in the DPR review. I mention this as I've read in other reviews that although some Canon FF (I can't remember which...) raws are cleaner at higher ISO's there's the suspicion of raw cooking and the Sony retaining more detail. If that's the case then it's a matter of choice and maybe the Sony is superior in DR and general image goodness at lower ISO's. Anyway... it's there to be read and the option is there for each of us to buy what we want, give me the Sony every time :D ...

The second thing that caught my eye... Sony have reportedly sold half their shares in Olympus to plough the dosh into "sensors and video games."

Read all about it...

http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/reut...mpus-to-raise-funds-for-growth/#disqus_thread
 
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I read that review with interest and note that several of my whinges with the original a7 are still present (handling, high iso performance, loud shutter, raw compression) which is a shame. I guess the 1/60th second preference in auto iso mode is still there too. Clearly it's a very versatile camera for MF users who don't mind evfs, but I can't help but feel that Sony could do better. Maybe they will with the a9.

BTW the low light performance of that 24mp sensor is definitely sub par in Sony bodies compared to the Canon 6D, with loads more chroma noise leading to loss of detail. It's still better than most croppers tho, including Fuji.
 
manualfocus-g said:
I read that review with interest and note that several of my whinges with the original a7 are still present (handling, high iso performance, loud shutter, raw compression) which is a shame. I guess the 1/60th second preference in auto iso mode is still there too. Clearly it's a very versatile camera for MF users who don't mind evfs, but I can't help but feel that Sony could do better. Maybe they will with the a9.

BTW the low light performance of that 24mp sensor is definitely sub par in Sony bodies compared to the Canon 6D, with loads more chroma noise leading to loss of detail. It's still better than most croppers tho, including Fuji.
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A7s is the camera for low noise
 
manualfocus-g said:
I read that review with interest and note that several of my whinges with the original a7 are still present (handling, high iso performance, loud shutter, raw compression) which is a shame. I guess the 1/60th second preference in auto iso mode is still there too. Clearly it's a very versatile camera for MF users who don't mind evfs, but I can't help but feel that Sony could do better. Maybe they will with the a9.

BTW the low light performance of that 24mp sensor is definitely sub par in Sony bodies compared to the Canon 6D, with loads more chroma noise leading to loss of detail. It's still better than most croppers tho, including Fuji.
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The A7 isn't perfect but what camera is? The debateable high ISO issues don't bother me and from reading the various reviews it seems that some see more detail so maybe it's a trade off and there's the lower ISO to consider and what appears to be a pretty clear win for the Sony there. The shutter noise doesn't really worry me as I used to own a 20D and could therefore put a claim in for loss of hearing. In real world shooting I've never found the A7 shutter noise to be an issue but I accept that it could be in a quiet church or a similar setting and in that scenario I'd use my GX7 which is quiet and will give me an acceptable image at ISO 25,600 (the electronic and silent shutter is limited to ISO 3200.) The A7 shutter speed issue is fixed for me by moving the dial away from aperture priority to manual exposure mode and that's what I do. I then select the aperture and shutter speed I want and let the ISO float. Simples.

All cameras have their little plus and minus points and if we take the 6D the issues that may affect me are the loss to the Sony at less than stratospheric ISO's, going back to an OVF and having to guess what the correct exposure is and what the final image will look like, being restricted to a max shutter speed of 1/4000 sec so no more shooting wide open in good light without ND's, losing all of those lovely manual focus aids and then there's the focus inconsistencies and MA issues to worry about. I'm sure that there are plus points to 6D ownership but lets face it, if going for the ultimate DSLR (and that's not something that interests me) the choice would very probably be Nikon these days and not Canon.

As you say, the A9 may be better but I doubt it'll be perfect :D
 
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This post all went wrong... See below.
 
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jonneymendoza said:
I am seeing some strange purple fringing i believe it is when you take a closer look at the whites in this picture
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Is it the whites on the back of the T shirt you're seeing the problem with? Could it be an artefact of the wide aperture? The other shot seems to have lower contrast, could contrast be a part of the issue?
 
woof woof said:
Is it the whites on the back of the T shirt you're seeing the problem with? Could it be an artefact of the wide aperture? The other shot seems to have lower contrast, could contrast be a part of the issue?
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Yea the white on the t-shirt plus if u look on the background as well you will see it there
 
Is the large white print reflective? The 85mm 1.2 is known for CA wide open and this review was just the first I checked;

"The 85 f/1.2L II shows more CA (Chromatic Aberration) than the older 85 L. And my 85 f/1.8 shows less CA than either version of the 85 L lens. The 85 II lenses I have used are producing noticeable purple fringing at the widest apertures when sun glares from something reflective in the shot (such as a chrome car bumper). For most applications, the CA will not be a big deal - and removing it in post-processing is often possible."

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-85mm-f-1.2-L-II-USM-Lens-Review.aspx
 
I see this shift to purple with my Minolta 50mm f1.2.

Can you fix it by turning down the purple a bit?

Just out of interest, of the old 85mm's I have, Minolta Rokkor f2, Canon FD 85mm f1.8 and Olympus Zuiko f2 I'd place them in that order with each displaying progressively less fringing and blooming.
 
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