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

Going back to my earlier 70-200 posts, I managed to pick up a 70-200 f4 in very good condition but minus a tripod collar for £600 - at that price I thought it worth a try, though I suspect it’ll ultimately be a stop gap until I can afford/justify a 70-200 GMii!

Looking forward to having a play with it this weekend.
Not sure what body you have but on the A7 IV I found the AF to be fast and accurate, my 70-200 GM II has only been used a couple of times since I bought it last year, expensive paper weight :ROFLMAO:
 
I’ve got an A9 so should be fine. At the price I paid for the lens, if I don’t get on with it, I can shift it on without a major loss.
 
Not sure what body you have but on the A7 IV I found the AF to be fast and accurate, my 70-200 GM II has only been used a couple of times since I bought it last year, expensive paper weight :ROFLMAO:
That's really surprising, there's only 200g difference :oops: :$
 
Just out of interest.

I got my Nikon AIS 28 and 35mm f2.8's and 50mm f1.4 and Nippon Kogaku 50mm f1.4 out the other day and took some pictures with them all. I think these lenses are all good, not as good as modern lenses especially at wide apertures where the bokeh of the 50's really doesn't IMO compare with modern lenses but they're still good lenses. The NK lenses are just gorgeous to look at and use and fantastically well made.

I keep wondering what to do with my film era lenses. I've enjoyed collecting and using them but they've been sort of left behind now as I don't have much time for photography and I have Sony mount manual lenses now. I keep thinking I should offload most to a dealer but then I think why bother as I don't need the next to nothing I'd get for them. Indecisive as ever :D
 
Reprocessed shots using the recent updates in PS2023.

A7 and Sony 35mm f2.8.

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While we were there the Malaysians were burning forests and there was precious little sky visible most days. Here the software seems to have revealed more detail than was visible on the day.
 
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I've watched a few of this guys vids...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsEXLe_ggto


What do people think about his processing?

Watching this one it seems he likes a bright look in that the end picture seems to be brighter overall, maybe lacking some contrast and borderline blown sky compared to what we see taken with his vlogging camera. I've not noticed this so much in other vids of his.
 
I've watched a few of this guys vids...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsEXLe_ggto


What do people think about his processing?

Watching this one it seems he likes a bright look in that the end picture seems to be brighter overall, maybe lacking some contrast and borderline blown sky compared to what we see taken with his vlogging camera. I've not noticed this so much in other vids of his.

I don't mind his processing in all honesty - sometimes I find it a bit too 'much' for my tastes & personally would just dial the effects down a touch.

What I like more is his approach to photography which goes against a lot of the other YouTube people. He shoots what he sees. What he likes. Nice light. What looks nice. It's a refreshing change from just capturing 1 image a week at f/11 ;)
 
I don't mind his processing in all honesty - sometimes I find it a bit too 'much' for my tastes & personally would just dial the effects down a touch.

What I like more is his approach to photography which goes against a lot of the other YouTube people. He shoots what he sees. What he likes. Nice light. What looks nice. It's a refreshing change from just capturing 1 image a week at f/11 ;)

Perhaps it's because blue skies are such a rarity here in east Cleveland. I like to see blue and if at all possible I like to retain it in pictures. He just seems to be pushing the sliders a bit too far to the right in those pictures for me. I do think they look ok in isolation but seeing the scene from his vlogging camera just shows how much he's pushing things in the final picture.
 
Manny, downgrading to an A7RV...


Looks like the shutter comes down when it's off. I didn't know that.

Does it do that with other newer models too?
 
Looks like the shutter comes down when it's off. I didn't know that.

Does it do that with other newer models too?
Had it on the A9-ii and the A1, not sure which other models do it but I think there's a few. It's an option, you can either have it close or stay open when you turn the camera off.
 
Wait a minute, there's an A7Rv??! How did I miss that lol

I read and watch the reviews but TBH it often doesn't stick and I really couldn't tell you what exists without googling first :D
 
Wait a minute, there's an A7Rv??! How did I miss that lol
Dunno lol. It's basically an A7R IV with better AF, better EVF and the new articulating screen. It also had better video, and lossless compression.
 
Dunno lol. It's basically an A7R IV with better AF, better EVF and the new articulating screen. It also had better video, and lossless compression.

I'm undecided on screens.

My G1 had an articulated one and it spent most of its time turned to the body. My G100 has one but I don't use that camera a lot. I do use the flippy screen on my A7 and I suppose an articulated one would be more awkward for some shots but maybe better for portrait orientation and selfies.
 
I'm undecided on screens.

My G1 had an articulated one and it spent most of its time turned to the body. My G100 has one but I don't use that camera a lot. I do use the flippy screen on my A7 and I suppose an articulated one would be more awkward for some shots but maybe better for portrait orientation and selfies.
For the first time I could have done with tilt in portrait orientation this week.
 
And the thing I’m most interested in is that the colour science is also improved.
I still don’t like Sony colour profiles, much better than they used to be but still too green and dull. Adobe is better, Color fidelity best of the lot (y)
 
Oh, Alan.

ISO lower than 100 isn't available in Auto ISO - at least on the Riii

Lower than 100 is manually selectable in EFCS. Lower than 100 is completely UNavailable in silent shutter.

@woof woof
That’s odd, I wonder why low iso isn’t available on the Riii with electronic shutter :thinking:

Edit, some conflicting info, this seems to suggest low iso is available (taken from the A7r iii manual).
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But then this says it isn’t

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However I could use low ISO with the electronic shutter on the A9II, which isn’t listed above.

What I also found was that on the A1 there’s the electronic shutter (which is silent) but then there’s a separate silent mode, I think silent mode has settings to minimise lens AF noise and other things.
 
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Oh, Alan.

ISO lower than 100 isn't available in Auto ISO - at least on the Riii

Lower than 100 is manually selectable in EFCS. Lower than 100 is completely UNavailable in silent shutter.

@woof woof

Ta.

When I took the Syoptic 50mm f1.1 to Staithes I did take some pictures at 1/50 and 1/80 which is probably too slow if you haven't noticed and aren't taking too much care. I didn't have any pictures spoilt by motion blur that day but I am going to have to try and remember what I've done if I've selected ISO 50 and I'm going to have to try and remember to keep an eye on the shutter speed.
 
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Does anyone have a spare A7R III that you would like to sell to me? :)
 
Ta.

When I took the Syoptic 50mm f1.1 to Staithes I did take some pictures at 1/50 and 1/80 which is probably too slow if you haven't noticed and aren't taking too much care. I didn't have any pictures spoilt by motion blur that day but I am going to have to try and remember what I've done if I've selected ISO 50 and I'm going to have to try and remember to keep an eye on the shutter speed.

tbh I don't even think about ISO anymore :eek:

If I'm walking around handheld it's on auto with minimum fast shutter speed and on a tripod it's typically 100.
 
tbh I don't even think about ISO anymore :eek:

If I'm walking around handheld it's on auto with minimum fast shutter speed and on a tripod it's typically 100.

I haven't been a big user of wide apertures and usually they're just something I use just now and again but I always try everything when I'm playing with a new lens. I've had quite a few f1.4's now and of course the 40mm f1.2 so I'm used to hitting 1/8,000 at times but when using this Syoptic it's the first time that I've felt that the raw has suffered. As I said before, I don't know what the camera is doing to get to ISO 50 and it may be that I'm just not so good at processing and missing something I could be doing but the ISO 50 files do seem to give a better final result than I can get when processing ISO 100 pictures that have hit 1/8,000. Back when I had the Panasonic G1 (top speed 1/4,000) I used ND's but I really don't want to go back to that as it's even more of a faff on so I suppose when I do want f1.1 in good light I'm going to have to remember to select ISO 50 and then reset to auto in case the next picture is at 1/50 and I get motion blur.
 
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Found limitations of the Samyang 50mm FE II AF today, struggled with puppy eye AF, 35mm f1.8 was much better, however the Samyang look better for the ones in focus.
 
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After my disappointment with the Samyang FE II AF today I’ve been looking at other 50mm’s but I’m really put off the f1.4 GM with the cats eye/lemon shaped bokeh at the edges wide open.


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I was surprised to see the f1.2 GM has this trait too.
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