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

I was going to post a picture... as it's quiet... We've now had a post so I'll post it anyway as it made me think of a question.

A single picture from a panorama, because I decided I liked it on its own.

DSC00234.jpg

How often do you end up keeping a frame from a panorama as a single picture?
 
Hi folks, I'm wading through the reviews online for the Sony 20-70mm f4. I only have a Sony 35mm prime and a couple of nice 50mm prime film lenses (one is f1.4) at the moment.

I'm definitely missing something wide for landscapes and architecture and the 20-70mm appeals, so I can leave the house with one lens knowing most bases are covered. I've ruled out the 24mm-70mm Sigma Arts as I think I'll get more from the wider 20mm of the Sony vs the f2.8 of the Sigma. The smaller size and weight of the 20-70mm is also a very significant advantage for me.

So I think I can live with f4, and I've read about and am cool with some distortion at 20mm....but would welcome any experiences of anyone here who has the lens? Any other limitations / deal-breaking issues I should be aware of? Sample images welcome!

Thanks all
More samples, nothing special mianly holiday snaps. I've tried to provide some variety (y) Better viewed on Flickr as this site has a tendancy to soften images.


A1_08413-Edit by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

A1_07962 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

A1_08316 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

A1_02560 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

A7R03118-Edit by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr


A1_09036 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

A1_08223 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

A1_03464 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr
 
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I was going to post a picture... as it's quiet... We've now had a post so I'll post it anyway as it made me think of a question.

A single picture from a panorama, because I decided I liked it on its own.

View attachment 453103

How often do you end up keeping a frame from a panorama as a single picture?

I sometimes do, as I often post on Instagram as a 'set' - I certainly do with night sky panoramic images as often with a full arch Milky Way, the centre part which is typically the Cygnus region is usually above the foreground subject.
 
I sometimes do, as I often post on Instagram as a 'set' - I certainly do with night sky panoramic images as often with a full arch Milky Way, the centre part which is typically the Cygnus region is usually above the foreground subject.

It's something I'm going to try and keep in mind, either take one shot then the pano or try and make sure that the pano includes a framing I might like as a single photo.
 
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More samples, nothing special mianly holiday snaps. I've tried to provide some variety (y) Better viewed on Flickr as this site has a tendancy to soften images.


A1_08413-Edit by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

A1_07962 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

A1_08316 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

A1_02560 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

A7R03118-Edit by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr


A1_09036 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

A1_08223 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

A1_03464 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr
Thanks for the feedback and for sharing some great photos - I think you must have posted the gulls as I was typing my post!

It does look like a brilliant all-rounder based on this set of photos.

Amazon selling for £859 new at the moment and I'm very tempted but your 16-35mm option is interesting too and I do have a couple of 50mm film lenses already. Which model do you have?
 
Thanks for the feedback and for sharing some great photos - I think you must have posted the gulls as I was typing my post!

It does look like a brilliant all-rounder based on this set of photos.

Amazon selling for £859 new at the moment and I'm very tempted but your 16-35mm option is interesting too and I do have a couple of 50mm film lenses already. Which model do you have?
Thanks. I bought mine grey from Cotswolds, the amazon price is good but IIRC Amazon is not an official retailer so not covered by Sony warranty.

I have the Sony Zeiss 16-35mm f4, it gets mixed reviews but I've always found my copy to be sharp, although I always have this lens stopped down to f8-11. I did want to replace if with the 16-35mm GM II and bought one but it was decentered so it went back and I've just carried on using the f4.
 
Sony have announced their new oblong block wireless telephonic device.


Such fun.
 
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Using the 35mm f1.4 I've definitely been running into shutter speed limit issues with this lovely weather we've been having, I was surprised to find the electronic shutter is also limited to 1/8000 compared to 1/32000 with the A1. I thought it'd go to 1/16000 at least :thinking:
 
Using the 35mm f1.4 I've definitely been running into shutter speed limit issues with this lovely weather we've been having, I was surprised to find the electronic shutter is also limited to 1/8000 compared to 1/32000 with the A1. I thought it'd go to 1/16000 at least :thinking:
That’s right Toby. I frequently shot with variable grads on my 35&50 GM’s with the A7R5
 
As I've said before, it'd be great if ISO 50 could be included in the auto range. Plus, I've found that using ISO 50 gets me better results than I can get from ISO 100 and trying to recover blown areas post capture. That might be down to how I process, others might do better.
 
You wont be surprised to know I know where all of mine are and when there's several in the same box I know what order they're in. The joys of being a geek with ocd.

On the morning of my wedding, I did think about wearing a watch. I did look in quite a few places that I thought it could have been but no luck. It's definitely here, I've not thrown it out.

And talking of weddings.... Well, honeymoons, we were going to pass through your way on a bit of a road trip but I'm not sure now - It's being a bit of a pain, to find reasonable places to stay in the areas we want, which are pet friendly.
 
On the morning of my wedding, I did think about wearing a watch. I did look in quite a few places that I thought it could have been but no luck. It's definitely here, I've not thrown it out.

And talking of weddings.... Well, honeymoons, we were going to pass through your way on a bit of a road trip but I'm not sure now - It's being a bit of a pain, to find reasonable places to stay in the areas we want, which are pet friendly.

You need a dress watch at least :D

Good luck with it all. I remember a thread on here a while back in which the groom insisted he was going to take some pictures at his own wedding. Do tell us you're not doing that? But if you are, what camera and lens will you be using? :D

BTW.
When I got married the then future Mrs WW told me I wasn't wearing a suit as they're old fashioned and instead I just had to wear nice trousers and a shirt. She wore a very nice dress but she took her back pack with her and as soon as she could she changed into trousers and a top. Have you got your clothes sorted?
 
You need a dress watch at least :D

Good luck with it all. I remember a thread on here a while back in which the groom insisted he was going to take some pictures at his own wedding. Do tell us you're not doing that? But if you are, what camera and lens will you be using? :D

BTW.
When I got married the then future Mrs WW told me I wasn't wearing a suit as they're old fashioned and instead I just had to wear nice trousers and a shirt. She wore a very nice dress but she took her back pack with her and as soon as she could she changed into trousers and a top. Have you got your clothes sorted?

I got married nearly 4 weeks ago ;) All went well.

I didn't take the photos :) But if I did I would have used the A7Riii & 35GM :) Actually, as it turned out, most of the wedding was shot with a 35GM :)
 
Wow.


Who's getting one?
Not me, looks huge :eek:
As I've said before, it'd be great if ISO 50 could be included in the auto range. Plus, I've found that using ISO 50 gets me better results than I can get from ISO 100 and trying to recover blown areas post capture. That might be down to how I process, others might do better.
Yeah it's a bit of a pain having to manually change it when needed. ISO 50 did do the trick, but if I'd been using the 50mm f1.2 I don't think 1/8000 and ISO 50 would have sufficed.
I got married nearly 4 weeks ago ;) All went well.

I didn't take the photos :) But if I did I would have used the A7Riii & 35GM :) Actually, as it turned out, most of the wedding was shot with a 35GM :)
Congratulations :clap: Did you have a honeymoon?
 
I'm not sure if I'm getting more picky or whether my 100-400mm's not as sharp as it once was, but I took a few shots yesterday and I was a bit disappointed in the detail. Maybe there was some atmospheric conditions coming into play but here's a 1:1 crop of the original on the right and than run through Topaz Sharpen AI on the left. I don't normally have to run it through Topaz :thinking:

Edit: Hmmm once again this forum's not displaying it very well :( Can you click through as I've marked it private as I don't want it on my photostream?


Screenshot 2025-05-13 at 19.07.30 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr
 
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Not me, looks huge :eek:

Yeah it's a bit of a pain having to manually change it when needed. ISO 50 did do the trick, but if I'd been using the 50mm f1.2 I don't think 1/8000 and ISO 50 would have sufficed.

It depends on the light at the time and where you point the lens but ISO 50 has been ok for me with my f1.1 and f1.2 lenses. My problem is remembering to switch back to auto again.

Realising 50 is needed and switching and switching back all takes time and the moment may be gone, I do wish Sony would either allow 50 in auto or up the shutter speed if only in electronic. My Panasonic's go higher but of course their base is 200 so no better off.
 
Maybe more interesting than that 85mm.


I do like smaller lighter kit and one day a 35 or even 50 or 28mm f1.4 might come along and really tempt me.
 
Not me, looks huge :eek:

Yeah it's a bit of a pain having to manually change it when needed. ISO 50 did do the trick, but if I'd been using the 50mm f1.2 I don't think 1/8000 and ISO 50 would have sufficed.

Congratulations :clap: Did you have a honeymoon?

We were going to have a little road trip. We want to do Edinburgh. So the rough plan was over to the Whitby area for a Fri-Mon, Edinburgh M-F, Lake District F-M, Snowdonia/Anglesey M-F and somewhere south Wales F-M..... But the planning and booking, especially reasonably priced and dog friendly is a bit of a headache......

Plan B might be a few days in Pembrokeshire or the west coast of Wales and then up to north Wales.

Ideally, Italy, but the dog...... That'll have to be later......
 
We were going to have a little road trip. We want to do Edinburgh. So the rough plan was over to the Whitby area for a Fri-Mon, Edinburgh M-F, Lake District F-M, Snowdonia/Anglesey M-F and somewhere south Wales F-M..... But the planning and booking, especially reasonably priced and dog friendly is a bit of a headache......

Plan B might be a few days in Pembrokeshire or the west coast of Wales and then up to north Wales.

Ideally, Italy, but the dog...... That'll have to be later......
All sound lovely, hope you manage to make at least one of them (y)
 
Have you thought about a pod Lee?

Yeah, a pod is an idea. We are really caravan people, but open to other things. Edinburgh was the difficult one for the balance of pet friendly, location and cost. I think we might just delay that one for a while until the time we are dog free and then go up, or maybe even fly up there.

When the wife's dad passed away a few years ago, they were building a new lifeboat for Anstruther (which I think is about an hour up from Edinburgh) and you could donate and have a name put on the boat in memory, which we done - it's where all the thousands of names make up the shape of the boat number ID - so it would be special to go and see that too.
 
Yeah, a pod is an idea. We are really caravan people, but open to other things. Edinburgh was the difficult one for the balance of pet friendly, location and cost. I think we might just delay that one for a while until the time we are dog free and then go up, or maybe even fly up there.

When the wife's dad passed away a few years ago, they were building a new lifeboat for Anstruther (which I think is about an hour up from Edinburgh) and you could donate and have a name put on the boat in memory, which we done - it's where all the thousands of names make up the shape of the boat number ID - so it would be special to go and see that too.
If you want something really chilled then I can highly recommend one of the Luxury Lakeside Caravans (circled below) at Pinewoods Wells-next-the-sea. That's where we are right now, second time we've been and we love it. Really chilled, great sitting on the veranda watching the swans and geese swimming about. It's also perfect for dogs as there's a huge dog friendy beach a few hundred yards away which links up wiht Holkham Beach and beyond, and a really nice wood to walk though.

You've then got places like Sandringham and Sheringham Park within 30 mins or so drive.

The lifeboat sounds great, something special to see that.


pinewoods-drone-1 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr
 
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If you want something really chilled then I can highly recommend one of the Luxury Lakeside Caravans (circled below) at Pinewoods Wells-next-the-sea. That's where we are right now, second time we've been and we love it. Really chilled, great sitting on the veranda watching the swans and geese swimming about. It's also perfect for dogs as there's a huge dog friendy beach a few hundred yards away which links up wiht Holkham Beach and beyond, and a really nice wood to walk though.

You've then got places like Sandringham and Sheringham Park within 30 mins or so drive.

Well I look forward to you sussing out the photography hotspots, got a week booked in Sheringham in a few weeks time. (y)
 
Well I look forward to you sussing out the photography hotspots, got a week booked in Sheringham in a few weeks time. (y)
Just holiday snaps for me I'm afraid, nothing special. There's some on my flickr already, and then we've just been to Sheringham Park earlier today so they'll be going up to. Very nice if you're into flowers.

We went to Hillside Animal Santuary (Shire Horse Sanctuary) as my wife's been sponsoring a Donkey there for years. Not lots there but I think kids would love it, we love it but then we're big kids :lol:

You can walk up to Blakeny Point and hope to see seals, and there's also Holkham Hall. If you're a twitcher then there's loads of places to go such as Salthouse, Cley and Holkham.

There's an RAF base near Kings Lynn too, I've not been but there's planes flying around every day we've been here. Some are really loud despite being extremely high up, there's a real bassy rumble. I've been led to believe they're F-15's but don't quote me on it ;)
 
Just holiday snaps for me I'm afraid, nothing special. There's some on my flickr already, and then we've just been to Sheringham Park earlier today so they'll be going up to. Very nice if you're into flowers.

We went to Hillside Animal Santuary (Shire Horse Sanctuary) as my wife's been sponsoring a Donkey there for years. Not lots there but I think kids would love it, we love it but then we're big kids :LOL:

You can walk up to Blakeny Point and hope to see seals, and there's also Holkham Hall. If you're a twitcher then there's loads of places to go such as Salthouse, Cley and Holkham.

There's an RAF base near Kings Lynn too, I've not been but there's planes flying around every day we've been here. Some are really loud despite being extremely high up, there's a real bassy rumble. I've been led to believe they're F-15's but don't quote me on it ;)

Thanks, I'm not intending to go too far from Sheringham, I drive enough for work!!! And I'm definitely not a twitcher :ROFLMAO: Not been to that area for a long time, we used to camp near Wells-next-the Sea when I was still in shorts :D about 55 years ago!!!!
 
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