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

nandbytes said:
Welcome aboard :wave:
lovely atmospheric shot (I know you didn't ask for critique, but I wonder if it'd work better as a square crop)

what gear are you using and your reason for swapping?
(just being nosey :D )
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Thanks, I'll give it a try. I went with the wide crop for the empty minimalist feel. I also have a 16:9 since I display a slideshow of my images on my TV.

I have an A7Cii, Sigma 35mm f2, Sigma 24-70, and Sony 100-400.
I switched after years of wondering if the grass was greener. I had a great stint with the X-T3, but was always left wanting when it came to fine detail - Images would be sharp overall but fine detail like distant foliage or the weave of a cloth would often turn to mush on the Xtrans sensor.
I upgraded to an X-T5 hoping the extra resolution would improve things, but if anything it was worse - as was the ISO noise.

I figured I'd grab the Sony and try them side by side. I was kinda hoping to be underwhelmed, given the price/size/weight differences. Unfortunately the first shot blew me away!
I spent the next few days making sure, but yeah it was pretty much a no brainer.
 
jimmyjamjojo said:
Thanks, I'll give it a try. I went with the wide crop for the empty minimalist feel. I also have a 16:9 since I display a slideshow of my images on my TV.

I have an A7Cii, Sigma 35mm f2, Sigma 24-70, and Sony 100-400.
I switched after years of wondering if the grass was greener. I had a great stint with the X-T3, but was always left wanting when it came to fine detail - Images would be sharp overall but fine detail like distant foliage or the weave of a cloth would often turn to mush on the Xtrans sensor.
I upgraded to an X-T5 hoping the extra resolution would improve things, but if anything it was worse - as was the ISO noise.

I figured I'd grab the Sony and try them side by side. I was kinda hoping to be underwhelmed, given the price/size/weight differences. Unfortunately the first shot blew me away!
I spent the next few days making sure, but yeah it was pretty much a no brainer.
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I use Sony & Fuji - the grass is greener over here......
 
jimmyjamjojo said:
Thanks, I'll give it a try. I went with the wide crop for the empty minimalist feel. I also have a 16:9 since I display a slideshow of my images on my TV.

I have an A7Cii, Sigma 35mm f2, Sigma 24-70, and Sony 100-400.
I switched after years of wondering if the grass was greener. I had a great stint with the X-T3, but was always left wanting when it came to fine detail - Images would be sharp overall but fine detail like distant foliage or the weave of a cloth would often turn to mush on the Xtrans sensor.
I upgraded to an X-T5 hoping the extra resolution would improve things, but if anything it was worse - as was the ISO noise.

I figured I'd grab the Sony and try them side by side. I was kinda hoping to be underwhelmed, given the price/size/weight differences. Unfortunately the first shot blew me away!
I spent the next few days making sure, but yeah it was pretty much a no brainer.
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All certainly very good lenses and a nice body too. Sigma lenses are really good, personally have 3 of them myself now.
Though I wonder if 100-400mm is a bit large for A7Cii. if you are happy with in then that's all that matters :)

I had x100v for a little while and felt lens let the sensor down. And I have used GFX 100s a fair bit which isn't xtrans. I have borrowed it 3 times so far. beautiful bit of kit and when i win the lottery I'll buy one :D
 
nandbytes said:
Though I wonder if 100-400mm is a bit large for A7Cii.
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It is, but I'm fine with it. Ultimately no matter what camera you put it on, you'll always be primarily holding the lens because of the weight of it.

I've just snagged the smallrig baseplate, which improves the grip of the body massively by giving my pinky somewhere to sit.

I had considered going for the 200-600mm - I'm glad I didn't! As lovely as it must be, that is a little too large and heavy for my occasional wildlife forays. Maybe I've just been spoiled by my APSC lenses. ;)
 
jimmyjamjojo said:
Thanks, I'll give it a try. I went with the wide crop for the empty minimalist feel. I also have a 16:9 since I display a slideshow of my images on my TV.

I have an A7Cii, Sigma 35mm f2, Sigma 24-70, and Sony 100-400.
I switched after years of wondering if the grass was greener. I had a great stint with the X-T3, but was always left wanting when it came to fine detail - Images would be sharp overall but fine detail like distant foliage or the weave of a cloth would often turn to mush on the Xtrans sensor.
I upgraded to an X-T5 hoping the extra resolution would improve things, but if anything it was worse - as was the ISO noise.

I figured I'd grab the Sony and try them side by side. I was kinda hoping to be underwhelmed, given the price/size/weight differences. Unfortunately the first shot blew me away!
I spent the next few days making sure, but yeah it was pretty much a no brainer.
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Welcome (y) You came to the same conclusion that I did with the Fuji Sensors and fine detail. The bizarre thing is I still fancy the X100VI despite trying one and side by side with the Sony images it lacked in IQ :thinking:
 
snerkler said:
Welcome (y) You came to the same conclusion that I did with the Fuji Sensors and fine detail. The bizarre thing is I still fancy the X100VI despite trying one and side by side with the Sony images it lacked in IQ :thinking:
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with the X100vi its the lens that's the weak link.
 
nandbytes said:
with the X100vi its the lens that's the weak link.
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I still think the sensor plays a part, you're always going to see a difference between FF and APS-C when pixel peeping, I guess a fairer test would be to compare it to an A6xxx camera (y)
 
I thought my X100's were more of a rival to my MFT cameras than to my A7. I think the issues I saw, apart from the focus issues, were more to do with Fuji's decisions on metering and ISO than anything specific to APS-C as such. I have more confidence in my Panasonic GX80 and 14 or 20mm than I had with the X100s/f.

Anyway. I have more confidence in the A7cII than the GX80 but the 14mm, 45-150mm and 100-400mm mean I can't sell my MFT kit.
 
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snerkler said:
I'm slightly jealous, although snow is not good for business :oops: :$
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Not too much here. We had heavy snow and big flakes for a while but when we went out we were back to small flakes.

A7III and Sony 55mm f1.8, a blast from the past as I haven't used it for a while. I do think it's a good lens and I like the look it gives but it's 55mm when obviously it should be 50mm. The A7III again frustrated me by not locking on to her eye at a distance at which the A7cII would have.

The walk to the post office, returning Chinese tat. They really should watch that QC.

1-DSC00772.jpg

I was trying to capture flakes falling here and there are some but as they are small you really have to look for them.

1-DSC00773.jpg

An action shot! Walking!

1-DSC00778.jpg

Oh, and as I've had some refunds for non photography stuff due to poor Chinese quality control I had some "free money" to spend so I've bought something... and it should be here tomorrow :D It's not a second A7cII though.
 
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Oops... I did a thing and ordered a Sony A7C II from Cotswold at a cracking price of just over £1k. That means that in the next few weeks Sony will announce the new A7C III with the amazing flippy screen from the A1/A7RV, dual card slots, an AF joystick and a 5mp viewfinder :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
 
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Sootchucker said:
Oops... I did a thing and ordered a Sony A7C II from Cotswold at a cracking price of just over £1k. That means that in the next few weeks Sony will announce the A7C III with the amazing flippy screen from the A1/A7RV, dual card slots, an AF joystick and a 5mp viewfinder :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
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Yeah it's really cold at the moment, shivering fingers can do that and accidentally click buy :ROFLMAO:
 
That must have been it :ROFLMAO:
 
Sootchucker said:
Oops... I did a thing and ordered a Sony A7C II from Cotswold at a cracking price of just over £1k. That means that in the next few weeks Sony will announce the new A7C III with the amazing flippy screen from the A1/A7RV, dual card slots, an AF joystick and a 5mp viewfinder :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
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I hope you enjoy it. It has some quirks and annoyances but I think they're made up for by small size, focus ability and IQ.
 
Sootchucker said:
Oops... I did a thing and ordered a Sony A7C II from Cotswold at a cracking price of just over £1k. That means that in the next few weeks Sony will announce the new A7C III with the amazing flippy screen from the A1/A7RV, dual card slots, an AF joystick and a 5mp viewfinder :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
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I did the same. I have also hurried along the development of the 100-400 mkii :LOL:
 
Just for info, I made a decision over Christmas with my gear, in that my Nikon Z system will be my primary wildlife / birding system as I already have the Z8 & Z9, as well as as the Z 100-400, 400mm F4.5, 1.4x converter, 180-600, and 500mm PF (F mount lens). So I have a good list of long lenses. Therefore my Sony A7RV, will be my landscape / Portrait main body, which means my A6700 and the new A7C II will be my everyday carry / holiday bodies.

Regrettably I think that means the end of the road for my Micro Four thirds system which I've used for over a decade (which I'm just not using anymore). As good as it is (and it is a really nice system), it's now not really that much smaller or lighter than an A6700 / A7C II body with the 24mm and 40mm pancake lenses. Also, if you look at my OM-1 with the 12-40 (24-80mm) F2.8 standard lens and compare it to an A7C II with my Sony 20-70 F4 G then the Sony setup is only 21g heavier and a very similar footprint (1002g vs 981g).

When it comes to wildlife, I can already get to 900mm in 20mp APS-C mode on the Nikon Z8 / Z9 and the 180-600mm (or maybe soon the 600mm F6.3), and to match or beat that focal length that I'd most likely need to get the big white (the Olympus 150-400 (300-800mm effective) and engage the 1.25TC for 1000mm @ F5.6 (only a 1/3 of a stop brighter), and that lens is over £6k new. By all accounts a truly stunning lens but at £6.5k not cheap and also not small. Also size and weight wise the Olympus Combo is only 380 lighter than a Z8 with the 180-600 or actually 94g heavier if I replace the 180-600 with the 600mm F6.3 which I'm considering.

I know these aren't a direct comparison as each model has it's own benefits / features that the other doesn't, but to be honest I don't need the speed of the OM-1 (20fps in Raw+JPG is fast enough for me that both the Nikon bodies will do with an unlimited buffer), so I think it's time to retire the Olympus system altogether. I'll either see what I can get for them and sell them, or if the prices are really low just keep them as back up but will most certainly pair down the lens collection to the bear minimum. It's a shame but two systems is a luxury and 3 systems is just silly.

Also, and not really a major contributing factor, but I just don't see much development by OM Systems in the last couple of years into a new high end body to compete with the APS-C and FF bodies which are getting closer in size, speed, IBIS capabilities etc but with much more room for cropping with their larger sensors, and better high ISO performance (which by the way the OM-1 is no slouch at). I can see why a lot of people still love M4/3, and if it was my only system I'd be perfectly happy and make it work for me (as I did), but as I'm very fortunate to be able to spend money on my hobby and have a really nice Nikon and Sony system as well, like I say, one of them has to go, and I think it's going to be the Olympus system.
 
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MFT still has some advantages for me. The focus is insanely fast, much faster than any of the Sony A7x's I've had, the GX80+14mm f2.5 is for me significantly smaller and lighter than the A7cII+any lens and then there's the lenses, 14mm f2.5 and 20mm f1.7 and 45-150 and 100-400mm. I can't see myself ever getting equivalent FF long lenses, plus the GX80 has a built in tiltable flash.
 
I'd agree there are definitely exceptions to the rule and certain features / lenses that MFT still has which APS-C and FF can't match (and probably never will), but you sort of need to own those bodies and lenses first. If like me you only have the EM1-X, OM-1, and some of the larger pro lenses (40-150 F2.8, 25mm F1.2, 8-18mm F2.8-4, 45mm F1.2 & 300mm F4, etc.) then I don't really have those tiny options. I also think there are a lot of snobs that turn their nose up on MFT due to it's sensor size (usually people who have never even held a MFT camera), and I think many are therefore missing out. Like I say, if I didn't have either the Sony or Nikon systems as well, then I would most certainly keep with the format, but aside from charging the batteries and taking some snaps to assure myself both cameras still work fine, I don't think I've used them in anger for at least 6 months (maybe more).
 
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woof woof said:
MFT still has some advantages for me. The focus is insanely fast, much faster than any of the Sony A7x's I've had, the GX80+14mm f2.5 is for me significantly smaller and lighter than the A7cII+any lens and then there's the lenses, 14mm f2.5 and 20mm f1.7 and 45-150 and 100-400mm. I can't see myself ever getting equivalent FF long lenses, plus the GX80 has a built in tiltable flash.
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That surprises me, granted it was the EM1-II and EM1-X I used last but I've not found any Sony Alpha series slower to focus :thinking:
 
Indeed, I found my Nikon's to not only be faster to acquire but have a slightly better keeper rate then either of my MFT bodies (the OM1 being much better than the EM1-X). To be fair their isn't much in it vs the OM-1 (as the OM-1 is really very good in that department), but it certainly doesn't focus any faster than the Nikon's (can't speak to the A7RV as I don't really use that for wildlife).
 
snerkler said:
That surprises me, granted it was the EM1-II and EM1-X I used last but I've not found any Sony Alpha series slower to focus :thinking:
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With all of my newer Panasonic cameras the focus has been pretty much instantanious and in fact with some lenses you don't need to wait for focus you just point the camera and press the shutter. The eye detect is very good too, better than the A7III.
 
Sootchucker said:
Oops... I did a thing and ordered a Sony A7C II from Cotswold at a cracking price of just over £1k. That means that in the next few weeks Sony will announce the new A7C III with the amazing flippy screen from the A1/A7RV, dual card slots, an AF joystick and a 5mp viewfinder :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
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How? What did I miss?
The cheapest used I can find is £1400….
 
Hmm, wonder if there has been price increase. I only ordered mine a few days ago (not delivered yet), so will be interesting to see if they honour the price ?

Here's Mine

 
Sootchucker said:
Hmm, wonder if there has been price increase. I only ordered mine a few days ago (not delivered yet), so will be interesting to see if they honour the price ?

Here's Mine

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I'm surprised it's gone up
I'd assumed prices were going down since GBP is doing well against the dollar
If anything it done even better last few days...
 
I bought a TTA 40mm f2!

I tried it on my A7cII and it's going straight back.

It has three issues. The first issue was that with my fingers nowhere near the focus ring the magnified view kept activating for perhaps one shot in every five and I found that annoying. The second issue was repeated lock ups when the focus stopped working altogether and the camera needed turning off and on. I took about 40 pictures and it locked up three times. The third issue is one I've now seen multiple times with Chinese lenses, aperture accuracy.

I do not believe that this is an f2 lens. I think it's possibly a little bit narrower, maybe f2.2 or so but I don't think it's f2 because there should be obvious visible differences (if you go looking) in DoF and the size of bokeh balls between f2 and f2.5 and there isn't with this lens. I can see the aperture stopping down from f2 when the aperture ring is turned but what it actually is at f2 I don't know but I don't think it's f2 but if that is the case then that means that the subsequent settings are also out a bit too and that wouldn't surprise me.

I bought this lens not really for the extra light but for the shallower DoF at f2 over the f2.5 Sony and comparing it to the Sony the difference between f2 with the TTA and f2.5 with the Sony just isn't visible as slightly thinner DoF or as slightly larger bokeh balls (the difference in bokeh ball size should be the easier thing to see) and it should be and for confidence check the difference (bokeh balls) between f2 and f2.5 is easily visible with Sony and Voigtlander 35's.

After my troubles with Chinese lenses in the past I vowed not to buy another but I did. Silly me.

Other stuff.
It's soft at "f2" improving at f2.8 but what these apertures really are I don't know and I didn't want to waste my time doing further testing due to the magnified view and focus locking up issues which mean that it has to go back regardless of the possible aperture inaccuracies. There's ca wide open which improves on stopping down, the lens is slower to focus than the Sony 40mm but not drastically so. Positives include the aperture blades being angled rather than rounded so there's the possibility of sunstars and the terrible vignetting mentioned by reviewers didn't seem all that bad to me.

The lens is cheap and seems reasonably well built but the magnified view and focus not working issues are killers for me and yet again this lens seems to have inaccurate apertures. I do wish reviewers would start picking up on this as I've seen this to some extent on every Chinese lens I've had now and it irritates the hell out of me.

Lesson learned. No more Chinese lenses for me as these inaccurate apertures trigger my ocd. My advice to anyone looking for a compact 40mm... Just pay the extra and get the Sony.
 
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The main thing for me with these faster cheaper lenses compared with decent ones like a G lens, is by the time you've stopped them down to remove any of the IQ issues and get decent sharpness, you may as well just use the G lens wide open. Plus you get the extra benefits of faster, more accurate AF, maybe a focus hold button, better weather sealing, accurate apertures, etc
 
I think the optical quality is good enough for me. I don't know if the locking and the calling up of the magnified view are actual faults or things which might be fixed with a firmware update but whatever the reason for these things the lens is unusable for me. Actually if these things didn't happen I'd still have the suspicion that there's something wrong with the aperture settings and once something like this gets stuck in my head I can't live with it. If I am right and the apertures are not correct and I have to say that I trust Sony and Voigtlander more than the makers of any of the Chinese lenses I've had and I also trust the evidence of my own eyes, so if I am right then this is more damning to me than the AF and MF assist issue as the aperture is only maths... Why get it wrong? I haven't tried to measure the aperture as the differences between f2 and the small steps to f2.5 aren't that big really and it'd be easy to make a mistake in measuring so I'd rather use the methodology I did and look at the DoF and the more obvious difference in bokeh ball size when taken at the same setting and distance. I believe my own eyes and I think something is off here at f2 and possibly also the intermediate settings to f2.5.

I think I've learned my lesson now, no more Chinese lenses.

Looking at my Sony and Voigtlander lenses I've only ever found one suspicious aperture and it was only at one aperture setting and even then it wasn't too far out. I can't remember what lens it was or what the aperture was as it wasn't too bad to bother about. I do wonder how the Sony f2.5 would perform if the same optical formula was kept and it was opened up to f2. I wonder how bad it'd be?

That's three things I've bought recently and all are going back. Sometimes I don't like being a geek and Mrs WW constantly tells me that I'm the only one who'll complain and no one else cares but then again being a geek paid for my retirement at 49, so, swings and roundabouts.
 
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F2 to 2.5 on 40mm at 1m is about 2cm of dof - 9 vs 7cm. Which is a bit, but I’d think mostly only noticeable in a controlled test?

That said if the lens didn’t give you what you want makes sense for it to go back. And the other problems sound far worse. A shame as I’ve been considering something small with an aperture ring and it was on the list.
 
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