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

woof woof said:
I am tempted to try again just in case the one I had was faulty but if that's how they all are I couldn't live with the lock ups and magmified view issues. I hope it's just a matter of time before someone makes a similar but better and working lens.
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Did you have the newer firmware?

Haven’t had any lock ups with ours, don’t use manual focus so can’t comment on magnified view.

For the price I think it’s decent.
 
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That's the thing with the cheaper Chinese stuff - it can be good, but sample variation is so great that it's really just a roll of the dice.

I bought a cheap 25mm apsc lens and it was a belter. 2 of my friends ordered the same after seeing it and when we all got together, they were all very different.
 
So took my new (to me) A7RIII out on a whim for it's first spin after dark this evening. I'd had two glasses of wine but was itching to use it, so walked a mile or so down to some rocks overlooking Falmouth Bay. Turns out trying to learn a new camera in the pitch black while mildly sozzled isn't entirely straightforward. Plus I was getting frustrated with the light polution from Falmouth. Really red light polution... and what's that weird green cloud? Oh heck! Cue collapsing tripods, a desperate desire for a remote shutter release and some impromptu light painting. First photos for 10 years, haha!

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f/2.8 said:
:D :D:D
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I wasn't going to buy the faster ones but there was a voucher on Amazon that made them the same price as the standard (y)
 
TomB said:
So took my new (to me) A7RIII out on a whim for it's first spin after dark this evening. I'd had two glasses of wine but was itching to use it, so walked a mile or so down to some rocks overlooking Falmouth Bay. Turns out trying to learn a new camera in the pitch black while mildly sozzled isn't entirely straightforward. Plus I was getting frustrated with the light polution from Falmouth. Really red light polution... and what's that weird green cloud? Oh heck! Cue collapsing tripods, a desperate desire for a remote shutter release and some impromptu light painting. First photos for 10 years, haha!

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Nice!
Fully cloudy here :(
 
jimmyjamjojo said:
That's the thing with the cheaper Chinese stuff - it can be good, but sample variation is so great that it's really just a roll of the dice.

I bought a cheap 25mm apsc lens and it was a belter. 2 of my friends ordered the same after seeing it and when we all got together, they were all very different.
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Yeah for sure that can be true. Samyang for example used to be absolutely atrocious although quality control does seem to have gotten better with them in recent times.

It's probably a good idea to buy from places that have an easy returns procedure in case you want to send it back.

Tbf though I haven't for my smaller non work kit I have the Viltrox 14mm and 20mm for example and bought them both from dodgy Chinese website with basically no chance of a return and small hope of receiving the items. However they were both cheaper than our normal order from the local Chinese take away so was happy to take the risk and both are grand. The same thing applies to the TT Artisan 40mm. You pay your money and you take your chance. No doubt i will get stung at some point :D
 
I think I'd trust Viltrox more than TTArtisans, 7Artisans or Pergear.

I might try another 40mm f2 but the Sony f2.5 is just so good and it has a much shorter MFD and I will miss that MFD ability with the TTA 40mm f2. I can use a close up filter and I have used them a lot but it's more faff on.

I bought the TTA 40mm from Amazon and it went straight back no problem.

jimmyjamjojo said:
That's the thing with the cheaper Chinese stuff - it can be good, but sample variation is so great that it's really just a roll of the dice.

I bought a cheap 25mm apsc lens and it was a belter. 2 of my friends ordered the same after seeing it and when we all got together, they were all very different.
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Of the Chinese lenses I've had the Syoptic 50mm f1.1 was the best IMO. It's soft wide open but IMO useable and one nice thing is that infinity at least with mine was at the hard stop which made it great and hassle free for hyperfocal. The Artralab (I think it was a 35mm f1.4) was really good wide open, shockingly so IMO, but the apertures were all over the place and IMO it's really something like an f1.6-f8 lens.
 
Lovely pictures Tom.

This is the only picture I've taken in the last few days...

A7III and 55mm f1.8.

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It was a present :D

PS.
Just booked our next jolly to Thailand :D We are flying from Newcastle though as the transfer time with a flight from our local is now 8 hours and we don't fancy spending 8 hours in an airport. I don't know how anyone enjoys flying. I hate it.
 
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Has anyone had the Sony 85 GM ii and the 135GM. Love the shots (mainly dogs & few people) from the 135 but found it a bit long, awkward to use and bit of a lump as well so sold it. Great pictures and fast accurate focus though
Wonder how the 85 ii compares.
 
woof woof said:
Lovely pictures Tom.

This is the only picture I've taken in the last few days...

A7III and 55mm f1.8.

View attachment 472940

It was a present :D

PS.
Just booked our next jolly to Thailand :D We are flying from Newcastle though as the transfer time with a flight from our local is now 8 hours and we don't fancy spending 8 hours in an airport. I don't know how anyone enjoys flying. I hate it.
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Nice, looks like there’s some CA’s creeping in there ;)
 
snerkler said:
Nice, looks like there’s some CA’s creeping in there ;)
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The lens is known for it and a heavy backlit picture like this is a torture test but tbh it has imo done well to the point that I don't care about it in this picture. I could have used my 50mm apo I suppose or just the 40mm f2.5.
 
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mav said:
Guy on Facebook alex phan has been testing the viltrox 2x tc
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yeah i saw it also works with most sigma tele lenses which is nice.
been trying to get one myself to test with my sigma 500mm but can't seem to source it and i can't get myself to buy from Aliexpress
 
TomB said:
Nice, how are finding it? I've just had the Nano-X 32-512 delivered, haven't had a chance to use it yet.
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It's nicely made, has a good range of densities, works better with longer focal lengths and needs a bit of care not to give interference at the maximum density with wider lenses. It can also warm the image quite a bit.
 
I tried my A7III and 55mm f1.8 on some squirrels. The eye detect failed completely but may have worked if they'd been closer. I think focus has come a long way between the A7III and A7cII with the cII's focus and eye detect being much better.

100% crop. The eye detect failed completely here and I had to switch to single point. It looks a bit soft here, it's eye is sharp on my screen.

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I've spent this morning going through my lenses. I don't want to sell any of my Sony lenses yet but I might have another think in a while as there are some that I'm just not using but I should really sell my film era lenses and maybe my Sony mount Voigtlanders too as although I've taken a lot of pictures with every one of them these days they're just not getting used. One lens I might keep is the Minolta Rokkor MD 50mm f1.4 as it's worth next to nothing and I've used it a lot and taken some of my favourite pictures with it. Keeping it means keeping an adapter too and the Minolta one I have is a Novoflex which a dealer offered me £30 for.

The film era lenses, maybe about a dozen, vary in potential value on a good day. I was offered £130 by a dealer for my Zuiko 85mm f2 and stupidly kept it but the other stuff is worth nothing to £50 on a good day if I'm lucky. The same dealer offered my £1,000-£1,200 for the Voigtanders (35mm f1.2 and f1.4, 50mm f2 APO and f1.2) if they're what I said they were.

What would you lot do? Go through the hassle of photographing, advertising and possibly selling on here? Send them all to a dealer? Keep them for the day I want to use or just fiddle with them?
 
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woof woof said:
I've spent this morning going through my lenses. I don't want to sell any of my Sony lenses yet but I might have another think in a while as there are some that I'm just not using but I should really sell my film era lenses and maybe my Sony mount Voigtlanders too as although I've taken a lot of pictures with every one of them these days they're just not getting used. One lens I might keep is the Minolta Rokkor MD 50mm f1.4 as it's worth next to nothing and I've used it a lot and taken some of my favourite pictures with it. Keeping it means keeping an adapter too and the Minolta one I have is a Novoflex which a dealer offered me £30 for.

The film era lenses, maybe about a dozen, vary in potential value on a good day. I was offered £130 by a dealer for my Zuiko 85mm f2 and stupidly kept it but the other stuff is worth nothing to £50 on a good day if I'm lucky. The same dealer offered my £1,000-£1,200 for the Voigtanders (35mm f1.2 and f1.4, 50mm f2 APO and f1.2) if they're what I said they were.

What would you lot do? Go through the hassle of photographing, advertising and possibly selling on here? Send them all to a dealer? Keep them for the day I want to use or just fiddle with them?
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If you use them or just enjoy having them, keep them if you don't need the money.

If you do need the money, take the dealer price if it's decent. Niche lenses, especially pricey ones like Voigtlanders tend to be slow to shift.

If you don't use them but don't really need the money either, consider if it would be a better to have that money in a savings account or invested, vs how much you expect the lenses to appreciate/depreciate... If you'd get more from having the money, you can always buy back the lenses later down the line if you find you miss them.
 
woof woof said:
I've spent this morning going through my lenses. I don't want to sell any of my Sony lenses yet but I might have another think in a while as there are some that I'm just not using but I should really sell my film era lenses and maybe my Sony mount Voigtlanders too as although I've taken a lot of pictures with every one of them these days they're just not getting used. One lens I might keep is the Minolta Rokkor MD 50mm f1.4 as it's worth next to nothing and I've used it a lot and taken some of my favourite pictures with it. Keeping it means keeping an adapter too and the Minolta one I have is a Novoflex which a dealer offered me £30 for.

The film era lenses, maybe about a dozen, vary in potential value on a good day. I was offered £130 by a dealer for my Zuiko 85mm f2 and stupidly kept it but the other stuff is worth nothing to £50 on a good day if I'm lucky. The same dealer offered my £1,000-£1,200 for the Voigtanders (35mm f1.2 and f1.4, 50mm f2 APO and f1.2) if they're what I said they were.

What would you lot do? Go through the hassle of photographing, advertising and possibly selling on here? Send them all to a dealer? Keep them for the day I want to use or just fiddle with them?
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hi Alan, I think you will probably know my opinion already, no point hoarding, just move them on and use money on something you and your mrs will enjoy more. even if its something as simple as box of chocolates :ROFLMAO:

As to how to sell them, depends on how quickly you want something sold. When i changed gear/lenses a lot I held out for any length of time to get a good price.
Currently I know will use my lenses at least for 3 years, most likely 5+ years. I am much happier going with a dealer as in 3-5 years time the extra £50-100 won't make much difference but my mental peace thanks me now :D
 
jimmyjamjojo said:
If you use them or just enjoy having them, keep them if you don't need the money.

If you do need the money, take the dealer price if it's decent. Niche lenses, especially pricey ones like Voigtlanders tend to be slow to shift.

If you don't use them but don't really need the money either, consider if it would be a better to have that money in a savings account or invested, vs how much you expect the lenses to appreciate/depreciate... If you'd get more from having the money, you can always buy back the lenses later down the line if you find you miss them.
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The Voigtlanders are worth something even if that sort of money doesn't buy a lot these days. The money would just go into the pot and be spent as and when. The film era lenses on a very good day could be worth in the region of £300 maybe on a very good day if I found the right buyer at the right time. If I don't they could be worth £100 or I could be lucky to cover the postage. It's mostly about clearing out things I'm not using without actually losing money on postage or putting them away again or in the bin.

I don't think I'd like to start hunting film era lenses again in the future as they're only getting older and good ones at a reasonable price seem to be getting ever harder to find. I used to enjoy hunting for good ones but have lost interest now.

nandbytes said:
hi Alan, I think you will probably know my opinion already, no point hoarding, just move them on and use money on something you and your mrs will enjoy more. even if its something as simple as box of chocolates :ROFLMAO:

As to how to sell them, depends on how quickly you want something sold. When i changed gear/lenses a lot I held out for any length of time to get a good price.
Currently I know will use my lenses at least for 3 years, most likely 5+ years. I am much happier going with a dealer as in 3-5 years time the extra £50-100 won't make much difference but my mental peace thanks me now :D
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The Voigtlanders will sell if not on here then to a dealer so the only questions are where they'll sell, how much for and how long it'll take. The film era lenses, I really don't want to use Ffordes again but other than Ffordes I don't know if there's a market for them. I've really enjoyed using them but how I pursue this hobby seems to have changed in the last couple of years and I can't really say why. My eyesight is still good enough to MF so that's not a problem but mostly these days I go for the Sony 40mm f2.5 or 35mm f1.8.

I should really sell my remaining MFT kit as I have to just about force myself to use the 45-150 and 100-400mm lenses that justify keeping the GX80 and 14 and 20mm lenses. I could just keep the GX80 and 14mm as the camera has a built in flash and is useful for social use as I hate taking pictures with a phone. And then there's watches. I have waaaay too many watches.

I'll have to make my mind up and decide what's going and what's staying for now.
 
My thoughts are if you don’t need the money why sell them? You might get the urge to use them at some point, and if you do sell down the line I doubt the price would have decreased much.
 
woof woof said:
I've spent this morning going through my lenses. I don't want to sell any of my Sony lenses yet but I might have another think in a while as there are some that I'm just not using but I should really sell my film era lenses and maybe my Sony mount Voigtlanders too as although I've taken a lot of pictures with every one of them these days they're just not getting used. One lens I might keep is the Minolta Rokkor MD 50mm f1.4 as it's worth next to nothing and I've used it a lot and taken some of my favourite pictures with it. Keeping it means keeping an adapter too and the Minolta one I have is a Novoflex which a dealer offered me £30 for.

The film era lenses, maybe about a dozen, vary in potential value on a good day. I was offered £130 by a dealer for my Zuiko 85mm f2 and stupidly kept it but the other stuff is worth nothing to £50 on a good day if I'm lucky. The same dealer offered my £1,000-£1,200 for the Voigtanders (35mm f1.2 and f1.4, 50mm f2 APO and f1.2) if they're what I said they were.

What would you lot do? Go through the hassle of photographing, advertising and possibly selling on here? Send them all to a dealer? Keep them for the day I want to use or just fiddle with them?
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Where do you keep them all?
 
woof woof said:
I've spent this morning going through my lenses. I don't want to sell any of my Sony lenses yet but I might have another think in a while as there are some that I'm just not using but I should really sell my film era lenses and maybe my Sony mount Voigtlanders too as although I've taken a lot of pictures with every one of them these days they're just not getting used. One lens I might keep is the Minolta Rokkor MD 50mm f1.4 as it's worth next to nothing and I've used it a lot and taken some of my favourite pictures with it. Keeping it means keeping an adapter too and the Minolta one I have is a Novoflex which a dealer offered me £30 for.

The film era lenses, maybe about a dozen, vary in potential value on a good day. I was offered £130 by a dealer for my Zuiko 85mm f2 and stupidly kept it but the other stuff is worth nothing to £50 on a good day if I'm lucky. The same dealer offered my £1,000-£1,200 for the Voigtanders (35mm f1.2 and f1.4, 50mm f2 APO and f1.2) if they're what I said they were.

What would you lot do? Go through the hassle of photographing, advertising and possibly selling on here? Send them all to a dealer? Keep them for the day I want to use or just fiddle with them?
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Wouldn’t bother wasting your time trying to sell on here.

Bang them on eBay or flog direct to a dealer.
 
I thought the RX1R might quash my desire for a compact camera, and whilst I do really enjoy using it and have been impressed with the IQ I still fancy a truly pocketable camera just for walks and stuff where I’m not going to be taking photos of any real note, just boring record stuff.

So I’ve been contemplating the RX100 series again (I know I know ;)) and I can’t decide whether the faster lens and inbuilt ND filter in the VA, or longer reach of the VI/VII would be most useful :thinking:
 
snerkler said:
I thought the RX1R might quash my desire for a compact camera, and whilst I do really enjoy using it and have been impressed with the IQ I still fancy a truly pocketable camera just for walks and stuff where I’m not going to be taking photos of any real note, just boring record stuff.

So I’ve been contemplating the RX100 series again (I know I know ;)) and I can’t decide whether the faster lens and inbuilt ND filter in the VA, or longer reach of the VI/VII would be most useful :thinking:
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Save yourself the doh and just use your phone
 
f/2.8 said:
Save yourself the doh and just use your phone
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I could do, but I'm not a fan of using the phone, and I do find the raw output from the RX100 series better than the raw output of my iPhone.
 
snerkler said:
I could do, but I'm not a fan of using the phone, and I do find the raw output from the RX100 series better than the raw output of my iPhone.
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Nothing handier than a phone though. I got an iPhone 17 pro max a little while ago and it’s okay for photos and excellent for video.

RX100 isn’t that pocket friendly tbh unless your coat has large pockets. I had one a couple of years ago and while it was a novelty at first, the I.Q was a bit frustrating, and it was very fiddly to use compared to other cameras. In the end I stopped bringing it anywhere and just used my phone. Managed about 300 shots in 18 months so sold it after that.
 
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