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

Mr Perceptive said:
I was going to say that it must be the lab coat wearing twin of @snerkler :ROFLMAO:
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I often look for another reason when there are multiple issues but in these mirrorless days it's unlikely to be the camera. Maybe his delivery guy is drop kicking his parcels over his hedge? It's possible that this guy has indeed had multiple bad lenses but I think it could also be gas or bias / justification for buying something else related... as in "oh, look dear, Sony are crap. I simply must buy a Canon". I'm sure that does happen with some people if not consciously then as some sort of gas enabling mind bias. The guy seems to have three systems so seems a bit of a gear head.

I remember the Lensrental blogs reporting that there were known issues with some lenses but generally none of the major brands were any better or worse than the rest but that was years ago, I don't think I would make a manufacturer choice based on the chance of getting a decentrered lens, not between the major camera and lens making brands (Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji etc) and I don't remember reading that there are known issues with either the Sony 40mm f2.5 or 85mm f1.8.

I just found this a bit surprising.
 
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Anyone using the 300mm f2.8 lens and 2.0TC combo and if so, could you share thoughts on the setup please?
 
Swanseajack said:
Anyone using the 300mm f2.8 lens and 2.0TC combo and if so, could you share thoughts on the setup please?
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May be wait for these?

LEAKED: Sony will announce the world’s lightest 400mm and 600m tele prime lenses! | sonyalpharumors

https://youtu.be/mVXlgnLCec8 On Fredmiranda somebody spilled out the info about the Sony announcement. Within 2/3 weeks Sony will announce these three lenses: Sony FE 600mm f/6.3 GM OSS around $3,800 (995g, 108 x 263mm) Sony FE 400mm f/4.5 GM OSS $2,699 - $2,899 (994g, 108 x 242mm) Sony 8-14mm...
www.sonyalpharumors.com www.sonyalpharumors.com

Really impressed if true
 
nandbytes said:
May be wait for these?

LEAKED: Sony will announce the world’s lightest 400mm and 600m tele prime lenses! | sonyalpharumors

https://youtu.be/mVXlgnLCec8 On Fredmiranda somebody spilled out the info about the Sony announcement. Within 2/3 weeks Sony will announce these three lenses: Sony FE 600mm f/6.3 GM OSS around $3,800 (995g, 108 x 263mm) Sony FE 400mm f/4.5 GM OSS $2,699 - $2,899 (994g, 108 x 242mm) Sony 8-14mm...
www.sonyalpharumors.com www.sonyalpharumors.com

Really impressed if true
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A 400mm f4.5 under 1kg would be amazing, for motorsport I could then use the 70-200mm f2.8 and 400mm f4.5 keeping the aperture wide and hopefully mask out those pesky catch fences better.
 
snerkler said:
A 400mm f4.5 under 1kg would be amazing, for motorsport I could then use the 70-200mm f2.8 and 400mm f4.5 keeping the aperture wide and hopefully mask out those pesky catch fences better.
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Would certainly look to replace my sigma 500mm f5.6

Though I wonder how sharp these will be
The sigma is just incredible, even with cropping i still see more details than I did with 200-600mm

My main issue is lack of TC support especially a 1.4x
 
nandbytes said:
Would certainly look to replace my sigma 500mm f5.6

Though I wonder how sharp these will be
The sigma is just incredible, even with cropping i still see more details than I did with 200-600mm

My main issue is lack of TC support especially a 1.4x
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My issue is that my teles tend to be used most for motorsport and as a result do use a variety of focal lengths and so do wonder if a 400mm prime would be too restrictive, likewise when I go to wildlife parks. If I was purely a birder or natural wildlife photographer then a prime would be a no brainer imo.
 
And a new fisheye zoom too

First leaked images of the new 8-14mm f/3.5 FE lens | sonyalpharumors

And here we have the first leaked image of the new 8-14mm f/3.5 Fisheye G zoom lens! Let me know in the comment system if you spot something interesting on the image...I certainly have ;) Preorders open soon:Sony FE 400mm f/4.5 GM OSS at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, Fotokoch, FotoErhardt...
www.sonyalpharumors.com www.sonyalpharumors.com

This is going to be an expensive year for me :D
 
snerkler said:
My issue is that my teles tend to be used most for motorsport and as a result do use a variety of focal lengths and so do wonder if a 400mm prime would be too restrictive, likewise when I go to wildlife parks. If I was purely a birder or natural wildlife photographer then a prime would be a no brainer imo.
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Yeah i mostly shoot at the long end and wildlife.
For sports in general I can see why people like zooms. Something like 100-400/4.5 might be even better if you can deal with the weight
 
woof woof said:
If I didn't see a single fisheye shot all year I wouldn't complain, or even notice.
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It's a good bit of fun.
Actually it takes a bit it effort to compose well. I don't need a zoom or AF but all the 3rd party Fisheye primes are large/heavy and I wouldn't carry it.
This looks to be small-ish and light but let's see....
 
nandbytes said:
It's a good bit of fun.
Actually it takes a bit it effort to compose well. I don't need a zoom or AF but all the 3rd party Fisheye primes are large/heavy and I wouldn't carry it.
This looks to be small-ish and light but let's see....
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I had a fisheye adapter once but I found I lost interest immediately. I think there are only limited uses that look good, for me anyway, I'd much rather have a wide lens. Good luck to those who like them and at least they do give a unique look (y)
 
nandbytes said:
May be wait for these?

LEAKED: Sony will announce the world’s lightest 400mm and 600m tele prime lenses! | sonyalpharumors

https://youtu.be/mVXlgnLCec8 On Fredmiranda somebody spilled out the info about the Sony announcement. Within 2/3 weeks Sony will announce these three lenses: Sony FE 600mm f/6.3 GM OSS around $3,800 (995g, 108 x 263mm) Sony FE 400mm f/4.5 GM OSS $2,699 - $2,899 (994g, 108 x 242mm) Sony 8-14mm...
www.sonyalpharumors.com www.sonyalpharumors.com

Really impressed if true
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Thanks for the reply.

I had the Nikon 400mm f4.5 lens and 1.4TC when I had my Nikon Z8 & ZF along with the 180-600mm lens. I nearly always had the 1.4TC bolted onto the 400mm lens but I wasn't super wowed with the performance even after trying three 1.4 TC. As a 400mm prime on it's own it was brilliant.

When I moved over to Sony at the beginning of the year and like you I bought the Sigma 500mm f5.6 lens, and for me I didn't feel as if I had a great copy of the lens. As I bought the lens in January and the light isn't great at this time of the year I waited until Spring to give the lens a fair chance and in hindsight I should have bought the less in Spring to test it out properly in better light. Also, I would have had a better chance of returning the lens....I thought my Nikon 500mm PF lens was a better performer when I had my D850/D500.

I also have the 200-600mm lens and I feel it performs better at 500mm than the Sigma did, plus I have tried it with the 1.4TC and in good light the performance is good.

Due to health if the rumours are true it will be better for me to wait for the new lenses to try out for the weight benefits ( but I won't buy in the Winter again)...I can't hand hold my 200-600mm lens and its always used on my combination tripod and Gitzo Ghf-1 Gimbal Head.
 
This is old news but I do like their reviews.

phillipreeve.net

Review: Sony FE 28-60mm 4.0-5.6 - phillipreeve.net

The Sony FE 28-60mm 4.0-5.6 is the a collapsible, compact zoom lens for Sony's fullframe cameras like the A7, A9 and A1 series, but how
phillipreeve.net phillipreeve.net

I briefly had one but I mostly like to use primes. I do see the convenience of zooms and that's why I bought it but generally zooms aren't my tirst choice. The guy doing the review says he'd rather have faster primes and that's how I feel too but the primes mean changing lenses or carrying more than one camera. My 28-60mm went to a forum member but I still have the original 28-70mm. Most people seem to disagree but I thought the original was the better lens it this 28-60mm is more compact but one thing I really didn't like was the mechanical roughness of the retracting mechanism.
 
Swanseajack said:
Thanks for the reply.

I had the Nikon 400mm f4.5 lens and 1.4TC when I had my Nikon Z8 & ZF along with the 180-600mm lens. I nearly always had the 1.4TC bolted onto the 400mm lens but I wasn't super wowed with the performance even after trying three 1.4 TC. As a 400mm prime on it's own it was brilliant.

When I moved over to Sony at the beginning of the year and like you I bought the Sigma 500mm f5.6 lens, and for me I didn't feel as if I had a great copy of the lens. As I bought the lens in January and the light isn't great at this time of the year I waited until Spring to give the lens a fair chance and in hindsight I should have bought the less in Spring to test it out properly in better light. Also, I would have had a better chance of returning the lens....I thought my Nikon 500mm PF lens was a better performer when I had my D850/D500.

I also have the 200-600mm lens and I feel it performs better at 500mm than the Sigma did, plus I have tried it with the 1.4TC and in good light the performance is good.

Due to health if the rumours are true it will be better for me to wait for the new lenses to try out for the weight benefits ( but I won't buy in the Winter again)...I can't hand hold my 200-600mm lens and its always used on my combination tripod and Gitzo Ghf-1 Gimbal Head.
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Looks like you have been round a bit to find your telephoto
I am surprised to hear about your sigma though
I have used my sigma 500mm with the viltrox 2x and I have been impressed with the performance even with 2x which i though would have been awful

I see you have seen and liked my samples from before - https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/t...-else-welcome-mega-thread.511885/post-9727363

for me 600mm f6.3 could give that wee bit of extra reach and also option of using it with a 1.4x TC and will hopefully be better overall than the sigma (and 2x TC).
Plus its lighter which is bonus, not that sigma is particularly heavy.

I also had the itch to get 300GM with 2x TC but after using sigma i felt the 300GM was not worth the extra price, size and weight for me.

Anyway according to the rumours guy these should be announced tomorrow, so not a long wait....
 
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I was at Donington again yesterday and used the Sammy 45mm for the first time since buying it again and I’m not as impressed as I thought I was.

I don’t know if it was the light but the rendering is a little underwhelming, maybe I’ve just been spoilt with the GM’s :thinking:

P.S. I’ll post some examples when I finished going through them.
 
snerkler said:
I was at Donington again yesterday and used the Sammy 45mm for the first time since buying it again and I’m not as impressed as I thought I was.

I don’t know if it was the light but the rendering is a little underwhelming, maybe I’ve just been spoilt with the GM’s :thinking:

P.S. I’ll post some examples when I finished going through them.
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Are you not tempted by the Sony 40mm f2.5? Or even the 50mm f2.5?
 
woof woof said:
Are you not tempted by the Sony 40mm f2.5? Or even the 50mm f2.5?
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Not really, I've got the GM's and it's made me realise that they're pretty hard to beat or equal.
 
snerkler said:
I was at Donington again yesterday and used the Sammy 45mm for the first time since buying it again and I’m not as impressed as I thought I was.

I don’t know if it was the light but the rendering is a little underwhelming, maybe I’ve just been spoilt with the GM’s :thinking:

P.S. I’ll post some examples when I finished going through them.
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I'll refer you back to this post - and the quote from me!

snerkler

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

Mr Perceptive said:
Its hardly a surprise - I never thought that your Samyang images were as sharp as you thought they were!!
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I never professed that they were the sharpest, I've just always been happy with the sharpness and it's a lot better than a lot of primes I've used over the years. Obviously things move forward, and the GMs are exceptional, but when I compare the Samyang to Nikon primes I've used in the past, as well as a few primes I've used on Sony it's certainly up there and better than most, especially for an f1.4. I think one issue is that it doesn't nail absolute critical focus (although...
 
Mr Perceptive said:
I'll refer you back to this post - and the quote from me!

snerkler

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

Mr Perceptive said:
Its hardly a surprise - I never thought that your Samyang images were as sharp as you thought they were!!
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I never professed that they were the sharpest, I've just always been happy with the sharpness and it's a lot better than a lot of primes I've used over the years. Obviously things move forward, and the GMs are exceptional, but when I compare the Samyang to Nikon primes I've used in the past, as well as a few primes I've used on Sony it's certainly up there and better than most, especially for an f1.4. I think one issue is that it doesn't nail absolute critical focus (although...
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That was the 50mm f1.4 ;) This is rendering rather than sharpness, I think it's the transitions that are too abrupt :thinking:
 
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imattersuk said:
Never had you down as a TikTok vlogger influencer auditor sort ......
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It was bought for making a few videos, but has been my Teams meeting camera for the last couple of years, tracks my eyes beautifully :D

I do get comments from other participants on the video quality, so it must do something right :)
 
snerkler said:
I was at Donington again yesterday and used the Sammy 45mm for the first time since buying it again and I’m not as impressed as I thought I was.

I don’t know if it was the light but the rendering is a little underwhelming, maybe I’ve just been spoilt with the GM’s :thinking:

P.S. I’ll post some examples when I finished going through them.
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IIRC you bought one after I did from FFordes when I was recommended one on here. Not sure if it should make much of a difference but haven't you recently changed your camera body :thinking:
 
nandbytes said:
Looks like you have been round a bit to find your telephoto
I am surprised to hear about your sigma though
I have used my sigma 500mm with the viltrox 2x and I have been impressed with the performance even with 2x which i though would have been awful

I see you have seen and liked my samples from before - https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/t...-else-welcome-mega-thread.511885/post-9727363

for me 600mm f6.3 could give that wee bit of extra reach and also option of using it with a 1.4x TC and will hopefully be better overall than the sigma (and 2x TC).
Plus its lighter which is bonus, not that sigma is particularly heavy.

I also had the itch to get 300GM with 2x TC but after using sigma i felt the 300GM was not worth the extra price, size and weight for me.

Anyway according to the rumours guy these should be announced tomorrow, so not a long wait....
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I'm not going to buy anything until next spring and hopefully the Sony 600mm f6.3 will have plenty of user reviews by then. On the Nikon Z version I'm sure I have read that the lens can be a bit hit and miss in regard to sharpness, so the hopefully there isn't any major sample variations on the Sony Lens.

We are downsizing to an over 55/60 type property and when our house sells Clare has given me the all clear for a A1ii and 600mm f4. If I can let myself spend that type of money I will need to try a Nikon Z8 & Nikon 600mm F4 and also see what Canon and other companies offer.
 
Swanseajack said:
IIRC you bought one after I did from FFordes when I was recommended one on here. Not sure if it should make much of a difference but haven't you recently changed your camera body :thinking:
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I can't see it being that as it's the same sensor, it's more likely due to me being more critical these days ;) I'll have to go back and look at my old images taken with the first copy. Also, having looked at them with fresh eyes today I don't think they're as bad as I thought yesterday (paddock pics above), although I still prefer the GMs, which I guess is hardly surprising :lol:
 
Swanseajack said:
I'm not going to buy anything until next spring and hopefully the Sony 600mm f6.3 will have plenty of user reviews by then. On the Nikon Z version I'm sure I have read that the lens can be a bit hit and miss in regard to sharpness, so the hopefully there isn't any major sample variations on the Sony Lens.

We are downsizing to an over 55/60 type property and when our house sells Clare has given me the all clear for a A1ii and 600mm f4. If I can let myself spend that type of money I will need to try a Nikon Z8 & Nikon 600mm F4 and also see what Canon and other companies offer.
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If I had the money and will to buy and carry a 600mm f4, nikon one would probably be the first choice, especially for its built-in 1.4x

For my uses, which is mostly printing no larger than A3+ and as hobbyist, large teles are a bit much. Given how good cameras are these days and software, for me the answer is more a smaller sharper slower tele like 500mm f5.6 or 600mm f6.3
 
nandbytes said:
If I had the money and will to buy and carry a 600mm f4, nikon one would probably be the first choice, especially for its built-in 1.4x

For my uses, which is mostly printing no larger than A3+ and as hobbyist, large teles are a bit much. Given how good cameras are these days and software, for me the answer is more a smaller sharper slower tele like 500mm f5.6 or 600mm f6.3
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I’d love to have the money and strength to carry a big tele prime around as it would be better for hiding catch fencing, I’d probably go with the 400mm f2.8 with and without 1.4xTC
 
snerkler said:
I’d love to have the money and strength to carry a big tele prime around as it would be better for hiding catch fencing, I’d probably go with the 400mm f2.8 with and without 1.4xTC
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I have the strength, been hitting the gym :D

Money not really right now and no motivation either...
A lot of my wildlife photography happens on travels and I don't solely shoot wildlife. I shoot a bit of everything.

So for me small teleprimes is better.
The sigma 500mm f5.6 fits in my PD sling 10L bag :D
 
nandbytes said:
I have the strength, been hitting the gym :D

Money not really right now and no motivation either...
A lot of my wildlife photography happens on travels and I don't solely shoot wildlife. I shoot a bit of everything.

So for me small teleprimes is better.
The sigma 500mm f5.6 fits in my PD sling 10L bag :D
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I have the strength for about 10 minutes but fibro means I fatigue easily :rolleyes:
 
My latest little project...

Taken with my Sony A7cII and 40mm f2.5.

DSC03544.jpg

It's a Seiko NH35 movement in a 36mm case and I had a couple of problems. First I must have forgotten to check the hand lengths as when I fitted the case the hour and second hands jammed so I had to trim a very small amount off the length of each. It isn't really noticeable even under magnification. Next I didn't use the supplied stem and instead just used one of my own and found that I could only adjust the hands anti clockwise and not clockwise. I trimmed and fitted the one that came with the case and that did it. There must be a slight difference between stems.

I thought a blue and white strap would go well with it.

I really like this one. I'd seen one with a white ceramic dial and blue hands similar to classic dinner plates so I thought I'd try and do the same but not with a ceramic dial, just an ordinary one. I hope I don't feel hungry every time I check the time.
 
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nandbytes said:
Looks like no 400 or 600mm primes today
Rumours guy failed us :D

I'm still excited by that fisheye though not at that price.
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Treat rumours with a mine-full of salt. :p
 
nandbytes said:
Sigma 85mm f1.2 and 20-60mm f2.8-4 out
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The 85mm's not light at 905g, although I don't know how it compares to other lenses of this type.
 
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