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

goldtop said:
Thanks. It's me wondering whether you can trust a seller to be honest (or perhaps even to spot fungus - I certainly don't et know what I'd be looking for). I'll do a bit of searching here tomorrow.

Meanwhile... decision made, A7 ii now ordered: £470 with warranty. Adapter and (supposedly fungus-free) Minolta 1.7/55mm at £51 also ordered.

(I decided on the ii over the original A7, because the IBIS will be useful if/when I do venture out with the camera. I'd rather make that decision now instead of maybe regretting it and then trying to sell an A7 in a few months' time.)
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It might be useful if you explore the use of focus peaking and manual focus assist on this body, I've found it to be an excellent aid to manual focus with these adapted lenses. Apologies if you've already explored this :)
 
rob-nikon said:
I think as a pro who’s providing a service in a situation (ie a wedding) that can’t stop because the photographer can’t take photos you have it completely right (y) properly kitted out for every eventuality is a good thing and will always be appreciated by your clients. They probably won’t even notice a kit failure because you can swap out so fast.
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I don't think clients have a real understanding, my hyper sensitivity probably stems from my own experience. When I first started photographing weddings I shot a few as a second. At one of those the photographer was using a 5dmkII with a 24-105 and an old 1d something or other with a 50mm. They where pretty old school and shot everything pretty much with the 5d and the 24-105. So at one of those weddings the 5d died so they tried to switch the 24-105 over to the 1d but couldn't get the 50 of it. It seemed welded to it. I tried and couldn't get it off either. They went into full panic mode and spoke to both the bride & groom before the ceremony and explained everything in detail, at the time I thought that was a mistake and it was.

While the first had shot hundreds of weddings, surprisingly they didn't really seem to have a clue what they where doing.

Although I was the second and very inexperienced I shot that wedding pretty much by myself while the photographer fretted about the equipment being damaged and as it turned out they had never used the 1d or a 50mm lens before they just had it as a back up so really struggled using it. As they had explained everything to the couple it made them stressed out to the max and it was a really difficult day.

As I was leaving the couple pulled me to the side and gave me an envelope stuffed with cash and told me not to mention it to the other photographer and I went on home. The next day the photographer contacted me and said that the couple had refused to pay them as they had concerns about not getting the photos they wanted due to the equipment problems and that they had noticed that it was me who taken 95% of the photos on the day. It was all sorted eventually they got their photos and the photographer got paid. I always wondered though if I got the first's payment that they should have got on the night.

I don't think that in most cases clients have any understanding about what happens if something goes wrong but obviously they expect there to be a solution in place if it does. I have been in situations since then where equipment has failed or something that could seem to be a huge issue like a corrupt card or something has happened on a wedding day. When it does I just ignore it completely and I would be surprised if any of the clients ever realised that something had gone wrong.

There are plenty out there that do take huge risks and probably only 1 in 500 times does it actually end up being an issue. You would be surprised for example how many are using the Nikon and Canon mirrorless bodies with only one card slot. They justify it by saying XQD card's don't corrupt, yet I have seen loads of posts on Facebook etc. from wedding photographers where they have. I have seen loads of others that have cameras with two card slots but use them as overflow rather than as a back up, which seems nuts to me. There also plenty that use one body only and some of them are using one body and one lens. There is so much scope for something going wrong there for no good reason and in most cases they are well aware of the potential issues.

I seen a random post on Facebook just the other day from a wedding photographer based not more than 30-40 miles away from me. She had shot a wedding a week or so before and the day after the wedding she grabbed a few photos from the card for "sneak peeks" for her social media and didn't look at it again for a week. When she went back a week later to start work on the wedding the card was lost and she can't find it. She never backed up any of the images from the card as she had edited them directly off the card when she did the "sneak peeks". She uses one camera only with one card even though the camera she uses has the option for 2. She charges more than we do and seems to photograph a lot of weddings. What shocked me more was that there was several other wedding photographers had commented on her post expressing sympathy for her and some said that they do the same thing.

In a Facebook group recently I seen a post from a guy in R.O.I who realised after being contacted by the groom on the day of the wedding that he had double booked and wouldn't be able to turn up. To be fair to him he did everything he could to rectify the situation, arranged another photographer for the couple etc. It just shocks me a bit that something like that could happen though. How did he not realise? He must have spoken to them to confirm their timeline, received their balance payment etc. He is someone who is well known and shoots a lot of weddings.
 
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footman said:
It might be useful if you explore the use of focus peaking and manual focus assist on this body, I've found it to be an excellent aid to manual focus with these adapted lenses. Apologies if you've already explored this :)
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Yes, I plan to. There are similar options on the little RX100 ii, but I use that strictly as a point-n-shooter, while using the EOS 10d and then M3 when taking more time.
 
Just to stop anymore RTM's F/1.4 is off on a short break.
 
Cobra said:
Just to stop anymore RTM's F/1.4 is off on a short break.
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I suspect there's a slight mitigation in that his camera failed catastophically the day before while at work, and that the conversations in this thread tend to be a bit more 'spiky' than would normally be desirable on the rest of the forum. It's not justification, but it IS explanation for the added level of sharpness.
 
Not wanting to get involved in any fall outs, I can do that easily enough myself.

@F/1.4 aka Tony is a good lad.

And the stuff above is out of character, I would imagine he reacted as he is stressed about the shutter going on his camera and probably just straight after what was maybe a stressful day in terms of the wedding day where his camera bit the dust.

Reporting to mod for something like this seems really childish to me, like lets tell teacher.
 
ancient_mariner said:
I suspect there's a slight mitigation in that his camera failed catastophically the day before while at work, and that the conversations in this thread tend to be a bit more 'spiky' than would normally be desirable on the rest of the forum. It's not justification, but it IS explanation for the added level of sharpness.
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S*** happens in life, deal with it o_O
 
ancient_mariner said:
I suspect there's a slight mitigation in that his camera failed catastophically the day before while at work,
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Agreed That's enough to wind any one up.
And had it been an isolated case, it would have just been a slap wrist.
However there have been many slap wrists in that last couple of years and some people just don't take the hint.

f/2.8 said:
Reporting to mod for something like this seems really childish to me, like lets tell teacher.
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See above
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
It is, but calling members idiots and morons is also childish :)
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Can't disagree really, but rules on this forum are quite strict in terms of what you can or can't say. In real life the words used would probably have been different and sometimes stuff that is written can come across very differently to what they would do if spoken.


TGphoto said:
Still no reason to speak to people like muck. The camera is under warranty.
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Have you never lost your temper over something silly, because you were annoyed about something else?

My missus would say I probably do this at least once a week.
 
f/2.8 said:
Reporting to mod for something like this seems really childish to me, like lets tell teacher.
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Nothing wrong with telling the teacher either. If I not mistaken @TGphoto is or used to be a teacher :D

f/2.8 said:
Have you never lost your temper over something silly, because you were annoyed about something else?

My missus would say I probably do this at least once a week.
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My missus tells me the same but I know better than to go on a rampage on random people on the forums :p
 
f/2.8 said:
I don't think clients have a real understanding, my hyper sensitivity probably stems from my own experience. When I first started photographing weddings I shot a few as a second. At one of those the photographer was using a 5dmkII with a 24-105 and an old 1d something or other with a 50mm. They where pretty old school and shot everything pretty much with the 5d and the 24-105. So at one of those weddings the 5d died so they tried to switch the 24-105 over to the 1d but couldn't get the 50 of it. It seemed welded to it. I tried and couldn't get it off either. They went into full panic mode and spoke to both the bride & groom before the ceremony and explained everything in detail, at the time I thought that was a mistake and it was.

While the first had shot hundreds of weddings, surprisingly they didn't really seem to have a clue what they where doing.

Although I was the second and very inexperienced I shot that wedding pretty much by myself while the photographer fretted about the equipment being damaged and as it turned out they had never used the 1d or a 50mm lens before they just had it as a back up so really struggled using it. As they had explained everything to the couple it made them stressed out to the max and it was a really difficult day.

As I was leaving the couple pulled me to the side and gave me an envelope stuffed with cash and told me not to mention it to the other photographer and I went on home. The next day the photographer contacted me and said that the couple had refused to pay them as they had concerns about not getting the photos they wanted due to the equipment problems and that they had noticed that it was me who taken 95% of the photos on the day. It was all sorted eventually they got their photos and the photographer got paid. I always wondered though if I got the first's payment that they should have got on the night.

I don't think that in most cases clients have any understanding about what happens if something goes wrong but obviously they expect there to be a solution in place if it does. I have been in situations since then where equipment has failed or something that could seem to be a huge issue like a corrupt card or something has happened on a wedding day. When it does I just ignore it completely and I would be surprised if any of the clients ever realised that something had gone wrong.

There are plenty out there that do take huge risks and probably only 1 in 500 times does it actually end up being an issue. You would be surprised for example how many are using the Nikon and Canon mirrorless bodies with only one card slot. They justify it by saying XQD card's don't corrupt, yet I have seen loads of posts on Facebook etc. from wedding photographers where they have. I have seen loads of others that have cameras with two card slots but use them as overflow rather than as a back up, which seems nuts to me. There also plenty that use one body only and some of them are using one body and one lens. There is so much scope for something going wrong there for no good reason and in most cases they are well aware of the potential issues.

I seen a random post on Facebook just the other day from a wedding photographer based not more than 30-40 miles away from me. She had shot a wedding a week or so before and the day after the wedding she grabbed a few photos from the card for "sneak peeks" for her social media and didn't look at it again for a week. When she went back a week later to start work on the wedding the card was lost and she can't find it. She never backed up any of the images from the card as she had edited them directly off the card when she did the "sneak peeks". She uses one camera only with one card even though the camera she uses has the option for 2. She charges more than we do and seems to photograph a lot of weddings. What shocked me more was that there was several other wedding photographers had commented on her post expressing sympathy for her and some said that they do the same thing.

In a Facebook group recently I seen a post from a guy in R.O.I who realised after being contacted by the groom on the day of the wedding that he had double booked and wouldn't be able to turn up. To be fair to him he did everything he could to rectify the situation, arranged another photographer for the couple etc. It just shocks me a bit that something like that could happen though. How did he not realise? He must have spoken to them to confirm their timeline, received their balance payment etc. He is someone who is well known and shoots a lot of weddings.
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It sounds like you have it quite well covered and others could learn a thing or two from you. You are right clients won’t understand what you go through to ensure you deliver but the fact you can deliver under most situations that’s what matters. They probably appreciate the hassle free delivery as things going wrong would likely spoil their day.

If one thing is certain if you do something enough times one time something will go wrong! The key thing to provide excellent customer service is still being able to deliver when things go wrong. If you can handle things going wrong without them knowing that’s even better and that’s something every pro should striving for (y)

I would have thought most clients would expect a pro photographer to have every foreseeable risk covered as it’s what they do as a job. Not have spare equipment or not backing up images a week after the event is kind of unforgivable when these are mostly once in a lifetime unrepeatable events. I guess these kind of events can often end up in court when where the photographer has no possible defence if they didn’t take precautions.

It sounds like you should start up training events to cover the basics of reducing risk to a photography business. May be a side line for the months where weddings are in lower demand.
 
rob-nikon said:
It sounds like you have it quite well covered and others could learn a thing or two from you. You are right clients won’t understand what you go through to ensure you deliver but the fact you can deliver under most situations that’s what matters. They probably appreciate the hassle free delivery as things going wrong would likely spoil their day.

If one thing is certain if you do something enough times one time something will go wrong! The key thing to provide excellent customer service is still being able to deliver when things go wrong. If you can handle things going wrong without them knowing that’s even better and that’s something every pro should striving for (y)

I would have thought most clients would expect a pro photographer to have every foreseeable risk covered as it’s what they do as a job. Not have spare equipment or not backing up images a week after the event is kind of unforgivable when these are mostly once in a lifetime unrepeatable events. I guess these kind of events can often end up in court when where the photographer has no possible defence if they didn’t take precautions.

It sounds like you should start up training events to cover the basics of reducing risk to a photography business. May be a side line for the months where weddings are in lower demand.
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That's what we try and work towards.
 
f/2.8 said:
I don't think clients have a real understanding, my hyper sensitivity probably stems from my own experience. When I first started photographing weddings I shot a few as a second. At one of those the photographer was using a 5dmkII with a 24-105 and an old 1d something or other with a 50mm. They where pretty old school and shot everything pretty much with the 5d and the 24-105. So at one of those weddings the 5d died so they tried to switch the 24-105 over to the 1d but couldn't get the 50 of it. It seemed welded to it. I tried and couldn't get it off either. They went into full panic mode and spoke to both the bride & groom before the ceremony and explained everything in detail, at the time I thought that was a mistake and it was.

While the first had shot hundreds of weddings, surprisingly they didn't really seem to have a clue what they where doing.

Although I was the second and very inexperienced I shot that wedding pretty much by myself while the photographer fretted about the equipment being damaged and as it turned out they had never used the 1d or a 50mm lens before they just had it as a back up so really struggled using it. As they had explained everything to the couple it made them stressed out to the max and it was a really difficult day.

As I was leaving the couple pulled me to the side and gave me an envelope stuffed with cash and told me not to mention it to the other photographer and I went on home. The next day the photographer contacted me and said that the couple had refused to pay them as they had concerns about not getting the photos they wanted due to the equipment problems and that they had noticed that it was me who taken 95% of the photos on the day. It was all sorted eventually they got their photos and the photographer got paid. I always wondered though if I got the first's payment that they should have got on the night.

I don't think that in most cases clients have any understanding about what happens if something goes wrong but obviously they expect there to be a solution in place if it does. I have been in situations since then where equipment has failed or something that could seem to be a huge issue like a corrupt card or something has happened on a wedding day. When it does I just ignore it completely and I would be surprised if any of the clients ever realised that something had gone wrong.

There are plenty out there that do take huge risks and probably only 1 in 500 times does it actually end up being an issue. You would be surprised for example how many are using the Nikon and Canon mirrorless bodies with only one card slot. They justify it by saying XQD card's don't corrupt, yet I have seen loads of posts on Facebook etc. from wedding photographers where they have. I have seen loads of others that have cameras with two card slots but use them as overflow rather than as a back up, which seems nuts to me. There also plenty that use one body only and some of them are using one body and one lens. There is so much scope for something going wrong there for no good reason and in most cases they are well aware of the potential issues.

I seen a random post on Facebook just the other day from a wedding photographer based not more than 30-40 miles away from me. She had shot a wedding a week or so before and the day after the wedding she grabbed a few photos from the card for "sneak peeks" for her social media and didn't look at it again for a week. When she went back a week later to start work on the wedding the card was lost and she can't find it. She never backed up any of the images from the card as she had edited them directly off the card when she did the "sneak peeks". She uses one camera only with one card even though the camera she uses has the option for 2. She charges more than we do and seems to photograph a lot of weddings. What shocked me more was that there was several other wedding photographers had commented on her post expressing sympathy for her and some said that they do the same thing.

In a Facebook group recently I seen a post from a guy in R.O.I who realised after being contacted by the groom on the day of the wedding that he had double booked and wouldn't be able to turn up. To be fair to him he did everything he could to rectify the situation, arranged another photographer for the couple etc. It just shocks me a bit that something like that could happen though. How did he not realise? He must have spoken to them to confirm their timeline, received their balance payment etc. He is someone who is well known and shoots a lot of weddings.
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why is it when I say something like that in the past I get other people reply with “i’ve never had a card failed” etc lol.

I too take redundancy very seriously, I mean I kept my full Canon kit for over a year after migrating to dual A73 just in case if I don’t get on with the Sony. I had taken 2 complete systems with wedding so with me in the car for an entire year. Enough batteries and memory cards to shoot like 5 weddings back to back.

I find it really odd how people don’t shoot dual back ups in the card, they would spend £2k on a camera but not another £50 on more cards.

I even go as far as I won’t format the card until that wedding is delivered. So at any one time I have a copy on the SD cars on top of the mirrored HD copies.
 
f/2.8 said:
I don't think clients have a real understanding, my hyper sensitivity probably stems from my own experience. When I first started photographing weddings I shot a few as a second. At one of those the photographer was using a 5dmkII with a 24-105 and an old 1d something or other with a 50mm. They where pretty old school and shot everything pretty much with the 5d and the 24-105. So at one of those weddings the 5d died so they tried to switch the 24-105 over to the 1d but couldn't get the 50 of it. It seemed welded to it. I tried and couldn't get it off either. They went into full panic mode and spoke to both the bride & groom before the ceremony and explained everything in detail, at the time I thought that was a mistake and it was.

While the first had shot hundreds of weddings, surprisingly they didn't really seem to have a clue what they where doing.

Although I was the second and very inexperienced I shot that wedding pretty much by myself while the photographer fretted about the equipment being damaged and as it turned out they had never used the 1d or a 50mm lens before they just had it as a back up so really struggled using it. As they had explained everything to the couple it made them stressed out to the max and it was a really difficult day.

As I was leaving the couple pulled me to the side and gave me an envelope stuffed with cash and told me not to mention it to the other photographer and I went on home. The next day the photographer contacted me and said that the couple had refused to pay them as they had concerns about not getting the photos they wanted due to the equipment problems and that they had noticed that it was me who taken 95% of the photos on the day. It was all sorted eventually they got their photos and the photographer got paid. I always wondered though if I got the first's payment that they should have got on the night.

I don't think that in most cases clients have any understanding about what happens if something goes wrong but obviously they expect there to be a solution in place if it does. I have been in situations since then where equipment has failed or something that could seem to be a huge issue like a corrupt card or something has happened on a wedding day. When it does I just ignore it completely and I would be surprised if any of the clients ever realised that something had gone wrong.

There are plenty out there that do take huge risks and probably only 1 in 500 times does it actually end up being an issue. You would be surprised for example how many are using the Nikon and Canon mirrorless bodies with only one card slot. They justify it by saying XQD card's don't corrupt, yet I have seen loads of posts on Facebook etc. from wedding photographers where they have. I have seen loads of others that have cameras with two card slots but use them as overflow rather than as a back up, which seems nuts to me. There also plenty that use one body only and some of them are using one body and one lens. There is so much scope for something going wrong there for no good reason and in most cases they are well aware of the potential issues.

I seen a random post on Facebook just the other day from a wedding photographer based not more than 30-40 miles away from me. She had shot a wedding a week or so before and the day after the wedding she grabbed a few photos from the card for "sneak peeks" for her social media and didn't look at it again for a week. When she went back a week later to start work on the wedding the card was lost and she can't find it. She never backed up any of the images from the card as she had edited them directly off the card when she did the "sneak peeks". She uses one camera only with one card even though the camera she uses has the option for 2. She charges more than we do and seems to photograph a lot of weddings. What shocked me more was that there was several other wedding photographers had commented on her post expressing sympathy for her and some said that they do the same thing.

In a Facebook group recently I seen a post from a guy in R.O.I who realised after being contacted by the groom on the day of the wedding that he had double booked and wouldn't be able to turn up. To be fair to him he did everything he could to rectify the situation, arranged another photographer for the couple etc. It just shocks me a bit that something like that could happen though. How did he not realise? He must have spoken to them to confirm their timeline, received their balance payment etc. He is someone who is well known and shoots a lot of weddings.
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That's mental!

How do these toggers get wedding gigs in the first place vs someone like me or anyone else here who have no clue how to get a gig without experience?

I'd always go with minimum 2 camera setup with a mixture of zooms and primes for backup.

It's like me doing my software engineer Day job without saving my progress on the cloud or having a backup machine.

Madness
 
Raymond Lin said:
why is it when I say something like that in the past I get other people reply with “i’ve never had a card failed” etc lol.

I too take redundancy very seriously, I mean I kept my full Canon kit for over a year after migrating to dual A73 just in case if I don’t get on with the Sony. I had taken 2 complete systems with wedding so with me in the car for an entire year. Enough batteries and memory cards to shoot like 5 weddings back to back.

I find it really odd how people don’t shoot dual back ups in the card, they would spend £2k on a camera but not another £50 on more cards.

I even go as far as I won’t format the card until that wedding is delivered. So at any one time I have a copy on the SD cars on top of the mirrored HD copies.
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Yep same, I don't format SD cards until I have imported my shots into LR (at which point all the keepers are backed up on Amazon cloud)
I also have mirrored backup of all my RAWs on harddrives which is the first thing I do.

And I don't even deliver much lol (in terms of business/clients)
 
f/2.8 said:
Different generation I guess and here touts get shot.
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Perhaps so. but I have had a worst time than him last few days, so excuse me if I don't sympathize with him.
As said above by dcash just have to deal with it :p
 
f/2.8 said:
I don't think clients have a real understanding, my hyper sensitivity probably stems from my own experience. When I first started photographing weddings I shot a few as a second. At one of those the photographer was using a 5dmkII with a 24-105 and an old 1d something or other with a 50mm. They where pretty old school and shot everything pretty much with the 5d and the 24-105. So at one of those weddings the 5d died so they tried to switch the 24-105 over to the 1d but couldn't get the 50 of it. It seemed welded to it. I tried and couldn't get it off either. They went into full panic mode and spoke to both the bride & groom before the ceremony and explained everything in detail, at the time I thought that was a mistake and it was.

While the first had shot hundreds of weddings, surprisingly they didn't really seem to have a clue what they where doing.

Although I was the second and very inexperienced I shot that wedding pretty much by myself while the photographer fretted about the equipment being damaged and as it turned out they had never used the 1d or a 50mm lens before they just had it as a back up so really struggled using it. As they had explained everything to the couple it made them stressed out to the max and it was a really difficult day.

As I was leaving the couple pulled me to the side and gave me an envelope stuffed with cash and told me not to mention it to the other photographer and I went on home. The next day the photographer contacted me and said that the couple had refused to pay them as they had concerns about not getting the photos they wanted due to the equipment problems and that they had noticed that it was me who taken 95% of the photos on the day. It was all sorted eventually they got their photos and the photographer got paid. I always wondered though if I got the first's payment that they should have got on the night.

I don't think that in most cases clients have any understanding about what happens if something goes wrong but obviously they expect there to be a solution in place if it does. I have been in situations since then where equipment has failed or something that could seem to be a huge issue like a corrupt card or something has happened on a wedding day. When it does I just ignore it completely and I would be surprised if any of the clients ever realised that something had gone wrong.

There are plenty out there that do take huge risks and probably only 1 in 500 times does it actually end up being an issue. You would be surprised for example how many are using the Nikon and Canon mirrorless bodies with only one card slot. They justify it by saying XQD card's don't corrupt, yet I have seen loads of posts on Facebook etc. from wedding photographers where they have. I have seen loads of others that have cameras with two card slots but use them as overflow rather than as a back up, which seems nuts to me. There also plenty that use one body only and some of them are using one body and one lens. There is so much scope for something going wrong there for no good reason and in most cases they are well aware of the potential issues.

I seen a random post on Facebook just the other day from a wedding photographer based not more than 30-40 miles away from me. She had shot a wedding a week or so before and the day after the wedding she grabbed a few photos from the card for "sneak peeks" for her social media and didn't look at it again for a week. When she went back a week later to start work on the wedding the card was lost and she can't find it. She never backed up any of the images from the card as she had edited them directly off the card when she did the "sneak peeks". She uses one camera only with one card even though the camera she uses has the option for 2. She charges more than we do and seems to photograph a lot of weddings. What shocked me more was that there was several other wedding photographers had commented on her post expressing sympathy for her and some said that they do the same thing.

In a Facebook group recently I seen a post from a guy in R.O.I who realised after being contacted by the groom on the day of the wedding that he had double booked and wouldn't be able to turn up. To be fair to him he did everything he could to rectify the situation, arranged another photographer for the couple etc. It just shocks me a bit that something like that could happen though. How did he not realise? He must have spoken to them to confirm their timeline, received their balance payment etc. He is someone who is well known and shoots a lot of weddings.
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It is surprising how little people prepare for the 'unexpected' tbh, I feel that I'm more prepared going out just to take 'hobby shots'.

Worrying you've seen so many XQD failures, I'm yet to read about one but I know they happen.
 
snerkler said:
It is surprising how little people prepare for the 'unexpected' tbh, I feel that I'm more prepared going out just to take 'hobby shots'.

Worrying you've seen so many XQD failures, I'm yet to read about one but I know they happen.
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No more than other types of card failures. Some seem to use the excuse that they are more reliable as the reason why they think it’s okay to risk their clients wedding images. They might be, but failures definitely do happen.
 
f/2.8 said:
No more than other types of card failures. Some seem to use the excuse that they are more reliable as the reason why they think it’s okay to risk their clients wedding images. They might be, but failures definitely do happen.
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Exactly why I don’t think the Nikon Z series is suitable for pros yet. I don’t mind ‘risking’ the one card slot but if I was doing regular paid work there’s absolutely no way I’d chance it.
 
snerkler said:
It is surprising how little people prepare for the 'unexpected' tbh, I feel that I'm more prepared going out just to take 'hobby shots'.

Worrying you've seen so many XQD failures, I'm yet to read about one but I know they happen.
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I too have come across few. In fact was sitting in the hide with someone using Z6. The card packed in and the guy had to go home to fetch a new card lol.

I said this before while XQD/CF express might become more robust in future at the moment they are still new. So all it takes is one bug in firmware to corrupt or ruin cards. Remember deleting pictures from cameras corrupted SD cards when they were new. They have been through the same cycle.
Once the tech is more mature and everything is ironed out I'd love to have them in my camera. For the time being I am happy with SD cards.
 
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f/2.8 said:
No more than other types of card failures. Some seem to use the excuse that they are more reliable as the reason why they think it’s okay to risk their clients wedding images. They might be, but failures definitely do happen.
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I still can’t believe in this day and age people don’t dump and backup the images onto another format before losing the card etc.

If In a rough area or have to walk a bit to car, I’ll always take a card out of each camera and put in pocket/wallet so if I got robbed the files are safe.

After a wedding (as soon as I get home) I take 1 copy of the files and put onto external that backs up overnight onto cloud.

The other set of cards are hidden in my house so should I get robbed that night I still have a copy of the files.

There really is no excuse these days for losing data unless in extreme and very unfortunate turn of events.

And using single slot bodies for professional work...don’t get me started!
 
nandbytes said:
I too have come across few. In fact was sitting in the hide with someone using Z6. The card packed in and the guy had to go home to fetch a new card lol.

I said this before while XQD/CF express might become more robust in future at the moment they are still new. So all it takes is one bug in firmware to corrupt or ruin cards. Remember deleting pictures from cameras corrupted SD cards when they were new. They have been through the same cycle.
Once the tech is more mature and everything is ironed out I'd love to have them in my camera. For the time being I am happy with SD cards.
Click to expand...
I never delete photos I just reformat the card instead. Does this mean I’m more or less prone to failure, or doesn’t it matter?
T_J_G said:
I still can’t believe in this day and age people don’t dump and backup the images onto another format before losing the card etc.

If In a rough area or have to walk a bit to car, I’ll always take a card out of each camera and put in pocket/wallet so if I got robbed the files are safe.

After a wedding (as soon as I get home) I take 1 copy of the files and put onto external that backs up overnight onto cloud.

The other set of cards are hidden in my house so should I get robbed that night I still have a copy of the files.

There really is no excuse these days for losing data unless in extreme and very unfortunate turn of events.

And using single slot bodies for professional work...don’t get me started!
Click to expand...
I backup photos as soon as I can/ get home. If I’m on holiday I backup raws to my iphone and iPad, 3 copies are better than none ;) Well actually I have 4 copies as my EM1-II is my travel camera and that has dual SD ;)
 
nandbytes said:
I too have come across few. In fact was sitting in the hide with someone using Z6. The card packed in and the guy had to go home to fetch a new card lol.

I said this before while XQD/CF express might become more robust in future at the moment they are still new. So all it takes is one bug in firmware to corrupt or ruin cards. Remember deleting pictures from cameras corrupted SD cards when they were new. They have been through the same cycle.
Once the tech is more mature and everything is ironed out I'd love to have them in my camera. For the time being I am happy with SD cards.
Click to expand...


I suppose any card is vulnerable. Does no pro-level camera yet have something like a continuous 'trickle transfer' from camera card to (say) some kind of wireless NAS? I'm thinking of something with SSD that you could keep in your coat pocket, and that synced the files on the card. Not an area I've looked into, as it's not so important for my use case.
 
goldtop said:
I suppose any card is vulnerable. Does no pro-level camera yet have something like a continuous 'trickle transfer' from camera card to (say) some kind of wireless NAS? I'm thinking of something with SSD that you could keep in your coat pocket, and that synced the files on the card. Not an area I've looked into, as it's not so important for my use case.
Click to expand...
I’m pretty sure you can do this with Nikon SnapBridge (well auto transfer to a “smart device”), but Wi-fi transfer is painfully slow so I’ve not tried it.
 
goldtop said:
Thanks for the advice on manuals lenses for A7 ii (above), chaps.

I'd already earmarked the Minolta 1.7/55mm as a get-me-started prime. Just trying to understand the fungus issues that are mentioned (seller honesty) on a lot of old lenses, but not on others ( = no fungus, or no honesty?!). Should I care, or not? Some thinking to do on that, for sure.

I'll re-read your suggestions and make up a shortlist of old manual lenses. Thanks to woof et al.

Will probably buy a modern AF lens, too, a general-purpose zoom.
Click to expand...

Be aware that the Rokkor 55mm f1.7 is probably an earlier MC lens, or at least I don't know of any later MD 55mm f1.7's. The MC lenses are older and vary in build, some of them have metal bodies and scalloped metal focus rings and some look like the later MD's with their knurled focus rings. It's a bit hard to describe bou can see both types here...

http://www.rokkorfiles.com/Lens History.html

There's a review here...

https://phillipreeve.net/blog/minolta-mc-rokkor-11-7-55mm-review/

IMO the earlier MC lenses give a more characterful look and are more susceptible to flare. The later 50mm f1.7 MD's IMO have better coatings, are less susceptible to flare and give a more modern and less characterful look. Prices are probably about the same so you get to choose, nice metal build (the early MC Rokkors are amongst my favourite builds) and a characterful look or a more modern all over black looking lens giving a more modern look.

I've always avoided lenses with fungus but if you spot a bargain which isn't absolutely covered in the stuff I think it could be worth going for but I'd leave the lens in daylight to kill it and I think I'd also keep it apart from other lenses just in case but there seem to be enough without fungus so why bother unless they're very very cheap?
 
Took my 85 for a wander earlier too.


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49008247073_3fd0e97166_b.jpg


49008990992_43506f985a_b.jpg
 
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