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

robinsslee said:
Bank saving interests wasn't that great, the interest rates that I've got now have been reduced cum next year, again ..... :(
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Interest rates are not only on the floor but falling through it. I devote one day per month to looking for the best deals on bills going out and money coming in but chasing returns is getting to be a thankless task. I've had only a few instances of paid income since leaving paid employment almost 10 years ago so I see this as a job now :D

PS.
It wasn't that long ago that my income from investments exceeded my cost of living but those times are gone and I can't see them coming back unless Corbyn or some other clueless wonder really screws the economy and interest rates rise.
 
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woof woof said:
Interest rates are not only on the floor but falling through it. I devote one day per month to looking for the best deals on bills going out and money coming in but chasing returns is getting to be a thankless task. I've had only a few instances of paid income since leaving paid employment almost 10 years ago so I see this as a job now :D
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I keep hearing people saying stuff like that, no investment opportunities etc.

My youngest daughter was in a serious car accident and received a claim about a year or so ago of £200,000. It will be held in trust for her until she is 18 by the court. In the mean time they make safe investments with her settlement, on her behalf. They sent us a statement through a couple of weeks ago, and her balance is now just over £221,000, which is a pretty decent return in a year we thought.
 
f/2.8 said:
I keep hearing people saying stuff like that, no investment opportunities etc.

My youngest daughter was in a serious car accident and received a claim about a year or so ago of £200,000. It will be held in trust for her until she is 18 by the court. In the mean time they make safe investments with her settlement, on her behalf. They sent us a statement through a couple of weeks ago, and her balance is now just over £221,000, which is a pretty decent return in a year we thought.
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That's AMAZING - I wonder who's managing that investment?
 
ancient_mariner said:
That's AMAZING - I wonder who's managing that investment?
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It is a private investment fund that only work on behalf of the court, I can't remember their name offhand but they are based in Belfast. To be honest we where a bit shocked as we weren't expecting such a big return maybe it will be much less next year. Thing is it could have potentially been more, they give you the option of choosing a higher risk option which we decided not to go for as at the end of the day it's not our money.

It's maybe par for the course though because my cousins step daughter received a much larger settlement due to the death of her Dad in a work place accident she recently hit 18 and received her settlement and hers averaged around 10% per year. Although we though that it was maybe due to the amount of money hers did so well.
 
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Good on her but I'd add a note of caution by saying that it's what you get out and over the term that matters not what it is today.

I'm not going to say what income I get but it isn't enough to cover my costs. It is however more than I ever got from any investments run by any financial advisor.
 
woof woof said:
Good on her but I'd add a note of caution by saying that it's what you get out and over the term that matters not what it is today.

I'm not going to say what income I get but it isn't enough to cover my costs. It is however more than I ever got from any investments run by any financial advisor.
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Yeah of course and she is only 9 so quite some way to go before she hits 18, a lot could happen between now and then. Even if it all goes tits up though they still have to give her the initial 200k which will probably only be enough to cover dinner out by then. :ROFLMAO:

To be honest and it might sound a bit nuts, we really worry about it and almost would have rather she hadn't of gotten the payment.

I can remember well how much of an utter idiot I was at 18 and got in enough trouble with no money.

We had to take her to court so she knew they where putting money in the bank for her, she thought it was £200. :ROFLMAO:
 
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The worst case scenario may be that it wont be worth £200k in todays terms but it'll be a bump up and a help. The best case scenario may be that it'll be a big help.
 
woof woof said:
I'm guessing these cost more than the Samyangs.
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Thought this was interesting comment on a review of the new Tamron primes.

If you only have a A7III with only 24Mpix and have already the Tamron 17-28mm F2.8 you won’t see a lot the difference in sharpness.
 
The advantage for me is that it's a prime rather than a zoom and if nothing else it'll probably be more compact. The close focus ability also interests me.

Overall I'd probably take a compact f2.8 close focusing prime over a more flexible but probably bigger zoom even if the zoom is objectively the better objective :D as I'd be surprised if the prime wasn't at least good enough.
 
woof woof said:
The advantage for me is that it's a prime rather than a zoom and if nothing else it'll probably be more compact. The close focus ability also interests me.

Overall I'd probably take a compact f2.8 close focusing prime over a more flexible but probably bigger zoom even if the zoom is objectively the better objective :D as I'd be surprised if the prime wasn't at least good enough.
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Yeah the review was basically saying that if you use an R body the prime will be sharper but if you are using any of the 24 mp bodies you won't notice any performance difference. For an f/2.8 zoom the 17-28 is tiny, it really is a great little lens and I hate zoom lenses normally.
 
That focus clicking could put people off especially video users.
 
f/2.8 said:
Yeah the review was basically saying that if you use an R body the prime will be sharper but if you are using any of the 24 mp bodies you won't notice any performance difference. For an f/2.8 zoom the 17-28 is tiny, it really is a great little lens and I hate zoom lenses normally.
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I've been thinking about a zoom, but would probably rather get a used Sony 16-35 f4 than a 17-28 f2.8.
 
footman said:
Lovely load of kit, where did you source that lot?
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Thanks, various retailers, availability on some of it was tricky, especially the Mortar Max, like hens teeth. Amazon and Ebuyer mostly. There was one company I wanted to support more but in the end they didnt have what I wanted or it was on back order. Prime delivery also saved a lot of money, I was placing separate orders at various times for offers and each time postage wouldve been £6-10 per component from some places, so that couldve quite easily racked up another £100 for nothing. :eek:

Its been expensive as I also bought the 4K 32" but I think I got some really good deals and nearly came within budget.

Really love the aluminium case but it will need modifications to improve cooling and to get it all to fit. Regular Fractal Define ATX case vs MATX/ITX case, not just the height / width but the depth, its around 2/3 shallower. Tiny. 330 x 330 x 170mm.

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ancient_mariner said:
I've been thinking about a zoom, but would probably rather get a used Sony 16-35 f4 than a 17-28 f2.8.
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I swapped out my 16-35 f/4 for the Tamron.

It is better build than the Tamron, but for what I use the lens for the larger aperture, extra sharpness and quicker a.f is more useful to me and I haven't missed the extra 1 mm at the wide end and I wouldn't use these much at the longer end.
 
twist said:
Thanks, various retailers, availability on some of it was tricky, especially the Mortar Max, like hens teeth. Amazon and Ebuyer mostly. There was one company I wanted to support more but in the end they didnt have what I wanted or it was on back order. Prime delivery also saved a lot of money, I was placing separate orders at various times for offers and each time postage wouldve been £6-10 per component from some places, so that couldve quite easily racked up another £100 for nothing. :eek:

Its been expensive as I also bought the 4K 32" but I think I got some really good deals and nearly came within budget.

Really love the aluminium case but it will need modifications to improve cooling and to get it all to fit. Regular Fractal Define ATX case vs MATX/ITX case, not just the height / width but the depth, its around 2/3 shallower. Tiny. 330 x 330 x 170mm.

View attachment 262259
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What 4K monitor did you get
 
f/2.8 said:
I swapped out my 16-35 f/4 for the Tamron.

It is better build than the Tamron, but for what I use the lens for the larger aperture, extra sharpness and quicker a.f is more useful to me and I haven't missed the extra 1 mm at the wide end and I wouldn't use these much at the longer end.
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Interesting. I had assumed the sony would be a better performer than Tammy. What I have found with the 12-24 is that it's not adequate as a walk-around lens, and have a feeling the 18-28 would be the same since it doesn't reach close enough to a 'standard' length. 19-35 (voigtlander) is more useful.
 
Right guys just some lessons times form you in the know.. Ive been taking some images of the decoration on the tree this evening and I Not been about to get the DOF right for example of the image i will add. even though it at F4.

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Would of liked more of the bauble clear


DSC01324.jpg by Andrew Rookes, on Flickr
 
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woof woof said:
I think you should just stick with what you have as the differences between good cameras (which is both what you have with Nikon and what you're looking at with Sony,) are mostly minimal and nit picking unless you're missing pictures which would be important to you which you think a Sony would get you or you're missing some feature which is a deal breaker for some like dual card slots.

Looking at the pictures you've posed recently I do think that moving from DSLR to mirrorless was probably the way to go for more accurate and consistent focus but does a Sony offer you enough of an improvement over what you have now to make the cost and hassle truly worthwhile? For the interest, gas and fun changing could make sense but for the actual end result the case for changing systems is surely much less clear?
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No I'm definitely staying put. Had a look, toyed with a few ideas and decided to stick where I am (y)

With regards to the recent puppy photos, at present the DSLR would have undoubtedly given me more consistent results and just more results in general as the Z doesn't acquire focus fast enough at the moment and so shots were missed. For static there's no doubt that the Z7 gives more accurate results, everything is tack sharp, but for fast puppies Nikon Z's aren't up to the job yet ;)
 
rookies said:
Right guys just some lessons times form you in the know.. Ive been taking some images of the decoration on the tree this evening and I Not been about to get the DOF right for example of the image i will add. even though it at F4.


DSC01324.jpg by Andrew Rookes, on Flickr
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Helps if we know that you're trying to achieve as there's no right or wrong DOF ;)
 
snerkler said:
Helps if we know that you're trying to achieve as there's no right or wrong DOF ;)
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Would of liked that bauble more in clear know what I mean
 
snerkler said:
The move further back or use a smaller aperture (y)
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Didn’t want to crop so if I stood further back and zoom in a bit more it will work. Might try my 85mm later
 
rookies said:
Didn’t want to crop so if I stood further back and zoom in a bit more it will work. Might try my 85mm later
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Just use a smaller aperture and get yourself a nice 90mm macro seeing as we are recommending lenses.
 
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rookies said:
Didn’t want to crop so if I stood further back and zoom in a bit more it will work. Might try my 85mm later
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It might, but having a longer focal length will make the DOF more shallow again. I'd say just use f8 or even f11.
 
f/2.8 said:
Just use a smaller aperture and get yourself a nice 90mm macro seeing as we are recommending lenses.
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Macro is a lens I would like.
 
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