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

I'm sure someone will come up with a holder for Cokin, similar to Nikon 14-24 and Samyang 14

It's won't be as convenient as screw on though of course
 
Maybe a bucket type holder like the Sigma's although that did get in the way until I forget what focal length, only useable at the longer end though.
 
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The weather here hasn't been too good but today there was sunshine! :D but no chance of going for a walk as the lawn had to be cut. I always think it's a shame as I love the wild flowers.

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My first rose buds of the year are looking nice...

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A7 with my old Minolta fit Sigma 50mm f2.8 macro.
 
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For what it's worth the canon does provide slightly higher magnification (0.25 vs. 0.19 of Sony)
 
On the new lenses Kevin Raber at LL says "I have been at the Sony event, without internet for several days. I'll have a report and sample images as soon as I get home. These lenses are light and sharp and as you'll see real performers. Starting trip home in a few hours."
 
Couple from me with the A7rii, Scott Monument in Edinburgh with the 85mm Batis and Ramsay Garden which is very close to the Castle with the Batis 25.

20170515 - Scott Monument - Batis 85 by Chris Mitchell, on Flickr

20170515 - Ramsay Garden - Batis 25 by Chris Mitchell, on Flickr

Ultimately the Batis 85 has gone back though, cracking lens but as I suspected probably not a focal length that I really want £1000 of glass sitting around in!
I also returned the 24-70 f2.8 GM today after re-checking and finding the left side to be noticeably softer than the rest of the frame and decided to take the refund rather than exchange, again its an excellent lens and not too bad balanced on the A7rii but I felt it was defeating the purpose of the smaller camera body for me, so I think I'm going to stick mainly to primes but add cheaper adapted zooms for those times I'd prefer not to change lens, probably Canon mount (as the Sigma adapter is cheaper!).

Getting used to the camera now and its slight handling foibles!
 
chrism_scotland said:
Couple from me with the A7rii, Scott Monument in Edinburgh with the 85mm Batis and Ramsay Garden which is very close to the Castle with the Batis 25.

20170515 - Scott Monument - Batis 85 by Chris Mitchell, on Flickr

20170515 - Ramsay Garden - Batis 25 by Chris Mitchell, on Flickr

Ultimately the Batis 85 has gone back though, cracking lens but as I suspected probably not a focal length that I really want £1000 of glass sitting around in!
I also returned the 24-70 f2.8 GM today after re-checking and finding the left side to be noticeably softer than the rest of the frame and decided to take the refund rather than exchange, again its an excellent lens and not too bad balanced on the A7rii but I felt it was defeating the purpose of the smaller camera body for me, so I think I'm going to stick mainly to primes but add cheaper adapted zooms for those times I'd prefer not to change lens, probably Canon mount (as the Sigma adapter is cheaper!).

Getting used to the camera now and its slight handling foibles!
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For the primes the Sony Zeiss 35mm f2.8 and 55mm f1.8 are a must have.
I wish Sony would release a new improved version of the Sony Zeiss 24-70mm f4.
These 3 lenses would be the ideal setup, the Sony G 70-200mm f4 is already a cracking lens and rather small compared to the competition.
 
the 24-70mm f/4 is also lighter and smaller compared to the competition. Its not a bad lens tbh.
 
Chris - Don't suppose you're interested in the 28-70mm variable aperture kit lens?

Although I don't use mine I think it's a very good lens and compact and light too and perfectly useable when the aperture range isn't a problem or you're stopping down and shooting in the f8-10 sort of range. Actually if I did use mine I'd be happy to shoot wide open to f10.
 
nandbytes said:
why are you selling yours? :sneaky:
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No, mine's not for sale. I bought it because I thought I might use it and although I haven't I still might one day :D

I just think it's an underrated lens. I've only used it around the house and garden to see how it performs but to me it's compact and light and it's the best variable aperture standard range lens I've ever used. Ok you don't get to shoot at 70mm and f2.8 but for good light shooting at what people used to think of as a normal working aperture range I think it's a good lens :D
 
chrism_scotland said:
Couple from me with the A7rii, Scott Monument in Edinburgh with the 85mm Batis and Ramsay Garden which is very close to the Castle with the Batis 25.

20170515 - Scott Monument - Batis 85 by Chris Mitchell, on Flickr

20170515 - Ramsay Garden - Batis 25 by Chris Mitchell, on Flickr

Ultimately the Batis 85 has gone back though, cracking lens but as I suspected probably not a focal length that I really want £1000 of glass sitting around in!
I also returned the 24-70 f2.8 GM today after re-checking and finding the left side to be noticeably softer than the rest of the frame and decided to take the refund rather than exchange, again its an excellent lens and not too bad balanced on the A7rii but I felt it was defeating the purpose of the smaller camera body for me, so I think I'm going to stick mainly to primes but add cheaper adapted zooms for those times I'd prefer not to change lens, probably Canon mount (as the Sigma adapter is cheaper!).

Getting used to the camera now and its slight handling foibles!
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what are your thoughts on the camera and how do you find it stacks up to the other gear you have used?
 
woof woof said:
No, mine's not for sale. I bought it because I thought I might use it and although I haven't I still might one day :D

I just think it's an underrated lens. I've only used it around the house and garden to see how it performs but to me it's compact and light and it's the best variable aperture standard range lens I've ever used. Ok you don't get to shoot at 70mm and f2.8 but for good light shooting at what people used to think of as a normal working aperture range I think it's a good lens :D
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I used to own one long back (it was the first FE lens I got with A7 and then FE35/2.8 when there were only 3 lenses!). Indeed a very nice light lens with OSS. Always missed the 24mm end though, so it barely got any use.
 
addicknchips said:
what are your thoughts on the camera and how do you find it stacks up to the other gear you have used?
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From a pure image quality point of view I don't think I can fault it, all that resolution does result in some incredible detail and the dynamic range means you can pretty much recover anything with the RAW files, perhaps a little more noise when recovering shadows that some but not really noticeable.

AF seems to be good enough for what I use it for (which basically means nothing that moves!) and I think with some practice manual focus would be just as quick for me.

Build seems very good, probably not quite on a par with my Pentax K1 which feels like its carved out of a block of metal but very good.

Its the handling and ergonomics that let it down for me though, its night and day better than the A7/A7r which barely had a grip at all but the small buttons and size still remain a struggle for me. It must be something to do with the Sony shape and layout because the Fuji's are similarly small and I didn't really have any issues with those!
 
chrism_scotland said:
From a pure image quality point of view I don't think I can fault it, all that resolution does result in some incredible detail and the dynamic range means you can pretty much recover anything with the RAW files, perhaps a little more noise when recovering shadows that some but not really noticeable.

AF seems to be good enough for what I use it for (which basically means nothing that moves!) and I think with some practice manual focus would be just as quick for me.

Build seems very good, probably not quite on a par with my Pentax K1 which feels like its carved out of a block of metal but very good.

Its the handling and ergonomics that let it down for me though, its night and day better than the A7/A7r which barely had a grip at all but the small buttons and size still remain a struggle for me. It must be something to do with the Sony shape and layout because the Fuji's are similarly small and I didn't really have any issues with those!
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i got to grips with the ergonomics after a while. shooting portraits is fine - as the face and eye af are fantastic. but as you say, when things move is where i felt less confident with it.
image wise though its the best I've used.
 
nandbytes said:
the 24-70mm f/4 is also lighter and smaller compared to the competition. Its not a bad lens tbh.
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I tried 2x before when I had an A7ii and didn't find them to be great, size was nice though but thought it too dear v its quality.

woof woof said:
Chris - Don't suppose you're interested in the 28-70mm variable aperture kit lens?

Although I don't use mine I think it's a very good lens and compact and light too and perfectly useable when the aperture range isn't a problem or you're stopping down and shooting in the f8-10 sort of range. Actually if I did use mine I'd be happy to shoot wide open to f10.
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Never found 28mm to be wide enough, agree though its actually a decent wee lens.
 
addicknchips said:
i got to grips with the ergonomics after a while. shooting portraits is fine - as the face and eye af are fantastic. but as you say, when things move is where i felt less confident with it.
image wise though its the best I've used.
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It says a lot that the only thing I've had a chance to shoot with that I'd say for my use is noticeably better is the Fuji GFX... and that might be the extra MP, not just the medium format sensor that does it, my K1 isn't far off either, its very good in low light also and when you can use pixel-shift the result is almost indistinguishable.
 
i am bit surprised Sony doesn't do pixel shift and very annoyed they don't offer focus stacking like olympus E-M1 :mad:
heck i'd even pay a few quid for each if they sold it on playmemories as apps :(
 
nandbytes said:
i am bit surprised Sony doesn't do pixel shift and very annoyed they don't offer focus stacking like olympus E-M1 :mad:
heck i'd even pay a few quid for each if they sold it on playmemories as apps :(
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Heck with 42mp I'm not sure they really need it, if you "need" the output that Pixelshift provides then buy a bigger Resolution Sensor because then you can use it all the time, Pixelshift is very fussy if there's any movement in an image (like a long exposure)
 
chrism_scotland said:
Heck with 42mp I'm not sure they really need it, if you "need" the output that Pixelshift provides then buy a bigger Resolution Sensor because then you can use it all the time, Pixelshift is very fussy if there's any movement in an image (like a long exposure)
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there is A7SII and A7II @12mp and 24mp respectively which could use it. I don't personally miss it much but it'd be nice to have.
More annoyed about lack of focus bracketing and/or focus stacking :(

yes i am aware of the limitation of pixel shift. I use long exposures and also smooth reflections app which merges many exposures into one. Both have similar limitations but very useful on a tripod none the less.
 
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jonneymendoza said:
I'm tempted by the 12-24 lens. Also the A9 is in stock 25th May.
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You're tempted? Isn't cost the reason why people have been moving away from Sony and to Fuji?

I'd have to do the sums but I'd imagine that an A9 and a few decent lenses would be more expensive than a A7rII and a few decent lenses :D

I still can't see myself getting a new body, unless my GF buys me one :D
 
woof woof said:
You're tempted? Isn't cost the reason why people have been moving away from Sony and to Fuji?

I'd have to do the sums but I'd imagine that an A9 and a few decent lenses would be more expensive than a A7rII and a few decent lenses :D

I still can't see myself getting a new body, unless my GF buys me one :D
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I already have an a7r2
 
addicknchips said:
which is a shock as we know you are fuji's no 1 fan
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Just for anyone who doesn't appreciate the special humour we share :D

I'm brand agnostic and I honestly truly really don't care who makes the kit and in fact my first digital camera was a Fuji :D The newer ones do look good with their manual dials and all but although they're lovely I've decided that the A7 and MFT are more for me and if I did want to get an APS-C CSC I'd go for a Sony A6xxx because I think it'd be better for me than a Fuji.
:D
 
woof woof said:
Just for anyone who doesn't appreciate the special humour we share :D

I'm brand agnostic and I honestly truly really don't care who makes the kit and in fact my first digital camera was a Fuji :D The newer ones do look good with their manual dials and all but although they're lovely I've decided that the A7 and MFT are more for me and if I did want to get an APS-C CSC I'd go for a Sony A6xxx because I think it'd be better for me than a Fuji.
:D
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i may soon be in the market for a used a7..
 
I got my A7 used for £500.
Though I made a £50 loss because pre-brexit I foolishly sold my original one (I bought near release) for £450 :(
 
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