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

As far as quality is concerned A7RII is unbeaten for the prices it can be had at now.

I had the A7RII previously and now own A7RIII, I also shoot plenty of landscapes :)

Advantages of A7RIII for landscapes:
- better EVF
- pixelshift feature
- time lapse being added in next FW update (you can buy the time lapse app for A7RII from playmemories but sony seems to be phasing this out)
- better ergonomics
- better battery life, does really help if you are into doing long exposures. That really chews through the tiny NP-FW50 batteries in A7RII.
- very slightly better IBIS

weather these are worth the extra money is up to you to decide :)
I bought the A7RIII for the egonomics upgrade and AF upgrade. If I shot just landscapes I'd have stuck with A7RII personally.

Thanks for the replies. I'm currently waiting to hear back from a couple of places about how much my Mamiya medium format gear is worth. Depending on this will influence what camera/ lens combo I go for.
 
The rumor site says there'll be an A9 v5.0 firmware update on 25th March...

https://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sony-a9-5-0-firmware-date-to-be-released-on-march-25/

That's nice.

And...

I'm lusting after eye detect on an A7 after taking some pictures with my Panasonic GX80 eye detect turned on. It really surprised me how fast and accurate it was with just a cheapo 45-150mm f4-5.6. I took 27 pictures at 45mm and f4 and hit the eye on every one. I know Sony are the market leaders in this so I'm sure I'll be impressed :D but I suppose matching the overall speed of the MFT system won't be possible, if a Sony FF is as fast I'll be amazed and very pleased :D

If the new Panasonic FF ILC eye detect is as good or better than the MFT cameras I have even if it's not as good as the Sony system I'm sure it'll be good enough for many if not all people.
 
Disappointing reply from Tamron regarding them making the G2 70-200 & 150-600 for Sony.

Screenshot 2019-03-18 at 08.57.42.png
 
They wouldn't even if they are, otherwise you would be the 1st person to know, as opposed to a press release or a publicity announcement.

Yes, you're correct. There were Patents filed for apparently these two lenses last year, but it's all been quiet since.
 
I have just emailed LCE to return the Sammy 50 f1.4, and when I've got a green light will also send the LA-EA4 back. I really like the output of the sammy, and resolution & sharpness across the frame is quite excellent a couple of stops down (pretty good even wide open) bt the AF does hunt quite a bit in continuous mode, and I do find myself repeatedly wishing for a zoom. The 24-105 is going to be it for a while though.
 
I have just emailed LCE to return the Sammy 50 f1.4, and when I've got a green light will also send the LA-EA4 back. I really like the output of the sammy, and resolution & sharpness across the frame is quite excellent a couple of stops down (pretty good even wide open) bt the AF does hunt quite a bit in continuous mode, and I do find myself repeatedly wishing for a zoom. The 24-105 is going to be it for a while though.

The tamron 28-75mm f2.8 is rather decent too.
do you have the 28-70mm kit lens?
 
I did wonder about the Tammy, but it's not that much cheaper than a grey 24-105 and it's only 28mm at the wide end. I'd considered the kit lens, but see it as money wasted if I bought what I really want. I could buy the kit lens now and keep everything but I think an old Minolta would offer more usability and more useful image quality stopped down too. I saw the mono's posted a few pages back taken using one and they looked good, but so many images I've seen elsewhere from that lens had terrible corners that I simply don't even want to try one.

The thing that makes the 24-105 seem worth it is good even sharpness and images that get better when stopped down. Neither the kit nor Z24-70 seem to do that in real-world pictures.
 
The rumor site says there'll be an A9 v5.0 firmware update on 25th March...

https://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sony-a9-5-0-firmware-date-to-be-released-on-march-25/

That's nice.

And...

I'm lusting after eye detect on an A7 after taking some pictures with my Panasonic GX80 eye detect turned on. It really surprised me how fast and accurate it was with just a cheapo 45-150mm f4-5.6. I took 27 pictures at 45mm and f4 and hit the eye on every one. I know Sony are the market leaders in this so I'm sure I'll be impressed :D but I suppose matching the overall speed of the MFT system won't be possible, if a Sony FF is as fast I'll be amazed and very pleased :D

If the new Panasonic FF ILC eye detect is as good or better than the MFT cameras I have even if it's not as good as the Sony system I'm sure it'll be good enough for many if not all people.
That's more than nice. Have you read how much is in that fw update? It basically turns the camera to almost a A9 mk 2
 
Hopefully peeps with A9's will post their findings after installing the new firmware :D
 
I did wonder about the Tammy, but it's not that much cheaper than a grey 24-105 and it's only 28mm at the wide end. I'd considered the kit lens, but see it as money wasted if I bought what I really want. I could buy the kit lens now and keep everything but I think an old Minolta would offer more usability and more useful image quality stopped down too. I saw the mono's posted a few pages back taken using one and they looked good, but so many images I've seen elsewhere from that lens had terrible corners that I simply don't even want to try one.

The thing that makes the 24-105 seem worth it is good even sharpness and images that get better when stopped down. Neither the kit nor Z24-70 seem to do that in real-world pictures.

The Z24-70 doesn't seem much better than sony zeiss 24-70 which mainly get slated for this exact reason. Corners don't sharpen up when stopped down to f/8-11 at both ends of the zoom.

The Sony 24-105mm is already plenty sharp at both ends of the zoom at f4. So that's not really a problem. The issue with 24-105mm is the vignetting but tamron has the same issue. You'll have to buy the 24-70GM if you want to avoid this.
 
The Z24-70 doesn't seem much better than sony zeiss 24-70 which mainly get slated for this exact reason. Corners don't sharpen up when stopped down to f/8-11 at both ends of the zoom.

The Sony 24-105mm is already plenty sharp at both ends of the zoom at f4. So that's not really a problem. The issue with 24-105mm is the vignetting but tamron has the same issue. You'll have to buy the 24-70GM if you want to avoid this.
Vignetting I can cope with, but there's no recovering a smeared image. 24-105 actually sounds EXACTLY what I want, just at twice the price. [emoji14]
 
I think they mentioned the 25th? So maybe not too long to wait.
 
MC-11 question.

How noisy is your mc-11? When turning on and off the camera mine makes a noise, which is probably normal.

But intermittently today it seems to be making a noise when taking images as well, not when focusing but actually taking the shot. Very intermittent though.

Can anyone help on this?

Keep asking gear related questions on here and getting ignored, isn’t that the point of this thread? :banghead:
 
DSC01948 by Thomas Green, on Flickr

DSC01962 by Thomas Green, on Flickr

Finally got to test my new FE 85mm 1.8 on a person at the show. Impressed with it!

Feel free to give me some editing tips...

If I ever went Sony that is one lens I would want to own. As for editing, I know it' a bit cliche perhaps, but I'd give a nice contrasty B&W a try on this one. He's got some good character in his face
 
I’ve searched this thread and I’ve read replies, but I’m looking for a simple recommendation please.

I’m looking for one, possibly two lens adapters please for my a9.

M42 and maybe one from Pentax, Contax, Nikon, Canon, Voightlander (Leica).

I don’t need any electronics. Just a simple adapter so I can use a 24ish to 28ish mm legacy lens that has a scale on it so I can pre-focus.

I’m specifically looking for one that doesn’t mess up the distance scale on a lens and put it out. I don’t think they do but I guess you never know.
 
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I’ve searched this thread and I’ve read replies, but I’m looking for a simple recommendation please.

I’m looking for one, possibly two lens adapters please for my a9.

M42 and maybe Pentax, Nikon, Canon, Voightlander (Leica).

I don’t need any electronics. Just a simple adapter so I can use a 24ish to 28ish mm legacy lens that has a scale on it so I can pre-focus.

I’m specifically looking for one that doesn’t mess up the distance scale on a lens and put it out. I don’t think they do but I guess you never know.

I had an M42 adapter [it was for Fuji, but I'm sure they have them for Sony] that could be adjusted. It was just a matter of opening a couple of screws, turning the inner section and tightening back up. Bit of trial and error involved, one lens I had [Pentax 200mm F4] would not focus to infinity, took just a couple of adjustment runs to rectify it.

This looks just like the one I has, this one is for Sony of course: https://www.ebay.ie/itm/1pc-M42-Mou...A7III-NEX-3N-5C-6-SONY-NEX-VG10E/113002303081
 
I have some Novoflex adapters for Minolta Rokkor, Olympus Zuiko and Canon FD, which seem to be good but they're in the region of £90-£110. I also have some much cheaper ones I bought off evil bay and they seem to work too... I have a Nikon to Sony K&F Concept and some for my MFT cameras that cost somewhere between £10-20.

For M42 I have a Pico one that seems fine and also a no name close focus one that works too.
 
There's a Sony 55mm f1.8 in the for sale section at what looks to be a reasonable price.
 
Anyone interested in my Samyang 50 1.4 FE? LCE have agreed to take it back & I plan to use the money for a 24-105 instead, but I'm happy to sell it on to another user here for what I paid (£225) instead of returning it. If so, tell me & I'll bung it in the classified, ditto the LA-EA4 adapter.
 
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