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

After a long time with my Nikon D700 and loads of old AF-D lenses, I'm considering switching to an A7 III. I wanted to hear people with experience using the FE 85mm 1.8 and 1.4. Leaving build quality to one side, did you notice an appreciable enough difference in image quality and bokeh to justify spending the extra money?

Or am I completely mad to ignore Nikon nostalgia and wait for them to release the Z mount 85mm 1.8 S later this year and get a Nikon Z?

I bought and used both the FE and G.M 85mm lenses for a while.

I bought the f/1.8 as a stop gap while I decided between the Sigma Art and G.M f/1.4 lenses. The FE85 is an extremely good lens. It has very fast focusing for an 85mm, weighs next to nothing and in all was just a really easy and nice lens to use. It also has the button than can be remapped to eye a.f which is handy.

Later on I got the 85MM G.M after deciding that the Sigma Art was too cumbersome for my preference.

The FE85 is just as sharp as the G.M but the bokeh from it isn't as nice. I ended up selling the FE85 although I kind of regret doing so but it was hard to justify having both along with the 90mm Macro. I preferred both the FE85 and the G.M to previous Nikon fit 85mm lenses I have had before which included the 85mm f/1.8D, 85mm f/1.8G, 85mm f/1.4D, Sigma 85mm f/1.4 and the 85mm f/1.4G. The Sony 85mm's are much better than the Nikon versions I have owned previously. Although the Z mount version might be great when it eventually arrives but I wouldn't expect to see that in the near future.

Between the 2 Sony 85mm's it is going to be a choice between the quicker a.f of the FE85 or the nicer bokeh of the G.M. The G.M probably isn't worth the additional cost but that is usually the case between f/1.8 & f/1.4 lenses. Then again the FE isn't much good at f/1.4. :)
 
Last edited:
Only the A9 and a6400 gets the real time tracking af View attachment 235331

Version 5.0 brings in a Real-time Tracking mode that uses artificial intelligence (AI), along with depth, brightness, and distance to detect and track high-moving objects with increased accuracy. The update also allows for the camera to recognize eye position of the subjects (whether they are humans or animals) to increase tracking precision.

Sounds good!

Although the A7iii tracking seems accurate so maybe it doesnt need an improvement as only runs 10fps?
 
Last edited:
Lock on AF or just normal AF?!
The normal flexible af point where you can manually move it around but if the subject moves away from that selected af point. It doesn't track and loses af. The lock on one is the one that when you move that to the subject and half press. It tracks the subject but it's hit and miss and not reliable at all for sports
 
Youtube blocked at work - will look on phone later!
 
Snowing!!!

If it keeps it up and it lays I'll see if I can go for a walk this afternoon :D
 
Flickr also blocked at work - are they showing A73/A9 differences?

No, specifically about the 5.0 firmware for A9 and how it compares to what Canikon would release as whole new camera iteration.
 
So when it says you can try these today and tomorrow - how does that work, or does it mean at the event?
 
Really? I had heard/read that it the Sigma 150-600 C worked really well on the MC-11 :confused:

Nope. Past 350-400mm it's basically useless for AF. You can eventually get a lock on in AF-S at 600mm but who would buy this lens for that?

The best one to adapt if you must, would be the tamron 150-600 in a-mount with LA-EA3 adapter.
 
Nope. Past 350-400mm it's basically useless for AF. You can eventually get a lock on in AF-S at 600mm but who would buy this lens for that?

The best one to adapt if you must, would be the tamron 150-600 in a-mount with LA-EA3 adapter.

Hopefully Tamron & Sigma will get something native released
 
I wouldn't bother with them for astro.

The samyang 14mm f2.8 is the best cheap astro lens. But with latest sensors you can get decent astro shots even voigtlander 15mm.

If you care about AF skip the 150-600.

Just ordered the Samyang 14mm, really looking forward to it.
 
Finally caught up with the Sony updates and I have to say I am a little underwhelmed by it all. Yes the increased AF functionality is great but having the Rii,of no benefit at all. Why won’t they build an A9 with an APSC sensor, would be an awesome addition to my Rii to have for sports and wildlife! Leaving the Rii for shorter focal lengths and landscape
 
Finally caught up with the Sony updates and I have to say I am a little underwhelmed by it all. Yes the increased AF functionality is great but having the Rii,of no benefit at all. Why won’t they build an A9 with an APSC sensor, would be an awesome addition to my Rii to have for sports and wildlife! Leaving the Rii for shorter focal lengths and landscape

Is the A6400 seems to be getting the real-time tracking, is it not an APSC A9?

I have not looked at the specs for it at all

Just checked SAR and they say " It’s crystal clear the A6400 is a A5100-A6300 hybrid successor and not a new High end APS-C "

So I guess not
 
Last edited:
Is the A6400 seems to be getting the real-time tracking, is it not an APSC A9?

I have not looked at the specs for it at all

Just checked SAR and they say " It’s crystal clear the A6400 is a A5100-A6300 hybrid successor and not a new High end APS-C "

So I guess not

Also the body is completely different. :)
 
Finally caught up with the Sony updates and I have to say I am a little underwhelmed by it all. Yes the increased AF functionality is great but having the Rii,of no benefit at all. Why won’t they build an A9 with an APSC sensor, would be an awesome addition to my Rii to have for sports and wildlife! Leaving the Rii for shorter focal lengths and landscape


They are it is supposed to be called the A7000 and is expected to be announced at WPPI next month.
 
They are it is supposed to be called the A7000 and is expected to be announced at WPPI next month.

I imagine they will dull it down a little from the A9. Even though its crop I dont think they want to take A9 sales away.
 
I imagine they will dull it down a little from the A9. Even though its crop I dont think they want to take A9 sales away.
I'm happy for them drop some elements. My wish list is fairly simple.

APSC Sensor 26mp+, A9 body, eye-af, A9 tracking ability, 10+ fps mechanical (not too bothered about electronic) zero blackout. Even happy with single card slot. Other than that anything else is a bonus, dont really care about 4/8/millionK video either.

As I said its a fairly simple list :D
 
I'm happy for them drop some elements. My wish list is fairly simple.

APSC Sensor 26mp+, A9 body, eye-af, A9 tracking ability, 10+ fps mechanical (not too bothered about electronic) zero blackout. Even happy with single card slot. Other than that anything else is a bonus, dont really care about 4/8/millionK video either.

As I said its a fairly simple list :D
How does one get zero black out with mechanical shutter?
 
I'm happy for them drop some elements. My wish list is fairly simple.

APSC Sensor 26mp+, A9 body, eye-af, A9 tracking ability, 10+ fps mechanical (not too bothered about electronic) zero blackout. Even happy with single card slot. Other than that anything else is a bonus, dont really care about 4/8/millionK video either.

As I said its a fairly simple list :D


It won't be an A9 body it is expected to be a new body style. It is likely to be bigger than the current A7's though.

You can't have a mechanical shutter and zero blackout it isn't possible.

It will likely have the 8k video as all the new Sony products will going forward.
 
Even when you are using the view finder you can use your fingers on the touchpad/lcd screen to move the focus points around and activate the feature. Of course, whatever you find quicker :)

Yeah, I've tried that too. I find it a bit laggy as a touchpad when using EVF. I shot two weddings that way and gave up.
 
Nope. Past 350-400mm it's basically useless for AF. You can eventually get a lock on in AF-S at 600mm but who would buy this lens for that?

The best one to adapt if you must, would be the tamron 150-600 in a-mount with LA-EA3 adapter.
Sorry to say this but this is not true, I have a Sigma 150-600s and the AF works very well on my A7111 especially since the last firmware update, it even works with the 1.4 converter your remarks are out of date what you say is true of the A711 but not of the A7111 and I use this combo almost exclusively at 600mm.
 
Sorry to say this but this is not true, I have a Sigma 150-600s and the AF works very well on my A7111 especially since the last firmware update, it even works with the 1.4 converter your remarks are out of date what you say is true of the A711 but not of the A7111 and I use this combo almost exclusively at 600mm.
Can't say I have tried it with the latest firmware because v2.1 is only a few months old.
I have tried it with previous firmware with A7RIII and AF wasn't great.
I'd very surprised if the AF was anywhere close to native lens like 100-400mm

Edit:
Just noticed you are commenting about 150-600s but we were discussing the 150-600 C. They are very different lenses and your lens is more expensive and is fair bit heavier
 
Last edited:
My Sigma 30/1.4 DC DN arrived today from MPB. Apart from being surprised to find it didn't have the lens hood or box (I'm querying the description with them now), I'm happy to find the lens performs flawlessly on the A6500. Autofocus is easily as good as native and is silent, and tracking works well in the quick tests I've done with the dog. I'm finding the touchscreen is quite useful for dragging the focus point around the frame so I'll keep using that and see how it goes long term.

I'm not sure what to do about returning the lens to MPB though due to it missing the box (for resale) and hood. The cheapest OEM hood I can find is £24, so by the time I pick one of them up I'm only a few £ off brand new price from E-Infinity with 12 months' warranty. Regardless of that, the lens and its' focal length is excellent on the 6500.
 
My Sigma 30/1.4 DC DN arrived today from MPB. Apart from being surprised to find it didn't have the lens hood or box (I'm querying the description with them now), I'm happy to find the lens performs flawlessly on the A6500. Autofocus is easily as good as native and is silent, and tracking works well in the quick tests I've done with the dog. I'm finding the touchscreen is quite useful for dragging the focus point around the frame so I'll keep using that and see how it goes long term.

I'm not sure what to do about returning the lens to MPB though due to it missing the box (for resale) and hood. The cheapest OEM hood I can find is £24, so by the time I pick one of them up I'm only a few £ off brand new price from E-Infinity with 12 months' warranty. Regardless of that, the lens and its' focal length is excellent on the 6500.
If they don't send you the hood at least, I suggest sending it back. I think a lot of people would be put off buying your lens in the future it doesn't come with the original hood. More so that the box or original caps.
 
Nope. Past 350-400mm it's basically useless for AF. You can eventually get a lock on in AF-S at 600mm but who would buy this lens for that?

The best one to adapt if you must, would be the tamron 150-600 in a-mount with LA-EA3 adapter.
That's the reason I sold my lovely 150-600C but apparently since the MC-11 had a firmware update the AF has been fixed and performs well.
 
Can't say I have tried it with the latest firmware because v2.1 is only a few months old.
I have tried it with previous firmware with A7RIII and AF wasn't great.
I'd very surprised if the AF was anywhere close to native lens like 100-400mm

Edit:
Just noticed you are commenting about 150-600s but we were discussing the 150-600 C. They are very different lenses and your lens is more expensive and is fair bit heavier
I have spoken to users of the contemporary version and there doesn't seem to be much difference in focusing ability, I owned the Sony 100-400 and was able to compare them side by side and although it is better on the sony I didn't find the difference that great, in fact I sold the Sony and and kept the Sigma because of the extra reach which I find more useful than the slightly better Af for my bird photography
I must add that when I mentioned latest firmware I was also referring to the Mc-11, I'm sorry Idid make that clear, and thank you to Laurence for reminding me about that.
 
Last edited:
If they don't send you the hood at least, I suggest sending it back. I think a lot of people would be put off buying your lens in the future it doesn't come with the original hood. More so that the box or original caps.

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking too. I've asked for clarification of the original listing as I was pretty sure it was listed as like new with box/caps/hood. I think I probably will return it but it's definitely an excellent lens.
 
I have spoken to users of the contemporary version and there doesn't seem to be much difference in focusing ability, I owned the Sony 100-400 and was able to compare them side by side and although it is better on the sony I didn't find the difference that great, in fact I sold the Sony and and kept the Sigma because of the extra reach which I find more useful than the slightly better Af for my bird photography
I must add that when I mentioned latest firmware I was also referring to the Mc-11, I'm sorry Idid make that clear, and thank you to Laurence for reminding me about that.

That's the reason I sold my lovely 150-600C but apparently since the MC-11 had a firmware update the AF has been fixed and performs well.

Interesting... I am very very intrigued now. I am interested in the sigma 100-400mm lens. I wonder how that performs...
 
It won't be an A9 body it is expected to be a new body style. It is likely to be bigger than the current A7's though.

You can't have a mechanical shutter and zero blackout it isn't possible.

It will likely have the 8k video as all the new Sony products will going forward.

Ok I guess I can live with a electronic shutter then, I take it thats how the A9 works then :)

All I've seen is that it will have a DSLR style body ie EVF on the central axis rather than the rangefinder style of the a6xxx bodies
 
After a long time with my Nikon D700 and loads of old AF-D lenses, I'm considering switching to an A7 III. I wanted to hear people with experience using the FE 85mm 1.8 and 1.4. Leaving build quality to one side, did you notice an appreciable enough difference in image quality and bokeh to justify spending the extra money?

Or am I completely mad to ignore Nikon nostalgia and wait for them to release the Z mount 85mm 1.8 S later this year and get a Nikon Z?
Can’t answer the first question but if you are moving to mirrorless and changing to mirrorless lenses I would say staying with Nikon just for nostalgia reasons isn’t a great reason.

I’ve just made the move from Nikon to Sony whilst looking at downsizing my kit (downsizing from big heavy prime lens down to a more manageable weight zoom lens). It’s no way a perfect move as Nikon do excel in certain areas more than Sony, but Nikon’s mirrorless hasn’t evolved enough yet for me and they currently have very few native mirrorless lenses (Sony don’t have s huge amount either but they have what I want). Sony are on their 3rd generation of mirrorless so have developed theirs more and it felt to me a good point to consider a move to mirrorless. Mirrorless is clearly going to be the future whichever manufacturer you’re with. The advantage of the lens range size that canon/Nikon had is kind of a mute point as all manufacturers are starting again from scratch with mirrorless lenses. There are adapters available to use non native lenses, I don’t know much on that front regarding all manufacturers and compatibility but I’m sure someone else on here could help.

Ive recently been impressed Sony releasing details of an upcoming firmware release that’s going to add more good functionality to their current cameras rather than saving for the next model is another good reason to consider Sony. The addition of animal eye AF as a firmware update is a big plus from me. I think that’s the future too, increase functionality of existing models before releasing a new replacement incremental upgrade to an existing model. I can forsee us paying for those type of firmware upgrades in the future but at least it will be kinder to the environment than the current near throw away mentality of model updates with very little new features.
 
Last edited:
Sorry to say this but this is not true, I have a Sigma 150-600s and the AF works very well on my A7111 especially since the last firmware update, it even works with the 1.4 converter your remarks are out of date what you say is true of the A711 but not of the A7111 and I use this combo almost exclusively at 600mm.

Thanks, this is more less what I had heard about this.
 
Back
Top