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

Bobsyeruncle said:
The Sony 85 1.8 and samyang 85 1.4 are a similar price.

Would be using the lens for portraits etc.
Which one do you think would be the best overall?
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My feeling is the Sammy will be better in terms of rendering and separation from background, but the AF may be *slightly* more precise on the Sony. It's a really tough choice because they're both great lenses, but the more images I looked at taken with the Sony, the more I saw a lack of smooth rendering of OOF areas and slightly harsh contrast in the areas in focus - that's part of what makes it seem so sharp. The sammy gives a softer, smoother image that I find really appealing (the 50 f1.4 was like that too) and I was happy to give up a little perceived sharpness. Quite often these days I reduce clarity in my images to get rid of the crunchiness that is part of modern digital rendering. If the Viltrox 85 f1.8 had decent AF performance then I'd have happily kept that instead.

I'm in India right now - just back at the hotel for a couple of hours between stages of the wedding of a friend. Used the Sammy with continuous wide AF and it was doing a really good job tracking eyes around. Won't see the pics until we get home, and they're snaps, rather than serious images. As for wedding pics, they're just nuts here - 4 guys all using Canon, 1 on a gimbal doing video, 1 on a track and 2 shooters moving around, plus lights, assistants and all kinds of things. The guys shooting were friendly and made me feel welcome when they saw the A7 + 85, which was nice, but NO ONE else was going to get pictures with them in the way.
 
trevorbray said:
So, I’ve no requirement for super high megapixel.
But, I’m drawn to the ergonomics of the A7riv
Currently A7iii. Quite like it, apart from grey focus box. I’m a committed back button focusing guy. It’s here that the Riv seems to have an ergonomic advantage.
Grey A7riv is affordable, or should I just wait for A7iv to be released?

Maybe suck up the ergonomics and get A9 for a red focus box...
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There are a couple A7RIV in sales section at a great price. Worth it for what is practically a new UK body IMO.

A7IV is probably going to come out at £2000-ish. You can start enjoying most of its benefits now with A7RIV for just £300 more.
 
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trevorbray said:
So, I’ve no requirement for super high megapixel.
But, I’m drawn to the ergonomics of the A7riv
Currently A7iii. Quite like it, apart from grey focus box. I’m a committed back button focusing guy. It’s here that the Riv seems to have an ergonomic advantage.
Grey A7riv is affordable, or should I just wait for A7iv to be released?

Maybe suck up the ergonomics and get A9 for a red focus box...
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Is the grey A9-II out of your price range, that has the same ergos as the A7R4?
 
woof woof said:
Years ago even enthusiasts didn't look at bokeh and if you did you were probably told off for looking at areas of the picture that you shouldn't be looking at. Times change and now there are people who buy f1.x lenses and shoot wide open all the time.

A7 and Voigtlander 35mm f1.4 at f8, juts for shapes, light and shadow.

s7dGOnt.jpg


XqOvvoe.jpg


PTH0sM2.jpg


g6ZAxzo.jpg
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When I was first into photography I'm sure "bokeh" didn't even exist. It was a long time ago so maybe it's just my memory going........ Anyway just another thing to get my head around now.
 
trevorbray said:
Checked again...maybe after the new year.
Not really desperate. Perhaps I should put more time in with A7iii. Only 125 frames so far.
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I'm also like you Trevor, think I should put more time into the a73 and see if it provides fully what I require in my photography, only then should I make a responsible decision to upgrade and not a knee jerk reaction to what I read about....
 
TGphoto said:
Definitely
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Gandalf said:
I'm also like you Trevor, think I should put more time into the a73 and see if it provides fully what I require in my photography, only then should I make a responsible decision to upgrade and not a knee jerk reaction to what I read about....
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Wise words here. Thanks guys
 
trevorbray said:
Checked again...maybe after the new year.
Not really desperate. Perhaps I should put more time in with A7iii. Only 125 frames so far.
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I’ve found adding an L bracket like the small rig or RRS to the A7r3 made handling better. It adds a little bit more depth for your little finger.

I definitely feel you need to use a camera for a period of time before you can make a decision on ergonomics. Anyone moving from one manufacturer to another will find it won’t feel right at first, moving from one camera to another manufacturers isn’t going to pose as much of an issue because of the familiarity of the models and menus. I know if I went with canon it would have been the same as Sony.
 
I’ve noticed the A6400 is now below £600 grey. I’m still deciding if one would be a good idea. As a second camera for remote wide angle stuff it could be good but would I actually use it over the A7r3 for other wildlife. I’m wondering if I wouldn’t be better upgrading the A7r3 to an A9 for the AF benefits instead. I’m nearly 80% sure that I could let the 70-200 f4 go as I don’t use it that much and would be left with the 24-105 and 100-400. Selling the 70-200 could potentially help fund either move.
 
trevorbray said:
Checked again...maybe after the new year.
Not really desperate. Perhaps I should put more time in with A7iii. Only 125 frames so far.
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Yeah, the A7iii is a great camera, not sure what most of us would need over that tbh.
Cheapest I’ve seen the A9-II is £3300 grey, not sure how long before it drops under £3k
 
A9 was good today, still odd not hearing the shutter go off, I keep chimping to make sure I took the shot lol. Something a bit annoying is mixed (particularly LED) lighting seeing the banding/flicker live on screen / evf, the photos and video are fine but its a bit weird. Other than that, shots came out really nicely, AF is fantastic and colours are great. Uses more battery than my A7iii but could be down to cycling. Wonderful camera.
 
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twist said:
A9 was good today, still odd not hearing the shutter go off, I keep chimping to make sure I took the shot lol. Something a bit annoying is mixed (particularly LED) lighting seeing the banding/flicker live on screen / evf, photosand video are fine but its a bit weird. Other than that, shots came out really nicely, AF is fantastic and colours are great. Wonderful camera.
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Didn't they add option to make a fake shutter sound? :D
 
nandbytes said:
Didn't they add option to make a fake shutter sound? :D
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I thought you were joking! Surely the benefit of an electronic shutter is that it shoots in complete silence, adding a fake audio sound to replace the shutter noise seems a little weird to me. It’s not as if it’s like a car driving silent around on electric which can be a safety concern because people are stupid and walk out in front of cars without looking and rely on sound! (Something I’ve experienced this a few times since getting a petrol hybrid car)

I guess it’s nice to have the option to have a sound or no sound. It’s taken me a while to get used to not having the sound of the shutter on the A7r3 but now don’t think I’d go back to using the mechanical shutter. I do take more photos because of the silent shutter, and the 11fps too.
 
rob-nikon said:
I thought you were joking! Surely the benefit of an electronic shutter is that it shoots in complete silence, adding a fake audio sound to replace the shutter noise seems a little weird to me. It’s not as if it’s like a car driving silent around on electric which can be a safety concern because people are stupid and walk out in front of cars without looking and rely on sound! (Something I’ve experienced this a few times since getting a petrol hybrid car)

I guess it’s nice to have the option to have a sound or no sound. It’s taken me a while to get used to not having the sound of the shutter on the A7r3 but now don’t think I’d go back to using the mechanical shutter. I do take more photos because of the silent shutter, and the 11fps too.
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It's useful when doing portraits, the sound is reassuring to those that are having their picture taken.
 
T_J_G said:
It's useful when doing portraits, the sound is reassuring to those that are having their picture taken.
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I use the electronic shutter on my Panasonic cameras and no one has ever questioned it, but I often say "Got it thanks."
 
Has anyone got any experience of the Sigma 70mm f2.8 DG Marco Art lens?

I’m tempted by a macro as I know it’s something I should do more of but I don’t want to be spending lots on something I won’t use that much. The Sony 90mm macro gets a lot of praise but the talk of sample variation with decentering issues make me worry about get a bad copy.
 
Went out last night with the A6300 and Sony 35mm F1.8 to our local Xmas Markets.
Took maybe 30 photos and got 7-8 which came out decent enough for me, couple below.

Only downside is that 35mm is not wide enough on the APSC sensor so was fairly limited by this which us annoying, may need to look at something like the Sigma 16mm F1.4 as most of the shots I got were F2 due to the light.

, on Flickr

, on Flickr

, on Flick
 
Riz_Guru said:
Some quick snaps from the FE 85mm f1.8
  • Sony ILCE-9
  • FE 85mm F1.8
  • ƒ/1.8
  • 85.0 mm
  • 1/100
  • 2500
  • Flash (off, did not fire)
49218823396_ba26a648f9_c.jpg


  • Sony ILCE-9
  • FE 85mm F1.8
  • ƒ/1.8
  • 85.0 mm
  • 1/200
  • 4000
  • Flash (off, did not fire)
49218345003_499a3e1d49_c.jpg


  • Sony ILCE-9
  • FE 85mm F1.8
  • ƒ/1.8
  • 85.0 mm
  • 1/200
  • 6400
  • Flash (off, did not fire)
49218345388_5648469540_c.jpg
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Lovely photos (y)

I do see what folk are on about with the bokeh though, especially the first.
 
snerkler said:
Lovely photos (y)

I do see what folk are on about with the bokeh though, especially the first.
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tbf, thats a lot of fine detail and colour, its still way better than the Nikon G and Canon 1.8 lenses. Did you see the lens was like 370 after cashback from Amazon recently?
 
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