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

I don't know what line of work you are in and industries/services are all affected in different ways. There are some industries that can make things safe but there are certain industries where changes could potentially be made to let some of their work force return to work in a safe manner at a reduced company output. The issue is some companies will resist making changes to how they work where they can because the furlough scheme is available and its an easier route to take. I know of some companies/suppliers that we work with that completely shut up shop when they could potentially adapt their ways of working and have stayed open on a reduced service. Other companies have really stepped up and been really supportive whilst making it as safe as possible.

Its the adapting to new ways or doing things differently that I can see will be the sticking point for many companies. Some companies don't want to change from the way they have always done things as its what they know. Some of course can't make any changes that will allow them to reopen safely and thats where the furlough scheme should be used. Its a tough decision/choice to make.

I'm a chiropractor which means obviously I can't socially distance in my line of work as it's hand on. However I already drafted protocols last week for a return to work and I'm 'happy' that risks are extremely minimal. One practitioner working at a time, no reception staff (practioners will do their own reception), one patient in clinic at a time, one door in one door out. Practitioners in full PPE, patients given a disposable mask and asked to sanitise hands on entering the premises. Benches, door handles etc etc all sanitised after each patient.


Whilst I agree with this its not something that can be applied across the board as every case is very different. I work in the water industry and if we had shut up shop the whole country would be pretty screwed very quickly without water or sewage services! The same goes for other key worker activities like electricity, gas or internet- the general public would have been very annoyed if they didn't have any of them.
I've had to turn people away who are on the front line and not been able to work due to bad backs, it would be nice to be able to treat these people at least.

I do believe no one in any higher risk group through age, underlying health conditions or other risk factors should be put at risk by being forced to go to work. There was a sad article where a London transport worker was spat on and she's sadly died as she had underlying health conditions. If you ask me she shouldn't have been at work but then the person who did it should be charged with a criminal offence and quickly be taken through the courts as an example to others who may be stupid to do the same thing.
This story was on GMB this morning, and it was sad but also made my blood boil that there are people in the world that can do such atrocities. I hope they find them and treat it as murder or at least manslaughter.


Thats the thing you can't fully remove all risks in anything (just look at driving yet we all see that as part of normal life) only take sensible precautions to mitigate those risks. I've had anxiety about going out onsite even though I've carried on working all the way through lockdown. I think the fear will cause even more deaths than the virus in the end. I've read about people who have had heart attacks or strokes yet won't go to hospital as they are worried about catching COVID-19 there.

Its the ones that won't go to work because they feel it will put them at risk doing that but don't mine trying to meet every man and their dog outside of work whilst taking zero precautions that I can't understand. Only you can make the right choice about whats right for yourself.
That's it, it's weighing up risks. As I said earlier, I will actually be safer in my workplace than going to the supermarket, going to the petrol station, and probably even walking my dog.
 
What is your basis for saying that vaccinations are "potentially years away" ? If you mean that a world wide roll-out might take a long time then you may have a point but the development of a vaccine is the now the focus of the most concerted multinational effort ever seen in the history of medicine. It is certainly not beyond the imagination that this effort by the worlds greatest medical research institutions would bear fruit in the coming months. Only time will tell.

well, they have been trying to find a vaccine for Aids for like 25 years...there are drugs that can prolong your life now so it’s not a death sentence but still no vaccine. Both are viruses.

so best case of 12 months really is best case.
 
Spitting in the face is just awful and in these days of communicable diseases that we're all aware of IMO it should be viewed as extremely serious. Just think of the upset and stress to the victims even if there are no lasting effects. It's something that the police have suffered for years and I do hope that the courts will impose tougher sentences when offenders appear before them.
 
In a globally connected world, crisis over in UK is not exactly crisis over till we have enough immunity around the world and make sure there isn't some new mutation of it that will catch us down the line.

I don't think we'd have population wide immunity within 3 months with a vaccine. 3 years may be imo.
we can barely provide doctors with PPE and test kits. My dad (60yrs, diabetic, hypertension, BAME) has been working every day since the lockdown in the hospital with no PPE. I really don't think they can vaccinate the entire population in 3 months lol. so even if there are no mutations down the line I don't vaccination will happen in 3 months which means people from outside will come spread it here unless they are being vaccinated too.

Immunity after vaccination develops quickly - if the vaccine required a single shot then immunity would be effective for probably 80% in 6 to 8 weeks. As for new strains that the vaccine didn't work against, this virus doesn't seem to mutate much (and it's had lots of opportunity) so that's not an IMMEDIATE issue. Personally I'd want screening of all arrivals through all ports, but that's not in favour right now.

Could the population be vaccinated in 3months? Again, mostly, yes.

PPE has been a complete bugger, hasn't it? I'm sure there's a story behind that which no-one is telling right now. I appreciate your dad's efforts to continue working.
 
If I was Boris for a day I form a state owned ppe industry with built in unused capacity and make the lot in the UK. I wouldn't care if the workers worked well within limits for years on end just as long as the production could be cranked up to cope if anything like this happens. Ditto medical equipment. It should all be made here and if we have too much, fine, sell it or donate it to the hot spots of the world before it goes out of date.
 
WoWza.

We went from sunny but chilly to dull in about 5 minutes and then we got a short sharp hail shower.
 
well, they have been trying to find a vaccine for Aids for like 25 years...there are drugs that can prolong your life now so it’s not a death sentence but still no vaccine. Both are viruses.

so best case of 12 months really is best case.
The charactaristics of the 2 viruses cannot be conflated, they quite possibly behave in different ways, so because an effective vaccine has not yet been found for AIDS it doesn't mean that one may not be found for Covid-19 in a much shorter time scale.
 
The reports were of people who were apparently asymptomatic testing positive twice (or once, then later showing symptoms), the view now is that this may well have been down to false positives in the initial tests.

My wife has a friend whose brother tested positive and was hospitalised with breathing difficulties way back in March, he was supposedly free of the virus and was released home. He was brought back in a week ago and has it again.
 
There's a lens on my A7, a Voigtlander 50mm f2, and I'm ready to go out... one day :D

Cheap Chinese watches at f2, heavy crops.

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Things should be spotlessly clean before doing this :D

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f4, after the hail.

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It's still there... This beastie must have died as it's been there for about a week. Crop to 100%...

pdc1zJG.jpg


I don't know how it's still there after all the rain, sleet and wind over the last week.

Somebody must have taken some more interesting pictures today?
 
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The charactaristics of the 2 viruses cannot be conflated, they quite possibly behave in different ways, so because an effective vaccine has not yet been found for AIDS it doesn't mean that one may not be found for Covid-19 in a much shorter time scale.

i am just giving you an example that 12 months is best case scenario and there is a possibility that it may never come.
 
Just in case anyone else is having trouble inputing the date when trying to activate Sony's extended warranty.. Ignore the format it states inline and enter it like this - 2020-05-13 using todays date as an example, entering how it says ie 13/05/2020 or 2020/05/13 doesn't work.
 
Just in case anyone else is having trouble inputing the date when trying to activate Sony's extended warranty.. Ignore the format it states inline and enter it like this - 2020-05-13 using todays date as an example, entering how it says ie 13/05/2020 or 2020/05/13 doesn't work.

On warranty, I'm guessing my recent purchases from Panamoz are covered automatically under their 3 year warranty and there isn't anything I need to do with Sony, or that gives me any other benefits from Sony?
 
On warranty, I'm guessing my recent purchases from Panamoz are covered automatically under their 3 year warranty and there isn't anything I need to do with Sony, or that gives me any other benefits from Sony?

you don't really get the extended local sony warranty he is talking about with grey import. I believe in case of panamoz, you will have to send the lens off to Sony and then panamoz will reimburse you the repair costs.
 
E-infin have just whacked a load of there prices up.

Bummer, was about to buy a A7RII as my 2nd body and it's been raised by £74 I think. Better off with panamoz now, very little difference but with the 3-yr warranty
 
The whole Covid thing is a mess in this country. It’s not like China didn’t warn us for weeks and just by watching how they reacted we should have known. We expected it to be like sars and not affect the west.

The biggest issue is the attitude of people here(in the west) it’s all about self and what we can do or believe we have the right to do regardless of others.
Within days they will all be at the beach/drinking in the park. Like nothing even happened.

I’ve noticed even here that people are wearing less masks/ gloves and starting to act like it never happened, even though it’s still in lockdown in Scotland.
The looks I was getting today doing my weekly shopping with a mask on like I was some sort of joke was ridiculous. And we stay in a well regarded area.

We were far to late to get it started and are rushing to get out.

We should be looking to Taiwan/Korea/New Zealand / Singapore and many others in that part of the world and how they handled it. About 5/6 countries together had a small % of the no. Of infected people and even less deaths.

They tracked/ tested/ quarantined, made masks compulsory and there population listened to advise.

We now have news that they knew it was in Scotland late feb but didn’t do much even though they knew. They only tracked a few people and didn’t advise lockdown for weeks after. We have little to no tracking. Advise not to wear masks only as they don’t have enough and have never stopped allowing people to arrive from anywhere without checking them.



Going back to work, sending kids back to school is all happening as we are going into the biggest recession we have ever had, they need to get this economy going again regardless of the life’s it cost. This 80% furlough is killing the government. They were ment to be something like 55b in debt by the end of this year but now will be into the 2/3 hundred billions.. this will now result in higher taxes, pension changes but they will have no choice and no one seems to be considering that yet.

China has only just last week started sending some kids back to school in city’s like shanghai and Beijing and that’s only the kids that have exams and both of these city’s had less infected than Scotland.
Lots of people still work from home when possible too.

We have companies here saying they will be ramping up flights and trying to get holidays going again within a month... if it wasn’t so pathetic and sad I would laugh.
 
Could the population be vaccinated in 3months? Again, mostly, yes.
Yet we cannot provide PPE or testing kits for a fraction of the population that'll need vaccinating.
I'll believe it when I see it happen right now I think it will take a lot more time than that.
 
A lot of people looking at how other countries have handled c19. If this happens again with either a second wave or some other virus it'll be interesting to see how the population will react if the government of the day immediately introduce the seemingly effective measures we've seen in other countries such as app tracking and contract tracing. I wonder what the honesty rate would be if the app relies on people self reporting and self isolating. The cynic in me tells me how we think and behave will mean that some of us will react badly.

It's a lovely morning here :D
 
Anyone got any interest in the Sony ZV1? I wonder if it has an evf?
 
GBP has dropped very slightly though I wouldn't think it dropped enough to warrant price changes. May be it did.

I don't think its that some of the differences are way higher than the exchange rate fluctuation.

I am gonna take a guess and say that they have increased prices to increase profit as they are much quieter because of the pandemic.

It's pretty likely the other grey market companies will do the same thing I would have thought.
 
HELP :help:

Do I buy a Metabones for Nikon-Sony or not bother?

Been waiting for ages to be able to afford my first A7, had hopes of being able to afford the A7 iii but got fed up with saving and am impatiently awaiting my MPB box this afternoon containing my used A7 original :banana::clap:


I decided not to buy the kit zooms because I'd rather save up again for some primes so in the meantime I am indulging my latest obsession which fits right in with needing something to play with in these bored times- Lensbaby gear. I have ordered a used Lensbaby Velvet 85 for the E-mount but I already own the Composer Pro for Nikon with a couple of optics. I only have one Nikon FX lens to transfer to the A7 - the rest all being DX - so my question is this:

Is it worth buying a Metabones Nikon-Sony adapter so I can a: use my Lensbaby/Nikon 50mm 1.8D and b: any other cheaper Nikon glass I might pick up - or does it not work very well really?

I am always going to be on a tight budget so is it worth ignoring the Nikon and maybe going with Sony's own LA-E system instead for cheaper A mount lenses? Then just buying an E-fit Composer pro II for my Lensbaby optics?

I've never used an adapter before and I know they make the lenses fully manual between systems, that doesn't really bother me but if they cause other problems then what are they and is it worth it?

Thanks all and I can't wait to get some help with my new camera :ty:
 
Oh and one more thing -

The A7 I'm getting is used but I have no idea how old exactly it is or whether it will have had any software updates or upgrades - how do I find this out? And do I DO the software updates?! I long ago worked out that doing software updates is not necessarily advisable,,,
 
Oh and one more thing -

The A7 I'm getting is used but I have no idea how old exactly it is or whether it will have had any software updates or upgrades - how do I find this out? And do I DO the software updates?! I long ago worked out that doing software updates is not necessarily advisable,,,

Updates are here with instructions.
https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/support/e-mount-body-ilce-7-series/ilce-7/downloads

Welcome to TP by the way :)
I noticed your first post too but I am little busy at work. If no one has answered it by the time I'm free I'll answer it too.
 
A lot of people looking at how other countries have handled c19. If this happens again with either a second wave or some other virus it'll be interesting to see how the population will react if the government of the day immediately introduce the seemingly effective measures we've seen in other countries such as app tracking and contract tracing.

Well, our glorious leaders have already decided that the app tracking other countries are using is wrong, and have instead opted for one that builds a huge central database, so I doubt we'll see a sudden switch to learning from others...
 
HELP :help:

Do I buy a Metabones for Nikon-Sony or not bother?

Been waiting for ages to be able to afford my first A7, had hopes of being able to afford the A7 iii but got fed up with saving and am impatiently awaiting my MPB box this afternoon containing my used A7 original :banana::clap:


I decided not to buy the kit zooms because I'd rather save up again for some primes so in the meantime I am indulging my latest obsession which fits right in with needing something to play with in these bored times- Lensbaby gear. I have ordered a used Lensbaby Velvet 85 for the E-mount but I already own the Composer Pro for Nikon with a couple of optics. I only have one Nikon FX lens to transfer to the A7 - the rest all being DX - so my question is this:

Is it worth buying a Metabones Nikon-Sony adapter so I can a: use my Lensbaby/Nikon 50mm 1.8D and b: any other cheaper Nikon glass I might pick up - or does it not work very well really?

I am always going to be on a tight budget so is it worth ignoring the Nikon and maybe going with Sony's own LA-E system instead for cheaper A mount lenses? Then just buying an E-fit Composer pro II for my Lensbaby optics?

I've never used an adapter before and I know they make the lenses fully manual between systems, that doesn't really bother me but if they cause other problems then what are they and is it worth it?

Thanks all and I can't wait to get some help with my new camera :ty:

Unfortunately, adapted AF on the original A7 isn't really worth bothering with.... Dumb adapters and manual lenses, no problem.

The cost of the Metabones probably isn't far off the cost of the cheap 50/1.8E..... But don't quote me exactly there.
 
Ali, hi and welcome :D

I have an A7 and although I have some modern lenses I also have a lot of fun using manual film era primes. Most of them were cheap and the adapters can be cheap too and they're a lot of fun if you have the time to focus manually. You can also use zone focus and focus hyperfocally.

Someone will be along shortly to talk about adapting AF lenses but when I've asked the question before I've been told they don't work well on the original A7. We'll see what the experts say soon.

There you go, Lee beat me too it :D
 
Well, our glorious leaders have already decided that the app tracking other countries are using is wrong, and have instead opted for one that builds a huge central database, so I doubt we'll see a sudden switch to learning from others...
Can we keep this to the thread title please? I read enough about the virus elsewhere and come here for a break! Thanks
 
Can we keep this to the thread title please? I read enough about the virus elsewhere and come here for a break! Thanks

Sometimes this thread can tend to wander :D

Maybe post some pictures or post something Sony related and people soon bounce back :D
 
I would but I've photographed everything in the house, garden and garage with every lens from every angle so I'll have to wait until I can get out and take pictures of something else.
 
I would but I've photographed everything in the house, garden and garage with every lens from every angle so I'll have to wait until I can get out and take pictures of something else.

I spent an hour the other day doing macro shots of a tiny piece of petal on a dirty patio table... :tumbleweed:
 
Unfortunately, adapted AF on the original A7 isn't really worth bothering with.... Dumb adapters and manual lenses, no problem.

The cost of the Metabones probably isn't far off the cost of the cheap 50/1.8E..... But don't quote me exactly there.

Manual focus etc is fine - I always have time to play and if I miss a shot well I'm only a hobbyist so it's no biggie. I would rather be able to afford to buy good glass if they image well with an an adapter & this does limit my choice with the all singing Sony FE range... Of course I may think that the budget range lenses are fine for my needs :rolleyes:

Worth pushing the budget from the basic 50mm 1.8 to the OSS version or further to the 55mm Zeiss? (I'd have to really push my budget here tho...)
 
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