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

Isn't Amazon stuff sometimes grey import? You're camera could arrive speaking Swahili.

I wonder how much Degitalrev shop will sell it for?
 
Sorted then :D

Just remember to come here and write a loooooong review and impressions post when you get it :D
 
I really should not have checked the details on your poppy pic. I was Lusting after the 55mm f1.8 and that pic combined with a 10% off eBay paypal voucher might just tip me over the edge. Oh and also get me kicked out of the house by my wife!

Same here. The clarity of that first picture is great and the separation of all the elements is amazing. I've got the C/Y Ziess Plannar 50 1.8 so I'm pained to get the 55/1.8 since it's not going to be nearly as good for video.
 
Just had the A711 delivered today, my very new XT-1 looks like it may be going on an extended holiday. Just with a few test shots in the garden and in the house, I can see a huge difference in detail and overall quality of images. Prefer the feel of the camera too, no drive mode and metering mode dial to hit by mistake, and no aperture ring to knock..........
Happy camper at the moment, now the hunt for glass starts.....
 
Anyone using the 3rd party battery grips that go for around £30-40 on ebay?
I hear some don't work after the last couple of firmware update?
On a separate note. Just had confirmation my new 55mm f1.8 will be delivered on Friday:)
 
Just received the 35mm f2.8 I bought in the classifieds here and I'm very impressed.

It's very small and it weighs next to nothing, it focuses quickly and it's sharp at f2.8. The only downside I can see is that it's f2.8 and not f1.8 but f2.8 is just about ok for a 35mm for me :D

I was a bit undecided between the 35 and the 28, I went for the 35 in the end but may get a 28mm at some point. Might get the 85mm next.
 
How is the fly by wire manual focus?

Seems to work well enough.

I have it set up so that it calls up the magnified view when you twiddle the focus ring and I have peaking too and the focus scale is nice too. One test I tried was to point the camera at the window with the vertical blinds drawn but open (if you follow me...) and of course the AF focused on the blinds but once the focus ring was turned it was easy to focus on the world beyond and see the focus shifting.

Will deffo be taking this lens to Thailand with me in August so I'll have to decide if the 55mm comes too.

PS. I was a bit worried about the lens profile/corrections as I'm using CS5 and they stopped updating that some time ago but so far distortion and CA don't seem to be issues even though I've tried shooting straight lines and window blinds against a very bright background. Time will tell. Actually scrap all that as the profiles for the 35 and 55 ARE in CS5 :D
 
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Yup. Looks about the same to me.

The 35mm might be auto focusing a touch faster than the 55mm. That's nice :D
 
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V2.0 of the firmware does turn the backscreen completely off (not just blank) but only when looking through the veiwfinder.

I updated the firmware a while ago and I can't be sure but I think that I used to be able to cycle though the various displays using the display button and I think that off (but not really off) was one of the options but that "off" option seems to be gone now.

I'm still using the A7 with the EVF only and I select the screen if I want to use it but I still think that a much better solution would be being able to toggle between the EVF and the back screen with a button just like I can with my Panasonic G1 and GX7.
 
Just received the 35mm f2.8 I bought in the classifieds here and I'm very impressed.

It's very small and it weighs next to nothing, it focuses quickly and it's sharp at f2.8. The only downside I can see is that it's f2.8 and not f1.8 but f2.8 is just about ok for a 35mm for me :D

I was a bit undecided between the 35 and the 28, I went for the 35 in the end but may get a 28mm at some point. Might get the 85mm next.

I've got the 35/2.8 and I don't get as much enjoyment out of it as I did my APS-C Nikon 35/1.8 on the D5100.

I think I prefer the 50mm focal length on full frame. So tempted to go for the 28/2 instead. The only thing stopping me is that I'm off travelling soon and the 35/2.8 is smaller and lighter.

DSC01428.jpg
 
I've got the 35/2.8 and I don't get as much enjoyment out of it as I did my APS-C Nikon 35/1.8 on the D5100.

I think I prefer the 50mm focal length on full frame. So tempted to go for the 28/2 instead. The only thing stopping me is that I'm off travelling soon and the 35/2.8 is smaller and lighter.

I used to like the wider view and on my APS-C Canon DSLR's my most used lens was for a while my Sigma 12-24mm but these days 50mm seems to be my most used focal length and 28mm actually seems a bit wide to me now so 35mm might be enough for me and I do have the 28-70mm too.

I took the following shot with my A7 and a Minolta 35mm the other evening with a shot in my mind that I took with my 20D and 12-24mm some time ago. The 20D shot is at 12mm which would equate to 19mm in 35mm speak. The clouds add to the wide angle feel but other than that I'm quite happy with the look of the 35mm shot.



 
No, it's perfect. What you see here is just what photobucket has done to an 800 pixel picture.
 
I'm pretty sure there's a way to get the best out of photobucket but what it is I don't know.
 
Just tried the 35mm f2.8 out in low light, 22:00-22:15 type light. It focused without issue outside but in an unlit room (but with the blinds open) it wouldn't lock on most of the time whereas the 55mm f1.8 would. I assume this is because it's a 35mm f2.8 and the 55mm is f1.8?

Not that failing to achieve an AF lock in unlit room at night time matters too much as the light was so low that even accurate manual focus wasn't really possible. It's interesting that the 55mm still AF'd though, it was slow and it went back and forward and took maybe 2 to four seconds but it got there most of the time.
 
Trying to finalise my travel kit at the moment. Something doesn't sit right with me.

Right now I've got:

Sony 10-18/4 (because when you want wide you want really wide)
Sony 35/2.8 (Everyday walk around)
C/Y Zeiss 50/1.7 Planar (Low light - though where I'm going I probably daren't take the camera out at night)
Nikon 70-200/4-5.6 (To take pictures of pretty penguins)

I don't have a stabilised lens for video as I stupidly sold my 28-70.

I could get the 24-70/4 but it wouldn't really replace anything on that list.

The 28/2 looks great but is probably too wide for a walk around lens.

Any suggestions?
 
shoot slightly wider and use microsoft hyperlapse to correct for movement?

on the 55 1.8 vs 35 2.8 focus, the 55 will have less dof, which may help it focus too
 
The 90mm macro gets a good review :D

http://slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=1786

"Conclusion
It's a pricey lens, but right now it's the only E-mount option that works out-of-the-box for macro photography. It might be expensive, but you get an exceptionally sharp lens with some great features - certainly, worth the investment."
 
Is there a bad modern Macro lens??? Their usually all sharp across the brands. At a grand or so, seems expensive compared to CanNik and the aftermarket ones.
 
My 55 F1.8 just arrived. First impressions are very well built and so much smaller than I presumed. Only when you see it in person will you be amazed at the size.
Seems to focus fast.
Glad I decided to go for it.
 
Is there a bad modern Macro lens??? Their usually all sharp across the brands. At a grand or so, seems expensive compared to CanNik and the aftermarket ones.

It is dear when you consider things like the Tamron 90mm which also gets stellar reviews is less than £400, as usual FE Mount glass at a severe premium over other mounts.
 
My 55 F1.8 just arrived. First impressions are very well built and so much smaller than I presumed. Only when you see it in person will you be amazed at the size.
Seems to focus fast.
Glad I decided to go for it.
Nice isn't it ☺
 
Is there a bad modern Macro lens??? Their usually all sharp across the brands. At a grand or so, seems expensive compared to CanNik and the aftermarket ones.
Couldn't agree more it's possible to pick up a great but older Tokina/sigma lens for £100-150, even the Minolta 100mm is stunning but that's £200. All of these macro lenses will be sharper than you actually need even if the mtf charts show the new Sony to be better it's still not worth it imo.
 
I'm sure that there'll be people who'll be willing to pay if it outperforms the rest on the higher mp count cameras. There'll also be people who'll buy it because it's native mount. It'll sell and the only question is how many.
 
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I used the 50mm &100mm Macro's on my Sony a6000 with a cheap MD >Emount adapter and they was superb lenses with lovely colours and contrast ,both are in the drawer in there original boxes along with a few more Old Minolta lenses and I did like the MF on the 6000 along with the brilliant Focus peaking.
 
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I'm sure that there'll be people who'll be willing to pay if it outperforms the rest on the higher mp count cameras. There'll also be people who'll buy it because it's native mount. It'll sell and the only question is how many.

Agreed. TBF it does produce a lovely image from the samples Ive seen.
 
At £2,600? Or did you find a nice deal somewhere?

Yep £2600, no special deal..

Piling my Canon gear sales into this. It had better work otherwise I could become a councillor for Canon to pis*ed off Canon users who want to throw their Canon / (or for that matter Nikon) towel in to get them to keep the faith. AFAIAC DSLR is way overweight for an Old Git like me so hopefully it's me singing Hastalavista Baby however I realise I am winging it and could be out on a limb but hey if so I can sell you a bargain. :banana:
 
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