Just pre-ordered A7R mark II

devorator · Jul 11, 2015

No I didn't....hahahahaa

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buggz · Jul 14, 2015

It depends of course...

However for me as a landscape photographer (yes I know this is not your aforementioned forte), the only reason to upgrade from A7R mk1 to A7R mk2 (I own mk1 and love it) is the "in built image stabilization" or IBIS. For me personally, this is just a "would be nice to have", rather than a "must have". Nothing else the A7R mk2 has is a "must have" (for me), or even a "would be nice to have" when I consider upgrading from mk1 to mk2. Not one bit.

Now that being said, it only really adds 1 stop of light maximum, and I have many manual lenses... To that's why I rate it a "would be nice to have".

I would not upgrade to it for me as a landscape guy. However if it is your entry to Sony mirorless, then jump at it mate. The mk1 was the trial, and mk2 is were mk1 should have been.

The Sony A7S is a different beast altogether (low light performance) and you should not compare, same with A6000 and its frame rates

Regrds

devorator · Jul 14, 2015

Good point Buggz. Like you said it's my first mirrorless pro ( I had the Nikon N1 in tests for a couple of month). If I had the mk1 I prolly wouldn't upgrade either... But being the first I thought it'll be better to have the top of the line. I am not an upgrading every year guy so like I stated this I'll hope will die in my hands before gets changed. Really appreciate the input.
Can you tell me something about lenses...I read a lot and still do so whatever you have on the subject will be nice.
As for the A6000 i'll probably get a used one as a back up.
Thanks a lot.
Chris

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buggz · Jul 14, 2015

Hey Chris,

I can tell you what lenses I uses as a landscape person.
Basically 2x auto zooms (I still manual focus anyway) and a bunch of manual focus primes. all fantastic. i always use a tripod and cable release, as my subjects dont run around much.

You will hear people complain about the "lack of lenses on the sony system".... forget them, they are point and shoot folks.
I use a 16-35mm f4 carl zeiss and 24-70mm f4 carl zeiss. Both native e-mount designed for sony a7 system. I have only used the 24-70 only a few times, it is just the wrong focal length for me. however the 16-35mm is just crazy good. I mean it has only 5 elements! The image rendition is second to none, worth every penny. widest f=stop i have used on it is f8, so I have no need for a 2.8, however I would consider it a "would be nice to have" if the element count did not rise as well. f22 is not sharp, so I use it sparingly.

Other than that I have manual focus lenses.

Samyang 14mm f2.8 (sony e mount) - use for milky way shots/star trails - perfect lens for this
tokina 28mm f2.8 (bought for fun as it was only $50). Use it rarely.
carl zeis jena 50mm f2.8 (zebra version) and a f3.5 (bought for fun as both $50, and the 3.5 was made in 1952)
helios 58mm f2 (bought for the swirly bokeh)
nikkor 105 f2.5
nikkor 135 f2.8 (have a few of these: nikkorQ/pre-ai and ai-s are all sharp as hell and rendition beautiful images. nikkorQ is a heavy thing)
canon fd 50mm f1.4
canon fd f100-300

Serious* professionals who do studio work might be familiar with the carl zeiss otus range, are all manual focus. the 85 will set you back 4k*. so dont be put off by MF. Also as a caveat, the A6000 has a high frames per second, so I personally would not get one unless I was shooting moving subjects.

devorator · Jul 16, 2015

Buggz thanks buddy. Great lenses you have there. Both Zeiss will be in my arsenal too. NikkorQ are great I had a few and passed them to my father.
My subjects run around like hell hahah.
Any idea how is 50 1.8 e-mount compared with nikkor 50 1.8? I was thinking of it as a portrait lens ...thinis kind of short on ff...maybe 85 will pe better!?

Actually A6000's shutter speed is great for events and sport. Definitely not useful for landscape photography.
Thanks a lot my friend. Much appreciated.
Chris

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buggz · Jul 16, 2015

Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 would be a decent studio performer. Auto focus, e mount, and about a grand.

Zeiss Batis 85mm f 1.8 Lens for Sony E Mount 2103-751 B H Photo
- - some guy reviewing it

as for the 50mm's, I personally have avoided the sony non-zeiss lenses. No real reason though, just have never tried one, so no experience there. The sony 50mm f1.8 is about 300 bucks. The zeiss 55mm f1.8 is again about a grand, and auto focus. For professional work whereby camera gear is a tax right off, go the higher quality. For everyone else, its a matter of taste, trade-offs and finance.

Sadly in Australia, it is not possible to rent lenses and try them out at any sort of reasonable cost. Most* youtube reviews are biased and made by people who are paid to make the reviews by the prospective company, so you cannot really take their advice without a hefty pinch of salt.

For me I'm happy with my 2x Zeiss purchases, and the other manual focus lenses are only about 95% of what the zeiss ones are. But I am happy with that trade-off, at that cost, at this time in my life.

If money was no barrier I would probably go digital medium format for landscapes.

devorator · Jul 17, 2015

True about medium format.
Anyway I meant 55 zeiss not 50. I am to used to Nikon lenses that's why I wrote 50.
I believe I have a shop around here where I can rent some lenses. That is a great idea man.
85 seems a little longer than I like for studio. But i'll give it a try.
Thanks again my friend.
Chris

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devorator · Jul 17, 2015

"Some guy reviewing it"???!!! You kiddin' meeee!?? This guys is to envy. Matt is an amazing photographer and i love his reviews. Thanks for link buddy.

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buggz · Jul 17, 2015

heh, yes Mat has a great chanel

Solarflare · Jul 30, 2015

I just hope Sony wakes up some time soon and stops shooting themselves in the foot by not providing a lossless RAW format.

There you have it, the 3k$ camera with the backlit full frame sensor, and the electronics generously throw away part of the possible image quality. Thats just riddiculous.

runnah · Jul 30, 2015

Solarflare said:
I just hope Sony wakes up some time soon and stops shooting themselves in the foot by not providing a lossless RAW format.

There you have it, the 3k$ camera with the backlit full frame sensor, and the electronics generously throw away part of the possible image quality. Thats just riddiculous.

Yeah Sony always seems to be super brilliant on one hand and totally bone-headed on the other.

I like the A7 series a lot but $3.2k is way too high, that's D810/5Ds money.

If Sony were smart they'd dump their lenses and make Canon/Nikon mount bodies. They'd clean up!

Solarflare · Aug 5, 2015

I dont think so.

Trying to copy the Canon EOS or Nikon F mount without agreement from Canon or Nikon might not even be legally possible (aka patent war). Even if that wouldnt be an issue, the whole idea introduces a big buttload of compability issues, since these mounts arent officially documented.

Also Sony already has failed to beat Canon and Nikon in their own turf with their DSLRs / SLTs. Sony/Minolta A is a niche. I dont see how retrying with a new mount would change anything about the outcome.

But right now Sony's FE system seems to be a big success.

What Sony now needs is IMHO thus:

- More great Glas for Sony FE. For example a 85mm f1.4 thats on the same level as the 35mm f1.4 would cause many happy campers.
- Even more great Glas
- Also, great Glas
- Fixing the aforementioned issue with their raws (come on, thats downright trivial)
- Aaaand ... dont forget Glas.
- Come up with a flash system thats compareable in quality to the Nikon solution
- Glas ?
- Better video ... always. Like an A7s2 with internal 10 bit 4k recording.
- Glas !!!!!
- Fix their ergonomic issues, specifically their menu system, specifically a well integrated touchscreen.
- GLAS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Just in case you have missed it so far: Yes Sony needs a broader set of excellent glas. Theres plenty around now thats good, but its a bit uneven right now and certain areas are still missing.

runnah · Aug 5, 2015

Solarflare said:
I dont think so.

Trying to copy the Canon EOS or Nikon F mount without agreement from Canon or Nikon might not even be legally possible (aka patent war). Even if that wouldnt be an issue, the whole idea introduces a big buttload of compability issues, since these mounts arent officially documented.

Also Sony already has failed to beat Canon and Nikon in their own turf with their DSLRs / SLTs. Sony/Minolta A is a niche. I dont see how retrying with a new mount would change anything about the outcome.

But right now Sony's FE system seems to be a big success.

What Sony now needs is IMHO thus:

- More great Glas for Sony FE. For example a 85mm f1.4 thats on the same level as the 35mm f1.4 would cause many happy campers.
- Even more great Glas
- Also, great Glas
- Fixing the aforementioned issue with their raws (come on, thats downright trivial)
- Aaaand ... dont forget Glas.
- Come up with a flash system thats compareable in quality to the Nikon solution
- Glas ?
- Better video ... always. Like an A7s2 with internal 10 bit 4k recording.
- Glas !!!!!
- Fix their ergonomic issues, specifically their menu system, specifically a well integrated touchscreen.
- GLAS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Just in case you have missed it so far: Yes Sony needs a broader set of excellent glas. Theres plenty around now thats good, but its a bit uneven right now and certain areas are still missing.

I didn't say copy I said make. You look in the video world and most cameras these days come with a choice of EF or PAL mounts. Sony is the only one who is really sticking with their own mount and it's going to cost them in the long run. Heck the folks I know who use sony video bodies alway without fail have an adapter to use EF or PAL lenses.

I would have bought an A7s in a heartbeat if it had been in an EF mount.

Nikon by the way has really screwed themselves by stick with the "motor in body" lenses as no one uses them in the video world.

unpopular · Aug 9, 2015

Yep. It has been done. Fuji S-pro came in either Nikon or EOS mount.

goodguy · Aug 29, 2015

Saw a very thorough review of the A7R II
Good camera, very good camera but I dont think its quite there for a pro.

Very Good

obviously IQ but then all of Sony's cameras has good IQ or else their sensors wouldn't be so popular with other camera makers.

Good

Low light performance is good but not amazing, about same as D810, with the back lite technology I thought it will take a full stop of advantage but apparently not.
AF is an improvement over the rest of the A family, its snappy, accurate and fast BUT it can hunt in low light, not a huge deal for a hobbyist but I think a problem for a pro when every shot counts.

Not so good

As always lens lineup of Sony still is way behind
Matt Granger did a little test on the lens converters for Canon lenses and also the prototype for Nikon lenses and non was really impressive.

To me it looks like a nice step forward, excellent camera but still not there with its AF system for a pro and the lenses, oh the lenses, why is Sony so slow to come out with f2.8 zoom lenses ?