Sony or Canon?; General Purpose and Macro...

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I need a camera to shoot some buildings and landscape locations.

But, I've also always wanted to get into some macro photography. From what I've read Canon is the hands down winner in Macro for its 65 mm 1-5x magnification lens. So, I always thought Canon was the way to go for me.

But, looking around, I see the Sony Alpha A7 II looks pretty awesome and I see that there are adapters to use Canon lenses with it. I like idea of the full-frame sensor, image stabilization, and a few other features. It just seems like it might be great for all of my non-macro purposes.

Would it be too much of a stretch to combine the Sony with the awesome Canon macro lens using an adapter?

I have read that DPAF may be superior on Canons but I can't figure out how to really compare the two brands. There seem to be some advantages to how the Sonys operate as well, like faster and quieter lens motors, more compact size, etc.

Is there some major or obvious reason to just go with a Canon, like an 80D or 6D instead of the Sony?
 
How macro do you want to go? That canon lens is very specialised and not easy to use. If 1:1 would do the trick the choice is easier, even 2:1 can be achieved with a macro lens and some tubes
 
That is a great question and the answer is that I don't really know. I am aware that macro photography adds a lot of extra difficulties because the depth of field is extremely narrow so any movement of the camera or the subject is a real problem, and that getting lighting on a tiny subject can be a challenge in itself too. But, I love all those blown up shots of flowers, bugs, and other things that show all the detail I can't see with the naked eye. I was looking at some photos that some people posted about a Sony macro lens, I can't remember the specs, I think it was 1:1, but I remember thinking, I want to go more macro than those images!
 
The Sony A7ii has a lot of resolution and is a fullframe so there are benefits.

I would however (if it were me) consider the canon 80d unless I had a lot of money to dish out. The dslr body will have more consistent focus for moving subjects should you require that, it also had a bigger choice of native autofocus lenses. It's battery will last longer etc

If you added for example a tamron 90mm macro and a set of autofocus macro tubes you could get super close up to subjects. If you decide later it's not close enough add the mp65 and you'd probably sell the tamron with very little loss, or none if you bought it used
 
Today the Nikon D850 is offering specialized focus stacking which is very helpful for macro work plus tons of resolution, worth looking into and to consider.
 
I’m pretty sure the Sony 90mm Macro lens is one of the highest rated lenses on DxO Mark, so I wouldn’t trade it out to use for a Canon+adapter. Plus, a longer focal length would be beneficial when shooting bugs, so you don’t need to get as close.

As for shooting buildings and landscapes, the Sony 16-35 also gets excellent reviews...I could be mistaken, but I think it’s also one of the highest rated wide-angle zoom lenses tested on DxO Mark as well.

The best thing to do would be to test the cameras out in a camera store. Sony tends to be more expensive (because all the lenses are newer) but they also lead in testing results. Canon is still a favorite of many because of their ergonomics. The camera that feels right in your hand is the best one for you.

Edited to add sources: Sony FE 90mm f2.8 Macro G OSS lens review: Outstanding optical performance - DxOMark

Sony FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM lens review: Highest-rated wide-angle zoom - DxOMark
 
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I would not want to use an adapted macro lens, but rather a system-native macro lens. The MPE lens is no longer actually being manufactured, but there are PLENTY of them being held in dealer stock; it is a very slow-selling and highly-specialuzed lens, not for the beginner, but for the true macro specialist who shoots Canon. There are OTHER WAYS of achieving MPE-like high-magnification views (like lens relays in which one reverse-mounts a lens in front of another, etc, reversed lenses,etc).

Cherylynne1's comments above ring true to me! Pay attention to her comments! CHECK the camera out in a store. And if you do so, have the decency to BUY the camera there, and not off the internet.
 
The best thing to do would be to test the cameras out in a camera store. Sony tends to be more expensive (because all the lenses are newer) but they also lead in testing results. Canon is still a favorite of many because of their ergonomics. The that feels right in your hand is the best one for you.

Thanks for all of the replies. It gives me a lot to think about. The D850 and some of those lenses are pretty extavagant for my budget.

There is a big part of me that likes the idea of the Sony but it does look like we have a local store where I could check out some bodies in this range with prices the same or similar to the Internet. Ergonomics are certainly important if you are going to spend a lot of time with a machine. So far, I'm not a giant fan of touch screens. Some say the Sony interface is really good without them.

Do you think I could get by OK shooting buildings and basic landscape shots with the FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS Lens that is commonly bundled with the Sony Alpha A7 II? It seems like a good deal and gets a "respectable" dxomark of 22. Most of the shots are for a book and the quality doesn't have to be incredible. Or is there another lense that is wider angle that you'd recommend that isn't too pricy from say, Tamron or another?

The Tamron macro lens mentioned looks pretty well rated by dxomark for the price coming in at 32. And, AF macro tubes don't look too spendy either. What do the rest of you think about this strategy for a hobbyist? Or, even macro tubes with the Sony macro for that matter. I might decide to pony up the extra cash in a few months. It looks incredible with a dxomark of 40!
 
The kit lens that comes with the A7II is respectable, and as long as the prints aren’t going to be larger than 8x10, I don’t think you’ll have an issue with the quality. I could be wrong, but to the best of my knowledge Tamron hasn’t made any full frame E-Mount lenses for Sony yet, and I think Sigma has only made APS-C lenses so far. I admit I haven’t been following very closely with either company, however. Rokinon/Samyang do have some prime lenses for very reasonable prices, however, they’re manual focus only. Manual focus is considerably easier on mirrorless than traditional DSLRs, but I certainly wouldn’t recommend it as a replacement for the kit lens. I think for decent quality at a good price, the 28-70 is your best bet.
 
Oh, boy, now we’re getting into the insanity that is the Sony Camera Naming System.

The lens you’re looking at fits Sony’s A-mount system, which was their older system, however, they are still producing new cameras for it. Some of them are called Alpha. A-mount lenses won’t fit A7 cameras without an adapter, just like adapting Canon or Nikon.

The A7II is part of Sony’s new E-mount system, specifically FE-mount, because it is full frame. Only full frame E-mount lenses will fit without an adapter.

There is also the crop sensor, APS-C line of E-mount cameras. Because these sensors are smaller, they can accept all the lenses made for E-mount, whether it’s designated for full frame or APS-C. Some of these are also called Alpha. They really just like the name Alpha.

Thoroughly confused yet? We all are.
 
So much for that idea! Well, how about the image stabilization for each. Is it better in the lens or in the body or is it a bunch of tradeoffs? The main difference I've read about is that it adds image stabilization to any lens but I don't own any old lenses so this isn't an issue for me.

The Canon 6D Mark II is roughly in the same price range as the Alpha A7 II, and is also full-frame unlike the 80D. Maybe I just need to settle for APS-C...tough decision! Full-frame just seems so much better to my thinking. I am just an enthusiast photographer though, maybe it isn't that big of a deal. How does full-frame vs APS-C figure in for macro?
 
Neither of the subjects you bring up are my area of expertise, but I can give you my thoughts while keeping you bumped at the top of the forum.

In-body stabilization is nice because it adds stabilization to any lens, as you mentioned. However, you’re mistaken in thinking that it’s only old lenses that don’t have lens stablization. Many modern lenses don’t have stabilization, likely to save money on some of the budget lenses. As for me, I rarely feel like I need it. I generally use very fast shutter speeds and/or flash, because my subjects are moving, or I have a tripod for times when I need a slow shutter speed. So while it’s a nice feature to have in either the lens or the body, it’s never been a deciding factor for me.

For macro, you’ll probably usually want to use a tripod, and for moving bugs, you’ll need a fast shutter speed anyway. For wide angle landscape, the shutter speed doesn’t need to be quite as fast (shutter speed needs to get faster to accommodate longer focal lengths.) So while in-body stabilization is a nice feature, I’m not sure that it should be a dealbreaker for your uses.

I’m not a huge fan of Canon, so I won’t really speak as to the overall Canon vs Sony debate. (My reasons are subjective and completely based on personal preference, not anything you should be concerned about. Canon makes excellent cameras.) As for APS-C for macro, however, there is an advantage. A wide aperture will provide a more narrow depth of field on a full frame camera than on a crop sensor. For instance, if you put a 6d and 80d next to each other, but the same lens on both of them (say, 50mm), and set the aperture on both to 1.8, you’ll come out with two very different looking pictures. The 80d will appear more “zoomed in,” by about 1.5 times. The 80d will also have more of the scene in focus, while the 6d will have more blurring. In portraits, this is often desireable, because they like to have just the subject isolated. However, it can become an issue with macro. Because the subject is so small and you are so close to it, the depth of field can become so thin that nothing at all looks like it’s in focus. You need to stop down quite a bit before you can get something useable, and that’s also where techniques like focus stacking come in. APS-C would be beneficial in this situation, because while it still opens up wide to let the same amount of light in, it doesn’t give as narrow a depth of field.

I apologize if this is too technical. As far as I can see, that would be the main advantage of APS-C in your situation, other than things like being smaller and lighter and sometimes cheaper.
 
No, that is not too technical, I've read about all of the technical aspects of the basics and you are ringing some bells, even though it has been quite a while.

You make a great case for APS-C for me. I think it will be fine for my business purposes and if it is better for macro in some ways, then I can save the money and put it into better glass. I've always read that the lens is most important anyway. I'm not sure this directly applies to the new digital age of cameras but even the best sensors can only capture what light we send to them.

So, now I've got to evalute the APS-C cameras! What do you think of the evaluations on cameradecision.com?
 
Most hobbyists don’t need full frame, and I agree about the lens.

I like cameradecision.com well enough, as well as The Imaging Resource, but DPReview is far and above my favorite for reviews. I also really like Kai on YouTube (previously part of DigitalRev.)
 

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