A possible switch? Canon 6D to Sony A7

[StickToYourGuns]

Hello everyone!

After getting into photography and borrowing friends cameras for the longest time, I finally did enough research to come to my own decision of purchasing my first DSLR. Now, this was not an impulse decision. I did hours and hours of research for a few months, and went to my local shops to play with the camera I eventually wound up purchasing, the Canon 6D.

Now in the beginning it was fantastic, took amazing pictures, had spectacular low light performance, it was everything I wanted. Now kind of like a new relationship, I believe I was in somewhat of a "honeymoon" phase. The 6D could do no wrong, it was perfect. Until I went to long shoots, or wanted to simply walk around downtown and snap a few shots.

Fast forward a year and a back surgery later, and the 6D is just too heavy for me, and I find myself leaving it on the shelf more than I do taking it out to shoot.

I think it's time for me to move on from the 6D, and I believe I've found a suitable replacement. The Sony A7 has caught my eye as a beautiful Mirrorless full frame camera. The light weight is an attractive selling point, and it looks impressive.

Money wise, Im not heavily invested in the Canon system. My lens collection is only the 17-40 f4 L, the 50mm 1.8, and a 70-300 I got extremely cheap from a friend. So money isn't exactly the issue, and as I've read, I can even use these lenses with the proper adapters. But my primary concern is, the small pool of lenses from Sony and their new FE mounts, and how their 24-70 and 70-200 are F4.

My favorite type of photography is Music/Concerts. My 6D was fantastic in this area, and I want to make sure the Sony will be too.

Thanks in advance for any advice/answers!

 

[Steve5D]

I'm not familiar enough with the Sony line to know how well it will work but, generally speaking, unless you're shooting under pro lighting conditions, f/4 will be a difficult obstacle to overcome...

 

[ConradM]

I'm not well versed on mirrorless cams but it seems like the new high ISO A7s would be suited to you.

 

[Solarflare]

AFAICS without googling, your gain (or rather loss) in weight wouldnt be that big.

And AFAIK the zoom lenses for Sony FE are IQ wise of rather disappointing quality.

Cant you get some good backpack to comfortably move around your camera ? My own backpack (Lowepro Flipside 400 AW) supports me so well, I have rather less back problems with it, than without.

I dont know how often you want to shoot in low light, but while the Sony cameras certainly can handle it IQ-wise, the Autofocus wont be that great.

 

[goodguy]

IF weight is an issue remember you cant change the fact if you want fast lens especially fast zoom lens they will be big and heavy, from what I read the A7 is a good camera, should have better DR but in low light the 6D should be slightly better.
If weight is the biggest problem then you will gain some advantage with the A7 but then if you will put a big 70-200mm 2.8 lens on it the small weight difference will be negligible.
Overall both cameras are very good so it will not be a huge mistake getting either but the lack of availability of good glass and high prices on the ones available for Sony new format of lenses would keep me (for now anyways) with Nikon of Canon.

 

[ConradM]

AFAICS without googling, your gain (or rather loss) in weight wouldnt be that big.

And AFAIK the zoom lenses for Sony FE are IQ wise of rather disappointing quality.

Cant you get some good backpack to comfortably move around your camera ? My own backpack (Lowepro Flipside 400 AW) supports me so well, I have rather less back problems with it, than without.

I dont know how often you want to shoot in low light, but while the Sony cameras certainly can handle it IQ-wise, the Autofocus wont be that great.

Eh, I wouldn't be to sure with the improved AF on the newer Sony's.

 

[jaomul]

I know this is not what you asked but have you looked into the various carrying set ups available now? There are loads, and I am sure that the users here can recommend some. Maybe your back needs to drop the camera weight, but maybe you just need kit to distribute or hold the gear, but not hanging off your neck

 

[gsgary]

I have just bought a Sony A7 to use my Leica mount lenses and love it, their 55mm F1.8 and 35mm F2.8 are better than the Canon equivalent the, i have read that the 55mm is one of the best in it's class i will be getting the 35mm in a mounth or so

iso 12800 no noise reduction

iso 16000 no noise reduction

iso 500

Canon 24-70F2.8L on cheap adater no aperture adjustment posible but the colours look great, might get Metabones adapter

iso 2000 natural light

Voigtlander 40F1.4 Nokton single coated

and a crop iso 320

 

[StickToYourGuns]

In terms of getting a better pack setup, I have considered this and I actually love the way my Think Tank retrospective feels, but there are a good amount of times where I just slap on one lens and want to walk around with just the camera on my shoulder without a full bag of gear. With my 6D,

 

[jaomul]

Apart from what I read can't say much about Sony except the photos above and on reviews look great. The lenses will probably be almost as big as the Canon though. I assume fullframe is your only option (mostly high iso shooting). Sony looks like a good option. If you are not always above 1600 ISO the Olympus EM1 is small rugged and has small yet plentiful lenses and inbuilt stabilization. It might be worth a look

 

[TCampbell]

The difference in body weight is about 200 grams. When you consider that lenses can often weigh more than the camera body... it may not be as big of a deal as you are hoping.

Another consideration (since you mentioned low light usage) ... the Canon 6D can auto-focus all the way down to EV -3. The A7 goes down to EV 0. That's a pretty noticeable loss in auto-focus performance if you switch.

I found that having a comfy strap really made the biggest difference. I didn't like carrying a heavy camera & lens very long when I had a factory strap. I picked up a Black Rapid sling-type strap and this made a huge difference. No longer mind carrying the camera all day.

 

[gsgary]

AFAICS without googling, your gain (or rather loss) in weight wouldnt be that big.

And AFAIK the zoom lenses for Sony FE are IQ wise of rather disappointing quality.

Cant you get some good backpack to comfortably move around your camera ? My own backpack (Lowepro Flipside 400 AW) supports me so well, I have rather less back problems with it, than without.

I dont know how often you want to shoot in low light, but while the Sony cameras certainly can handle it IQ-wise, the Autofocus wont be that great.

But the primes are fantastic Sony FE 55mm F1.8 ZA Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* Lab Test Review: Digital Photography Review

 

[vipgraphx]

YOu will love the A7 I owned it for awhile and took it back so I can wait to see what will be coming out later this year from Nikon and Sony.

The great thing about the sony is you can use just about any lens (with adapters). So you can keep the lenses you have if you want to. The camera
is truly a great camera, the features that it offers is sooooooo awesome. The fact that its FF adds to the WOW factor. IQ is up there with Nikon D600/610, D800 and Canons.
The fact that you can see what you will be shooting with all the real time adjustments make this camera so easy to use and you get better shots faster. It use to take me a few shots to dial in exposure,shutter and ISO , when using the sony I would nail the shot the first time in most cases.

I say go for it or even wait until the A7s.

FYI another nice camera to consider is the A6000 BUT even though it is nice and I am currently testing it out at this moment I still think the A7 performs much better!

cheers

here are some pictures I took while using the A7


F5.6
ISO 400
.3
ZionDreamingA by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

F4.5
ISO 1600
1/125
Zion creative by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

Using Nikon 50mm 1.8
1/200
ISO 500

Zion Portrait by VIPGraphX, on Flickr


F8
30
ISA 100

TUCSON Night Sky by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

F5.6
ISO 400
1/2000

A7 test by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

USING THE NIKON 50MM 1.8
ISO 800
1/80

Should I get some Candy by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

 

[ConradM]

YOu will love the A7 I owned it for awhile and took it back so I can wait to see what will be coming out later this year from Nikon and Sony.

The great thing about the sony is you can use just about any lens (with adapters). So you can keep the lenses you have if you want to. The camera
is truly a great camera, the features that it offers is sooooooo awesome. The fact that its FF adds to the WOW factor. IQ is up there with Nikon D600/610, D800 and Canons.
The fact that you can see what you will be shooting with all the real time adjustments make this camera so easy to use and you get better shots faster. It use to take me a few shots to dial in exposure,shutter and ISO , when using the sony I would nail the shot the first time in most cases.

I say go for it or even wait until the A7s.

FYI another nice camera to consider is the A6000 BUT even though it is nice and I am currently testing it out at this moment I still think the A7 performs much better!

cheers

here are some pictures I took while using the A7


F5.6
ISO 400
.3
ZionDreamingA by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

F4.5
ISO 1600
1/125
Zion creative by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

Using Nikon 50mm 1.8
1/200
ISO 500

Zion Portrait by VIPGraphX, on Flickr


F8
30
ISA 100

TUCSON Night Sky by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

F5.6
ISO 400
1/2000

A7 test by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

USING THE NIKON 50MM 1.8
ISO 800
1/80

Should I get some Candy by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

That is something that doesn't get stressed enough. Until you try it and get used it you won't understand how much faster it is. I see all these different threads asking about the best ways to figure WB and exposure and I just think about how I get to see it in real time.

 

[gsgary]

This one is with the Jupiter 12 (35mm F2.8 a Russian copy of the pre war Zeiss Biogon) minimum focus is 1 meter but with the Voitlander close focus adapter and m39 to M mount the minimum focus goes down to 255mm :shock:

Shot at F5.6 or F8