Any Sony A7s Shooters in the House?

[Carduelis]

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In terms of the A7S as a camera I don't think it has been hyped nearly enough. It's awesome ...

 

Yes, the low light performance of the A7S is impressive and it could be interesting doing some astrophotography with it after reading about it and seeing some impressive starry sky images on the internet. I am wondering whether it might be possible to avoid having to use flash indoors particularly when using the A7S with the 35/50 f1.4 ASPH Summiluxes. Then there are the video credentials of the A7S….

[viramati]

Since returning my a7r I have not kept up with a7s details, but is this truly the case that not one person has had problems with any M lens on the a7s? If so, then this is an entirely different animal from the a7/a7r series cvameras..

28 summicron asph doesn't perform well on the A7s or any A7 series camera with bad edge smearing even stopped down, The WATE is good but in no way does it equal it's performance on the leica M. Summilux 50 asph seems to perform well but I prefer using the FE55. CV 35/1.8 and 21/1.8 seem to perform well. all my lenses longer than 50 perform well.

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[Carduelis]

I have a couple of minor issues within the Sony A7S which I wonder if they are resolvable:

 

1. When viewing a particular image in higher magnification on the back of the camera, often the camera jumps into the next or previous image which is frustrating.

 

2. On removing lenses, the sensor seems to be exposed without any sort of curtain/shutter in front of it.

 

Unfortunately, the instruction booklet concentrates on many languages and not the functionality of such a complex camera.

[viramati]

I have a couple of minor issues within the Sony A7S which I wonder if they are resolvable:

 

1. When viewing a particular image in higher magnification on the back of the camera, often the camera jumps into the next or previous image which is frustrating.

 

2. On removing lenses, the sensor seems to be exposed without any sort of curtain/shutter in front of it.

 

Unfortunately, the instruction booklet concentrates on many languages and not the functionality of such a complex camera.

the online help guide gives you a much better explanation as to the camera functions

Help Guide | Top

 

Like most mirrorless cameras the shutter remains open when the lens is removed. I don't really find dust a problem with the A7 series as use of the electronic cleaning function and then a good blow with my blower has always removed visible dust.

Your other issue I haven't come across

[Carduelis]

Further to my initial tests on the A7S yesterday, I have found that my 24 mm Elmar lens performs better at f11 and with careful focusing can provide almost edge to edge sharpness at 1.1 magnification level when using Lightroom. This finding now appears to be an improvement over what the 24-70 mm zoom can offer for this focal length. I am now getting much improved edge to edge sharpness at this magnification level for my 15 CV lens, though I have had to set it to f16. I feel that the low light capability and reduced number of pixels comprising the sensor of the A7S are advantageous in being able to use Leica M mount wide angle lenses on non Leica bodies.

Edited October 9, 2014 by Carduelis

[indergaard]

I have a couple of minor issues within the Sony A7S which I wonder if they are resolvable:

 

2. On removing lenses, the sensor seems to be exposed without any sort of curtain/shutter in front of it.

 

That's normal with every mirrorless camera - except the Leica M's.

 

Don't worry about it. The camera has an automatic dust-removal system that works. The sensor will gather less dust than the M240 thanks to this system anyway... And the sensor is far easier to clean due to the very short flange distance.

[algrove]

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I just could not be happy with a camera where I must shoot a particular lens at f11 which is not its best f stop according to Leica.

 

Many have said it- Sony lenses for Sony and Leica lenses for Leica. Agree the WATE works with most any camera due to its design characteristics.

 

Do I assume the a7r vibration issue is not of concern for the a7s?

[Carduelis]

I just could not be happy with a camera where I must shoot a particular lens at f11 which is not its best f stop according to Leica.

 

Many have said it- Sony lenses for Sony and Leica lenses for Leica. Agree the WATE works with most any camera due to its design characteristics.

 

Do I assume the a7r vibration issue is not of concern for the a7s?

 

I am still intending to use my Leica M240 as my primary camera as I enjoy using it with my prime lenses and am pleased with the results. However there are times when it is convenient to make use of the zoom, autofocus, image stabilisation and low light potential that the A7s offers in full frame. I think it is an interesting and useful exercise to determine how well Leica lenses work on this camera for equipment selection for future applications.

 

I don't believe the A7r vibration issue is a concern for the A7s;I have not experienced it yet and believe the shutter is more akin to the A7. Also, the sensor resolution of the A7s is less than the A7r which should help the situation.

[viramati]

I just could not be happy with a camera where I must shoot a particular lens at f11 which is not its best f stop according to Leica.

 

Many have said it- Sony lenses for Sony and Leica lenses for Leica. Agree the WATE works with most any camera due to its design characteristics.

 

Do I assume the a7r vibration issue is not of concern for the a7s?

vibration is not an issue with either the A7 or A7s due to the electronic first shutter. On the A7s you can have a total electronic shutter if you want

[dfbldwn]

Thanks to Wilfredo for starting this thread.

 

Does anyone using the A7s prefer the Voigtlander Close Focus adapter over the Novoglex? I am trying to decide between them and would prefer the Voigtlander, but I've read that it shows vignetting for 90mm and 135mm Leica lenses. I use these two focal lengths too often to accept that, but if it is not too bad I would like to have the option of close focusing on the A7s.

 

Thanks in advance

 

dave

[viramati]

Personally I have no vignetting with the apo-telyt 135 or elmarit-M 90 using the voigtlander close focus adaptor on either the A7 or A7s. the close focusing mechanism can very useful at times and the adaptor is well built with the only downside being that it is quite heavy

[dfbldwn]

Personally I have no vignetting with the apo-telyt 135 or elmarit-M 90 using the voigtlander close focus adaptor on either the A7 or A7s. the close focusing mechanism can very useful at times and the adaptor is well built with the only downside being that it is quite heavy

 

Thanks very much. Is it your only M-to-E adapter, or do you mostly use another one?

[viramati]

No i have cheap Chinese one that I bought used when i got my A7 for £12 which also works perfectly (I believe it is a Kiwi M to E adaptor)

[250swb]

For anybody interested Sean Reid has just published a test of rangefinder lenses on the A7S. My overall opinion is that it isn't very encouraging, unlike some initial hype that everything was rosy with the A7S. The only solution for an overall sharp image being a sweet spot around f/8 where corners become sharp and before diffraction sets in.

 

Steve

[Twilight]

Hi

 

I had the summilux 35 ASPH preFLE for a while, liked the rendering but found focussing and focus shift somewhat troublesome on the M9.

I also have the A7 and 55 Zeiss which I both like but I would love a completely silent and reactive body with top notch IQ at higher ISO.

 

Now that we have the possibility of a A7S, I am considering the summilux ASPH 35 preFLE again. I also have the summilux 75 which probably would serve well and give nice results...The summicron ASPH 35 I have won't fare well, that is clear already.

 

However I have some supplementary questions.

 

- How does the summilux ASPH preFLE fare on the A7S in particular. Sporadic reports suggest it does well. Anybody here with more experience with this combo and maybe samples?

 

- Is the silent shutter mode in most circumstances usable (rolling shutter phenomenon)?

 

- Do I understand well that if you want to use auto ISO and not go below lets say a safe 1/200 shutter speed, you have to put is manual mode, shutter speed 200 and auto ISO and if you adjust daifragm, the body will chose the ISO automatically to expose correctly (so no manual adjustment of diaphragm to get exposure right)

 

Thanks for your comments

 

Peter

[-Lss-]

2. My CV 15 mm f4.5 and 24 mm f3.8 Elmar lenses do not appear to show any colour casts. However at 1.1 viewing in Lightroom they lose sharpness particularly in the outer 10-15% vertical sections of the image. At 1.2 viewing in Lightroom, I believe that it may be possible to produce a good A3 edge to edge image for the 24 mm Elmar, but not for the CV 15 lens without attempting some cropping. Though with more distortion, the 24-70 zoom lens appears to produce a sharper edge to edge image than the 24 mm Elmar on the A7S.

I'm thinking about adding either an A7s or an A7II. These two lenses (CV15 and 24/3.8) are of particular interest to me. Have you by any chance compared your A7s against the original A7 with these lenses?

 

Edit. I have seen results with CV15 on A7, and some isolated ones with 24/3.8. I'm particularly interested in comments from someone who has made the direct comparison themselves.

Edited December 2, 2014 by -Lss-
Added explanation

[Carduelis]

I'm thinking about adding either an A7s or an A7II. These two lenses (CV15 and 24/3.8) are of particular interest to me. Have you by any chance compared your A7s against the original A7 with these lenses?

 

Edit. I have seen results with CV15 on A7, and some isolated ones with 24/3.8. I'm particularly interested in comments from someone who has made the direct comparison themselves.

 

I do not own the original A7 and have carried out the tests with the CV15 and 24/3.8 on my A7S. I felt that the A7S was slightly over-hyped with regard to using wide angle lenses on it. For edge to edge sharpness, I found that f numbers of at least f11 were required with the 24/3.8 and at least f16 for the CV15. With the increased pixel resolution of the A7, I cannot envisage the results being any better than the A7S, perhaps a touch worse.

[-Lss-]

Ok, thanks.

[miamigator]

I just picked up a used Sony a7s and have been blow away by the low light capabilities of it. My glass is the 35 summilux and an old 50mm nocti

Just ordered an Atomos Shogun monitor (and 4k recorder) to start learning and perfecting motion pictures, something that I know very little about.

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[erl]

Miamigator, I am seriously considering you line of action. Currently shooting M9 as my prime camera with a full suite of lenses. However, I have some brilliant R lenses and Hasselblad V series lenses that could be dusted off to couple with the A7s.

 

Low light and high iso appeals to me and video capability would amuse me.