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The Sony A7 thread [Merged]

dmclalla

By dmclalla
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k-hawinkler

k-hawinkler

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I hope your & others blind fate is rewarded with satisfactory performing camera.

 

On the day of announcement I was impulsively jumping with joy that we finally got universal digital back working with all M/R/other lenses, without strap lugs falling off. Several days later I am not convinced until i see the goods. There still could be some truth in an old adage "you get what you pay for".

 

 

Why so negative?

I have not seen anybody here expressing blind faith.

Some folks are only interested in proven tools. That's fine.

Others want to know whether cutting edge cameras are already useful for real work?

Why not for them to get involved? It's their money.

I would like to find out whether any of my lenses excel on the A7R or not.

At a minimum the A7R should be a useful tool with some native lenses. :D

I am sure we have more info by December.

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AlanG

AlanG

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Why so negative?

I have not seen anybody here expressing blind fate.

Some folks are only interested in proven tools. That's fine.

Others want to know whether cutting edge cameras are already useful for real work?

Why not for them to get involved? It's their money.

I would like to find out whether any of my lenses excel on the A7R or not.

At a minimum the A7R should be a useful tool with some native lenses. :D

I am sure we have more info by December.

 

Yes, I think most people have faith that the A7 and A7r are not likely to be worse in imaging quality than the best DSLRs from Nikon and Canon as well as the SLTs from Sony. And it is reasonable to expect the A7r to be better. This is really isn't much of a stretch over Sony's previous technology. The only question seems to be how well it works with w/a M lenses and how people will like the handling.

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mmradman

mmradman

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Why so negative?

I have not seen anybody here expressing blind fate.

Some folks are only interested in proven tools. That's fine.

Others want to know whether cutting edge cameras are already useful for real work?

Why not for them to get involved? It's their money.

I would like to find out whether any of my lenses excel on the A7R or not.

At a minimum the A7R should be a useful tool with some native lenses. :D

I am sure we have more info by December.

 

K-H,

 

I have no doubt that A7/A7R will perform well with native, many legacy SLR and selected M lenses - in that order.

You are right, it is other people's money funding public testing, let them have fun & let some more water flow under the bridge.

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k-hawinkler

k-hawinkler

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Yes, I think most people have faith that the A7 and A7r are not likely to be worse in imaging quality than the best DSLRs from Nikon and Canon as well as the SLTs from Sony. And it is reasonable to expect the A7r to be better. This is really isn't much of a stretch over Sony's previous technology. The only question seems to be how well it works with w/a M lenses and how people will like the handling.

 

 

To me that's different from blind faith.

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k-hawinkler

k-hawinkler

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K-H,

 

I have no doubt that A7/A7R will perform well with native, many legacy SLR and selected M lenses - in that order.

You are right, it is other people's money funding public testing, let them have fun & let some more water flow under the bridge.

 

 

Well, I always felt like an involuntary beta tester with the M9.

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AlanG

AlanG

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To me that's different from blind faith.

 

I agree. What I was saying is I don't see how anyone would have doubt that this camera will work nicely. If you are familiar with the Nex 6, 7, and the SLTs you have a pretty good idea of how it will work. Personally, I would not buy a camera without trying it out, but that is mostly because I am not in any hurry. A 30 day return privilege gives one a pretty long try out period. I'll be playing with one on Thursday. I can't really say what role it could play for me. After shooting interiors all day tethered via C1, I really can't see using the Sony this way if it will alter my workflow. Although it might be suitable if it doesn't make me jump through too many hoops to shoot tethered. This is unlikely to be clear to me this week as I doubt they'll have a Sony tethered setup at Photo Expo. Not to knock Sony, Leica or any other brand, but a big advantage of Nikon and Canon is that as industry standards, you can get a lot of things that are made for them.

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AlanG

AlanG

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The idea of monitoring and releasing the shutter from my phone is interesting.

 

Yes and I can do that with the Nex 6. The problem is that it takes a bit of time to set this up. That isn't much of a problem if you have the time but you can't just pull out your phone and instantly have a remote viewfinder. You have to turn on the synching feature app in the camera. You have to turn on wifi on your phone and select the Sony camera. Then run the app on the smartphone and wait a bit for the connection to be established. Now with NFC maybe this is faster. It only allows you to adjust exposure, fire the shutter, review images or use the self timer.

 

With the Canon, an Android phone and DSLR Controller software, the app starts up on the phone automatically when I connect a USB cable. So it needs a cable but is much faster and more powerful than the Sony/Nex software is, giving a lot of control over the camera. (Focus, f stop, shutter speed, ISO, more.) I can't say if the A7 will be the same and maybe they will have more control over the camera.

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almoore

almoore

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There still could be some truth in an old adage "you get what you pay for".

 

Indeed, that's why many here are happy to pay so much more for a rebranded Panasonic with that all important red dot, or an EVF sporting the letters L E I C A rather than O L Y M P U S.

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edwardkaraa

edwardkaraa

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I hope your & others blind fate is rewarded with satisfactory performing camera.

 

On the day of announcement I was impulsively jumping with joy that we finally got universal digital back working with all M/R/other lenses, without strap lugs falling off. Several days later I am not convinced until i see the goods. There still could be some truth in an old adage "you get what you pay for".

 

Haha, because with the Leica, you get what you pay for? Or you get much less than what you pay for? LOL

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k-hawinkler

k-hawinkler

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While I have don't have a speculative view on the A7/A7R, here is a somewhat pessimistic speculation entitled Why the Sony A7 Doesn't Crush the Olympus E-M by Thom Hogan, the Nikon guru, who's been writing a lot on mirror-less cameras.

 

—Mitch/Paris

Tristes Tropiques [WIP]

 

 

Thanks Mitch for the link.

Thom Hogan seems to be getting closer to SH and maybe even KR in terms of generating Internet traffic.

I own and use M9, D800E, NEX-5N, NEX-7, E-M5, E-M1, and ordered the A7R.

The cameras I have are all quite different tools and excel in different ways.

I can't speak to the A7R but to the others I can.

According to Tim Ashley the E-M1 is a photographers camera, built by photographers for photographers.

That seems to be quite an endorsement, but one that I happen to agree with.

Tim also has indicated that on the E-M1 the Lux ASPH 50/1.4 turns the corners into mush.

However, my Noct Nikkor 58/1.2 doesn't seem to suffer the same fate.

In miy mind the E-M1 isn't IQ wise at the same level as the M9 or D800E.

However, it excels as a light carry-around system with 600 mm 135 film equivalent IBIS stabilized reach.

Its user interface, focusing ability, and IBIS (less so) are a major improvement relative to the excellent E-M5.

I use the E-M1 as a complementary tool to my other cameras.

I am looking forward to evaluating the A7R, once I have it, where it fits in in the scheme of things.

Again, thanks for your link.

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IkarusJohn

IkarusJohn

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While I have don't have a speculative view on the A7/A7R, here is a somewhat pessimistic speculation entitled Why the Sony A7 Doesn't Crush the Olympus E-M by Thom Hogan, the Nikon guru, who's been writing a lot on mirror-less cameras.

 

—Mitch/Paris

Tristes Tropiques [WIP]

 

I hadn't read Thom Hogan before a couple of days ago, and I'm really sure why I bothered. It's not that I disagree with him, but I'm no better informed than I was before I wasted half an hour reading and thinking about his articles. He really does have an agenda, not hidden that far below the surface.

 

As to his three reasons - (1) not interested in AF on this camera - if I want AF, I'll use my d800E, (2) with my M lenses, the adapter is the least of my worries - I have a Novoflex, and it worked perfectly on my NEX, (3) not planning on getting any Sony lenses. I suppose what worries him (or the people he supports, or do they support him?) is that there are plenty of very good Nikon lenses about, and Novoflex and others make very good adapters for F-mount lenses to E-mount cameras.

 

My worry is Leica wides (especially the 28 Summicron and 21 Summilux, neither of which have faired well with the A7, apparently). Nikon lenses will work superbly with the new cameras, I expect ... ;)

 

But my purpose here today isn't to pre-gripe a product that isn't released yet ;~) ... I'll bet that the A7r gets dinged for something significant, most likely focus speed, once it actually hits the market. :rolleyes:

...

 

Put another way, if Nikon, Olympus, and Pentax all had full frame mirrorless using the Sony sensors (and probably Canon with their own sensors) by the end of 2014, would the Sony A7's look all that great? So I judge Sony's advantage to be temporal, and some of that advantage is excessive pre-release hype compared to where the product actually performs. (temporal?)

 

Temporary wins are the worst kind. What you really want in the camera market is a camera that sells well for two, three, or four years. The Nikon D800 is one of those cameras. The Canon 5D is another. The Olympus E-M1 might be, though it remains to be seen as there are people holding off because they're worried about Olympus' commitment. I'm not so sure the Sony A7's are three year cameras. Too much of the tech in them seems like it'll be pushed forward quickly.

 

We come to bury Caesar, not to praise him!

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MarkP

MarkP

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A reasonable expectation is Sony will release A7r firmware updates and lens coding for wide angle M.

 

I think this is highly speculative, and as discussed elsewhere there are potential issues both with colour cast and smearing to contend with.

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edwardkaraa

edwardkaraa

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A reasonable expectation is Sony will release A7r firmware updates and lens coding for wide angle M.

 

Something that I learned just recently is that Sony sells apps at 9.99$ for the cameras, and one of the apps has a 3 slider control for color vignetting, as well as 2 other sliders for vignetting and distortion. Not sure if the correction affects the raw files though. One thing for sure it doesn't correct smearing :)

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