The Sony A7 thread [Merged]

[k-hawinkler]

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I was about to order, but the more internet research i did, the more conflicting information i received. Let me ask some basic questions:

I will buy the WATE, but i would like a 35mm lens for the A7s. I have a 35 cron that won't work. I also have a 50 lux, so that should be ok based on the research.

Is there anything wrong with the zeiss/sony AF 35mm lens and 55mm lens? Not my perfect approach, but I am considering getting these, and using the WATE and my 50 lux. Would this approach work well? Alternatively, i purchase a used 40 cron i think as the best option. (most cost effective at least) I am trying to tide myself over, past my M9 and enough to buy a used version of the next M. (so we are looking at 2- 3 years with the a7)

 

 

It sure makes sense to have some native lenses with AF.

That enables some of the great features, like face recognization, and automatic focusing on an eye.

I have the FE 35/2.8 that gets used a lot on my A7R.

My copy seems fine, no problems I can detect.

The Fe 55/1.8 seems to have an even better reputation.

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[JimKasson]

Is there anything wrong with the zeiss/sony AF 35mm lens and 55mm lens?

 

The Zony 55mm FE is a very good lens, and a great bargain:

 

Leica 50 ‘lux on the M240, Sony 55 FE on the Sony a7 | The Last Word

 

Jim

[viramati]

the Lux 50 asph doesn't perform very well on the A7 but is better on the A7s though IMO it is not up to the performance of the FE55 for sharpness across the frame ( the FE55 is really just a superb lens and probably the best in the FE lineup). The WATE performs well though it performs a lot better not the M(this is really to be expected) I am thinking that the FE16-35 probably performs better than the WATE on the A7 especially in the corners and wide open. Focus peaking is a bitch if not impossible to really obtain with the WATE owing to the wide-angle and f4 maximum aperture

[uroman]

Thanks, If the leica lenses are inferior to the sony ones on the A7S, i wonder if it is best to just totally switch to the a7s + FE lenses for 2-3 years until the next M. May be cheaper than buying a M-P now, or a M Monochrom. Perhaphs the A7 is just not as friendly to Leica lenses as i believed previously. Or i could just stick with my M9...

[viramati]

The A7 generally performs well with lens of 50mm and longer (apart from the 50 lux). It also seems to perform well with some of the wider CV lenses such as the CV 35/1.2 mmii and CV 21/1.8 asph (I have both of these) and pretty well with the WATE. The A7s having the larger pixels seems to be more forgiving with the wider lenses add to this it's amazing high iso (I would say it is usable up to 52000 iso) performance and very malleable files (especially good for B&W conversions where it really shines) is a no brainer if you can live with the 12mp file size. It also auto-focuses amazing well for a mirrorless camera especially in low light where it goes to -4 EV. For the price of the WATE new you could buy the FE16-35, FE 24-70, FE55 and FE 35. Early next year we should be getting a 35/1.4 and 28/2 and a couple more

[colonel]

Sean Reid has just published a review of the A7s with RF lenses

Very interesting.

 

This also follows his review of the A7S which is also very interesting

 

just FYI

 

rgds

[jedi996sps]

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Sean Reid has just published a review of the A7s with RF lenses

Very interesting.

 

This also follows his review of the A7S which is also very interesting

 

just FYI

 

rgds

 

I wonder whether we (read for me) are not missing a trick with the A7 in that the zeiss native FE len's either manual or auto-focus, are so good and at a relative price point that makes them even more of a logical acquisition, that getting one or two of them, even if they are the same focal lengths as the Leica ones that you may already have, appears to make a lot more sense than struggling to justify why you bought it in the first place to use with M glass?

[colonel]

I wonder whether we (read for me) are not missing a trick with the A7 in that the zeiss native FE len's either manual or auto-focus, are so good and at a relative price point that makes them even more of a logical acquisition, that getting one or two of them, even if they are the same focal lengths as the Leica ones that you may already have, appears to make a lot more sense than struggling to justify why you bought it in the first place to use with M glass?

 

 

I agree.

My approach generally is that it's best to use lenses designed for a system on that system.

I wouldn't recommend buying an A7 just to use with 3rd party lenses unless it's a particular fetish you have.

There are however some interesting lenses which Sony does not cover and also are great in their own right, like the CV 15mm.

Also there is a lot of telephoto R glass around at reasonable prices with excellent performance

So these interest me.

But for lenses like the 50mm Summilux or the 35mm FLE I have no interest whatsoever using them on anything except the M240.....

[TomB_tx]

I got my A7 just for all my orphaned '60s - '80s SLR lenses that have no native FF digital solution, including Leica R, Pentax, Canon FL-FD, etc. Results have been much better than I expected, and I'm quite satisfied with it as a companion to my RF Leica. I always used both RF and SLR with film, and it fits my needs for digital.

[Twilight]

Hi

 

I use a Leica M9P with 28 summicron ASPH, 35 summilux ASPH preFLE, 50 summilux ASPH and summilux 75.

 

I want to add a Sony alpha A7S or A7II but doubt a bit between both.

 

I know the A7S is supposed to be better at high ISO and in general with the Leica M lenses. However it will mainly be used with the Sony Zeiss 55 mm and only sometimes with the Leica M 35 ASPH preFLE and 75 lux.

 

The main reason for me to get the A7S would be its silent shutter. However I wonder wether the camera is also top notch at base ISO. I guess we will use ISO 100-800 the most (seldom 1600-6400) and than the A7II is probably already quite capable. The A7II can stabilise my Leica lenses which is great off course but when I can crank up the ISO and get a comparable file on the A7S it does not matter that much (plus I can also better freeze the subject). 12 MP is more than enough to me.

 

So what about IQ at low ISO of the A7S? Michael Reichmann from "the luminous landscape" says he finds a kind of "medium format look" in the A7S images... not so for the A7II?

 

 

Thanks for the comments.

[jankap]

Please take all these tests with a grain of salt. Medium format for instance has 50 Mpixels and not 12.

You can trust the contributors in the forum as they use the cameras as consumers.

But Michael Reichmann produces nice pictures. He even compared medium format against iPhone with very reasonable results.

 

Delivery of the A7II is planned for February 2015, isn´t it.

Jan

[Thomas Chen]

The main reason for me to get the A7S would be its silent shutter

 

Peter,

 

Steve Huff made a comparison of shutter sound on Dec. 9 between A7S and A7 II. He found that the shutter sound generated by A7 II is more subdue that that of A7S. You may find the vedio at his site.

[Twilight]

Peter,

 

Steve Huff made a comparison of shutter sound on Dec. 9 between A7S and A7 II. He found that the shutter sound generated by A7 II is more subdue that that of A7S. You may find the vedio at his site.

 

Thank you

 

I saw it already...

 

I wonder if it would really mean that much to me, this silent shutter option. I am thinking of shots of kids or of my wife, without getting her attention. I am not into concert photography or macro of small animals... Probably I will not need it that much.

 

When the summilux 35 ASPH preFLE performs quite well already on a A7(II) I maybe do not really need the A7S for optical performance of this Leica wide-angle and I would maybe have more benefit of a stabilized camera than a higher ISO camera.

 

I know IBIS will not freeze movement, but with my fast lenses (summilux 35 ASPH preFLE, summilux 50 ASPH and Zeiss FE 55 mm, summilux 75) will get most of my inside-shots at 1600-3200 ISO where the A7(II) is still very OK. IBIS on the other hand will help me in using the 75 summilux, though I wonder if it will also avoid excessive forward-backward movement (and thus critical focus at F/1.4).

 

And than there is the issue of IQ at low ISO settings, where I am not really convinced yet which one is the better one based on color/skintone rendering,... (dynamic range and resolution aside).

[k-hawinkler]

IBIS can take the jerkiness out of the EVF image when manually focusing.

[viramati]

Got mine of Friday, IBIS is a real eyeopener especially with the longer lenses. sharp shots of static subjects handheld with the apo-telyt 135 at 1/30th sec!! Also it makes magnified focusing so much easier with the longer lenses as the IBIS stops all the jiggling around.

The shutter sound is certainly different and softer in tone and is not far off that of the M240

IQ appears to be the same as the A7

I have the A7s which is the low light king and also means I can use higher shutter speeds to freeze movement at high iso's when IBIS is really not of any use

All in all a great camera and I am seriously considering selling a lot of my leica gear as I now find the Sony A7's to be so good and versatile

[Thomas Chen]

Got mine of Friday, IBIS is a real eyeopener especially with the longer lenses. sharp shots of static subjects handheld with the apo-telyt 135 at 1/30th sec!! Also it makes magnified focusing so much easier with the longer lenses as the IBIS stops all the jiggling around.

 

David,

 

Congradulation! Your findings encourage me to consider acquiring another A7 series camera.

 

If you have a Leica Summicron 28/2 ASPH and a Elmarit 21/2.8 ASPH, please advise whether these two lenses engender red color shift and smearing at the corner in the image.

 

Thanks and Best Regards,

 

Thomas Chen

[Rick]

All in all a great camera and I am seriously considering selling a lot of my leica gear as I now find the Sony A7's to be so good and versatile

 

I find that hard to believe. Let me know what you sell. I would like to see that long list of Leica gear you are going to sell because of a Sony camera.

[Rick]

David,

 

Congradulation! Your findings encourage me to consider acquiring another A7 series camera.

 

If you have a Leica Summicron 28/2 ASPH and a Elmarit 21/2.8 ASPH, please advise whether these two lenses engender red color shift and smearing at the corner in the image.

 

Thanks and Best Regards,

 

Thomas Chen

 

Of course they do. These Leica lens are retrofocus design and show edge smearing and color shift as well as severe sensor flare from specular shots taken at night. Sony has problems with their sensors in the A7 series.

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[colonel]

Peter,

 

Steve Huff made a comparison of shutter sound on Dec. 9 between A7S and A7 II. He found that the shutter sound generated by A7 II is more subdue that that of A7S. You may find the vedio at his site.

 

 

He is talking here only about the mechanical shutter

The A7II doesn't have the silent electronic shutter that the A7S has.

Which is awesome and I keep on all the time.

 

For me, owning the A7S, which is lighter weight and smaller then the A7ii with its silent shutter and fantastic low ISO makes me have no interest in trading it in for many years.

 

The A7ii looks to be a great camera but I would still have bought the A7S over it today.

 

One thing rarely mentioned, not just the superb pixel level quality which I think Reichmann was referring to, but quality at low ISOs. Previous to the A7S I would always make a conscious effort to keep the ISO on the lowest setting for IQ. On the A7S I am genuinely ambivalent about 100-800 when maintaining top quality. This is a wonderful intellectual freedom from worrying about this whole topic.

 

Rgds

[Steve P]

Sony has problems with their sensors in the A7 series.

 

Do they? Or just in relation to some third party lenses?