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The Sony A7 thread [Merged]


dmclalla

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Not sure how much it will impact current Leica owners. If the price is anywhere near the RX1, it would seem fairly expensive with the body adapter and EVF. It might approach $4000. I would rather buy a used M9 at that price but that is just me.

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Not sure how much it will impact current Leica owners. If the price is anywhere near the RX1, it would seem fairly expensive with the body adapter and EVF. It might approach $4000. I would rather buy a used M9 at that price but that is just me.

 

Again, you are right, although perhaps a little high on price (up to $3k has been suggested in the rumours). It will be very interesting to see what happens and what coverage the cameras get immediately after launch. Simply because of the full-frame sensor and E-mount, there is bound to be speculation on the suitability of Leica lenses.

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It was just a wild guess at best. I am not sure if folks will buy the Sony and go out and buy a Leica lens for it but I may be wrong. Luckily I am not looking for any new lens purchases or another camera body.

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It was just a wild guess at best. I am not sure if folks will buy the Sony and go out and buy a Leica lens for it but I may be wrong. Luckily I am not looking for any new lens purchases or another camera body.

 

I know there is a lot of interest in using Leica lenses on other cameras. Last year I wrote an article for my blog on my experiences with several Leica lenses on a Fuji X1-E. It turns out to have attracted more hits than anything else I've written--and photography is only a side interest. Always, though, there has been the knotty problem of the crop factor to contend with and this is something that will disappear with a full-frame body.

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A first for M lenses, R lenses have been used on FF dSLRs for sometime now.

 

I have no doubt the almost certainly to be released FF Sony will be an interesting camera.

 

Presuming it is conducive to mounting them with an adapter, it remains to be seen how well it copes with M/ltm mount wide angle lenses. A lot will depend on the functioning of its micro lenses.

 

Anyway, looking forward to reading about it when it is released.

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Without compromise would be much surprising indeed. When pigs can fly if you ask me.

 

Indeed - let's not forget that the Leica FF sensor is designed specifically for their M lenses. I doubt that was the first thought of Sony who will have designed the sensor around their own range of AF lenses.

 

How easy/accurate it is to focus a manual lens on this camera will be the other key issue.

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Indeed - let's not forget that the Leica FF sensor is designed specifically for their M lenses. I doubt that was the first thought of Sony who will have designed the sensor around their own range of AF lenses.

 

How easy/accurate it is to focus a manual lens on this camera will be the other key issue.

 

Yes, both yours and lct's points are valid and I didn't intend to suggest it would be entirely an easy ride. I was concentrating on the crop-factor issue and a full-frame sensor does a lot to help. Some people use leica lenses on other digitals out of curiosity or "because it can be done". I was actually quite pleased with the results obtained with the Fuji and focus was less of a problem than I had anticipated, despite (at the time) the absence of focus peaking. But having tried the manual focus on the X-Vario (which is very similar to the Fuji interpretation) I am now less keen on focus peaking. The big problem with manual focus on the a Fuji and, I think, on Sonys, is the churning of the focus ring with little direct feedback. Leica has solved this with the XV. Focus behaves much as it does on an M lens and it is easy to forgett there is no mechanical connection.

 

Mike

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Yes, both yours and lct's points are valid and I didn't intend to suggest it would be entirely an easy ride. I was concentrating on the crop-factor issue and a full-frame sensor does a lot to help...

The help comes from the crop factor actually. Helped me to use my M lenses since 2004 with R-D1 and M8.2 bodies. Good results on FF are much harder to achieve. Even the M240 shows vignetting and red edges with some M wides in spite of special microlenses and firmware correction. Sony would have to dedicate a body to M lenses to compete, as Ricoh did in the APS-C format.

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The help comes from the crop factor actually. Helped me to use my M lenses since 2004 with R-D1 and M8.2 bodies. Good results on FF are much harder to achieve. Even the M240 shows vignetting and red edges with some M wides in spite of special microlenses and firmware correction. Sony would have to dedicate a body to M lenses to compete, as Ricoh did in the APS-C format.

 

For M lenses we have Leica but this new Sony could be a very potent camera for R lenses, with a much better EVF than the one availiable for the M camera.

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For M lenses we have Leica but this new Sony could be a very potent camera for R lenses, with a much better EVF than the one availiable for the M camera.

 

Now that is a very interesting view I hadn't considered. I would welcome any other views on R lenses. My initial reaction was one of size compared with the (expected) diminutive dimensions of the A7s. But intriguing.

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For M lenses we have Leica but this new Sony could be a very potent camera for R lenses, with a much better EVF than the one availiable for the M camera.

Yes it will have a better EVF and a faster refresh rate than the 30 fps of the M240 hopefully. Could be better for video as well. Won't be the digital CL of my dreams though...

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Earlier in April this year I bought a Sony Nex3N as a compact all around camera and with the anticipation of using my Leica M lenses (35,50,90) with it. I was quite eager at the beginning, since the results were fantastic on this 1.5x crop camera. But the usability sucks big time. Focus peaking is fine, but it works best when the lens is wide open. So this adds an extra step of stopping the lens down before shooting away. I ended up using the tiny kit lens most of the time.

 

Sadly, I remembered my earlier experiences with Canon DSLRs when I was using them with manual focus Zeiss, Olympus, and Pentax lenses. Same thing, hindered user experience, and many missed photo opportunities with lots of frustration. Only in landscape, architectural, or studio shots I was comfortable.

 

Therefore, I now think that a Leica M lens can be best utilised in a proper M mount rangefinder body. It just works, with no frustration.

 

If only I could afford a digital M (without selling any of my lenses and my beloved M2)...

 

My two cents...

 

Koray

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Koray, two cents well spent. I can understand the frustrations. Coming back to the original theme, though, the crop issue makes most of the common Leica lenses from 28mm to 75mm just a bit too long. Probably the 28mm Elmarit is most useful, as I found on my Fuji tests. I agree on focus issues and aperture, however.

 

Mike

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...the crop issue makes most of the common Leica lenses from 28mm to 75mm just a bit too long...

Matter of tastes and practice IMO. I have FF bodies as well but i live very well with APS ones personally. Great to use 50mm lenses like 75 and tiny 90 like 135 you can trust me. I discovered that i could do most of my photos with two lenses on APS-C whilst i nead three of them on PP. In fact the only 'issues' of APS in my opinion are the wider DoF and the lack of small fast wides in the first place. Just my two cents.

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Matter of tastes and practice IMO. I have FF bodies as well but i live very well with APS ones personally. Great to use 50mm lenses like 75 and tiny 90 like 135 you can trust me. I discovered that i could do most of my photos with two lenses on APS-C whilst i nead three of them on PP. In fact the only 'issues' of APS in my opinion are the wider DoF and the lack of small fast wides in the first place. Just my two cents.

 

Same for me, and is also one of the reasons for I didn't switch (yet...) from M8 to FF M... ;) .

Anyway... this Sony announcement has already gave birth to a huge thread in another forum section... :rolleyes: ... we'll see.... personally, I like the Sony brand in itself... (though is VERY difficult, close to impossible, that my first FF Digital won't be from Leica... ;)) and my humble opinion is that if they have microlenses and a flange distance not too dissimilar from M, M lenses can perform rather well, probably with the aid of some simple PP rather easy to be profiled.

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