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The Sony A7 thread [Merged]


dmclalla

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The focus peaking seems to peak over too wide a DOF range regardless of whether I have it set low, med or high. Focusing it visually worked much better but even then I got far less good results than with the M240. My Canons (5D and XSi) with 85/1.8 and 50/1.8 in AF outfocused the Nex+peaking hands-down.

 

True, so true. I couldn't get the focus peaking to work on my A7r either... too wide for the high contrast M-lenses I have. I have written before that I doubt if the Sony engineers anticipated the amount of contrast the Leica lenses are capable of producing, even though they stated in early news releases that the A7r was able to utilize RF lenses!

 

Rick

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True, so true. I couldn't get the focus peaking to work on my A7r either... too wide for the high contrast M-lenses I have. I have written before that I doubt if the Sony engineers anticipated the amount of contrast the Leica lenses are capable of producing, even though they stated in early news releases that the A7r was able to utilize RF lenses!

 

Rick

 

Focusing in low light the other day, with cold hands and fingers, with both the A7r and M240, i gave up on the focus peaking on both and resorted to the rangefinder window.

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True, so true. I couldn't get the focus peaking to work on my A7r either... too wide for the high contrast M-lenses I have. I have written before that I doubt if the Sony engineers anticipated the amount of contrast the Leica lenses are capable of producing, even though they stated in early news releases that the A7r was able to utilize RF lenses!

 

Rick

 

even with voigtlander lens is not accurate at all ! for me its too much wide, you don't get in focus what you need too slow....

i think Bresson would have stopped with photography if he had to rely on such slow methods

 

totally useless for me

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Well thats a bit OTT, turn off the peaking, use magnified focus assist,much quicker and more accurate than Rollei or Hasselblad.

A Leica rangefinder is wonderful, unequalled IMHO, when its properly adjusted of course, and provided its attached to a camera you can afford and stays working for a decent time :rolleyes:

 

Gerry

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Well thats a bit OTT, turn off the peaking, use magnified focus assist,much quicker and more accurate than Rollei or Hasselblad.

A Leica rangefinder is wonderful, unequalled IMHO, when its properly adjusted of course, and provided its attached to a camera you can afford and stays working for a decent time

 

Agreed - after experimenting with peaking when I first got the A7, I quickly realized it wasn't a help for me, but rather interfered with judging the sharpness of the image, so I've left it turned off since. I find even without the magnified view I can nail focus better with the A7 that I can with my R4, which I was happy with for decades. Especially in dim light the EVF stays bright enough to focus, even with added noise and jumpiness (which you can learn to ignore).

Yes, in high contrast situations I'd prefer an optical VF, but that's a minor annoyance.

And when there is time, a button press to magnify can either verify focus is best or allow tweaking it.

But I also agree - a good RF is best for wide to normal lenses in most situations - which is why I've used various Ms along with SLRs for over 40 years.

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It's almost a year since I bought a Sony A7 instead of an M9 and I don't think that I have ever regretted it. It's been totally trouble free and it's a much better camera than I am a photographer.

 

I have sold a Zeiss 35, Voigtlander 15mm and Leica 90mm but keep an M8 with 28mm and 50mm Summicrons though the M8 gets less and less use and the 50mm summicron has become the A7 standard lens used with a close focus adaptor.

 

The A7 brought back into use my Olympus OM lenses, especially the 50mm macro bellows unit and I have supplemented the lens lineup with a Sony FE to A adaptor (LEA-4) and a couple of stabilised Sigma lenses (105 macro most importantly) and a couple of remarkable value Minolta lenses.

 

I have to admit though that there is precious little wrong with the basic 28-70mm kit lens except its size. I am dithering with the idea of buying the Sony FE 70-200mm f4 though I'm not sure that is will be much better optically than my £50 70-210mm f4 Minolta beercan which reputedly is closely related to the similar R lens.

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Anyone had luck with (or tried) the M 28/2.8 Elmarit-M ASPH E39 or the 21/2.8 Elmarit-M non-ASPH E60 on the new a7II? Forgive me if already covered.

 

Hi Lou,

 

I will let anyone respond that has the new A7II, but to the best of my knowledge there was no improvement in performance of the A7II versus A7 with the lenses that you are asking about. I believe that the best WA Leica lenses for the A7 cameras are the Leica M 21mm f1.4, Leica M 24mm f1.4,, Leica M WATE, and the Leica R 28mm f2.8 Elmarit V2.

 

Rich

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I will let anyone respond that has the new A7II, but to the best of my knowledge there was no improvement in performance of the A7II versus A7 with the lenses that you are asking about.

 

That's my take, as well. I have been testing the a7II for two weeks. Near as I can tell, the sensor is identical to that in the a7, right down to the anisotropic AA filter.

 

BTW, the IBIS on the a7II helps a lot, and, if you're willing to set the focal length manually, it works with all the Leica lenses.

 

Testing IBIS on the Sony a7II | The Last Word

 

Jim

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That's my take, as well. I have been testing the a7II for two weeks. Near as I can tell, the sensor is identical to that in the a7, right down to the anisotropic AA filter.

 

BTW, the IBIS on the a7II helps a lot, and, if you're willing to set the focal length manually, it works with all the Leica lenses.

 

Testing IBIS on the Sony a7II | The Last Word

 

Jim

 

Has anyone tried to convert an R lens to A-mount with a chipped Leitax adapter so that the A7ii recognizes the focal length automatically?

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My A7ii arrived yesterday, despite the utilitarian packaging it seems like a pretty well built camera. Much better than the xPro1 I previously owned. I have to wait for an adapter before I can actually use the thing with this: M 28/2.8 Elmarit-M ASPH E39 ... not so sure how that will turn out ... but I have a 90 Elmarit as well so that one will definitely work well :-)

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My A7ii arrived yesterday, despite the utilitarian packaging it seems like a pretty well built camera. Much better than the xPro1 I previously owned. I have to wait for an adapter before I can actually use the thing with this: M 28/2.8 Elmarit-M ASPH E39

 

Not a good fit for the a7 series. Smearing issues are the same (modulo the resolution deltas) on all four a7 cameras, because they stem from the sensor stack thickness. Corner color casts are different with the three resolutions.

 

The 28 Elmarit smearing is bad enough that corner casts don't matter:

 

Leica 28mm f/2.8 Elmarit on the Sony a7S… | The Last Word

 

Jim

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My A7ii arrived yesterday, despite the utilitarian packaging it seems like a pretty well built camera.

 

By the way, I like the Sony utilitarian packaging. When I open something from Leica or Apple, I always wonder how much I spent on something I'm going to throw away. That's especially true with the -- IMHO over-the-top -- M240 packaging.

 

When I was younger and buying Porsches, I felt sort of the same way about funding their racing program with my purchase dollars.

 

Jim

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