Photo sharing: Sony Alpha

[Hockeyman]

Cityplace Xmas by Mike Sperduto, on Flickr

 

[Animagic!]

There is a lot of theoretical goodies coming from Sony. But I'm waiting until all the hands on reviews come about before I even look at these new cameras. The A7 series is nice but not enough to make me buy one. The A7II and the A9 hold promise but it's hard for me to leave my a99 for one. I've been saying this for years but lens support for the E/FE mount is just awful. Sony can't even make an f/1.4 lens for it. if you want an f/1.4 you'll need a fully manual lens that was not intended for the e mount. Sure you can get Rokinon/Samyang in e mounts but the lenses are so large that they are borderline ridiculous on a small a7. My Rokinon 35mm f/1.4 is a wonderful lens. I love using it. But even on my a99 it is a large lens. On my a6000 its comical. The a9 sounds fine and good but it's hard to leave the dead A mount for the barely living e mount. I also find it concerning that third party brands won't make e mount lenses either.

 

[havoc315]

There is a lot of theoretical goodies coming from Sony. But I'm waiting until all the hands on reviews come about before I even look at these new cameras. The A7 series is nice but not enough to make me buy one. The A7II and the A9 hold promise but it's hard for me to leave my a99 for one. I've been saying this for years but lens support for the E/FE mount is just awful. Sony can't even make an f/1.4 lens for it. if you want an f/1.4 you'll need a fully manual lens that was not intended for the e mount. Sure you can get Rokinon/Samyang in e mounts but the lenses are so large that they are borderline ridiculous on a small a7. My Rokinon 35mm f/1.4 is a wonderful lens. I love using it. But even on my a99 it is a large lens. On my a6000 its comical. The a9 sounds fine and good but it's hard to leave the dead A mount for the barely living e mount. I also find it concerning that third party brands won't make e mount lenses either.

The 3rd parties don't make lenses for it, because of how different it is. Ultimately, Canon, Nikon, and a-mount lenses are very very similar -- only take slight changes in the production line for each version. E-mount would require a completely different design. I think this is also one of the reasons Sony is concentrating on e-mount and offering cheap e-mount bodies -- because they can then lock you into Sony lenses. You can buy the a99 and then build a complete kit without ever buying a Sony lens. Not true with e-mount.

Anyway, according to their roadmap, they will have 20+ full frame e-mount lenses by the end of next year. That would equal a-mount. Plus, ibis does make it much more appealing to use a-mount lenses with adapter.

But nobody can change physics. 1.4 aperture lenses will always be large. 2.8 zoom lenses will always be large. So yeah, to many of us, e-mount cameras will always feel too small, but that's a selling point to others.

Ironically, by changing the a-mount from dSLR to dSLT, they have created less reason for its continued existence. If Canon or Nikon were to truly develop a full mirrorless line, many people would still want the traditional cameras for the OVF, far better battery life, etc. But obviously the a99 doesn't have ovf. It's battery is only slightly less pathetic than the a7.

It has gotten to the point where the only real differences between the a99 and the a7ii:
A99 is slightly bigger, 2 memory card slots, and slightly less pathetic battery.
A7ii -- better image quality, smaller, cheaper, wifi, and better stabilization.

As a long time a-mount user who still cares about the system, I hope they do release a truly advanced a99ii... But I feel even once they do, it will offer few competitive advantages over the a9. And without competitive advantages, there will never be an a99iii.

 

[Hockeyman]

Cityplace Fountain by Mike Sperduto, on Flickr

 

[fractal]

 

[fractal]

For the record,

On the low-end Sigma makes some very nice AF primes specifically for E-mount. 19mm, 30mm and 60mm.

On the high-end Zeiss has the AF Touit line for Emount.

I own a Rokinon 8mm 2.8 manual focus FE that is extremely compact. See pic -

Now it's not AF, but it's really not too tough manually focusing an 8mm FE - not taking too many action shots with it.

Mitakon makes a MF 50mm 0.95 for emount that has received positive reviews and Tamron makes a longer zoom 18-200mm.

As far as the batteries - I can get 500+ shots with a charged battery. On my last trip to WDW I carry an extra one when I went out. The nice thing is they are the size not much bigger than a box of tic-tacks. I also like how if I went up to an A7, I can use the same battery.

If you shoot your camera like a gatling gun or tend to "spray and pray" then I guess an E-mount is not for you. It's great to have choices.

The APS-C emount is less than 5 years old and the FE mount is a few years old. It will take time for the 3rd party guys to make more lenses, but it is coming.

 

[Hockeyman]

I loved my old Rokinon 8mm fisheye when I had my A55. Was the sharpest lens in my bag and I never had any issues with focus or images coming out of focus. Once I found that lenses sweet spot with MF I never had to touch it.

Now my 14mm Rokinon is another story. I think I got a bad copy and will get part of the picture tack sharp then the other part is a little out of focus. This lens is not going to be in my bag too much longer I think

 

[Hockeyman]

Walkway of Lights by Mike Sperduto, on Flickr

 

[Rgonzalez79]

I've been so busy with work, haven't been able to shoot much lately.

I've been fiddling around with Lightroom but I think it's becoming too time-consuming for me. I'm tryingt o go back to more straight from camera shots

Lightroom Madness by raddie99, on Flickr

Company Outing by raddie99, on Flickr

Manual B&W by raddie99, on Flickr

SMASH! by raddie99, on Flickr

 

[havoc315]

I've been so busy with work, haven't been able to shoot much lately.

I've been fiddling around with Lightroom but I think it's becoming too time-consuming for me. I'm tryingt o go back to more straight from camera shots

Lightroom Madness by raddie99, on Flickr

Company Outing by raddie99, on Flickr

Manual B&W by raddie99, on Flickr

SMASH! by raddie99, on Flickr

Nice shots. Lightroom definitely adds time to the work flow, but once you know what you're doing, it's pretty quick for individual shots. Never takes me more than about 15-30 seconds. But when processing hundreds of shots, after an event, etc... it can become very very cumbersome. At those times, I'll sometimes shoot jpeg+raw. I'll mostly use the SOOC jpegs, but I'll go work with the raw in lightroom of some select photos.
Also -- batch editing in Lightroom can save a lot of time.

 

[Rgonzalez79]

Thanks Havoc, yea I think I'm gonna implement the Raw+JPG idea and just work on those special shots that require a little extra love Otherwise it's SOOC for me. I haven't done the batch editing in LR yet, still learning through trial-and-error for the most part

Any more updates on A7 II? That IBIS system does seem pretty awesome, especially when combined with fast primes, for us novice shooters. Like most on here, i'm limited by what I can sneak past the wife without paying for it in date nights/Target sprees/Amazon gift cards/bag sales (how many bags does a person need really?)

 

[Hockeyman]

Hallway by Mike Sperduto, on Flickr

 

[havoc315]

Any more updates on A7 II? That IBIS system does seem pretty awesome, especially when combined with fast primes, for us novice shooters. Like most on here, i'm limited by what I can sneak past the wife without paying for it in date nights/Target sprees/Amazon gift cards/bag sales (how many bags does a person need really?)

Supposed to be available around February. It will provide the most benefit to long-time A-mount shooters who may have a lot of A-mount glass.
For current E-mount shooters, most of their zooms and long lenses are already stabilized, though this system may provide even better stabilization.

And in terms of primes, you are already getting stabilized primes with your Sony dSLT.

I do wonder whether this will be incorporated in all/some/or most of future E-mount bodies. If all/most, then will they continue to put optical stabilization in the lenses?

I can see it being a select future in only some bodies, as it may increase the body size. For the smallest possible mirrorless cameras, it may not be offered. Only an option in larger bodies. But who knows. I was very very surprised by the announcement. I had given up on the possibility of stabilized e-mount.

 

[Rgonzalez79]

For the primes I meant the older lenses mounted via adapter on my old NEX 3N. I have on old Rokkor 50mm 1.4 for example with an MC-E adapter. Using those lenses with the IBIS would be a lot easier when used wide open (I remember a few months ago I had no idea what the heck you guys were talking about when you used these terms, now I sound semi-knowledgable)

I would assume will start using this on most E Mount cameras gojng forward, if the A7 II is a commercial success. If they don't see a bump in profits from the camera division or at least a gain in market share amongst pros then they may decide against it.

If you have both in sensor and in lens stabilization, does it give you some sort of super stabilized shot or will they fight against each other?

 

[havoc315]

For the primes I meant the older lenses mounted via adapter on my old NEX 3N. I have on old Rokkor 50mm 1.4 for example with an MC-E adapter. Using those lenses with the IBIS would be a lot easier when used wide open (I remember a few months ago I had no idea what the heck you guys were talking about when you used these terms, now I sound semi-knowledgable)

I would assume will start using this on most E Mount cameras gojng forward, if the A7 II is a commercial success. If they don't see a bump in profits from the camera division or at least a gain in market share amongst pros then they may decide against it.

If you have both in sensor and in lens stabilization, does it give you some sort of super stabilized shot or will they fight against each other?

Depends on whether they were designed to work together. Sigma makes some stabilized a-mount lenses but you can't use both on the a-mount -- they work against each other and make the shot worse.

Supposedly, the a7ii -- when paired with a stabilized e-mount lens, you'll get super stabilization. But is using a stabilized Canon, Nikon, 3rd party lens that isn't supported -- you'll need to turn off 1 of the stabilization systems.

 

[fractal]

Looks like you can preorder the A7ii today and maybe have it by Christmas.

In the meantime, my daughter dragged me out to take pictures of her in the snow...

 

[zackiedawg]

Wow - your daughter is taking the 'Frozen' theme very literally there! Not much clothing to be standing in the snow! Lovely shots though - she must have antifreeze running through her blood.

 

[fractal]

Wow - your daughter is taking the 'Frozen' theme very literally there! Not much clothing to be standing in the snow! Lovely shots though - she must have antifreeze running through her blood.

Lol! Thanks. Actually, it's more about her into dancing. She wanted to do this from the second she woke up and saw the snow coming down. Then she was understandably rushing me while I was shooting. We kept going in and out of the house to stay warm. I threw out a bunch of shots - and didn't really know what I had until I pulled them up on my Mac, just prayed for a few keepers.

 

[havoc315]

Lol! Thanks. Actually, it's more about her into dancing. She wanted to do this from the second she woke up and saw the snow coming down. Then she was understandably rushing me while I was shooting. We kept going in and out of the house to stay warm. I threw out a bunch of shots - and didn't really know what I had until I pulled them up on my Mac, just prayed for a few keepers.

They are fantastic. Really like third one.... But I'd say you should blow one of them up and frame. What lens were you shooting with? Is that just the natural light?

 

[Rgonzalez79]

I agree, that 3rd shot is amazing Fractal, the 4th also has a brooding drama to it that I'm diggin'.

If she'll let you, I'd definitely frame one of those.