Another boost to A7/R

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Vidgamer
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Re: Another boost to A7/R

Unread post by Vidgamer »

alphaomega wrote:This thread is supposedly about the A7/7r, but has veered off to other traumatic Sony doings or not doings.....
It's almost as if every thread in the Nex section must be twisted into "Sony is doomed". Like a broken record....
.. Maybe I am unique. I seem to be the only satisfied Sony user. Maybe my ambitions and photography is too limited in scope.
Hardly.

Sony is making cameras I'm interested in, at least moreso than other brands. For all of the talk about Canikon being better, they wouldn't make the cameras I wanted, and Sony did. How is that? How can that be? :lol:

Som muscle car fans can't understand why some people like compact sports cars, and some DSLR fans can't understand why some people like compact system cameras.
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Re: Another boost to A7/R

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classiccameras wrote:Birma, I agree with that, its very easy to think the grass is greener on the other side, and I think most Sony users are loyal users. [ there's a lot to like about Sony cameras ]. We can gripe about the system but then I have seen just as many gripes on the Canikon forums, so we are not unique. I guess the biggest concern by most of us is the future of the 2 mounts.
As far as I've been able to tell, there is no perfect camera. Size, image quality, cost, etc., are all tradeoffs.
As for the A7/R, I don't think they have got them fully developed yet and it could be a lost cause in the long run, sales will be small by comparison. There is no getting away from it, Sony are determined to miniturise its camera fleet whether its E or A mount. All manufacturers are jumping on the small is better band waggon with the exception of Canikon who have just dabbled their toes in the water so far, and I guess Sony don't want to be left behind, with Olympus and Panasonic starting it all.
As someone who's used and seen various compact film cameras I always wondered how come digital cameras had to have such small sensors. Why couldn't they have larger, film-sized sensors in a similar camera shape? I think making compact, quality cameras was a worthwhile goal. Whether the mass-market cares is another story.
Trouble is as Barry said they don't seem to have any infrastructure in place to ask the market place/Sony users what they would like to see, it seems they have no interest in market research at all, whether this is just doggie-doo managment or a deliberate stance, who knows.
The problem is that people are individuals, and there's no one right answer. So Sony comes out with a camera that clearly appeals to some people, but if it doesn't appeal to you, somehow it's wrong, it's a misstep, etc.
I think Canikon are looking on at the smaller players wondering what crazy moves they have planned next. Even if the A7/R prices were to come down below £1000, I would still not be interested. The A mount has had many years to get perfected and although not perfect it is much better than other mounts IMO.
Pete
Maybe not the A7, but what if Sony comes out with an FF camera for below 1000 pounds or dollars? They can probably do that eventually. And some people are not going to be able to resist the increase in image quality. At some point,you're forced to make a choice, even if that choice is to continue to use your old APS-C camera knowing that the fancy new FF camera is lighter, smaller, and produces much better results. How can you resist that? ;-)
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Re: Another boost to A7/R

Unread post by classiccameras »

Difficult to resist, but FF requires high quality optics to get the best out of the sensor and the lens prices would be prohibitive for me.
I'm happy with my A mount and my little A37 is plenty small and light enough for my requirements, I'm also very happy with it's performance and IQ. If I was ever to move to FF it wouldn't be Sony.

Now I joined this forum because I like Sony Alpha cameras and the pictures they give, I was happy to discuss any subject to the best of my ability but while we are on the subject of threads being over critical of Sony, I noticed that most threads are concerned with the high end stuff. What about us grass roots budget end owners, there is the occasional discussion down at that end but very little, yet we must make up the majority of Sony users. I suspect that the small handfull of regular posters here are in the high end camp and other members with more budget systems have been scared off. I blame our moderator for not trying to keep a balance on subject matter. Its become very top heavy.
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Birma
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Re: Another boost to A7/R

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Hi Pete,

I really hope we don't scare anyone off - that would be a great shame :(

I joined this forum as a complete newb with my A100 and kit lens, and I have learnt a huge amount from sharing my pictures, joining in the discussion, and the generous help, advice and encouragement of the other forum members.

I guess there is always a tendency in gear discussions to slip into talking about the high end kit, but there are plenty of people getting great results from more basic kit. Barry has always been a great example of getting the most out of straight forward kit. He's doing paid gigs with mid range kit and doing ok, which is always food for thought.
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Vidgamer
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Re: Another boost to A7/R

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classiccameras wrote:Difficult to resist, but FF requires high quality optics to get the best out of the sensor and the lens prices would be prohibitive for me.
I wouldn't be so sure. The higher-end APS-C sensors have smaller pixels that are more dense. Even the 16mp typical Nex is more dense than the A7's pixels. SO, to get the most out of the APS-C sensors, the lenses actually have to resolve MORE! Weird, I know! 8) Having said that, the FE lenses seem to be really highly rated, so either way, I think lens prices are way up there for FE (FF).
I'm happy with my A mount and my little A37 is plenty small and light enough for my requirements, I'm also very happy with it's performance and IQ. If I was ever to move to FF it wouldn't be Sony.
If I wanted to move to FF, I don't know who else it would be with. It's not like, say, Nikon is going to be exactly cheap.

When people post online their fear that APS-C is going away, I think it's rather silly. It's still far cheaper, and that's not going to change for a while.
Now I joined this forum because I like Sony Alpha cameras and the pictures they give, I was happy to discuss any subject to the best of my ability but while we are on the subject of threads being over critical of Sony, I noticed that most threads are concerned with the high end stuff. What about us grass roots budget end owners, there is the occasional discussion down at that end but very little, yet we must make up the majority of Sony users. I suspect that the small handfull of regular posters here are in the high end camp and other members with more budget systems have been scared off. I blame our moderator for not trying to keep a balance on subject matter. Its become very top heavy.
Pete
I'm a (mostly) budget user. Not too budget, else I'd only have P&S cameras ;-) , but budget compared to most of what we talk about. I do like to keep up on the latest trends, such as the A7(r).

If you want to talk about budget Nex, just think of what you want to talk about and post a thread on it! I may do so myself... Actually, I brought up the 55-210 in a thread recently; for e-mount lenses, this is a fairly budget lens. I don't think we're going to see a cheaper tele lens with OSS, but maybe someone like Tamron or Sigma will surprise me.
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Re: Another boost to A7/R

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I feel very strongly about Sony's lens overpricing and was able to talk to their UK manager for the Alpha range today at the Photography Show - he came to Icon Publications' stand. I'm sorry I have been out of touch while producing a new magazine, f2 (back with us) and preparing to be at this four-day show. I have met many Minolta Club and Photoclubalpha regulars here!

The lenses are overpriced and when you consider that Fuji is selling X-M1s with 16-50mm and 50-230mm lenses plus leather case, spare battery and 50-230mm stabilised lens for £399 here - Sony is nowhere! No stand and few sales.

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Greg Beetham
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Re: Another boost to A7/R

Unread post by Greg Beetham »

I wonder why Sony's marketing is so inept? you would think as they are a major company they would hire some professionals to market their products properly.
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Birma
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Re: Another boost to A7/R

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My first copy of f2 came today - will be breaking open the plastic cover later :)

How was the rest of the show, DK?
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Re: Another boost to A7/R

Unread post by David Kilpatrick »

Well, I did not buy the Fuji kit (Richard K bought one for his fiancée, and I bought him an SRB Fuji X to Nikon G adaptor so he could use his Petzval Project lens and 28mm PC Super Angulon on it).

I actually bought a NEX-6 with 16-50mm OSS, to go with my A7R, and will be selling my NEX-5n and A3000 (since I got the A7R they get so little use as I like having a really GOOD evf!).

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bfitzgerald
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Re: Another boost to A7/R

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The only turn off with the lower end Fuji's are no VF at all, but some might not care (I would but that's me)
The XE-1 has crashed in price, it's selling for £369 odd at places, no doubt a blow out on stocks with a newer model around.

Fuji might be one to watch, but I'm not sold on the range yet esp with the crude flash and limited range. I suspect this will be addressed and it needs to be.
Once that's done bar no IBIS I think it's a viable alternative down the road...maybe. Out of all the new ILC systems Fuji has more potential, but some downsides I'm not blown away on the raw software conversions I've seen. Still at least they have been trying.

E mount doesn't grab me much, they are blowing out NEX 6 bodies pretty cheaply I give them that. I just don't feel the system is what it could be, and lacks appeal in design and ergonomics. But then Fuji are not perfect here either.

Read this today on SAR, I guess that's what they Hybrid model they were talking about was...
http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/4k-ff-ca ... t-adapter/

I'll stick to Vampire diaries for my dose of hybrids I think :mrgreen:
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Greg Beetham
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Re: Another boost to A7/R

Unread post by Greg Beetham »

Yet another mount on SLR lookalike bodies, swell, this one is screw type that is from a $30000 cine camera, I wonder how much functionality you would get with the average (take your pick) A-mount lens or E-mount lens via an adaptor.
I suppose it’ll be an Alpha too if it has IBIS, according to the rumour it has or will.
Maybe Sony will divert more attention onto the 12 pin FZ mount http://community.sony.com/t5/F5-F55/NEW ... d-p/186447 and not so much on the E-mount seeing as it has enough connections for all sorts of things.
Boy that 6 months just flew by and I hardly even noticed. :roll:
We’ll need another forum now called Cine-Alta or Alpha FZ mount, or you could just re-name the Alpha NEX forum to Alpha FZ forum. Hmmm maybe not, the Alpha FZ mount will deserve its own forum just like the Alpha E-mount does.
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Birma
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Re: Another boost to A7/R

Unread post by Birma »

I had been wondering where DK's A7R review would turn up and it was in the F2 mag :) (I should pay more careful attention to the magazine's cover as it is mentioned right there!).

As always, a very practical hands on review. I am put off by that shutter shock foible.
Nex 5, Nex 6 (IR), A7M2, A99 and a bunch of lenses.
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Birma
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Re: Another boost to A7/R

Unread post by Birma »

Came across another interesting real world review of the A7R here http://www.jamesgphotography.co.uk/2014 ... otography/ . A young professional landscape photographer based in the Peak District in the UK who has moved from the Nex 7 to A7r, interestingly with a Canon 17-40 lens.

Also on his blog there is a post about his visit to Sony central for a briefing on some of their forth coming products. It is worth a read.
Nex 5, Nex 6 (IR), A7M2, A99 and a bunch of lenses.
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Re: Another boost to A7/R

Unread post by peterottaway »

It is interesting that he uses the Canon 17-40mm lens that although popular is certainly not on of Canons highest rated lenses in terms of sharpness or indeed distortion. At the same time the Sony 24-70mm FE is being blasted for not being everything these critics said it should have been and even then some of them expect Sony to charge kit lens rates.

Not that many of them will read this as they are still too busy doing more closeups of brick walls at 24mm and f4.0. And then pixel peeping at 200 - 400 % in the extreme corners.

I suppose if this is what you send your money on cameras and lenses for, who am I to criticize ?
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Birma
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Re: Another boost to A7/R

Unread post by Birma »

Hi Peter, I think I read on a thread here that Pako had tried, and was planning to get the FE 24-70. I guess you are still in your early days of using it? It is these sort of real world feed backs that are more valuable than the brick wall shooters.

James Grant, the guy in the link I posted above, said somewhere on his site that he has ordered the 24-70 as well. He also has the e mount 10-18 on his kit list but I've not seen him mention it on the A7r.
Nex 5, Nex 6 (IR), A7M2, A99 and a bunch of lenses.
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