Chrisnmn
Veteran
- Location
- Auckland, New Zealand
- Name
- Chris Leskovsek
Hey guys,
so ive bought myself the hype and got the almighty A7. Ill try to be as concise as possible in my impressions. Ive only been using the camera for 2 days. So this are early thoughts mainly and not a definitive statement.
The camera feels solid, yet a bit 'big' when compared to my NEX6. Still super small when compared with any DSLR. I actually did a shoot on friday with a 7D plus a 35mm f1.4L, when i put it next to the A7 with a 35mm f1.4 summilux it felt at least half the size and weight. it might probably be more than that. so cant complain. this combo is small. perfect.
IQ...theres nothing to say here. Theres hardly any better IQ that I've seen on any other camera in the market. period.
Menus. I like them. A LOT. this feels a much well thought camera than my NEX. yet theres SO MUCH going on that I'm kinda liking the 'minimal' control approach on the nex6 now. You can set the A7 as you please. there are 4 wheels-dials to control everything.
Handling is awesome, yet with a strap mounted, the front dial-shutter combination feels awkward. For my hands and a strap, i cant use the front dial which is fine, and deactivate it.
Im finding better to shoot the camera in "TAv" mode like my Ricoh. There's no such thing on the sony, but since I'm using manual lenses only, i have my aperture on the lens and i shoot in shutter priority mode with auto iso and works wonders. Doing this I also get to use the EV comp dial, as you cant use it on S or M mode unless you shoot auto iso.
the EVF and LCD are amazing. Sony made the stupid decision of having it 'auto' or either one or the other and no manual way to activate one or the other without going into the menus. But the auto mode like on my nex6 works great and theres little to no lag in the activation of both (im looking at you GX7).
Yup, I absolutely forgot how thin DOF can be with FF. Just trying to focus anything with the 50mm f1.4 summilux is almost luck. I find it easier with the 35mm summilux though. Focus peaking in this camera is, perhaps, not working like it works on my nex6? I dont know really. I mean, it does work, and works perfect, but when you try to use it with anything wider than f2, peaking, shifts the focus, and makes you miss a lot of shots. I keep testing both lenses in between the two cameras and i definitely get WAY more shots in focus with the NEX than the A. Yes, one is APSC the other FF, and theres a difference in DOF at same apertures, thats why im saying i need to re learn that at F5.6 or even 8 some things can STILL be out of focus in the A7. I also been thinking that my 50 summilux might be faulty or needs re calibration or something, as i bought it used at the same time I bought the a7. but apparently is me, not the lens (like usual).
This has got me a bit frustrated, gotta admit. For my street photography i might still use my NEX6. Until i really learn how to work with FF again! its been 2 years not shooting FF at all. i think i got used to smaller sensors. anyway.
I read that Steve Huff also had some problems with peaking and f1 apertures in general, and decided to turn off the peaking and just go with bare eyes. I just tried that, and gotta say that at least inside my house im getting a hope of focusing with my 50mm summilux. phew, i really was thinking the lens was faulty.
Battery life is alright. i dont see it worse than other mirrorless cameras, probably it is, but not in my experience. Still, i carry 2 extra batteries always.
The camera feels slow or heavy when in use. I don't know how to explain this, but im not saying the camera IS slow, it just FEELS slower than my nex6 or other compacts. The sound of the shutter perhaps. Heres the thing, it doesn't matter how fast you shoot the 'sound' of the shutter feels slow. e.g. if im shooting at 1/3200s it SOUNDS like if i was shooting at 1/60s you know? and that feels weird. But the camera is snappy and can shoot several frames one after the other. it just 'sounds' slow. weird, i know.
The shutter loudness. Yes it is louder than my nex6, (my ricoh is no comparison as it has leaf shutter, therefore even shooting over someones shoulder, that person would not realize i grabbed a shot) yet it is completely normal. Big sensor means bigger shutter right? and theres little we could do, right?. I shot in the streets yesterday and no one noticed me. thats good.
The A7 on the streets?.
Well it left me in between sweet and sour. Because this camera is a powerhouse, meaning, the little mistake you make (focus, shaking, etc) it will end up in a blurry shot and you will see it when editing. no escape to that. I mean, whats the point of buying a 24 or even a 36 mega pixel camera if its not to look at the pictures at 100%? right? c'mon lets be honest.
You really need to get your settings and framing right, this camera doesn't forgive. Not in my experience still.
Note to self: But if every master and every leica shooter have made a career shooting streets with FF, then it can be done, i just need to adapt my techniques onto it! buckle it up man!
Also, ive been shooting with my 35mm summilux without ANY problem. In fact i believe that EVERY photo in this post was shot with the 35mm, and as you can see there is absolutely no problems of smearing, color shift, bla bla bla on the corners. Which again shows a little bit how 'over the top' the 'internet' can be.
How thin is super thin dof in a FF camera like the A7? well...
this thin... this shot of my wife driving was shot at 1.4 on the 35mm summilux.
Now lets zoom in to see whats in focus and what not. check it out on this link https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1030775/epl2/sony test/Screenshot 2013-12-01 11.42.33.png
You can see that her cheek and eye are in focus while her nose is out of focus. Thats how thin DOF can be in this camera for those still wondering. basically, unusable DOF! yay! :smile: but we all wanted that rendering right?. I really need to make up my mind that f1.4 IS f1.4 and not f2.8 or f2 like on my other cameras.
In other news, theres been a big talk about how super wides and anything wider than 28 create problems in this cameras. Well, i dont know if sony fixed something or not before shipping these, but yesterday i got the Voigtlander Heliar super wide 15mm f4.5, and besides being super tiny (pancake tiny) i did some test shots in the store, and the lens didn't look to have ANY problem besides some vignetting in the corners, which is absolutely normal in this type of lenses.
two shots in case some of you think i got lucky on the first one
I had a problem though with this lens, and that was not about IQ or magenta tints and smearing. My problem is, that it didn't mount properly on the adapter i use for my leica lenses and is not 'clicking' in place. So its going back to the store. hopefully is the lens as the adapter works wonders. Im using the Phottix M to NEX adapter.
bottomline.
Im keeping the A7 no doubt. just need to re learn my photography. I really dont see the shortcomings or the 'beta' side of things to this cameras. Yes, there are 'no' native lenses to this cameras, but there 'never been' to Sony NEX and such. It looks more than sony is trying to build 'universal' bodies to be used with other lenses, which to me makes sense. And on the other hand, any AF FF lens, have never been not even close to the tiny size of a Leica lens or m43 lens and apparently looks like we are far away (technology wise) to develop small AF lenses yet. It looks like with this cameras, sony 'finished their homework' in sensor technology side for the most part, now they need to get onto lens design for those who prefer AF over to manual lenses.
Also here's a little note ive realized about AF and MF in these days.
Technology has come really far in terms of how digital cameras perform from 2 years till now. EVFs can certainly replace an OVF in a heartbeat and theres little differences with every update. Olympus and Sony have developed two EVFs that made me prefer it to an OVF any day now.
On the other hand the Ricoh GR and its 'snap focus' made me love hyperfocal or zone focusing again!. Something that i loved from my film cameras such as the LC-A or XA2, etc.
But the 'fly by wire' technology trying to imitate MF gave the 'MF experience' a bad reputation of being slow, sluggish, quirky, etc. Now that ive been using (real) manual lenses, paired to a great EVF and focus peaking is nothing but a pleasure. and it can be both 'slower' and 'faster' than AF at the same time.
Of course you can focus with your hand and will be as fast as your eye and hand to note whats in focus and what not, and theres a pleasure to that. Specially on really hard focusing situations like shooting in a crowd were you want to isolate someone in between a group, and AF can be a problem as it will keep focusing on something else. with MF you select what you want, not the camera. I like that.
And it can be faster with hyperfocal shooting too!. set a small aperture, set the speed and off you go shooting. no AF is faster than zone focusing. It takes a bit of practice. but again so it takes to learn your gear upside down.
And this cameras brought to me, the basic pleasure of photography. and i love that.
ps: all shots have their EXIF for the pixel peepers. the only SOOC images were the Voigtlander 15mm. all the others are raw files processed in LR 5.3rc.
so ive bought myself the hype and got the almighty A7. Ill try to be as concise as possible in my impressions. Ive only been using the camera for 2 days. So this are early thoughts mainly and not a definitive statement.
The camera feels solid, yet a bit 'big' when compared to my NEX6. Still super small when compared with any DSLR. I actually did a shoot on friday with a 7D plus a 35mm f1.4L, when i put it next to the A7 with a 35mm f1.4 summilux it felt at least half the size and weight. it might probably be more than that. so cant complain. this combo is small. perfect.
IQ...theres nothing to say here. Theres hardly any better IQ that I've seen on any other camera in the market. period.
Menus. I like them. A LOT. this feels a much well thought camera than my NEX. yet theres SO MUCH going on that I'm kinda liking the 'minimal' control approach on the nex6 now. You can set the A7 as you please. there are 4 wheels-dials to control everything.
Handling is awesome, yet with a strap mounted, the front dial-shutter combination feels awkward. For my hands and a strap, i cant use the front dial which is fine, and deactivate it.
Im finding better to shoot the camera in "TAv" mode like my Ricoh. There's no such thing on the sony, but since I'm using manual lenses only, i have my aperture on the lens and i shoot in shutter priority mode with auto iso and works wonders. Doing this I also get to use the EV comp dial, as you cant use it on S or M mode unless you shoot auto iso.
the EVF and LCD are amazing. Sony made the stupid decision of having it 'auto' or either one or the other and no manual way to activate one or the other without going into the menus. But the auto mode like on my nex6 works great and theres little to no lag in the activation of both (im looking at you GX7).
This camera made me realize that i need to re learn my photography.
Yup, I absolutely forgot how thin DOF can be with FF. Just trying to focus anything with the 50mm f1.4 summilux is almost luck. I find it easier with the 35mm summilux though. Focus peaking in this camera is, perhaps, not working like it works on my nex6? I dont know really. I mean, it does work, and works perfect, but when you try to use it with anything wider than f2, peaking, shifts the focus, and makes you miss a lot of shots. I keep testing both lenses in between the two cameras and i definitely get WAY more shots in focus with the NEX than the A. Yes, one is APSC the other FF, and theres a difference in DOF at same apertures, thats why im saying i need to re learn that at F5.6 or even 8 some things can STILL be out of focus in the A7. I also been thinking that my 50 summilux might be faulty or needs re calibration or something, as i bought it used at the same time I bought the a7. but apparently is me, not the lens (like usual).
This has got me a bit frustrated, gotta admit. For my street photography i might still use my NEX6. Until i really learn how to work with FF again! its been 2 years not shooting FF at all. i think i got used to smaller sensors. anyway.
I read that Steve Huff also had some problems with peaking and f1 apertures in general, and decided to turn off the peaking and just go with bare eyes. I just tried that, and gotta say that at least inside my house im getting a hope of focusing with my 50mm summilux. phew, i really was thinking the lens was faulty.
Battery life is alright. i dont see it worse than other mirrorless cameras, probably it is, but not in my experience. Still, i carry 2 extra batteries always.
The camera feels slow or heavy when in use. I don't know how to explain this, but im not saying the camera IS slow, it just FEELS slower than my nex6 or other compacts. The sound of the shutter perhaps. Heres the thing, it doesn't matter how fast you shoot the 'sound' of the shutter feels slow. e.g. if im shooting at 1/3200s it SOUNDS like if i was shooting at 1/60s you know? and that feels weird. But the camera is snappy and can shoot several frames one after the other. it just 'sounds' slow. weird, i know.
The shutter loudness. Yes it is louder than my nex6, (my ricoh is no comparison as it has leaf shutter, therefore even shooting over someones shoulder, that person would not realize i grabbed a shot) yet it is completely normal. Big sensor means bigger shutter right? and theres little we could do, right?. I shot in the streets yesterday and no one noticed me. thats good.
The A7 on the streets?.
Well it left me in between sweet and sour. Because this camera is a powerhouse, meaning, the little mistake you make (focus, shaking, etc) it will end up in a blurry shot and you will see it when editing. no escape to that. I mean, whats the point of buying a 24 or even a 36 mega pixel camera if its not to look at the pictures at 100%? right? c'mon lets be honest.
You really need to get your settings and framing right, this camera doesn't forgive. Not in my experience still.Note to self: But if every master and every leica shooter have made a career shooting streets with FF, then it can be done, i just need to adapt my techniques onto it! buckle it up man!
Also, ive been shooting with my 35mm summilux without ANY problem. In fact i believe that EVERY photo in this post was shot with the 35mm, and as you can see there is absolutely no problems of smearing, color shift, bla bla bla on the corners. Which again shows a little bit how 'over the top' the 'internet' can be.
How thin is super thin dof in a FF camera like the A7? well...
this thin... this shot of my wife driving was shot at 1.4 on the 35mm summilux.
Now lets zoom in to see whats in focus and what not. check it out on this link https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1030775/epl2/sony test/Screenshot 2013-12-01 11.42.33.png
You can see that her cheek and eye are in focus while her nose is out of focus. Thats how thin DOF can be in this camera for those still wondering. basically, unusable DOF! yay! :smile: but we all wanted that rendering right?. I really need to make up my mind that f1.4 IS f1.4 and not f2.8 or f2 like on my other cameras.
In other news, theres been a big talk about how super wides and anything wider than 28 create problems in this cameras. Well, i dont know if sony fixed something or not before shipping these, but yesterday i got the Voigtlander Heliar super wide 15mm f4.5, and besides being super tiny (pancake tiny) i did some test shots in the store, and the lens didn't look to have ANY problem besides some vignetting in the corners, which is absolutely normal in this type of lenses.
two shots in case some of you think i got lucky on the first one
I had a problem though with this lens, and that was not about IQ or magenta tints and smearing. My problem is, that it didn't mount properly on the adapter i use for my leica lenses and is not 'clicking' in place. So its going back to the store. hopefully is the lens as the adapter works wonders. Im using the Phottix M to NEX adapter.
bottomline.
Im keeping the A7 no doubt. just need to re learn my photography. I really dont see the shortcomings or the 'beta' side of things to this cameras. Yes, there are 'no' native lenses to this cameras, but there 'never been' to Sony NEX and such. It looks more than sony is trying to build 'universal' bodies to be used with other lenses, which to me makes sense. And on the other hand, any AF FF lens, have never been not even close to the tiny size of a Leica lens or m43 lens and apparently looks like we are far away (technology wise) to develop small AF lenses yet. It looks like with this cameras, sony 'finished their homework' in sensor technology side for the most part, now they need to get onto lens design for those who prefer AF over to manual lenses.
Also here's a little note ive realized about AF and MF in these days.
Technology has come really far in terms of how digital cameras perform from 2 years till now. EVFs can certainly replace an OVF in a heartbeat and theres little differences with every update. Olympus and Sony have developed two EVFs that made me prefer it to an OVF any day now.
On the other hand the Ricoh GR and its 'snap focus' made me love hyperfocal or zone focusing again!. Something that i loved from my film cameras such as the LC-A or XA2, etc.
But the 'fly by wire' technology trying to imitate MF gave the 'MF experience' a bad reputation of being slow, sluggish, quirky, etc. Now that ive been using (real) manual lenses, paired to a great EVF and focus peaking is nothing but a pleasure. and it can be both 'slower' and 'faster' than AF at the same time.
Of course you can focus with your hand and will be as fast as your eye and hand to note whats in focus and what not, and theres a pleasure to that. Specially on really hard focusing situations like shooting in a crowd were you want to isolate someone in between a group, and AF can be a problem as it will keep focusing on something else. with MF you select what you want, not the camera. I like that.
And it can be faster with hyperfocal shooting too!. set a small aperture, set the speed and off you go shooting. no AF is faster than zone focusing. It takes a bit of practice. but again so it takes to learn your gear upside down.
And this cameras brought to me, the basic pleasure of photography. and i love that.
ps: all shots have their EXIF for the pixel peepers. the only SOOC images were the Voigtlander 15mm. all the others are raw files processed in LR 5.3rc.
