Sony My outa the box experience with my new-to-me used Sony A7Riii

AlwaysOnAuto

AlwaysOnAuto

Hall of Famer
I have no one to blame but myself for feeling the way I do. Not exactly sure how I feel, just, well, not the joy I felt when I got my A9, but, whatever, it is what it is.
So, yesterday we were without power for 10 hours due to a power pole replacement that the power company has been undertaking here in our 'hood lately. What that meant is that when my camera arrived @2PM, I think, I couldn't go and shoot a picture and see what it looked like. But I'm getting ahead of myself here. First thing I did was unpack it. For a used camera it is stunningly clean and free of signs of use. I thought it came with a battery but I couldn't find one in the box and couldn't get on-line to check the ad for it on B and H. Oh well, I got my spare and used it. No problem there. Next were some cards, or film as I like to say. I took the cards out of my A7iii and put them in. Turned it on and...................it didn't recognize them. 😢
OK, I thought, maybe it's the camera slot that's not good. That's why it was turned in. More experimenting was called for....so, I took the cards out of my A9. It worked! OK, what's the deal with those working and not the ones in the A7iii? For one, they're newer and better spec'd. OK, that makes sense to me.
So, now I have to get some 'good' cards to shoot in this camera.
Today, I'm stuck at home waiting on the guys that are going to replace some of the fascia boarding on the house.
I really want to get out there and shoot with it since the mountains are Chamber of Commerce in your face absolutely beautiful with snow today since the cold Santa Ana's are blowing in other parts of the basin, but not here.
I guess I need to step up and get some nicer cards than I have for the A9, buy another Sony battery and be done with it.
Reco's for which cards to use would be welcome.
Splurged when I got the A9 and put a Sony Tough 64GB 300 299 [G], and a SanDisk ExtremePRO 256GB 170 XC I class 10 in it. I'm not a volume shooter and have never come close to filling either up so I'm thinking 128GB might be enough for one of them.
What does the collective say?

DSC04764 (2).JPG
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
 
Last edited:
Andrew, congratulations on your new camera. May it serve you well.

A fundamental rule with cards is NEVER mix them between cameras, even of the same brand. Not working is the least of your problems. File corruption can occur, which can be devastating.

ALWAYS 'format' any card in the camera it will be used in. Label your cards so you can visually identify them. I also put two text files on every card. One contains my name address and mobile number, the other contains details of which camera it 'belongs' to.
 
OK, so I just put my A9 cards in the A7Riii and formatted them in that camera. I figure I better see how fast it will fill up the card compared to what I'm used to. I may just leave these in the new camera and buy slightly smaller ones for the other. The 256gb card has never been near capacity but I can see this new camera is another story when it comes to file sizes. I just took it out to the nearest mall parking structure which is as high as I can get for some test pics. My 24-105 did an alright job and I'm happy with the results. Can't wait to shoot Catalina Island from the pier now.
DSC04765 (2).JPG
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

This is a crop of one of the shots, SOOC. It was clearer this morning but I couldn't get away to take pics. The mountains are a good 50-75 miles away.
 
I have a Sony Tough card and a secondary Sandisk Ultimate card in my A7Riii. The latter already had some mileage in an A7ii. I think it has been two years now, zero problems. I do format them regularly - to me, this is the easiest way to wipe the cards clean once the images are off-loaded.
 
Congrats! Fantastic sensor in that camera.

I've been using 128G Sony Tough in Slot 1 of both my Sonys, and a 64G card for a backup in Slot 2. I've never even come close to filling the first card, even after a full day at the track.

Once you're done having fun with the newness, try it in compressed RAW. I was afraid of it at first, but for everyday shots it's fine. Files sizes are a lot smaller. I wish they'd provide an uncompressed RAW like in the A7IV via firmware update, but I suppose it'd take away from new model sales.
 
I'm thinking I'll take the two cards from the A9 and use them in the R3, then get some new ones half the size of those two and put them in the A9. I don't think I'll ever be pressed for space unless maybe I'm on a trip and can't download for a while. That's the only scenario I can think of right now where I might run into trouble.
 
Last edited:
AlwaysOnAuto said:
I'm thinking I'll take to two cards from the A9 and use them in the R3, then get some new ones half the size of those two and put them in the A9. I don't think I'll ever be pressed for space unless maybe I'm on a trip and can't download for a while. That's the only scenario I can think of right now where I might run into trouble.
Click to expand...
If you go on a trip, just pull the cards from all your cameras and toss them in the bag!
 
Brownie said:
Once you're done having fun with the newness, try it in compressed RAW. I was afraid of it at first, but for everyday shots it's fine. Files sizes are a lot smaller. I wish they'd provide an uncompressed RAW like in the A7IV via firmware update, but I suppose it'd take away from new model sales.
Click to expand...

The A7Riii does have uncompressed RAWs. I believe it came in a firmware update but I do not recall for sure. It is a separate menu item right below "File Format" called "RAW File Type" with choices of "Compressed" or "Uncompressed". Unfortunately you either get lossy compressed or lossless uncompressed. What I really wish I had was lossless compressed RAWs, which later Sony cameras do have. What took them so long I will never understand.
 
Working a long lens this time with a 2x converter in front of it for 600mm equiv.
DSC04835-1.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

If someone could explain how to avoid the blue around the periphery of the moon in simple terms it'd be appreciated.
 
AlwaysOnAuto said:
Working a long lens this time with a 2x converter in front of it for 600mm equiv.
View attachment 363396
If someone could explain how to avoid the blue around the periphery of the moon in simple terms it'd be appreciated.
Click to expand...
It's chromatic aberration, possibly just from the TC, but maybe from the lens, or lens+TC combination.

Photoshop should be able to remove it.
 
AlwaysOnAuto said:
Working a long lens this time with a 2x converter in front of it for 600mm equiv.
View attachment 363396
If someone could explain how to avoid the blue around the periphery of the moon in simple terms it'd be appreciated.
Click to expand...
What I've done with moon shots in the past is to simply turn them to B/W. John is right, it is CA and it depends on the lens used and John is right again, the 2x TC would be the main culprit there. They also magnify the CA from the lens as well and a lot of TC's are not that well corrected against CA to start with.

Danny.
 
Last edited:
AlwaysOnAuto said:
Working a long lens this time with a 2x converter in front of it for 600mm equiv.
View attachment 363396
If someone could explain how to avoid the blue around the periphery of the moon in simple terms it'd be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Which lens? Is this a native or adapted? If it's an older adapted lens the CA is going to be more pronounced due to the older coatings, etc. Any time you have a bright high contrast situation it will be evident. I took a shot of a squirrel against a bright-white overcast sky last fall using an older Minolta lens, and the CA was so bad his entire tail was purple! If you want, you can usually get rid of most of it with software in post. You'd have better luck with this in RAW than in auto. My squirrel was so bad is wasn't salvageable, so he's a Goth squirrel!

The Sony TCs wouldn't do that, but they're only compatible with their top-drawer lenses, the 70-200s, 100-400, 200-600, etc.
 
Thanks all. This was shot with my old Nikkor 300mm f4.5 lens + Nikon TC-200 teleconverter, so, yeah, they're OLD.
I'll try converting it to B&W and see how it looks.
 

Similar threads

Jock Elliott
    • Like
Sony The HX400V strikes again . . .
Replies
2
Views
128
Jock Elliott
Jock Elliott
Jock Elliott
    • Like
    • Cool
    • Appreciate
Sony The wonders of today's cameras . . .
Replies
4
Views
209
Brownie
Brownie
cedge
    • Like
    • Informative
    • Vulcan Salute
Sony New Sony (A9 Mk1) User - My Experiences/Annoyances
4 5 6
Replies
103
Views
6K
L0n3Gr3yW0lf
L0n3Gr3yW0lf
Back
Top