AGeoJO Offline Upload & Sell: On
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Gochugogi wrote:
Cool, maybe bleeding edge photo buffs will flee to SonyLand and I can get a 5D3 for dirt cheap now...
mabidally wrote:
Looks like your prediction is coming true, lot of 5D3's for sale right now used mint condition ones asking about $2,400 i think this is dropping rapidly as realisation of the A7 and A7r impact becomes clearer.
This round Canon seems to have been hit out of the ball park, they will seriously have to up their game in the next round.
Folks that think the Sony A7r is a replacement for the 5D Mark III are in for not so pleasant surprises. I would describe it as a high MP addition to their existing Canon body or bodies, even then they have to struggle with finding the right adapter/adapters and that can decide how good of an addition it actually is. There will be quite a bit of trial and error in doing so. Enough so that the whole aspect may scare some away from adapting non-native lenses on their A7r. I posted my findings/experience from using an adapter in the previous page of this thread but here is my finding and discussion from using various lenses and various mount adapters to Sony E:
1. What I have/use - Two Leica M, two Nikon, one Canon FD and one Canon EF adapters. Except for the last one, the Canon EF to Sony adapter, the others are "dumb" adapters, basically like an extension tube that you mount behind the lens and the whole shebang adapts to the Sony E mount of the A7r. One Nikon - E adapter allows me to change the aperture of their G lenses while the other doesn’t have that feature. In general, the dummy adapters are fairly in expensive and they are readily available but the Canon EF to E adapters are not inexpensive and not quite readily available, at least currently. It may take a week or longer to get them, if they are available. They range in price from approximately $200 to $400 each. Since I have lenses of different mounts and I would like to be able to use…., let me rephrase it, to test on the A7r. But why more than one of the same mount? Please read below.
2. The usage of adapters brings another parameter into the equation. The quality of adapters varies quite a bit. So, are expensive adapters better than their less expensive counterparts? Yes and no. In general they are better made but the tolerance is not consistent. You read a report somewhere that adapter A plus lens X combo works great. But when you get adapter A and you tried it on the exact same lens X, you started questioning the judgement of the person that reported it. The quality of that particular adapter will depend on your particular lens. The tolerance of lenses, especially newer lenses is pretty good but the tolerance of the adapters is less so. For all I know, my adapter is in perfect specification but it doesn’t work out well with my lens X on the A7r and not the other way around. Who knows! Another example goes like this. One of my lenses didn’t do well using one adapter but did actually great than on a different adapter. Go figure! Plus, the focusing distance also adds another parameter….It can escalate pretty fast from there. Granted, my experience is more pronounced in adapting rangefinder lenses but still it translates to a certain degree to Canon lenses. Case in point - so far, there are 3 folks here that use an alternative (to that of the most commonly used Metabones) adapter made by RJC. One user reported physical obstruction of the baffle using a 24mm TS-E lens. I didn’t notice it and Fred didn’t either. Fred reported an increase of CA relative the results taken with the same lens using his Metabones adapter. I do not have any Metabones; so, I can’t say one way or the other. Furthermore, Fred and Roger reported that the improvement (mostly as a result from 22 to 36MP) is noticeable only in the center when compared to the files generated with his 5D Mark III or the native camera. The corners? Not really there. See his comments on this page.
3. Wide angle SLR lenses perform better than those of rangefinder lenses simply due to the difference in optical design between the two groups. Even the serious “offenders” in any group and after using both adapters, perform great in the center. It is the edge, especially the corner performance that somehow gets magnified/more pronounced from using various adapters. I understood that the 24MP Sony A7 is better in that respect to that of the 36MP A7r. The increase in resolution? 22MP to 24MP, hardly worth mentioning. Before some folks jump to my throat about the DR improvement.... well, to each his/her own.
In summary, the usage of Canon lenses on the Sony A7r is not as easy as it seems. For sure, it is not so seamless as some anticipated and not all lenses can be easily adapted. The adapters seem to vary not only from brand to brand but from batches to batches. How do we figure that out? Using the trial and error method. You have to try each one out with your existing lenses and that can get tedious fast. For sure, you will become a pixel peeper in no time and that takes away from real life photography we are enjoying so much. I will continue to use the A7r in addition to my 5D Mark III and I will limit my lens selection for that. But I will use this camera more as my smallish and lightweight travel camera, again only with selected rangefinder and Canon FD lenses. My favorite Canon EF lens on this camera so far is the Canon 40mm f/2.8 pancake! The adapter adds more than an inch or so to the lens and it may not be considered as a pancake lens but it is still cute and really sharp, even at wide open .
As you can see, I am staying away from discussing the possibility of shutter vibration issues within a certain shutter speed range of the A7r, which could be another strike against this camera. I feel like I have done enough pixel peeping and I don’t feel like doing it anymore . You need to weigh in the merit of this camera, warts and all, even only as an addition to your existing Canon body yourself. I am just offering my perspective as a user. Who knows maybe during time you are considering the possibility of getting this camera Canon introduces a high MP camera . If not, well, tough .
Edited on Dec 16, 2013 at 12:17 PM · View previous versions
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