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Archive 2015 · The day my Sony A7 let me down...

  
 
heikoM
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · The day my Sony A7 let me down...


Yesterday we had a wedding. Thought I would give my Sony A7 set-up another chance.

The ceremony was in a medieval farm house, soo dark. The AF struggled, took endless to focus. Ambient was about 1/30 sec. at 1.8 at ISO 6400. Anyway, I was just annoyed, but that was to expect.


When I use my Sonys constantly check my batterie status. At the end of the ceremony, as the speaker announced the couple would exit now, I checked the batterie. 21%. Good to go for another 15 minutes.

30 seconds later, exactly at the moment the couple started to walk the aisle the camera said low batterie and died. My other cam had a wrong lens attached. Within seconds I changed the batterie to a new one I had in my pants-pocket. Then the camera needed about half a month to start up again (OK, 3 seconds, or so). At the very end of the aisle it came back to life. I was able to grasp 3 or 4 shots, lucky me, one expression was good.


I feel that I now have to leave the Sony system for good. That was it for me. Simply not fast enough and not reliable enough. It gets constantly in my way!


heiko







May 17, 2015 at 05:42 AM
flash
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · The day my Sony A7 let me down...


The A7's aren't for you.

You know I like you. But this wasn't the cameras fault. You keep expecting the Sony mirrorless to work in ways they just don't. They are not DSLRs. The A7 doesn't do contrast detect at EV-1 and the batteries are tiny and need changing for an important moment. You needed an A7S and a battery grip. Or with the A7 a switch to manual focus. With a properly formatted memory card and the latest firmware it takes a second and a bit to be up and running.

Lots of photographers, myself included, don't have the issues you have with the Sony system. Mostly because we don't have false expectations of what the systems strengths and weaknesses are. My focus hit rate with the A72 is over 90% and I'm never looking for more "speed". Probably because the way I shoot works in with the strengths of the Sony cameras. Last year I shot 50 thousand frames on the A7 and had great results and no failures.

The system may not work for you but that's not the systems fault. It is what it is.

Gordon



May 17, 2015 at 05:46 AM
heikoM
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · The day my Sony A7 let me down...


Hi Gordon,

thank you for the feedback. Yeah, I know the limits. I think I shouted a bit too loud, was just so frsustrated.

I know the af struggles in low light. I think our environments are different, though. Here in northern Germany many hotel-rooms are tiny and dark, churches and indoor venues are often historic and also quite dark. Then comes the weather, no sunny beaches here...

Manuel focus is fine for me - with a rangefinder, but manual focus with a A7 is a crouch...

But the camera let me down with the batterie. I know how short they last, that is why I check its capacity all the time. 20% and up is fine, normally. I never had them "jump" from 20% to nothing within 30 sec. They are already very small, but when I have to change them when they still have more then a fifth power, I can already throw some more in the bag.

About the hit-rate. It seems that we have different styles of shooting. Maybe my is a bit more dynamic, or you can anticipate better.


Anyway, would love to be able to shoot with these tiny pieces of handling light gorgeous, but for my reportage work they get in the way...


heiko

Edited on May 19, 2015 at 01:42 AM · View previous versions



May 17, 2015 at 07:03 AM
Veedotcom
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · The day my Sony A7 let me down...


Hey Flash! Do you have a website? I'd like see these great shots with the Sony A7s.?


May 18, 2015 at 09:54 PM
Johnny5liter
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · The day my Sony A7 let me down...


Veedotcom wrote:
Hey Flash! Do you have a website? I'd like see these great shots with the Sony A7s.?


Click on the WWW.




May 18, 2015 at 11:44 PM
tigerbengal
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · The day my Sony A7 let me down...


Hi Heiko...for dim places like the ones you work on ....yes get the a7s, that camera is excellent for low light photography, buy the battery grip, and for manual focus...buy the zacuto z finder pro, I just got it and is excellent for getting the right focus in the camera, I don't know how I did it before without it....my respects for all of you wedding photographers out there!!!


May 19, 2015 at 01:00 AM
glort
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · The day my Sony A7 let me down...



Interesting to hear a first hand report from a pro user.
It gells with what I have read elsewhere.

I have seen Will Crockett pushing Mirror less as the end of DSLR"S and telling people how superior they are. I called him out it and was told I was out of date etc. Clearly the guy has a lot of vested interest in the type and willing to Guild the Lilly quite a lot in order to push his position.

The technology of these cameras is a LONG way from taking on the all round versatility of a DSLR at this time.



May 19, 2015 at 04:42 AM
Mark_L
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · The day my Sony A7 let me down...


I think mirrorless will be the end of the dslr but they have a long way to go. The dslr is near the top of it's evolution and mirrorless is just starting to get good enough for some applications which is also why most of the cameras are quite consumer-centric regarding size.


May 19, 2015 at 07:08 AM
heikoM
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · The day my Sony A7 let me down...


I feel mirrorless are great for nearly all photographic stuff...

except fast reportage in dark environments. I definitely have to try a A7s to see if it makes a difference.

Another thing I start to dislike more and more is the long viewfinder blackout. I fast moving situations it makes me loose contact to the subjects. Remember when you saw an action movie that was directed to be viewed by adults and you see the 12 years old version? In the middle of the fight there is a break and suddenly the bad guys lies dead on the floor, hello?


heiko



May 19, 2015 at 07:55 AM
IrishDino
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · The day my Sony A7 let me down...


I think on the pro side of things, the DSLR still has at least another 5 years as the king.

I tried using an X-T1 and was shocked that wedding professionals even considered it.



May 19, 2015 at 10:30 AM
Leican
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · The day my Sony A7 let me down...


heikoM wrote:
except fast reportage in dark environments. I definitely have to try a A7s to see if it makes a difference.

heiko


The A7s make much difference especially in low light...


I did just this Saturday a wedding all Sony, A7 and A7s, with A7s could focus in the darkest scenes, on par with the Canon 5D3.





http://www.tuscanyweddingphoto.com



May 20, 2015 at 04:04 AM
ricardovaste
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · The day my Sony A7 let me down...


Time to learn from your mistakes?

'I was about to throw it in the bin' - https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1303619/0



May 20, 2015 at 04:46 AM
jmraso
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · The day my Sony A7 let me down...


Running out of battery and having the wrong lens has nothing to do with the system one is using.

I suggest, then, a Canon 1Dx with a 24-70 mII ! but have another one at hand in case this expensive set up fails.

How much do u ask for your Sonys ! : )



May 20, 2015 at 04:53 AM
heikoM
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · The day my Sony A7 let me down...


jmraso wrote:
Running out of battery and having the wrong lens has nothing to do with the system one is using.



Sorry mate, but you did not read carefully:

The battery jumped from 21% to zero within 30 seconds. Never did that before. I see that as the cameras fault.

And of course I have a different lens on the other body... ?


Heiko



May 20, 2015 at 05:28 AM
heikoM
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · The day my Sony A7 let me down...


ricardovaste wrote:
Time to learn from your mistakes?

'I was about to throw it in the bin' - https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1303619/0


That was a problem I kind of solved. The electronic connection with the battery grips was not working. After getting rid of the grips everything worked as it should.

Until last wedding.


Heiko



May 20, 2015 at 05:31 AM
LeeSimms
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · The day my Sony A7 let me down...


If I won the lottery and was traveling the world, the a7II would be the camera I'd take. Love the files and love shooting with it for slower, more contemplative subjects.

The battery life and tricky low-light AF nixed it at weddings for me.

Love that Zeiss 55 and would love to try their new AF lenses for it. Fun, fun.



May 20, 2015 at 12:47 PM
LeeSimms
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · The day my Sony A7 let me down...


Leican, that Elaine & Marco wedding of yours looks great. I'm assuming that's A7 ?


May 20, 2015 at 12:50 PM
curious80
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · The day my Sony A7 let me down...


glort wrote:
Interesting to hear a first hand report from a pro user.
It gells with what I have read elsewhere.

I have seen Will Crockett pushing Mirror less as the end of DSLR"S and telling people how superior they are. I called him out it and was told I was out of date etc. Clearly the guy has a lot of vested interest in the type and willing to Guild the Lilly quite a lot in order to push his position.

The technology of these cameras is a LONG way from taking on the all round versatility of a DSLR at this
...Show more

A7 is actually towards the bottom of mirrroless cameras in terms of AF performance and camera operation speed. There are many other mirrorless cameras which perform much better than the A7 and in some cases have AF performance even better than DSLRs.

I don't think mirrorless is there yet where it could replace DSLRs. However I feel that in a couple of years the AF and performance difference would be non-issues and we will start on a path where mirrorless will start leaving the DLSRs behind. Mirrorless has far more information to work with than the DSLRs and given enough compute power you can do a lot more things there which are simply not possible in a DSLR. At that point the remaining difference would primarily be in things like lens selection, flash system, pro support etc which will take a few more years to build. Also some people would simply not want to give up the optical viewfinder which will keep the DSLRs alive for yet another few years. However there is simply no doubt that eventually mirrrorless will replace DSLRs.



May 20, 2015 at 01:11 PM
heikoM
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · The day my Sony A7 let me down...


curious80 wrote:
A7 is actually towards the bottom of mirrroless cameras in terms of AF performance and camera operation speed. There are many other mirrorless cameras which perform much better than the A7 and in some cases have AF performance even better than DSLRs.

I don't think mirrorless is there yet where it could replace DSLRs. However I feel that in a couple of years the AF and performance difference would be non-issues and we will start on a path where mirrorless will start leaving the DLSRs behind. Mirrorless has far more information to work with than the DSLRs and given enough compute
...Show more


But you canīt compare the AF of a full frame camera wich has to manage the DOF of say a 55/1.8 with a micro 4/3 camera. Oranges and apples.


heiko



May 20, 2015 at 01:51 PM
curious80
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · The day my Sony A7 let me down...


heikoM wrote:
But you canīt compare the AF of a full frame camera wich has to manage the DOF of say a 55/1.8 with a micro 4/3 camera. Oranges and apples.

heiko


Sure. However:

1. A7 doesn't even represent the best of FF mirrrorless in terms of AF. A7II is already better just by improving the algorithms without any real hardware upgrade. Similarly A7s is able to AF down to -4EV - a feat unmatched even by most DSLRs.Remember these are first generation FF mirrorless cameras. As I said, I think in a couple of years you will see enough refinement to remove the shortcomings of these first-gen cameras.

2. If you compare across same format then recent Samsung NX1 has already been shown to approach and in some cases exceed the tracking performance of Canon's 7DII which is the most sophisticated APS-C DSLR ever released. Nx1 is a camera created by basically an electronics company against a camera from a company with decades of experience in designing tracking AF systems working closely with pro action photographers.

Again I am not saying that mirrorless is there yet. However all the indications are that technologically most of the pieces are in place to allow mirrorless to match and exceed DSLR performance. Its just a mater of final refinements over next couple of years or so.



May 20, 2015 at 02:44 PM
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