xbarcelo wrote:
I guess it depends on your threshold, but considering how careful Philip is with his lenses, I can only say that my copy is much worse than the one he tried. Be careful withsample variation!
What do you mean with how careful I am with my lenses? The tested lens wasn't mine and decentered.
I owned two copies of the CV15 and both were decentered to a degree that was barely acceptable, but thats only anecdotal evidence and therefore not a reliable soure on how godd CV's quality control/durability is.
Phillip Reeve wrote:
What do you mean with how careful I am with my lenses? The tested lens wasn't mine and decentered.
I owned two copies of the CV15 and both were decentered to a degree that was barely acceptable, but thats only anecdotal evidence and therefore not a reliable soure on how godd CV's quality control/durability is.
Phillip, what I meant was that you have been testing carefully your lenses and that you have quite a degree of credibility. That's all. I was only warning Sebboh that my copy is bad and my experience is very different from yours…
xbarcelo wrote:
Phillip, what I meant was that you have been testing carefully your lenses and that you have quite a degree of credibility. That's all. I was only warning Sebboh that my copy is bad and my experience is very different from yours…
okay, thanks for clarifying
that looks like it'll be good enough for me on the rare occasion i actually want a 21mm.
yeah, thank god i don't want AF or zooms. my kit is much lighter than that one the rare occasions i want a kit rather than just one lens and one camera. if i wanted AF though, there is no way i'd be shooting an a7/rx1 combo now.
on that note, here's some birds shot with horribly oversized lenses around my neighborhood.
This may be a little off-topic, but thought I'd share it here, rather than some other thread where I don't know many people.
Setting Up Sony A7 for Friendly Zone System Exposure Control
I've been admiring the great exposure control that so many of you are exhibiting here on this thread. And, I really wanted to do better with my own work. So, I thought about how to I might apply zone system principles in a practical way on my A7R. Here are the approaches I've come up with.
MF and Manual Aperture Lenses
Option 1: Aperture Priority with Fixed ISO
Set AEL button to Toggle mode
Set metering to Spot
Set camera to Aperture Priority
Set ISO to desired level
Set Aperture to desired level on lens
Meter on desired subject area in viewfinder. This will result in camera selection of Shutter Speed. Adjust A/S/ISO to a mix you like.
Lock in this exposure with AEL button
Use Exposure Compensation dial to move this exposure to desired zone. You have +/- three zones (stops) to work with. I use zebra function to alert me of potential blown highlights
Note that changes in Exposure Comp (zone shift) value will push your Shutter Speed up and down.
Shoot
Option 2: Aperture Priority with Auto ISO
Set AEL button to Toggle mode
Set metering to Spot
Set camera to Aperture Priority
Set ISO to Auto
Set Aperture to desired level on lens
Meter on desired area in viewfinder (results in camera best guess of Shutter/ISO; beware of 1-over-focal length Shutter Speed selections)
Lock in the exposure with AEL button
Use Exposure Compensation dial to move this area to desired zone.
Note that changes in Exposure Comp (zone shift) value will push your ISO up and down; Shutter Speed will remain constant.
Shoot
Options 3, 4: Shutter Priority or Manual Mode with Auto ISO (I find these not so useful)
Set AEL button to Toggle mode
Set metering to Spot
Set camera to Manual or Shutter Priority
Set ISO to Auto
Meter on desired area in viewfinder - in these modes, you have full control over Aperture and Shutter to achieve initial exposure.
Lock in the exposure with AEL button
Use Exposure Compensation dial to move this area to desired zone.
Note that changes in Exposure Comp (zone shift) value will push your ISO up and down; Shutter Speed will remain constant.
Shoot
Native FE Lenses
Aperture Priority with Fixed or Auto ISO - same as MF lens operation, except you control Aperture with camera dial instead of lens ring
Shutter Priority with Fixed ISO - as with MF, but now Aperture will change with Exposure Comp (zone shift)
Shutter Priority with Auto ISO - initial exposure setting done with Shutter Priority; but ISO will change with Exposure Comp (zone shift)
Manual Mode with Auto ISO - full control of A/S with camera dials on initial exposure setting; ISO will change with Exposure Comp (zone shift)
To keep this 'thread-relevant', I will try to follow up with some same-scene samples showing how this works when I have a chance. I have a feeling I've discovered on my own what others probably already know well . . . please let me know if the approach I've described makes sense or if there is a better way.
designet wrote:
This may be a little off-topic, but thought I'd share it here, rather than some other thread where I don't know many people.
Setting Up Sony A7 for Friendly Zone System Exposure Control
hmm sounds rather complicated to me.
This is how I manage it:
set Zebra to 100+
keep ISO as low as possible, you loose a little less than one stop of DR every time you double it. ISO 50 is nothing else but an ISO 100 Image which has been pulled 1 Stop by the camera, so you loose some highlights and gain some shadow detal
My memory slot 1 on the dial is programmed to ISO 100 and A mode and I use this whenever I have enough light keep my camera steady enough at the desired aperture which is most of the time.
slot 2 is programmed to S mode and auto ISO which I use when there is a danger of too long exposure times for sharp images. This usually means that it is darker and the scene cntrast won't be too big.
Now I use the exposure compensation dial until the Zebra pattern shows in the highlights an the I turn it about 2/3 of a stop more because Zebra is based on the jpg and highlights areas which are not over exposed. I never tested this exactly but 1 stop over what zebra shwos as no overexposure seems to be a safe enough bet.
It happens that this results in nearly black midtones, I then turn on DRO 5 which will let me see into the darker areas. If the midtones stay black despite DRO 5 I will have to sacrifice some highlight detail.
Thanks Philip for the tip and the blog post, I'll need to read it in detail.
Greg,
Which version of the lux do you have? I have the v1 and I'm yet to try it on the A7. For now, I am really like the Macro-Elmarit-R 60mm on the A7. The way it renders and the colors are something I am really happy about. Here's one portrait of my wife I made last weekend with that lens on the A7:
The tones and exposure seems a bit off on flickr, not sure why though.
