TMaG82 wrote:
Thanks Philip and mills. You've been very helpful. I've been looking at samples, looking at videos, etc for the last few days. At first I wanted the 7r for the extra resolution but it would require too much for me. Right now I'm leaning towards the a7, especially since you guys mention about the shutter lag, the lack of the electronic first curtain, and the necessity for good handholding technique.
Right now I have a 13 month old to chase around and while I'm not expecting to track her, I would like some good quality images of her. I do have a 0 series Gitzo tripod that I use and can carry around but if I could not have to use it all the time it would be even better. Plus at least for the first few months I would most likely use native FE glass then add adapted glass later. I'm not sure my skills are good enough for the 7r. Maybe get the 7, learn, improve, and then later on get the 7r or an improved model with hopefully IBIS, NEX 7 like styling, or other improvements. ...Show more →
There is an issue with A7, about flare during night long shots. I got the A7 during 13 days. Everything was ok, and I made up my mind exactly for same Philip's reasons. But I take a lot of night shots. When I tried to shoot the moon not exactly in the center of the frame, with more than three seconds at ISO 400, I realized it will be impossible to do something clean in astrophotography.
I got same observations from Samuli here, and others on blogs and fora. I regret the A7 about first electronic curtain and A7r problems of shaking with high magnification, macro and telephotos. But I have no flare issues anymore.
If you do many night shots, perhaps you should have to go further with this question before your decision.
@Greg, thanks..yes the Nokton strangely does convert nicely to B&W..I don't know why though. By the way, keep those lovely portraits coming. I see you go out more often with the 35 Nokton than your 50 summilux now?
Philip, excellent set..I assume you're using a monopod / tripod?
Michiel, you seem own so many lenses. It must be hard to choose what to bring
Kiboos, excellent set..I've been wanting to get a shutter remote for quite sometime.
Guys, thanks for the likes! very much appreciated. Here's a few with the Zeiss M 25.
A couple from the Nikkor 105/1.8 Ai-S. The colors are quite heavily processed, because I really didn't like how they came out straight from this lens/camera combination. But the bokeh is quite nice.
millsart wrote:
Few more beach shots (a7 w/ 28-70)
Mills, how do you find the 28-70 kit lens? Obviously I don't expect it to be the best and would most likely use the other FE primes but having a decent walk around zoom may be beneficial for those casual outings with my family.
smdl wrote:
There is an issue with A7, about flare during night long shots. I got the A7 during 13 days. Everything was ok, and I made up my mind exactly for same Philip's reasons. But I take a lot of night shots. When I tried to shoot the moon not exactly in the center of the frame, with more than three seconds at ISO 400, I realized it will be impossible to do something clean in astrophotography.
I got same observations from Samuli here, and others on blogs and fora. I regret the A7 about first electronic curtain and A7r problems of shaking with high magnification, macro and telephotos. But I have no flare issues anymore.
If you do many night shots, perhaps you should have to go further with this question before your decision. ...Show more →
Thanks for the insight, I don't do long exposures, at least I haven't up to now, but it's interesting to note your observations.
Technique #1 with Sony seems to be "hat" (holding hat between sun and lens), I have done it before with 5DmkII, but usually it did mean minor improvement on contrast. On Sony it seems to be completely different story; light sources close to image "frame" cause enormous flare, reflections and something else random depending lens. This scene was shoot with C/Y adapter, which was masked, but even it didn't help. Photo was shoot with polarizer, but has almost no effect (did try first without polarizer and photo seemed as bad).
"Hat trick #1 - no hat" - Carl Zeiss S-Planar T* 2.8/60 @ f/2.8, 1/100s, Sony A7 @ ISO 100, Carl Zeiss T* Circular Polarizer 67mm
"Hat trick #1 - with hat" - Carl Zeiss S-Planar T* 2.8/60 @ f/2.8, 1/40s, Sony A7 @ ISO 100, Carl Zeiss T* Circular Polarizer 67mm
carstenw wrote:
Hmm, I am not a big fan of that boke, feels rather "thick". Is it always like that, or just sometimes?
Carsten, yes. Boke improves in quality, not contrast balance between focus plane vs boke where the issue is, when closed down. This lens is "one trick pony" and for me it's 1:10 shooting, for which it has been optimized and MTF curves show the optimization as well. For shots like last page I would prefer almost any Planar, Sonnar or even Biotar over Contax S-Planar 60mm (most likely Distagons would be preferred as well, thou haven't shoot with medium format 40/50/60mm Distagons myself in 36mm*24mm).
Close to 1:10 I like the lens very much, but also there I think that the rendering is not very Zeiss like. Of course in addition it's good at makros in addition to 1:10, but that is expected from makro lens, so would not consider it anything special, just that it does well what it's designed to do.
Carl Zeiss S-Planar T* 2.8/60 @ f/2.8, 1/40s, Sony A7 @ ISO 100, Carl Zeiss T* Circular Polarizer 67mm
