mark1958 wrote:
Some of your differences might be due to the sensor differences-- I think handholding to maximize 36 megapixel resolution is going to be a bit different and 1/40 is getting close to the limit.
1/40 is absolutely on the limit. Thatīs why we have IS/VR/OSS.
I think it works quite well with the NEX7,
so with the not so high res A7R there should be no problem at all...
I wonder if anyone has repeated any of the tests with a shot filled bean bag?
Would use that technique in some situations (still do) with OM bodies to counteract vibration from aperture stop down if could not use timer on the OM4T which activates the MLU/aperture prefire. Not as convenient as having an electronic first curtain option. I was just about sold on A7R and now am reconsidering A7 in lieu of my current 5DII for alt use.
It seems that the vibration is in resonance with the lens. When using long lenses tripod mounted, there is more inertia induced by the shutter movenemt. This inspired me to try a long bracket, and move the whole arrangement forwards so that the camera is again right above the ballhead.
Bingo! Less motion blur.
I consider myself affected by the issue, as long lenses on tripod is where I live very often. Luckily shutter speeds around 1/30 sec is not where I live most of the time. Still the issue has made me keep my D800E a little longer...
My original final decision to go with A7 was based on that multiple people were able to generate soft images due to first curtain shutter vibration on "optimal conditions" (tripod on wooden/concrete floor, tripod size = large, ballhead size = large). Now after reading Lloyd's pages about 135mm, 180mm and 280mm vibration, I'm 100% sure it was correct decision for me.
Sometimes I can shoot in optimal conditions. But large part of my 135mm and 180mm usage is panoramas and I have earlier had problems when I tried to shoot with panorama head instead of live view with mirror lock-up (=using mechanical first curtain) with my 5DmkII. Also when I travel I typically bring just tiny Gitzo traveler with very small ballhead instead the big Gitzo with proper head.
Also I don't see much difference on Lloyd's review comparing A7 and A7r, maybe FE35 just can't deliver OR then the slight resolution increase (6000px wide image vs. 7360px ==> for every 100px in A7 there are 123px in A7r).
Ok, since there has been so much discussion regarding the vibration caused by I presume the shutter of the A7r particularly with long lenses I wanted to run some tests for myself and to share the results with you. I took photos of our artificial Christmas Tree with my A7r and my Leica 280mm f4 Apo Telyt lens. The lens optimum lens performance is supposed to be at f4. I used the camera tripod mounted on my RRS TVC-24L Versa Series 2 Carbon Fiber Tripod with the RRS TA-2-LC: Versa 2 Leveling Base w/ clamp, RRS, TH-DVTL-55: Round Dovetail Plate, Markins M20 Ball Head, and a Kirk Arca Swiss Type QR clamp. The lens was tripod mounted to the Kirk clamp with a RRS L97L lens plate. In order to run the tests I had to run the tests at an ISO of 2000 so that I could run the lens through all of the apertures so that I could test the shutter affect at f4, f5.6, f8, f11, f16 and f22. I ran the appropriate shutter speeds for each of the apertures. As a second round of tests I ran a second set of tests for the same apertures draping a Gura Gear Bean Bag draped over the Leica 280mm f4 Apo Telyt lens. You can compare the 100% crop at each aperture and shutter speed as indicated in the following photos. It must be understood that after awhile we are seeing the diffraction offsetting the lens performance. As can be seen in some of the images the Bean Bag can improve some of the results. A heavier Bean Bag may have even better affect as well as locking the camera down when appropriate.
The first photo shows the scene that was taken for the images followed by the 100% crop at each aperture and shutter speed. The target for the 100% crops was the light blue snowflake.
I am forming the belief that a lot of people need to understand what the camera was designed for, and it would be great if they stuck with their giant Nikons which can do detail really well at the suddenly much needed shutter speeds around 1/30 to 1/60.
MaxBerlin wrote:
280 f4 with bean bag 1/160 and 1/100 are the clearest to my eye.
The problem is I threw out my bean bag about the same time as I threw out my Saturday Night Fever 8 track.
Too bad they don't make them any more. Eight tracks, that is.
Actually, it's not so bad. I vaguely remember driving aroung in a 'sixties Econoline van, and jamming matchbooks into the face of the eight track player, to get the tape aligned with the head.
By the way, I forgot to mention what I posted above were SOOC with the only sharpening done by LR5.3 defaults. I did not adjust anything in the image except crop the images after being exported to PS6 and putting in the copyright notice and reducing the images down to JPEG files. Also the shutter was released with the Sony wired remote cable.
