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Archive 2013Sony A7/A7R Setup
p.12 #1Sony A7/A7R Setup
There are four small arrow triangles in the window once you're in magnification mode. The bottom one I keep mistaking for the EV arrow (it's not) but I did notice that there is an alias (shadowing) between the left and right arrow right through the center of the EVF when at 7.2 and 14.4.
Can anyone else confirm and is there a way to turn these non additive arrows off ?
Thanks in advance
Can anyone else confirm and is there a way to turn these non additive arrows off ?
Thanks in advance
Dec 17, 2013 at 10:57 AM
p.12 #2Sony A7/A7R Setup
Can one magnify a portion of the image in the EVF in a window like with Magic Lantern on Canon? It is great to be able to mantain the framing especially while achieving best focus with alts. That would be super nice and wouldsorely tempt me to trade in my 5DII. Thanks.
Dec 17, 2013 at 05:55 PM
p.12 #3Sony A7/A7R Setup
Michael, I have taken to doing a rough frame, then focus magnify one press then direction buttons on rear spin dial to get the focus spot needed with the frame held constant, then focus perfectly, light shutter press, finetune framing and shoot. does that make sense?
Dec 17, 2013 at 06:50 PM
p.12 #4Sony A7/A7R Setup
I've discovered something about AF on the camera which I can't recall seeing here before, apologies if it's been covered.
Autofocus Impact of "Setting Effect ON | OFF": Menu > Cog > 2 > Live View Display...
When the Live View Display effect is ON, and light is suboptimal, and the lens is stopped down, AF can be somewhat slower to achieve focus because it is performing AF with the lens stopped down to the selected aperture.
When Live View Display effect is OFF, and light is suboptimal, AF will be faster, and depending on the aperture selected, noticeably faster, because the camera leaves the shutter as wide as possible (in poor light it will generally be wide open) while still presenting a consistent view in the finder(s).
This improved AF performance is probably why Live View Display effect defaults to OFF when the cameras are shipped new.
Since I've shut Auto Review off to get a more responsive camera, I prefer to have the Live View Display effect set to ON. The slightly slower AF performance seems like an ok price to pay.
I'm glad to have dug into this. When shooting in less than ideal light and/or wanting even more responsive AF I'll switch the settings around... this sounds like a good candidate for one of the memory modes on the camera.
Autofocus Impact of "Setting Effect ON | OFF": Menu > Cog > 2 > Live View Display...
When the Live View Display effect is ON, and light is suboptimal, and the lens is stopped down, AF can be somewhat slower to achieve focus because it is performing AF with the lens stopped down to the selected aperture.
When Live View Display effect is OFF, and light is suboptimal, AF will be faster, and depending on the aperture selected, noticeably faster, because the camera leaves the shutter as wide as possible (in poor light it will generally be wide open) while still presenting a consistent view in the finder(s).
This improved AF performance is probably why Live View Display effect defaults to OFF when the cameras are shipped new.
Since I've shut Auto Review off to get a more responsive camera, I prefer to have the Live View Display effect set to ON. The slightly slower AF performance seems like an ok price to pay.
I'm glad to have dug into this. When shooting in less than ideal light and/or wanting even more responsive AF I'll switch the settings around... this sounds like a good candidate for one of the memory modes on the camera.
Dec 18, 2013 at 12:55 PM
p.12 #5Sony A7/A7R Setup
Thanks for the AF info Michael. I haven't used the AF on my A7R yet but I wonder why the firmware doesn't open up the lens during AF. Doing so would speed up AF in low light situations without affecting the LV preview except maybe for video. The only downside would be wear on the aperture blades and the loss of focus shift correction.
Dec 18, 2013 at 01:11 PM
p.12 #6Sony A7/A7R Setup
I've wondered too; so far have not done any testing for focus shift yet... one of these days.
One thing about turning the Live View effect setting off, it seems like the Zebra exposure guide doesn't function properly in that situation as applying focus compensation has no effect on areas beyond the Zebra threshold selected. It's a "semi-live-view" camera in that mode.
Centre weighted (or spot) instead of Multi metering also speeds up the time to AF lock.
I wonder if continuous focus can be made more usable by adding all these minor improvements together? Personally I don't care much about C-AF but will check it out with the dog later.
One thing about turning the Live View effect setting off, it seems like the Zebra exposure guide doesn't function properly in that situation as applying focus compensation has no effect on areas beyond the Zebra threshold selected. It's a "semi-live-view" camera in that mode.
Centre weighted (or spot) instead of Multi metering also speeds up the time to AF lock.
I wonder if continuous focus can be made more usable by adding all these minor improvements together? Personally I don't care much about C-AF but will check it out with the dog later.
Dec 18, 2013 at 01:23 PM
p.12 #7Sony A7/A7R Setup
The major issue with Setting Effects Off is that the histogram is not responding to exposure compensation.
This makes the feature rather useless for me unfortunately.
Maybe only for guys and girls in the studio who are flashing at 1/60s and f/11 who do not want a dark display.
This makes the feature rather useless for me unfortunately.
Maybe only for guys and girls in the studio who are flashing at 1/60s and f/11 who do not want a dark display.
Dec 18, 2013 at 02:54 PM
p.12 #8Sony A7/A7R Setup
Maybe Sony engineers didn't want to bother doing exposure calculations that involved inputing the f/stop difference effect on exposure. Or that they believed the calculation wouldn't be accurate enough for aperture variability. Or maybe it's just a bug 
Dec 18, 2013 at 03:01 PM
p.12 #10Sony A7/A7R Setup
philip_pj wrote:
Michael, I have taken to doing a rough frame, then focus magnify one press then direction buttons on rear spin dial to get the focus spot needed with the frame held constant, then focus perfectly, light shutter press, finetune framing and shoot. does that make sense?
Makes sense to me. Thank you so much for clarifying. I would fear losing critical focus with a
medium tele if had to reframe. Perhaps someone will write a camera app to mimick Magic Lantern this regard if others would find it useful as well.
Mike
Michael, I have taken to doing a rough frame, then focus magnify one press then direction buttons on rear spin dial to get the focus spot needed with the frame held constant, then focus perfectly, light shutter press, finetune framing and shoot. does that make sense?
Makes sense to me. Thank you so much for clarifying. I would fear losing critical focus with a
medium tele if had to reframe. Perhaps someone will write a camera app to mimick Magic Lantern this regard if others would find it useful as well.
Mike
Dec 18, 2013 at 03:09 PM
p.12 #11Sony A7/A7R Setup
LMAO at the guy who ventured the A7r processor was fast. Try taking a 30 sec exposure at night with in camera noise reduction turned on. (mine has been off until tonight)
You may see the sunrise before you get to take your next shot. (and this is with the fastest sd card you can buy)
You may see the sunrise before you get to take your next shot. (and this is with the fastest sd card you can buy)
Dec 18, 2013 at 09:44 PM
p.12 #12Sony A7/A7R Setup
MaxBerlin wrote:
LMAO at the guy who ventured the A7r processor was fast. Try taking a 30 sec exposure at night with in camera noise reduction turned on. (mine has been off until tonight)
You may see the sunrise before you get to take your next shot. (and this is with the fastest sd card you can buy)
I leave LENR off myself but does it take more than the usual 2x time for the total exposure? (60 seconds in this case).
LMAO at the guy who ventured the A7r processor was fast. Try taking a 30 sec exposure at night with in camera noise reduction turned on. (mine has been off until tonight)
You may see the sunrise before you get to take your next shot. (and this is with the fastest sd card you can buy)
I leave LENR off myself but does it take more than the usual 2x time for the total exposure? (60 seconds in this case).
Dec 18, 2013 at 09:46 PM
p.12 #13Sony A7/A7R Setup
I did find this nice touch by accident - the 10 second delay can also be a 2 second delay. Nice when you misplaced your remote.
http://youtu.be/QqaQ_Bhgmrc?t=6s
http://youtu.be/QqaQ_Bhgmrc?t=6s
Dec 18, 2013 at 09:48 PM
p.12 #14Sony A7/A7R Setup
I used the 2 second delay very often on my 5D II...ditto with the a7R.
-Tim
Dec 18, 2013 at 09:49 PM
p.12 #15Sony A7/A7R Setup
Snapsy - I didn't time it - my wife was packing her things to leave if I kept messing around with the camera - so I had to stop and keep her from going.
But it's a long long time....
But it's a long long time....
Dec 18, 2013 at 09:50 PM
p.12 #16Sony A7/A7R Setup
MaxBerlin wrote:
Snapsy - I didn't time it - my wife was packing her things to leave if I kept messing around with the camera - so I had to stop and keep her from going.
But it's a long long time....
It's probably just the usual black frame time then. It should be equal in duration to the original exposure time.
Snapsy - I didn't time it - my wife was packing her things to leave if I kept messing around with the camera - so I had to stop and keep her from going.
But it's a long long time....
It's probably just the usual black frame time then. It should be equal in duration to the original exposure time.
Dec 18, 2013 at 09:53 PM
p.12 #17Sony A7/A7R Setup
MaxBerlin wrote:
LMAO at the guy who ventured the A7r processor was fast. Try taking a 30 sec exposure at night with in camera noise reduction turned on. You may see the sunrise before you get to take your next shot. (and this is with the fastest sd card you can buy)
What's funny is that you'd think the fastest SD card you can buy would make a difference in long exposure noise reduction.
Last night I did a few night sky shots and was pleased with the first results. LENR processing time did not strike me as out of whack at all.
It's been a while since I shot a 30 second exposure on my D800 but my recollection (I remember shivering in the dark waiting for the darn thing to finish between shots) was the D800 actually took longer to do it's LENR task. Whatever the actual timing was, the D800, supposedly a "real" camera, wasn't an order of magnitude faster / better / any more real in this regard.
Edit: 30 second exposure, ISO50 f/22, tiny sliver of very dim light on subject. 34 seconds for LENR to complete. Another pass at ISO100 f/22 - about the same.
Edited on Dec 19, 2013 at 01:41 AM · View previous versions
LMAO at the guy who ventured the A7r processor was fast. Try taking a 30 sec exposure at night with in camera noise reduction turned on. You may see the sunrise before you get to take your next shot. (and this is with the fastest sd card you can buy)
What's funny is that you'd think the fastest SD card you can buy would make a difference in long exposure noise reduction.
Last night I did a few night sky shots and was pleased with the first results. LENR processing time did not strike me as out of whack at all.
It's been a while since I shot a 30 second exposure on my D800 but my recollection (I remember shivering in the dark waiting for the darn thing to finish between shots) was the D800 actually took longer to do it's LENR task. Whatever the actual timing was, the D800, supposedly a "real" camera, wasn't an order of magnitude faster / better / any more real in this regard.
Edit: 30 second exposure, ISO50 f/22, tiny sliver of very dim light on subject. 34 seconds for LENR to complete. Another pass at ISO100 f/22 - about the same.
Edited on Dec 19, 2013 at 01:41 AM · View previous versions
Dec 19, 2013 at 01:26 AM
p.12 #18Sony A7/A7R Setup
Yeah sony you hear that? We want the next product to be an extra processor that you can attach on for faster processing
Dec 19, 2013 at 01:40 AM
p.12 #19Sony A7/A7R Setup
Dual CPU cameras? Sure, why not! Heat sink fans on the back would be nice. Belt mounted battery pack.
I want a pogostick in the package too. No, a jet pack, that's what this camera needs, a jet pack. No capes though.
I want a pogostick in the package too. No, a jet pack, that's what this camera needs, a jet pack. No capes though.
Dec 19, 2013 at 01:48 AM
p.12 #20Sony A7/A7R Setup
michaelwatkins wrote:
It's been a while since I shot a 30 second exposure on my D800 but my recollection (I remember shivering in the dark waiting for the darn thing to finish between shots) was the D800 actually took longer to do it's LENR task. Whatever the actual timing was, the D800, supposedly a "real" camera, wasn't an order of magnitude faster / better / any more real in this regard.
Edit: 30 second exposure, ISO50 f/22, tiny sliver of very dim light on subject. 34 seconds for LENR to complete. Another pass at ISO100 f/22 - about the same.
Generally it is the same length exposure plus a little processing time, and that should be the same for the D800. I doubt there is any significant difference in any camera here.
It's been a while since I shot a 30 second exposure on my D800 but my recollection (I remember shivering in the dark waiting for the darn thing to finish between shots) was the D800 actually took longer to do it's LENR task. Whatever the actual timing was, the D800, supposedly a "real" camera, wasn't an order of magnitude faster / better / any more real in this regard.
Edit: 30 second exposure, ISO50 f/22, tiny sliver of very dim light on subject. 34 seconds for LENR to complete. Another pass at ISO100 f/22 - about the same.
Generally it is the same length exposure plus a little processing time, and that should be the same for the D800. I doubt there is any significant difference in any camera here.
Dec 19, 2013 at 03:24 AM