DraigPhoto
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 p.67 #14 · Pre-orders open! Sony A7R III and FE 24-105mm f/4 OSS lens! | |
Morning all/
I am glad I have helped somewhat.
I have been a member here for awhile and have kept abreast of the posts, just as I have already received my camera I thought I could pass on my feelings.
Be aware I have only shot the a7riii in anger for one weekend thus far and in a particular situation, so my experience is just that. Having said that, the situation was quite diverse and in many respects challenging for a camera, so I think it was rather a good test really.
As for 75%, who can accurately quantify, that being said it's my "best guess", if anything it could be a bigger percentage.
The only time I got the Sony "We cannot do that at this time, please take a number and sit in the waiting room and we'll call you when ready" message :-) was when I was hurriedly pressing to return from apsc to FF (setup on custom button) and camera had just taken image/images (thus writing to card). Even then a second press, pretty much was that quick, gained the return to FF. Try something like that with the mkii and you'll like get ignored by the camera like a GF who has seen you look at another hottie on the beach :-).
I did "visually" encounter the edge of the AF sensor area (with regards to the newer densely populated AF points). I used the joystick (just as helpful as the a9, to "pre-focus" on certain areas as I knew roughly where the sled/bike/runner was going to be for composition. When getting to the edge of the mass of focus points the AF indicator became "jittery", it's hard to explain but after multiple attempts at the same scenario that's what I concluded anyway (but perhaps it had nothing to do with it, just looked/felt that way).
Other than that, and I believe some of the subjects were moving at approx. 16 mph, the a7riii nailed focus on every single frame.
I had the camera set exactly as my a9, cont. af, single shot, medium expanded area.
I had had my a7rii since August 2015 and it had paid for itself within a month, thus the a7riii upgrade was happening no matter what, if only for the battery and joystick. But I truly am very impressed with the speed of operation and AF thus far. It's much quicker than I even dare hoped for. As quick as they are, and 5 dogs pulling a sled rushing past you does feel pretty rapid trust me, they are not cars/planes etc. so just how well it can keep up with the "quite honestly, telepathic" a9 is yet to be seen, but colour me impressed so far.
I am awaiting the LG1 screen protector as that is what I have on my a9 and have zero issues (I'm waiting as my stealer didn't have one in stock, and as he looks after me so well, very few have a a7riii even in the UK yet, I look after his business).
I was indeed using the 70-200 GM and 100-400 GM. On day two I began with the 100-400 on the a7riii, I din't "choose" to change lenses in the damp/cold/dusty environment if at all possible. But light was crazy, sun breaking through one minute then dark under full forest canopy the next, so I did change to the 70-200. Both lenses are ultra sharp and a joy, but I have to assign pref. for the 70-200 and it's constant aperture and non-telescoping design. Couple that with (now) the ability to "punch in" with one button and still achieve 18mp at a now circa 300mm and it just worked. I see a sel 14TC in my near future (oh my poor wallet).
Am not sure, thus far, if I can enlighten much more. The start up time is very quick now, I shot (don't usually pay too much attention) 324 images on day two (evf/screen high qual/refresh) and had 64% battery left after 6 hrs.
Processing the files alongside the a9, I couldn't easily define a difference, thus the colours to me were very similar in this situation (It did go a little OTT on a neon green lycra top one competitor was wearing, but then it was, ahem, a garish garment anyway so I don't blame the camera).
So, at this event, which was cold, wet, high dynamic range, fast paced and fluid, the camera just worked and kept out of my way, which is all I could ever ask. It's not the hyperactive speeding bullet of the a9, but it's not far off and gives the bigger files. I couldn't be happier at the moment.
I shot in silent mode all weekend (hard not to after using a9) so it's just that, but any camera movement/lateral subject movement and omg the image was, well lets say "modern art", the rolling shutter, eek! BUT, it is what it is and silent shutter has it's limitations. Just something to note where it is waaaaaay behind the a9 and it's stacked chip speediness.
I will try, when get time, to answer any other questions, but I have limited working experience thus far so can only impart what have tried (in real environment).
Thanks again for the feedback and comments.
Nick
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