p.1 #1 · Does the sony a1 and a1ii silent mode work well with city lights at night?
I remember reading that the silent mode elctronic shutter sometimes has trouble with artificial lights. Have people been able to use the A1/A1ii for city nightscapes without issue? I'd been just switching to mechanical shutter when needed, but wasn't sure if I needed to. Any thoughts would be appreciated!
p.1 #2 · Does the sony a1 and a1ii silent mode work well with city lights at night?
Silent shutter has problems in general with flicker that causes banding, but the cameras have "anti-flicker shoot" as an option to help you overcome it. It's mostly helpful for shooting in active environments (indoor sports, theater, events) where you're using high frame rates to stop action and/or long bursts. I don't generally take the a1 out for nightscape shooting, or use the silent shutter for that kind of shooting with my rII UT, the camera I do use, so I can't say how often you'll run into a flicker problem in a wild environment.
p.1 #3 · Does the sony a1 and a1ii silent mode work well with city lights at night?
shadow9d9 wrote:
I remember reading that the silent mode elctronic shutter sometimes has trouble with artificial lights. Have people been able to use the A1/A1ii for city nightscapes without issue? I'd been just switching to mechanical shutter when needed, but wasn't sure if I needed to. Any thoughts would be appreciated!
I think the way this works is that the sensor readout speed on the A1 and the A1 II is almost as fast as the time it takes the moving shutter slit of the mechanical shutter to move across the sensor. So, the two shutter modes should be approximately equivalent in their ability to handle flickering lights.
The lights in various places in cities will vary in their characteristics. So you will still need to check your LCD for indications of banding (it won't show in the EVF while shooting). But in most typical situations of shooting city lights, when you are shooting a variety of different lights that are all blended together, with some at a distance, I think you will be all right most of the time.
If I am wrong about this, perhaps one of the electrical engineers or more knowledgeable posters around here will correct me.
p.1 #5 · Does the sony a1 and a1ii silent mode work well with city lights at night?
Years ago I was shooting an impromptu handheld pano of a cityscape, using EFCS on my A7R2. Although I was aware of the problem of shooting LED lights, I never imagined it would affect this sort of shot. And things looked fine through the viewfinder. But when I got home, there turned out to be serious banding in the sky, caused by a combination of a bright light on the tallest building and low clouds (which spread the effect across a wide area).
If I had just thought to use a slower shutter speed, the shot probably would have been saved. As it was, it taught me a good lesson.
Drastic banding in some of the frames
ILCE-7RM2FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS lens90mmf/2.81/100s8000 ISO0.0 EV
p.1 #6 · Does the sony a1 and a1ii silent mode work well with city lights at night?
I have this far (having owned the A1 since 7 or 8 months now) not run onto any banding problems.
The image here is a stitch and processed. During the PP I didn't notice any banding problems in any of the images building the final result. There is at least seven different light sources ancluding the colored LEDs along the roof you can see in the image.
(You may complain about slight oversharpening in this web version though.) And yes, it was dark also if it doesn't look that dark now. Not middle of the night dark, but early morning winter day dark. ISO 500 1/100 sec.
[removed image]
p.1 #7 · Does the sony a1 and a1ii silent mode work well with city lights at night?
Jonas B wrote:
I have this far (having owned the A1 since 7 or 8 months now) not run onto any banding problems.
The image here is a stitch and processed. During the PP I didn't notice any banding problems in any of the images building the final result. There is at least seven different light sources ancluding the colored LEDs along the roof you can see in the image.
(You may complain about slight oversharpening in this web version though.) And yes, it was dark also if it doesn't look that dark now. Not middle of the night dark, but early morning winter day dark. ISO 500 1/100 sec. https://photos.imageevent.com/jonas_b/fotoforum2022andfw/e142_Centralen_DPRevived_v2_2503.jpg...Show more →
Nice image. Was this with mechanical or electronic shutter on the A1?
p.1 #8 · Does the sony a1 and a1ii silent mode work well with city lights at night?
MikeEvangelist wrote:
Years ago I was shooting an impromptu handheld pano of a cityscape, using EFCS on my A7R2. Although I was aware of the problem of shooting LED lights, I never imagined it would affect this sort of shot. And things looked fine through the viewfinder. But when I got home, there turned out to be serious banding in the sky, caused by a combination of a bright light on the tallest building and low clouds (which spread the effect across a wide area).
If I had just thought to use a slower shutter speed, the shot probably would have been saved. As it was, it taught me a good lesson....Show more →
Ouch, that was bad luck and a nasty golden light. I understand the disappointment. Let's say 1/30 sec and it may have been fine. I had a similar problem once and since then I check a first shot carefully in the viewfinder at different enlargement steps.
p.1 #9 · Does the sony a1 and a1ii silent mode work well with city lights at night?
chiron wrote:
Nice image. Was this with mechanical or electronic shutter on the A1?
Thank you.
Electronic (and tripod and remote control). As the mechanical shutter is EFCS only I avoid it and have this far used it together with a flash only.
