Sony A7 models with non-Sony lenses

Great suggestions!

Charlie wrote in post #17191818
for sure, but if sony came out with a native 55/1.2 and 135/2 OSS, i'de be in hog heaven.

a 16-35 type lens, I really dont need or even care for AF, canon's version is excellent, dont mind settling for that. After fooling with facial recognition.... I DEFINITELY want that feature available to me. Toggling AF points with this thing is slow at best, but a working facial recognition, I wont need to toggle AF as much.

Well, this is not what i meant, but i shoot sports and some action or moving subjects, i may do fine with some subjects using FE 55, but in sports i only need long primes and very fast AF, and this is where i need Canon over Sony.

I am now thinking about a replacement for my EF 16-35mm mk1, but not sure if i should ignore f2.8, this lens i use in many applications and not only landscapes where i may never use f2.8, so i can't be sure if the new lens with f4 can be a solution, and as long i will use Sony then i am not sure the Canon version with IS can serve well on Sony for IS, i always prefer to have faster lenses over IS lenses unless it has both, i have 24-105L but sometimes i use 24-70 over it, so i don't want to give up my 16-35mm for f4 yet unless Sony brings one with f2.8 for E mount.

I was planning to have 85L very long time ago, but now with 70-200 mk2 and with Sony system and FE 55mm i forgot about 85mm.

David Arbogast wrote in post #17191555
No thanks!

I'm not loving your lens lineup as a good fit for an a7 series camera. I feel the 85L and 200L II are awesome lenses that need a Canon body.

RedCatPhoto wrote in post #17191720
I also would recommend to keep a Canon body to use the 85L II. I never use it on the a7/a7r actually.

Im quite interested in your views here. I find the 135L too hard to focus wide open manually on anything that moves (peaking just isnt accurate enough - magnification works fine but not great for moving targets). Ive also been toying with the idea of picking up a 85L II but concerned that manually focusing at f/1.2 will be just as tricky as the 135L is at f/2. For this reason I have been considering picking up a 6D or waiting until the 5D3 drops a good bit more and picking up one of them 2nd hand to compliment the A7R. Im just worried though that I would end up not using one of the bodies enough (I imagine the canon due to its bulk). Im also trying to work out if 2 bodies is a bit excessive for a hobby photographer shooting landscapes and family photos, its easy to get caught up with GAS at times.

Anyway, my point is that you have confirmed my suspicions that having a canon body for these lenses is probably the best option.

Now if Sigma would just release their ART lenses in FE mount with fast focusing id be sorted as im pretty confident there will be an 85 and a 135 ART at one point down the line. Alternatively if Sony got their finger out and released more lenses that are the same quality as the FE55 id quite happily do a full switch. As it stands im in limbo with canon lenses and a sony body

Tareq wrote in post #17191972
Well, this is not what i meant, but i shoot sports and some action or moving subjects, i may do fine with some subjects using FE 55, but in sports i only need long primes and very fast AF, and this is where i need Canon over Sony.

I am now thinking about a replacement for my EF 16-35mm mk1, but not sure if i should ignore f2.8, this lens i use in many applications and not only landscapes where i may never use f2.8, so i can't be sure if the new lens with f4 can be a solution, and as long i will use Sony then i am not sure the Canon version with IS can serve well on Sony for IS, i always prefer to have faster lenses over IS lenses unless it has both, i have 24-105L but sometimes i use 24-70 over it, so i don't want to give up my 16-35mm for f4 yet unless Sony brings one with f2.8 for E mount.

I was planning to have 85L very long time ago, but now with 70-200 mk2 and with Sony system and FE 55mm i forgot about 85mm.

sure, my wording came off a little off, but I really did mean the same. my 70-200mk2 + 6D is my sporting kit. I would love a fast prime kit that's small and light and great autofocus as well. The use for sporting activities would be minimal, but I'de still like a lightweight kit because why not

fast 50 and 135 definitely would NOT be a replacement for my 70-200 + Dslr, just a really capable addition.

xpfloyd wrote in post #17191974
Im quite interested in your views here. I find the 135L too hard to focus wide open manually on anything that moves (peaking just isnt accurate enough - magnification works fine but not great for moving targets). Ive also been toying with the idea of picking up a 85L II but concerned that manually focusing at f/1.2 will be just as tricky as the 135L is at f/2. For this reason I have been considering picking up a 6D or waiting until the 5D3 drops a good bit more and picking up one of them 2nd hand to compliment the A7R. Im just worried though that I would end up not using one of the bodies enough (I imagine the canon due to its bulk). Im also trying to work out if 2 bodies is a bit excessive for a hobby photographer shooting landscapes and family photos, its easy to get caught up with GAS at times.

Anyway, my point is that you have confirmed my suspicions that having a canon body for these lenses is probably the best option.

Now if Sigma would just release their ART lenses in FE mount with fast focusing id be sorted as im pretty confident there will be an 85 and a 135 ART at one point down the line. Alternatively if Sony got their finger out and released more lenses that are the same quality as the FE55 id quite happily do a full switch. As it stands im in limbo with canon lenses and a sony body

Eddie you could just do this:

absolutic wrote in post #17191912
speaking of the weight it is very interesting that 85L2 is 1080 grams, but Zeiss Sony 85 1.4 (which is arguably sharper, well, according to photozone.de tests anyway) is only 560 grams. You can buy a used Zeiss with LA-EA4 adapter for about the same price as used 85L2 alone, and have better and faster AF on your A7/r, plus at half the weight it balances better too.


There is also a Minolta 85 1.4G which was predecessor to the Zeiss which you can get even cheaper and that is actually a very interesting lens wide open which is plenty sharp (at least my copy was).

Just throwing it out there.

I had considered A mount lenses with LA-EA4 adapter as the sigma ART is available with that setup but I just cant bring myself to buy into the A mount setup. Not really sure why I feel like that. Im also nervous just now about buying more E mount lenses, I want to be sure the options are there before I commit and when I say options I mean fast primes.

I had considered holding out for the sony 16-35 before it was released but now I see the price is £1300 in the UK which is almost double what I paid for my canon 16-35 so im glad I went with the canon

xpfloyd wrote in post #17191974
Im quite interested in your views here. I find the 135L too hard to focus wide open manually on anything that moves (peaking just isnt accurate enough - magnification works fine but not great for moving targets). Ive also been toying with the idea of picking up a 85L II but concerned that manually focusing at f/1.2 will be just as tricky as the 135L is at f/2. For this reason I have been considering picking up a 6D or waiting until the 5D3 drops a good bit more and picking up one of them 2nd hand to compliment the A7R. Im just worried though that I would end up not using one of the bodies enough (I imagine the canon due to its bulk). Im also trying to work out if 2 bodies is a bit excessive for a hobby photographer shooting landscapes and family photos, its easy to get caught up with GAS at times.

Anyway, my point is that you have confirmed my suspicions that having a canon body for these lenses is probably the best option.

Now if Sigma would just release their ART lenses in FE mount with fast focusing id be sorted as im pretty confident there will be an 85 and a 135 ART at one point down the line. Alternatively if Sony got their finger out and released more lenses that are the same quality as the FE55 id quite happily do a full switch. As it stands im in limbo with canon lenses and a sony body

90% of the time I'm either shooting landscape or portrait. I found myself struggling to get a good flow in my portrait sessions with manual focus lenses, that's the main reason I always use the 5D3. Also Canon has some fantastic glasses for portraiture, my favorite lenses for this being the 70-200, 85, 135 and 35 and they are all working very well on a 5D3 body. When it comes to landscape, I would always go for the a7r, with the ts-e 24, Zeiss 21 or Rokinon 14. If I need a longer reach, I like to use the ts-e 90.

I really have two complete different set-up for different kind of photography.

xpfloyd wrote in post #17192012
I had considered A mount lenses with LA-EA4 adapter as the sigma ART is available with that setup but I just cant bring myself to buy into the A mount setup. Not really sure why I feel like that. Im also nervous just now about buying more E mount lenses, I want to be sure the options are there before I commit and when I say options I mean fast primes.

I had considered holding out for the sony 16-35 before it was released but now I see the price is £1300 in the UK which is almost double what I paid for my canon 16-35 so im glad I went with the canon

There is a valid concern with A mount lenses because at least in US, I've heard complaints from owners of A mount bodies and lenses that they are difficult to resell due to a shrinking market. While it is relatively easy to move your 85L here at POTN or FM or other places, and it is easy today and it will be easy tomorrow, people with A mount lenses might have problems with reselling them.

RedCatPhoto wrote in post #17192031
90% of the time I'm either shooting landscape or portrait. I found myself struggling to get a good flow in my portrait sessions with manual focus lenses, that's the main reason I always use the 5D3. Also Canon has some fantastic glasses for portraiture, my favorite lenses for this being the 70-200, 85, 135 and 35 and they are all working very well on a 5D3 body. When it comes to landscape, I would always go for the a7r, with the ts-e 24, Zeiss 21 or Rokinon 14. If I need a longer reach, I like to use the ts-e 90.

I really have two complete different set-up for different kind of photography.

agree, I intend to get the next releases of canon and hoping the 5DIV will have faster burst speed for use at Airshow. The A7R is for walk around and travel.

is your Rokinon E mount of EF Canon? and why?

tonyniev wrote in post #17192044
is your Rokinon E mount of EF Canon? and why?

EF mount, because I had it before I got a Sony.

RedCatPhoto wrote in post #17192051
EF mount, because I had it before I got a Sony.

Thanks.

tonyniev wrote in post #17192044
agree, I intend to get the next releases of canon and hoping the 5DIV will have faster burst speed for use at Airshow. The A7R is for walk around and travel.

is your Rokinon E mount of EF Canon? and why?

RedCatPhoto wrote in post #17192051
EF mount, because I had it before I got a Sony.

And because it is a manual lens, so i wanted to have it for both systems as long no AF anyway, and i found only Canon version that time in the exhibition as well, so i didn't think twice or wait longer and bought it, so now i can use it on both systems.

Tareq wrote in post #17192057
And because it is a manual lens, so i wanted to have it for both systems as long no AF anyway, and i found only Canon version that time in the exhibition as well, so i didn't think twice or wait longer and bought it, so now i can use it on both systems.

good point, and I have a EF to NEX manual lens adapter so I can use than smaller than the metabones. I bought it to connect the Sony A7R to Canon EF TRing on my telescopes.

RedCatPhoto wrote in post #17192031
I really have two complete different set-up for different kind of photography.

Same in my case, currently there is a clear division of labor between the two cameras. Though that division may become less clear when I consider possibilities I could have with the A7S and the addition of native FE mount lenses -- perhaps FE16-35 and FE55mm. Such setup may allow for an attractively lightweight travel kit and everyday use...

For now, 5DIII is here to stay as the best all-round camera for me.

For me im picking up a used A6000 as my action camera. Cost less than what i spent on the handlebars, stem, tires, and service upgrade for my winter training road bike