Sony A7R II impression and images

jonneymendoza wrote in post #17930280
pic is out of focus badly imo.

what lens , shutter speed etc did you use?

Oops...There was the flares from flash
85/1.4 ZA at f2.8 1/60

with the 100L

Spring is coming (Cemetery walk)

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A few wildlife shots with the A7RII and Tamron 150-600 (Canon mount with Metabones IV)
I normally shoot wildlife with my Canons, but I thought I'd test the Sony. I was impressed actually, although AF is a bit worse at least in terms of speed and locking ability.

Some of these are near 100% crops.

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nice shots!

gabebalazs wrote in post #17937168
A few wildlife shots with the A7RII and Tamron 150-600 (Canon mount with Metabones IV)
I normally shoot wildlife with my Canons, but I thought I'd test the Sony. I was impressed actually, although AF is a bit worse at least in terms of speed and locking ability.

Some of these are near 100% crops.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/F8SD​mq Sony A7RII Tamron 150-600mm Kingfisher by gabebalazs, on Flickr

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/Fbba​6D Sony A7RII Tamron 150-600mm Kingfisher Catch by gabebalazs, on Flickr

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/Edt4​q1 Sony A7RII Tamron 150-600mm Robin by gabebalazs, on Flickr

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/F2LW​ra Sony A7RII Tamron 150-600mm Goose Fight by gabebalazs, on Flickr

https://flic.kr/p/EZtR​6CSony A7RII Tamron 150-600mm Goose by gabebalazs, on Flickr

https://flic.kr/p/Edt4​UsSony A7RII Tamron 150-600mm Deer by gabebalazs, on Flickr

https://flic.kr/p/EZtR​tSSony A7RII Tamron 150-600mm Goose 2 by gabebalazs, on Flickr

https://flic.kr/p/ECH6​tdRed Tailed Hawk Sony A7RII Tamron 150-600mm by gabebalazs, on Flickr

Hey Gabe, I know you sold your Sigma 120-300mm, but didn't realize you ended up with the Tamron 150-600mm. Are you happy with it? Just curious to learn your thoughts on it.

Gave, awesome to see you on this thread. I didn't know you moved on to Sony. Awesome shots as usual!

gabebalazs wrote in post #17937168
A few wildlife shots with the A7RII and Tamron 150-600 (Canon mount with Metabones IV)
I normally shoot wildlife with my Canons, but I thought I'd test the Sony. I was impressed actually, although AF is a bit worse at least in terms of speed and locking ability.

Some of these are near 100% crops.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/F8SD​mq Sony A7RII Tamron 150-600mm Kingfisher by gabebalazs, on Flickr

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/Fbba​6D Sony A7RII Tamron 150-600mm Kingfisher Catch by gabebalazs, on Flickr

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/Edt4​q1 Sony A7RII Tamron 150-600mm Robin by gabebalazs, on Flickr

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/F2LW​ra Sony A7RII Tamron 150-600mm Goose Fight by gabebalazs, on Flickr

https://flic.kr/p/EZtR​6CSony A7RII Tamron 150-600mm Goose by gabebalazs, on Flickr

https://flic.kr/p/Edt4​UsSony A7RII Tamron 150-600mm Deer by gabebalazs, on Flickr

https://flic.kr/p/EZtR​tSSony A7RII Tamron 150-600mm Goose 2 by gabebalazs, on Flickr

https://flic.kr/p/ECH6​tdRed Tailed Hawk Sony A7RII Tamron 150-600mm by gabebalazs, on Flickr

Thank you guys!

David,
Yes, I've been shooting with the Tamron since December 2014. That month was a few weeks before our baby was born and I knew I wouldn't have much time to spend on nature photography once he's born, at least for quite a while.

I picked up the Tamron refurbished at that time, for about $800 (on Ebay after Ebay bucks, cashback, etc.), which was a great deal back then (retailers were selling them at $1069 new, ...when they had them in stock).

I had tried an older copy of the Tamron, from the first batch right when they came out. Preordered from B&H. Unfortunately, it was a subpar copy, so I sent it back after a week. Didn't even think about this lens for another 10 months. But this second one, the refurb, is much better, I was actually impressed with the IQ and AF speed and accuracy. Being half the weight of my Sigma 120-300 + 2x TC was great too. So after owning both for a few weeks, I ended up selling my Sigma. And never really regretted my decision considering how little I've been shooting during the last year and a half. It fits my "new" life (less time) and I pocketed $1K with the change to the Tamron. What I kinda miss sometimes is the 420mm f/4 combination of the Sigma + 1.4x TC.

So I do like it a lot, I like its ergonomics, weight, IQ, especially on FF. On FF in nice weather I can practically shoot wide open all day since it is sharp enough for me without stopping down even at 600mm (on 6D, 5D3). But of course on the A7rII it starts showing signs of not being sharp enough for the sensor at 6.3. AF is faster than my Sigma + TC was.

As for "moving" to Sony, it's not entirely true since I still shoot with Canons as well (events, weddings). The Sony thing started with the opportunity to pick up a cheap A7r MkI a few months ago. I also bought a Metabones IV adapter (that hurt, $400!! The A7r cost me $650)
I obviously knew about the great sensor in the A7r and it was tempting to use it for my real estate photo business. I paired it up with the Metabones and my Canon 16-35 f/4L and I was really happy with the results, both in terms of IQ and also how much easier it made my process. Long real estate shooting days really hurt my knees since I always had to kneel down to get the right camera height for my interior shots using my Canon 6D. With the A7r, I just use the tilting LCD and remain standing. So for real estate it was great. For anything else not as much AF was a disaster usually, slow, or not even working. I picked up a cheap Sony FE 28-70 OSS kit lens and it was much better.

One day when there was a grey market A7RII deal on Slickdeals, my wife asked me if that was a good camera. Goooood??? I said, it's great! Then I described it to her and how much more advanced it was compared to the Mark I. SO she said she'd buy one for me. And she did After cashback and ebay bucks it came out to $2400. It's a PAL camera though so I get a reminder that it's running in NTSC every time I power it up. It was getting a little bit annoying (even though a quick half press of the shutter makes it go away with no delay), so I just changed the camera back to its default PAL. When I do an important video shoot, I'll just switch back to NTSC again.

So there we are, at the present, I thought I'd test my Tamron 150-600 with the A7RII. It's too early in the wildlife season, I didn't even see a single heron or egret (my favorite targets), so I just had to make do with whatever I found that afternoon. Even though most shots came out great and often more detailed than shot with my Canons, I still prefer shooting wildlife with my Canons because of the more responsive AF and faster burst (and better balance).

That's great Gabe. Try out the new 3.10 firmware. Continuos AF is supposedly faster. Will be testing it soon. I miss shooting wildlife. Now it's mostly architecture, landscape, cityscape, and my son.

I'll check into that, thanks for the tip.

gabebalazs wrote in post #17937408
Thank you guys!

David,
Yes, I've been shooting with the Tamron since December 2014. That month was a few weeks before our baby was born and I knew I wouldn't have much time to spend on nature photography once he's born, at least for quite a while.

I picked up the Tamron refurbished at that time, for about $800 (on Ebay after Ebay bucks, cashback, etc.), which was a great deal back then (retailers were selling them at $1069 new, ...when they had them in stock).

I had tried an older copy of the Tamron, from the first batch right when they came out. Preordered from B&H. Unfortunately, it was a subpar copy, so I sent it back after a week. Didn't even think about this lens for another 10 months. But this second one, the refurb, is much better, I was actually impressed with the IQ and AF speed and accuracy. Being half the weight of my Sigma 120-300 + 2x TC was great too. So after owning both for a few weeks, I ended up selling my Sigma. And never really regretted my decision considering how little I've been shooting during the last year and a half. It fits my "new" life (less time) and I pocketed $1K with the change to the Tamron. What I kinda miss sometimes is the 420mm f/4 combination of the Sigma + 1.4x TC.

So I do like it a lot, I like its ergonomics, weight, IQ, especially on FF. On FF in nice weather I can practically shoot wide open all day since it is sharp enough for me without stopping down even at 600mm (on 6D, 5D3). But of course on the A7rII it starts showing signs of not being sharp enough for the sensor at 6.3. AF is faster than my Sigma + TC was.

As for "moving" to Sony, it's not entirely true since I still shoot with Canons as well (events, weddings). The Sony thing started with the opportunity to pick up a cheap A7r MkI a few months ago. I also bought a Metabones IV adapter (that hurt, $400!! The A7r cost me $650)
I obviously knew about the great sensor in the A7r and it was tempting to use it for my real estate photo business. I paired it up with the Metabones and my Canon 16-35 f/4L and I was really happy with the results, both in terms of IQ and also how much easier it made my process. Long real estate shooting days really hurt my knees since I always had to kneel down to get the right camera height for my interior shots using my Canon 6D. With the A7r, I just use the tilting LCD and remain standing. So for real estate it was great. For anything else not as much AF was a disaster usually, slow, or not even working. I picked up a cheap Sony FE 28-70 OSS kit lens and it was much better.

One day when there was a grey market A7RII deal on Slickdeals, my wife asked me if that was a good camera. Goooood??? I said, it's great! Then I described it to her and how much more advanced it was compared to the Mark I. SO she said she'd buy one for me. And she did After cashback and ebay bucks it came out to $2400. It's a PAL camera though so I get a reminder that it's running in NTSC every time I power it up. It was getting a little bit annoying (even though a quick half press of the shutter makes it go away with no delay), so I just changed the camera back to its default PAL. When I do an important video shoot, I'll just switch back to NTSC again.

So there we are, at the present, I thought I'd test my Tamron 150-600 with the A7RII. It's too early in the wildlife season, I didn't even see a single heron or egret (my favorite targets), so I just had to make do with whatever I found that afternoon. Even though most shots came out great and often more detailed than shot with my Canons, I still prefer shooting wildlife with my Canons because of the more responsive AF and faster burst (and better balance).

So my used A7R was your "gateway drug" into the Sony lineup, huh? Glad to hear you are enjoying the A7RII, I've been very happy with mine as well. As time goes on more and more of my Canon lenses have been converted to the Sony version (FE 28mm, FE 55mm, 85mm Batis, FE 16-35 f/4). My old 6D hasn't seen a lot of use with the exception of some indoor performance stuff for my daughter with a 70-200 2.8 I still have. I also agree that I'm surprised at the results I get with the 28-70mm kit lens. Good enough that I haven't found the need to pick up the Zony 24-70 f/4.

gocolts wrote in post #17938323
So my used A7R was your "gateway drug" into the Sony lineup, huh? Glad to hear you are enjoying the A7RII, I've been very happy with mine as well. As time goes on more and more of my Canon lenses have been converted to the Sony version (FE 28mm, FE 55mm, 85mm Batis, FE 16-35 f/4). My old 6D hasn't seen a lot of use with the exception of some indoor performance stuff for my daughter with a 70-200 2.8 I still have. I also agree that I'm surprised at the results I get with the 28-70mm kit lens. Good enough that I haven't found the need to pick up the Zony 24-70 f/4.

I recently converted from 5DIII to A7Rii (had a7R before but sold it) I have to say that this conversion made photography fun again. So far I kept most of my Canon glass, eventually will get/trade up for more Sony glass. Its great having that option to pick from all these lenses, Sony, Zeiss, Canon, Tamron, Sigma, all the vintage glass, the possibilities are endless.

When I had the a7R, metabones would drive me crazy, I could manual focus faster then metabones would AF, but now with mark IV and a7RII there are no problems. I'm hopeful that soon at some point we will either see a giant firmware update to Mark IV or a new Metabones Mark V will be released with that will support all the fancy sony AF tech like Eye-AF, Lock-On AF etc...

When I had the A7R I also had the 28-70 kit, It was a great lens, but I wasn't happy with 28mm on wide end, so when I picked up a7rII I also got a used 24-70 F4, This Zeiss doesn't really have better image quality. But the extra 3mm on wide end really do help.

gocolts wrote in post #17938323
So my used A7R was your "gateway drug" into the Sony lineup, huh? Glad to hear you are enjoying the A7RII, I've been very happy with mine as well. As time goes on more and more of my Canon lenses have been converted to the Sony version (FE 28mm, FE 55mm, 85mm Batis, FE 16-35 f/4). My old 6D hasn't seen a lot of use with the exception of some indoor performance stuff for my daughter with a 70-200 2.8 I still have. I also agree that I'm surprised at the results I get with the 28-70mm kit lens. Good enough that I haven't found the need to pick up the Zony 24-70 f/4.

Sure it was
But like I said, I'm trying to use the best tools for whatever job I need to do out of all the gear I have. And at this point my Canons still see a lot of action at events and weddings (and even birds). For now I wouldn't dare to shoot a wedding with the A7rII.

lunch walk today with the Canon 70-200

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wallstreetoneil wrote in post #17938899
lunch walk today with the Canon 70-200

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/FnDs​tq march17 by Paul O'Neil, on Flickr

I love the Bokeh in this shot.