Sony a7 II - pictures and discussions

not sure how nightmarish it would be to hold a 70-200F2.8 with the sony, I would think just as bad as the DSLR, which I'm holding with two hands anyhow. For short tele and wide, sony checks a lot of boxes. There arent many lenses that are small, that collection is limited to a half dozen lenses unless you're willing to get into the vintage prime/leica territory, then your options are huge.

I think I am going with a small kit that involves some small and some large lenses.

14 - medium
28mm - small
50 - small
100 - big
28-70 - medium size but super light (maybe the upcoming 24-240)

the 28-50-100 will be my core everyday shooting lenses. The great thing about the sony setup is that the body is hardly intimidating. People will get intimidated by my 6D, not so much with the A7r. it's small, it cant be serious

If you want to flesh out a small kit and can give up a bit of speed, the C/Y 85/2.8 is very unobtrusive, which is nice for something in that short tele range.

WhyFi wrote in post #17407378
If you want to flesh out a small kit and can give up a bit of speed, the C/Y 85/2.8 is very unobtrusive, which is nice for something in that short tele range.

I think the Canon 85mm f1.8 lens works well too. It's nice and small and has great IQ.

WhyFi wrote in post #17407378
If you want to flesh out a small kit and can give up a bit of speed, the C/Y 85/2.8 is very unobtrusive, which is nice for something in that short tele range.

I have a zeiss 100MP coming my way

yeah it's big, and it's a compromise (gave up 3 dedicated lenses to 85/100/135 to make it happen). I will no longer be conflicted on whether to bring a portrait lens vs a macro lens (1:2 is plenty fine for me). Canon's 100F2 was a fine portrait lens when I had it, just lacked the contrast and bite zeiss lens give. A jack of all trades type lens.

Charlie wrote in post #17407454
I have a zeiss 100MP coming my way

yeah it's big, and it's a compromise (gave up 3 dedicated lenses to 85/100/135 to make it happen). I will no longer be conflicted on whether to bring a portrait lens vs a macro lens (1:2 is plenty fine for me). Canon's 100F2 was a fine portrait lens when I had it, just lacked the contrast and bite zeiss lens give. A jack of all trades type lens.

Ah - yeah, I was thinking about that range the other day, and that would be my one-lens solution, too (I regularly bump in to the MFD on most 85/100/135 and it bugs the heck out of me). Cool, congrats on the awesome lens on the way and I look forward to seeing some shots.

Charlie wrote in post #17407454
I have a zeiss 100MP coming my way

Congrats! Is it the Canon-mount (ZE) version?

yes, ze version

Does anyone use a hand strap with this camera? I much prefer them to a neck strap.

mclaren777 wrote in post #17380908
I just rented an A7ii for a wedding I'm photographing at the end of the month.

If I end up liking it, it could become my new "glovebox camera" to replace the EOS M.

I just got back from the wedding.

I haven't looked at the pictures yet, but I can already tell that I won't be buying one of these cameras.

^like a soap opera leaving hanging as to why????

My wild guess would be AF performance (both speed and the inability to get a lock-on in very low light).

MedicineMan4040 wrote in post #17409542
^like a soap opera leaving hanging as to why????

It's a fishing expedition....don't take the bait.

jocau wrote in post #17409550
My wild guess would be AF performance (both speed and the inability to get a lock-on in very low light).

If he stuck to his previously stated plans, he used Canon lenses, so AF would be a non-issue.

The images are importing now so I have some time to respond...

AF wasn't even attempted. I used MF the entire time, which was a mixed bag.

Focus peaking simply will not illuminate when the scene is really dark, and the camera would spontaneously reboot itself when I zoomed in using the C1 button.

It probably rebooted 10-15 times throughout the day, which is crazy. I realize it's probably a bug, but it's really hard to cope with coming from Canon Land (where you don't have to wait for a boot sequence at all).

The in-focus images look fine, but didn't like the user experience. Plus, I found it to be much too small for my hands and the two main control dials are awkwardly placed IMO.

Random rebooting? That's weird and unacceptable. Must have been something awry with that camera. I have no experience with the a7 II, but have never experienced rebooting with my a7R (or a7 before that).

In the other regards (ergonomics) the a7 platform just isn't a good fit for a lot of people. I love it - even more so since adding native lenses lately, but it's certainly not for everyone.

I am still surprised you chose an important event (wedding) to give new gear a workout. That is not the right time and place for it.