Sony A7x lounge

Something other than birds
We hiked to Red Fork Falls today...this is one of those hikes where one misstep and your either dead or in a body cast for some months, in fact every year someone falls to their death here; luckily not us today.
First time using the 28 F2 and compared it with the 16-35 F4 and the SEL 10-18.
This one from the 28mm F2-

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/x2fJ​Nu

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/x592​jM

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/x3YX​XG

Got my 70-200 f2.8II back from my friend. I did some low-light testing around the house. When methodically testing, AF performance is consistent with the 24-70 f2.8II. DSLR-like in good light. In low light, unreliable with AF-S selectable point small, but very much useable with a medium AF area, and even more so with a large area. That was when doing AF testing on random objects around the house.

When I did some 'live' shooting of the kiddos I made an interesting discovery: face detect works with adapted lenses! AF works considerably better when the AF system 'finds' a face within the AF area and focuses on that. This makes me feel much more confident in the ability to use the a7rII as an event shooter with adapted lenses...particularly because the face detect system works in continuous autofocus mode. If face detect works as well as it does with native lenses, the a7rII should have an advantage over DSLR in terms of accuracy when shooting people.

Also, as others have mentioned, the a7rII struggles obtaining initial focus if the lens starts off extremely defocused. Bigger issue with longer focal lengths. Definitely make use of the focus limiter, but also, it really does help to manually pre-focus on your subject before engaging the AF. Once the lens has focused generally around the focal plane of your subject, subsequent shots AF very quickly. This is very much akin to using AF on the horridly slow EF 85L where I often had to manually pre-focus the lens too. Obviously a terrible solution for sports where you're moving all over the focal plane, but not too big of a deal for anything outside of that...especially if you've used the A7 system for a while and have gotten the hang of full-on MF.

Sample shot taken indoors at night at ISO 12,800. Nothing spectacular, but a testament to the ability to AF on a non-static subject in low light:

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/w7GD​2x

Thanks for the report mystik....

so that shot above is from the 70-200? ur flicker is in private mode. i can't see the exif.

I do not have the A7, but after that....

vinmunoz wrote in post #17660291
if you plan to keep your canon lenses with sony camera, then you need the A7RII for its speed in adapted lenses. A7II cannot do that, right?

That's my point. I'm not convinced the A7r2 is DSLR-like with adapted lenses. That means I'll more than likely stay with a 2 system kit (keep my 6D or even get a 5DS for real good AF with Canon lenses and keep the A7II for manual lenses and smaller size). That logic taken to its conclusion means there is no reason for me to upgrade to the a7r2 right now.
The resolution is actually the only real big difference there. And while 42MP would be nice to have, my 24MP is not a deal breaker.

navydoc wrote in post #17660334
Well, your a7II only has the best features found in the a7II.

The a7rII has the same features as the a7II but from what I've read, the IBIS has been improved, of course the resolution has been increased over all the a7 series, the AF has been improved for both native and 3rd party lenses, silent shooting has been added to an improved, quieter shutter, high iso performance has been improved, internal 4K video has been included too and of course, the a7rII now has the same body as the a7II.

I think the feature you desire improvement on the most over your a7II is AF using 3rd party lenses. While it has improved, tremendously for many lenses, I think it's becoming pretty clear that those improvements aren't implimented as well with long glass. Whether that will change in the future with firmware updates for the Metabones adapter, only time will tell but not something I would count on as the justification to buy the a7rII.

If the features other than fast AF using 3rd party, telephoto lenses don't appeal to you then obviously, there's no need for you to upgrade to the a7rII. To me, there are enough new and improved features of the a7rII over the a7r to justify the upgrade to me. As I mentioned, I've always planned on keeping my 5D3 for AF on my long lenses anyway.

See what I just wrote. It's not that I am doubting the A7R2 being a great camera with great new features. But the central tenet in my logic for upgrading to it was having a camera that can AF with the longer focal lenses (where Sony doesn't have native FEs yet) like the 100-400. If the R2 had been DSLR like with all EF lenses as originally reported, I would have moved to a one body kit (sell A7II and 6d and buy the R2).
As the reports stand right now, the R2, while improved, is still not DSLR like with the longer canon lenses. So I still need a canon body. So it's a 2 body kit for me (canon and Sony a7II). At least that's my thinking right now.

MedicineMan4040 wrote in post #17660454
Something other than birds
We hiked to Red Fork Falls today...this is one of those hikes where one misstep and your either dead or in a body cast for some months, in fact every year someone falls to their death here; luckily not us today.
First time using the 28 F2 and compared it with the 16-35 F4 and the SEL 10-18.
This one from the 28mm F2-

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/x2fJ​Nu Homeland Series #123 by MedicineMan4040, on Flickr

Same waterfall but this one from the SEL 10-18-

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/x592​jM Another angle by MedicineMan4040, on Flickr

Those are very nice. Specially #2.

Puckman it's not a DSLR replacement, you are most correct in that. It's mighty close but like Mystik has so aptly written it still has limitation on long lenses (I haven't played with any short/wide yet to know about them); like Mystik said if you are far off the target to begin with it will hunt a while, whereas my 7Dii is much quicker to get to target aquisition when having to cover lots of ground. Now if you are in the ball park then I'm not noticing a major difference-also like Mystik obverved, with the medium focus.
So after a day of many shots with the 400DOii I can tell you it won't be my choice for BIFs and that probably translates to the photographer on the side of the football field.
Still I'm super impressed by a lot of the features.

Glad you liked pic #2, it was with my old wide angle Nex lens; good to know it still has a place in the bag.

got yah..... i'm a portrait shooter mainly and i like to only have one camera so i got to choose. Also I'm planning only to have all FE lenses in the future so the AF of the A7RII for me i guess is adequate with the precision in mind.

for lowlight shots, i discovered that the best af settings is Focus Mode: AF-S and focus area: Center.... at least for me.

Medicine, those 2 shots are worth the hike. glad ur back in one piece.

Puckman wrote in post #17660503
That's my point. I'm not convinced the A7r2 is DSLR-like with adapted lenses. That means I'll more than likely stay with a 2 system kit (keep my 6D or even get a 5DS for real good AF with Canon lenses and keep the A7II for manual lenses and smaller size). That logic taken to its conclusion means there is no reason for me to upgrade to the a7r2 right now.
The resolution is actually the only real big difference there. And while 42MP would be nice to have, my 24MP is not a deal breaker.

See what I just wrote. It's not that I am doubting the A7R2 being a great camera with great new features. But the central tenet in my logic for upgrading to it was having a camera that can AF with the longer focal lenses (where Sony doesn't have native FEs yet) like the 100-400. If the R2 had been DSLR like with all EF lenses as originally reported, I would have moved to a one body kit (sell A7II and 6d and buy the R2).
As the reports stand right now, the R2, while improved, is still not DSLR like with the longer canon lenses. So I still need a canon body. So it's a 2 body kit for me (canon and Sony a7II). At least that's my thinking right now.

Those are very nice. Specially #2.

Yeah adapting third party lenses does come with some compromises that make it a sub-optimal solution...I mean it works, but it shouldn't be the sole reason you spend twice as much money to upgrade IMO, as you're not fully utilizing both the body and the adapted lenses. It's workable for me and I'm putting my 5DIII up for sale, but in the long run, it really would be best to use native FE lenses on this thing and that's what I'll probably do eventually.

It's not really fair to fault the a7rII for its AF quirks with adapted lenses, as that to me is a bonus feature added to an already fantastic camera. It's expensive, but offers so much at its price point compared to its competitors.

In lieu of buying an a7rII or investing in two systems, you could consider picking up an LA-EA4, which has a translucent mirror and phase detect sensor built into it, for use on your a7II. I'm using one with my SAL 135 f1.8, and it is straight up DSLR fast. (the downside is I need to MFA it!) AF coverage is far more limited than the on sensor AF system, but its similar to the coverage on your 6D. Plus there are some gems in the a-mount system (legacy minolta and modern Sony).....particularly at the longer focal lengths. The 135 F1.8 is one hell of a portrait lens and much better than the 135L. The Sony 70-400 is a highly regarded lens as well!

There were rumblings of a Canon EF adapter with a built in translucent mirror a couple of months ago. Hope that comes into fruition because it would be a

^I'm through with MFA.
As soon as/if ever Sony gives up a 400mm F4 native then so long Canon.

LOVE the owl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eventually for sure.

Thanks Vin...it's a great spot. We'll go back in the fall or winter.
I bet you've got falls galore where you are. We kinda take them for granted here being too many.

I just ordered this..... probably good to free up your two hands in hiking and even in events or portrait session. after a long time of walking/hiking even a mirrorless camera hurts our shoulders and neck. i can't wait.

http://www.amazon.com …oh_aui_detailpa​ge_o00_s00

MedicineMan4040 wrote in post #17660525
^I'm through with MFA.
As soon as/if ever Sony gives up a 400mm F4 native then so long Canon.

This...

Exactly. I think I'm definitely on board with the Sony system once I can go all-native. I was not faulting Sony for not working well with adapted lenses. That was always an added bonus for most of us.
But for those of us who want long and short focal lengths, the lack of native 300s and 400s make it easier to stick to Canon or to a 2 system solution.
I'm happy to keep the A7II for native FE lenses (shorter focal lengths for now) and manual lenses (for their size mostly) and keeping the Canon (Might think about replacing the 6D with a 7D2 or 5DS) that I can still fall back on for the 100-400 (and I'm now also contemplating the 100-400mk2, which is supposed to be a gem).
Those longer lenses are kind of wasted on the Sony, honestly as 1. They defeat the size purpose and 2. They don't AF well yet.

I'll sell my Canon gear entirely if 1) Sony comes out with an A7III that really does AF well with Canon lenses in the 300-400 range. OR 2) Sony comes out with native 300 and 400 range stuff.

I was kinda hoping the A7RII was going to satisfy #1. But it looks like it doesn't. So I think I'll stay put with my current 2 system kit.