Sony A7x lounge

The Thyme in my little herb garden are starting to blossom.

Shot using a Nissin Di700A on camera in TTL mode. I used my 'mini' softbox with the flash.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/TuzR​mQ

Charlie wrote in post #18319221
speaking of video, I've been giving the 28-135 a peak, but the price has been holding me back.

on the topic of audio, that mic seems fantastic. I use rode for simplicity of hot shoe mount, but the zoom looks like a much more sophisticated device that can do directional and ambient, where the rode, you have to pick one or the other, and I chose directional. Sony's built in mic isnt bad btw. bad is like canon's built in, picks up way too much noise.

another huge advantage of zoom is that it can do it's own audio. This is nifty because sometimes I forget to turn on the rode and then left with no audio at all! With zoom, you'll get a backup audio stream, but more work importing in separate audio files. May be worth it.

Thanks for your thoughts on audio. I agree that in-camera one is definitely nicer than Canon and quite usable. I plan to record directly to the Zoom and not wire it to the camera. That will provide some redundancy - if I forget to turn the zoom on, at least the camera is recording something for audio.

Still not sure where I will mount the zoom. It probably won't work to hot shoe mount it (may interfere with the gimbal). But, the Zhiyun Crane has a 1/4" hole in the bottom of the grip and I'll be attaching a arc-swiss compatible plate on it...thinking of mounting the zoom there. However, the zoom would be upside-down so I'd have to flip the left-right channels in post. Another idea is to clamp a magic arm to the grip and mount the Zoom to the arm. Anyway, haven't figured that part out yet.

navydoc wrote in post #18319262
I'm looking forward to reading your thoughts about both the gimbal and the zoom mic once you try them. I suggest you let the camera record audio as well as the zoom so that you can sync the zoom audio to the video track easily. Then you can either mute or reduce the volume of the camera audio to suit.

Great tip on recording audio in-camera and via the zoom for easy syncing later. I was wondering how I'd do it, and that should make it easy.

David Arbogast wrote in post #18319315
Thanks for your thoughts on audio. I agree that in-camera one is definitely nicer than Canon and quite usable. I plan to record directly to the Zoom and not wire it to the camera. That will provide some redundancy - if I forget to turn the zoom on, at least the camera is recording something for audio.

Still not sure where I will mount the zoom. It probably won't work to hot shoe mount it (may interfere with the gimbal). But, the Zhiyun Crane has a 1/4" hole in the bottom of the grip and I'll be attaching a arc-swiss compatible plate on it...thinking of mounting the zoom there. However, the zoom would be upside-down so I'd have to flip the left-right channels in post. Another idea is to clamp a magic arm to the grip and mount the Zoom to the arm. Anyway, haven't figured that part out yet.

Great tip on recording audio in-camera and via the zoom for easy syncing later. I was wondering how I'd do it, and that should make it easy.

Clap when you start recording, use the spike as a syncing marker. I think the zoom should have an accessory for hot shoe. Have no idea on weight limits of the gimbal, I used to use manual gimbals, would love to try out the electronic ones. Been doing handheld, which sucks.

Charlie wrote in post #18319328
Clap when you start recording, use the spike as a syncing marker. I think the zoom should have an accessory for hot shoe. Have no idea on weight limits of the gimbal, I used to use manual gimbals, would love to try out the electronic ones. Been doing handheld, which sucks.

I could use a clicker (I have a few from clicker-training my dogs). Nice thing about a clicker is I can do it with one hand while still holding the gimbal.

If it won't disrupt the gimbal, then putting it on the hot shoe would be easiest. I already have a hot shoe mounting bracket. However, the zoom's probably too tall as I'll be doing a lot of captures with the gimbal inverted...love that ability to shoot down low.

I got the FE 85, and while it's bigger than I thought, it's ok in size. CA is there, but it's not like the 85 canon's, which are really bad. Love the extra button, just so handy, but too bad they dont have it on both sides, the other side would be perfect for my index finger. Perfectly centered, pin sharp, nice amounts of contrast, snappy AF, lovely budget lens.

Charlie wrote in post #18318899
Mine is coming in tomorrow, if it's a notch above my Fe 50, I'll be happy.

I'm torn right now between getting the FE 85 or picking up an A77II for wildlife with my 70-400.

KayakPhotos wrote in post #18319492
I'm interested in your thoughts. I'm torn right now between getting the FE 85 or picking up an A77II for wildlife with my 70-400.

it feels as sharp as the 55 f1.8 wide open, anywhere in the frame, although contrast levels feel very similar to the 85 GM. AF speed is among the faster lenses, very fast, no problems tracking my running baby at close distances, not a big deal for me, but for a basketball shooter, I would imagine this lens can handle that sort of thing. Size wise, it's a fat little lens, weighs similar to the 55, but much bigger and less dense. The sunstars could be better, the cheapo FE 50 produces slightly better sunstars, but I consider it adequate compared to the 55 which I think is poor. Flare.... it cant handle flare as well as the 55, but adequate for me.

You'll have to excuse the ISO 2000, and terribly thin DOF for this test shot, SOOC

I'm really liking the look of the FE85 over the B85.......

I've seen a used B85 going for £800 [dealer], the FE85 is £600

Thanks for sharing! I'm leaning towards the a77 ii right now, but it's mostly because I haven't been out to shoot wildlife for a long time I think.

Size comparison

edit: forget to mention, the hood size is fairly small, it's like it was made for a 50mm, much smaller than the canon 85/100 hood.

Been under the weather So I haven't been able to go out and shoot. FE 50mm F1.4 ZA

Excuse me for my iphone shot.

Long Exposure in broad daylight(1pm) without ND filter

the setup..

"slow shutter" app
earbud volume button as the shutter/trigger

Charlie wrote in post #18319531
it feels as sharp as the 55 f1.8 wide open, anywhere in the frame, although contrast levels feel very similar to the 85 GM. AF speed is among the faster lenses, very fast, no problems tracking my running baby at close distances, not a big deal for me, but for a basketball shooter, I would imagine this lens can handle that sort of thing. Size wise, it's a fat little lens, weighs similar to the 55, but much bigger and less dense. The sunstars could be better, the cheapo FE 50 produces slightly better sunstars, but I consider it adequate compared to the 55 which I think is poor. Flare.... it cant handle flare as well as the 55, but adequate for me.

You'll have to excuse the ISO 2000, and terribly thin DOF for this test shot, SOOC

Charlie wrote in post #18319549
Size comparison

edit: forget to mention, the hood size is fairly small, it's like it was made for a 50mm, much smaller than the canon 85/100 hood.

Looks good so far Charlie. And yeah there's some strong lighting in that shot and the contrast looks more akin to the GM than the Batis.

vinmunoz wrote in post #18319222
Bro if you have a chance can you shoot a full body and a 3/4 shot with your 135 F1.8 @F2.8? We'll see how it renders. thanks.

the size of the 135F2.8 looks sexy. 67mm filter.

Here you go Vinz. Nightmare backgrounds @f2.8